NFL Player News

The Rams have created an incredible situation where none of their tight ends are actually fantasy-reliable, but all of them are threats to score off play-action in jumbo packages. Parkinson (39 snaps), Tyler Higbee (3/33, 36 snaps), Davis Allen (2/8/1, 35 snaps) and Terrance Ferguson (1/32, 22 snaps) are all potential TE2 plays right now given the situation. It’s impossible to figure out which of them will blow up every week given the playing time split.

The Bengals offense mostly had a smooth-sailing day against the lackadaisical Dolphins defense. After a high-volume Week 4, Burrow threw 32 passes, tossing touchdowns to Mike Gesicki, Samaje Perine, and Tanner Hudson in the first half. He just missed Ja’Marr Chase for a 70-yard score in the second half, but later connected with Chase for a 45-yard score in the third quarter. Burrow was hardly under pressure and had plenty of time to make accurate throws and take deep shots against Miami. He is a fantasy QB1 heading into the Bengals’ bye and gets a middling defense in the Ravens for Week 7.

Laube functioned as the team’s No. 2 back behind Ashton Jeanty, who battled through foot and ankle issues on his way to 77 scoreless yards against New England. Mike Washington, meanwhile, had one rushing attempt and did not catch a pass. If Jeanty misses time this season it might be Laube who leads the Vegas backfield in touches. He can be stashed in deeper formats headed into Week 6.

Pollard looks like he could be a legitimate NFL running back somewhere, but it sure can’t happen on this offense. He’s cleared 14 carries and 48 yards in each of his last four games and has just one touchdown to show for it. It’s fringe low-end RB2 land for Pollard, as usual, against the Colts next week.

Murray was extremely active on the ground, addnig 51 yards on 10 rush attempts. His deep ball, on the other hand, remains a work in progress. His lone touchdown of the day came on a dime to Justin Jefferson on the back of the end zone. He was hesitant to even pull the trigger on deep shots at other times, even when his receiver was wide open. Murray is largely a game-manager right now, but that’s enough to win football games when the Minnesota defense is simply shutting down every opponent they face. Murray will be a mid-range QB2 when he returns to take on the Colts after a Week 6 bye.

The 267 yards aren’t a terrible total for Jones, but the Colts’ offense was not effective for most of the game. They were stuffed inside the Steelers’ three-yard line at least four times during the game, and the only touchdown they scored was on a one-yard sneak to tight end Tyler Warren. Even on that play, Warren was stuffed short of the end zone and had to be pushed in from behind. Jones was unable to connect with any receivers down the field and overthrew a few deep shots on the day. The Steelers spent a lot of energy trying to corral Jonathan Taylor, and you’d assume other defenses will deploy the same strategy, which means Jones is going to need to start to make them pay. Things should get easier next week against the winless Titans.

The Titans led off the day with a 58-yard field-goal drive that fell apart from a red zone first-and-5. They would not even flirt with crossing 30 yards in a drive for the rest of the game and crossed into Texans territory on only 11 more snaps all game, including just one inside the Houston 40. Ward took four sacks and avoided several others by turning Tyjae Spears into a PPR hero. The closest he came to actually putting points on the board was a double-covered bomb to Carnell Tate’s general area. It was, well, what you would have expected from both sides in the preseason. Ward remains a last gasp supeflex QB2 heading into Week 6’s game against the Colts.

Bowers was again unstoppable both from the slot and from the boundary. The injury-ravaged New England secondary had no chance of stopping Bowers, whose ten targets led the Raiders. Bowers had three receptions of over 20 yards. His day could’ve been bigger if the Raiders had not rested their starters in the fourth quarter of the lopsided loss to the Patriots. With outrageous usage in Klint Kubiak’s offense, Bowers has as much upside as any player in fantasy for now. He gets the Bills in Week 6.

Willis had a poor passing day, finishing the first quarter completing 0-of-4 passes. He threw a pair of second quarter interceptions to Jordan Battle, the first coming off a tip and the second on a cross-body throw and poor decision. He also fumbled and recovered a snap in the two-minute drill while a potential third interception was dropped in the endzone in the second half. Willis recovered with a touchdown throw to Kevin Coleman in the fourth quarter but fumbled deep in the Dolphins’ own territory late in the game. He capped off his day with a quick goal-line rushing score at the end of the game but it was too little, too late. Between his decision-making and lack of ball security, Willis had a poor game but good fantasy production due to his rushing output. Willis is a fantasy QB2 heading into a Week 6 Dolphins bye week.

Henry was third on the team in targets and caught one of Drake Maye’s four touchdown tosses on the day. Henry has seen better involvement in the Pats offense of late; against the Bills in Week 4 he caught all five of his targets for 62 yards. The resurgence of the Patriots passing attack has made Henry viable as a streaming option. He’ll be in play next week against the Jets.