NFL Player News

It was Nico Collins that took advantage of the Chiefs early as the Texans built a 10-0 lead before the half, with the talented wide receiver erupting for 121 first-half yards after Kansas City shutdown corner Trent McDuffie departed with injury. The team’s pass volume dried up after the break due to positive game script, with Schultz ending with a disappointing 22 yards on the evening. In fairness, he did have a touchdown taken off the board in the first half by an illegal formation penalty. Up next is a Cardinals opponent the Texans should be able to move the football against, although volume could once again be an issue for the veteran tight end.

Always good to get that out of the way early. Hendrickson hasn’t played since October 26 and per Taylor will visit a specialist. We’d be surprised if we see Hendrickson again this season barring a miracle Bengals playoff run.

Hopkins has run nine or fewer routes in five games this season, and tied a season-low in Week 14’s loss to the Steelers when he ran a whole seven routes. It would seem that more snaps and routes would go a long way in getting Hopkins more involved with the offense, but we can’t be too sure. Hopkins hasn’t seen more than four targets in any game this season, and last topped 50 yards in Week 2. The Ravens have a Week 15 game against the Bengals on tap in what is effectively an elimination game. We’ll see if the Ravens actually get Hopkins more involved, or if this is another meaningless coach quote that falls by the wayside.

Being suspended for this week’s game was the last straw for Burton, who can have the final two years and change of his rookie deal claimed off waivers if any other team is amenable to it. We’d doubt that happens based on how prolonged the turmoil of his off-field habits remained a story in Cincinnati. (It has to be pretty bad to be a constant story in Cincinnati.) Burton ends his Bengals career with four catches for 107 yards on 14 targets, none of which happened this season as he fell behind Mitchell Tinsley.

We’d be surprised if London practiced today based on this quote, but the Falcons don’t need to release the injury report yet. With a Thursday game coming to lead off Week 15, London will get some star-level benefit of the doubt if he’s anywhere close, but the inability to even practice since suffering the injury leads us to believe he starts the week on the pessimistic side of questionable.

“From the sounds of it,” Indy Star’s Joel A. Erickson reports, “Richardson hasn’t been cleared to return yet.” It’s possible based on this update that Richardson could play later in the season for those of you looking to superflex stash a rushing quarterback. But there’s obviously no guarantee that he’ll return at this point.

Again. As in: For the third time this season. Woof. It would not be surprising if this was a season-ender for Ward. He did play 61 of 64 snaps against the Jaguars, so he apparently either played through symptoms or they developed after the game. It’s become a lost season for Ward, one of the Colts big-money signings this offseason.

According to NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo, Blu Kelly did not suffer any ligament damage, which is a good sign. The former fifth-round pick from the 2023 draft class played his way into a starting role for the Raiders this season and has totaled 40 tackles, three interceptions, and six pass breakups while making eight starts.

Leonard has a knee injury that was diagnosed after the game that Steichen said he is “working through.” He played to the very end of the Colts snaps against the Jaguars, so either he played on it or injured it on his final run to the end zone. The lone remaining quarterback on the roster is, you guessed it, Brett Rypien. We’ll probably get a better sense of how much urgency the Colts have based on how many quarterback workouts get scheduled this week, but this is getting dire in a hurry.

We’ll keep an eye out for the practice reports this week, but Mitchell should have a shot to play in Week 15 based on this news. He’ll be a viable FLEX option, if he plays, in what amounts to an elimination game between the Bengals and Ravens.

Mims has just four targets since October 19. The meaning of “more” would appear almost limitless when weighed against that. Still, for those of you holding on in dynasty leagues as the third-year receiver fell behind Pat Bryant, this could be the little bit of hope you needed to realize “wait, Marvin Mims was still on my roster?”