NFL Player News

Perine got the Bengals’ backfield scoring started with a four-yard touchdown run in the second quarter, but then Chase Brown got the next three. Wild. Brown ended up out-touching his veteran backfield mate 16-9. Perine has been much more involved of late, but it’s not creating standalone fantasy value, and it’s somehow not affecting Brown’s. Brown has a plus Week 17 matchup in the Cardinals while Perine remains off the radar.

The Saints added Tipton to the squad in 2024 as an undrafted free agent. Injuries and a trade allowed him to work his way into the wide receiver rotation late in the year, though he caught just 11-of-17 targets for 76 yards and rushed four times for 18 yards. He also returned 12 kicks for 378 yards and will likely chip in as a returner again next season. He has one year remaining on his contract. He is highly unlikely to be a fantasy contributor in 2026.

Smith suffered an ankle injury that kept him out of Weeks 13-15, coinciding with the Chiefs losing their grip on a wild card spot. He had the worst season of his career per PFF grading, making it to just a 68.5 overall grade. He did notably play worse with the ankle injury in Weeks 12, 16, and 17. Smith remains a long-term building block for Kansas City’s line, but this ends a rough season for him.

Nobody in this passing game needs to be played given the Chris Olodokun of it all. Yes, even against the Raiders. Worthy is probably more of a WR4 or WR5 if active for Week 18.

It’s an aggressive listing considering he just started practicing on Thursday. We’d be surprised if Adams was active, but we suppose we can’t rule out Sean McVay giving him a little open run and seeing where he’s at against the Cardinals. We’ll get better reports closer to the pre-game, but we would break ties against Adams if at all possible even if he’s available against Arizona.

Corum did not practice in either of the first two sessions of this week, so this feels like a wildly optimistic tag. We don’t have Los Angeles’ practice report for today yet, but we’d expected a limited session at best for Corum. He feels like game-time decision from where we stand on Friday.

Williams has done more at practice than fellow questionable Blake Corum, so it would seem more likely that Williams would get the bulk of the carries from where we are today. It’s also possible that Ronnie Rivers or Jarquez Hunter get more involved, despite coach Sean McVay’s claims that he’ll play his starters no matter what happens in the 49ers-Seahawks game. Williams will be on the RB1 line if active.

Kamara has been sidelined since suffering an MCL sprain in Week 12. He played through a multi-week ankle injury before that. Kamara was the subject of early-season trade rumors, but the lifelong Saint reportedly made clear that he wanted to remain in New Orleans. Kamara has one year remaining on his contract, but he may be replaced as the team’s starter in 2026. He was surprisingly phased out of the passing game, while active, in head coach Kellen Moore’s first season. This year, Kamara rushed 131 times for 471 yards and one touchdown, while catching 33-of-39 targets for 186 yards.

Even if he does play, Mooney’s form has been bad enough this year while fighting through injuries that he probably doesn’t need to be in fantasy lineups at this point. You can do better, especially with Drake London and Kyle Pitts also expected to play. Mooney hasn’t cracked 40 yards or scored since November 23.

He was limited in practice for most of the week, but Raheem Morris said he was expected to play. Pitts is a mid-range TE1 given a dearth of options this week, but don’t expect Tampa Bay on Thursday night in Week 18 against the Saints.

He is, per Raheem Morris, expected to play on Sunday. Playing through a PCL sprain that is clearly limiting him, London is probably more of a WR2 this week with the hopes that the volume works out and the Saints’ leaky pass defense gets him some yardage.