NFL Player News

JuJu, Xavier Worthy, and Hollywood Brown all saw exactly three targets with Rashee Rice sidelined this week. Smith-Schuster somehow led the trio in catches and yards. He isn’t a fantasy option in his own right, but JuJu is preventing any other wideout from stepping up as the team’s No. 1 receiver. Fantasy managers can ignore all three players for their Week 18 showdown with Las Vegas.

Fant’s potential absence could free up a couple of targets for the Bengals’ remaining tight ends, but none of them are truly fantasy-relevant. Fant himself has not yet produced 45 yards in a game this season. It is a lost season for the 28-year-old veteran.

He’ll be a useful RB2 bet against the Browns in what projects as a good game script for running the football. Warren was limited during Wednesday’s practice, but got in full sessions on Thursday and Friday and appears to be whatever the NFL version of “100 percent” is for the Steelers on Sunday.

Apparently it will be Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Adam Thielen that you’ll want in the Pittsburgh passing game against Cleveland as the Steelers try to make due without the suspended D.K. Metcalf. Pittsburgh also listed Isaac Seumalo (triceps) as questionable after three limited sessions.

He did not practice on Thursday or Friday after apparently receiving the illness for Christmas. Generally players with a questionable status with illnesses play, though it’s possible the Steelers exercise caution if the Ravens lose on Saturday and clinch a playoff spot for Pittsburgh.

He was limited in practice all three days this week, but apparently wasn’t quite ready yet. Steelers beats believe he will talk to reporters next week. It’s possible Watt misses Week 18 if the Steelers clinch a playoff spot on Saturday or Sunday.

Riley Patterson has been kicking in Sanders’ stead all year, converting 24-of-26 field goals and 31-of-32 extra points. Although the conversion rates are good, he lacks the requisite kick volume for K1 treatment. We do not know which player will be active on game day, but Sanders remained limited in practice all week.

A knee injury ended Moreau’s 2024 season and kept him sidelined this year in Weeks 1-4. He appeared in 11 games this season, catching 7-of-10 targets for 70 yards. He turns 29 this summer and is an impending free agent. Even if he signs with a team this summer, he does not need to be considered in re-draft formats next year.

Jonathan Gannon, notably, is described as being “on shakier ground” in Breer’s answer to a mailbag question about the future of the Cardinals. Ossenfort remaining the GM could mean there’s little chance of Kyler Murray returning to the team in 2026, as he drafted Jacoby Brissett with the Patriots and brought him on board in Arizona this past offseason. Gannon’s Cardinals have lost 12 of their last 13 games to fall from 2-0 to 3-12 ahead of Week 17’s clash with the similarly disappointing Bengals.

It seems like the Texans just didn’t have any snaps for Watson with Braxton Berrios already a weekly healthy scratch. He finishes the year with three catches for 30 yards in two games for the Texans and is on the hook for a $2.75 million cap figure in 2026, the final year of his contract.

This leaves RB Audric Estime as the nominal starter, though TE Taysom Hill logged 16 touches to Estime’s eight last week. The Saints apparently wanted to feature Hill in Week 16, in what could be his final home game as a Saint. Projecting each player’s Week 17 role is difficult. Neither one should be considered a confident play, though the Titans’ defense is unimposing.