NFL Player News

...What? Patrick had been threatening some high target counts (nine in the last three games) and playing more snaps of late, but he managed a season-high 42 snaps and scored in Parker Washington’s absence. In fairness — his touchdown catch wasn’t exactly impressive as Trevor Lawrence broke the pocket and Patrick simply sat down on a route wide open in the end zone. He also had dropped a touchdown the play before. It’s possible he goes back into the pocket with Washington back next week, but if Washington is absent again, it sounds like Patrick has some desperation FLEX appeal against the Jets.

Banks was ruled out earlier in the week, leaving no surprises with the New York inactives for Monday Night Football against the Rams. While losing Banks is a significant loss for the secondary, the Rams will be without both Puka Nacua and Jordan Whittington.

News about a new injury for Nacua didn’t surface until Friday, throwing fantasy managers into a late-week scramble to find a suitable replacement, further convoluted by him entering the weekend as a game-time decision. Those that held out in hopes he would be able to play against the Giants now find themselves with limited options. Nacua reportedly went through an abridged pre-game workout to determine his availability, ultimately failing to prove healthy enough to go. The Rams suddenly find themselves extremely thin at wide receiver with Jordan Whittington also inactive. Tutu Atwell, Konata Mumpfield, and Xavier Smith will fight for snaps behind Davante Adams, while there remains the ever-present possibility the Rams lean into heavy personnel alignments. Joining Nacua and Whittington as inactives are S Kam Kinchens, WR CJ Daniels, QB Ty Simpson, and OL Bill Murray.

The veteran tight end is reportedly healthy enough following ACL surgery to be brought in as a replacement for Dallas Goedert, the latter of whom is expected to miss multiple weeks with a sprained MCL. Ertz spent the first seven seasons of his professional career in Philadelphia before a three-year stint with the Cardinals and two more with the Commanders. The 12-year veteran turns 36 in November and profiles as a low-upside role player for as long as Goedert remains out, should he receive game-day call-ups from the practice squad.

Durant suffered a hamstring strain and Locke suffered a torn plantar fascia in the team’s Week 2 win over the Commanders. Both players are reportedly going to miss multiple weeks, while a stint on injured reserve is not yet being ruled out for either player. In what has become somewhat of a yearly tradition in Dallas, the secondary is suddenly extremely thin on healthy bodies after the team invested significant capital re-tooling the back end this offseason. Expect Markquese Bell and Shavon Revel to enter the starting lineup for the time being.

This comes a day after LaFleur said he did not believe Johnson suffered a serious injury in Sunday’s loss to the Seahawks. The loss of Johnson would be another blow to a secondary that is already short Garrett Williams (Achilles) and also lost Max Melton (toe) in Week 2. Johnson leads all Cardinals DBs with 111 snaps through the first two weeks, and he appeared on 722 snaps last season. We’ll likely get a clearer timeline for Johnson’s absence in the coming days.

Left guard Kayode Awosika (fibula), who has started each of the team’s first two games this season, will also miss some time, per Harbaugh. The Chargers already placed TEs Charlie Kolar (forearm) and David Njoku (fibula) on injured reserve, so it’s safe to assume Tomlinson and Awosika are looking at shorter absences given the team’s decision to leave them on the active roster at this time. Tomlinson has totaled eight tackles and a half sack in the two games he has appeared in, on 65 defensive snaps. Awosika was replaced by former first-round pick Trevor Penning, who will likely step in as the starting left guard until Awosika returns.

We don’t yet know when Kolar could return, but he will have to miss at least the next four games now that he’s on injured reserve. Kolar was seeing a decent workload during the first two weeks of the season, as his 72 snaps led all Chargers tight ends, while his 24 routes run were only one fewer than David Njoku’s 25. With Njoku (fibula) also on injured reserve, Oronde Gadsden could be in line for a significant workload over the next several weeks.

Njoku was unable to put any weight on his right leg and was carted from the field in Sunday’s loss to the Raiders. Njoku has caught six passes for 67 scoreless yards for the Chargers in his first two games with the team and led all tight ends on the roster with 25 routes run. He’ll have to miss at least the next four games now that he’s landed on IR, but we should have a better sense of his return timeline in the coming days.

Goedert avoided a serious injury, but the veteran tight end will still be sidelined for a few weeks. It’s a blow to an Eagles passing game that has struggled coming out of the gate, as Goedert has already tallied five receptions for 81 yards and two touchdowns in the first six quarters of football he has played this season. Veteran TE Johnny Mundt should be the favorite to replace Goedert going forward; he stepped in to play 49 snaps against the Titans. Mundt has 76 career receptions in 116 games and shouldn’t be viewed as an option to replace Goedert in fantasy leagues.

Flowers is one of multiple injured players who Minter said could play in Week 3. Flowers missed Week 2’s game against the Saints after reaggravating his hamstring injury in Week 1 against the Colts, but he was able to practice in a limited capacity to close out the week. We’ll see how he fares this week when the Ravens release their first injury report, but it sounds like the star receiver is trending in the right direction. In addition to Flowers, Minter also said DT Nnamdi Madubuike (neck) and LB Teddye Buchanan (knee) could also return agains the Cowboys.