NFL Player News

Jones missed Weeks 13-18 and the playoffs with the neck injury, which appears to be quite serious. Dylan Cook started Pittsburgh’s playoff game against the Texans and would appear to be the reasonable depth headed into the season if Jones — on the final year of his rookie contract — isn’t able to go from the jump.

Jordan Mason led the Minnesota backfield with eight rushes (for 20 yards) while Jones remained the team’s preferred pass-catching option out of the backfield. Jones was battling a knee injury headed into the game and did not appear to be 100 percent against Detroit. He’ll be a deep league flex option in Week 9 against the Bills.

Ridley was active after dealing with a hip injury this week, seeing the fourth-most snaps among Titans wide receivers. He finished the game with a drop and one reception. The veteran is a candidate to be traded but has not been offering much by way of fantasy production. Ridley can be left on fantasy benches heading into the Titans’ Week 9 bye.

Washington also added a 10-yard rush. Extremely disappointing volume coming out of the Jaguars’ bye week, but no Jag commanded more than three targets in a contest where Trevor Lawrence attempted only 14 throws before taking a fourth quarter breather in a 42-7 blowout. Washington is going to be subject to this kind of risk when the deep-and-dangerous Jags take on more overmatched foes, including now for Week 9 as the Ravens come to town for Thursday Night Football with their No. 2 or 3 quarterback under center. You always fire up Washington as a WR2, but he’s probably not going to stuff the stat sheet on Thursday evening.

Mason led the team in carries, as Aaron Jones — who came into the game with a knee issue — saw five rushing attempts on the day. Jones remained the team’s pass-catching option out of the backfield while Mason could not get anything going on the ground against a middling Lions rush defense. Mason, who had 15 carries last week, will remain a touchdown-dependent RB3 option in Week 9 against the Bills.

Pitts’ 20 percent target share would have been good for at least TE2 fantasy numbers on a normal day. This game was anything but normal. Pitts and Jahan Dotson were the only Falcons pass-catchers with multiple receptions. Michael Penix only completed eight passes, so there simply wasn’t enough production to go around. He was intercepted four times and the Falcons were shut out. Pitts role as a PPR merchant should tick back up in Week 9 versus the Bengals. He will be back in the TE2 mix for that contest.

Pollard had his second-straight multi-touchdown game, scoring the first touchdown of the game on a 40-yard scamper with multiple missed tackles and a stiff-arm in the first quarter. With Tyjae Spears out, Pollard was the only Titans running back that got touches. He recovered his own fumble in the second half and added a one-yard score in the third quarter. He was also dropped for a safety in the third quarter on a head-scratching delayed hand-off to give the Bengals two points. Pollard enters the Titans’ Week 9 bye with several trade rumors swirling; if he is still in Tennessee, Pollard is a fantasy RB2 for Week 10.

As if that inefficiency was not enough, Warren also batted a late second quarter target into the air for an “interception” that turned into a 92-yard Jaguars touchdown. Brutal stuff, not that it’s anything new in a season where Warren has only two touchdowns and is averaging an abysmal 6.8 yards per reception. Daniel Jones is not playing well, but his seemingly inevitable benching would only make things worse with Anthony Richardson and Riley Leonard as the “alternatives.” Warren will be a low-end TE1 for Week 9 against the Cowboys. That is at least an A+ matchup.

St. Brown added ten yards on a carry, which was actually a running catch on a play in which St. Brown lined up fifteen yards behind the line of scrimmage and got a running start like you might see in the CFL. He had a touchdown catch called back in the first half and had to go to the locker room with what looked to be a knee issue. It was only the second time this season St. Brown was held to less than 60 yards. He came into Week 8 ranked fourth in expected fantasy points per game. St. Brown takes on the Bills in Week 9.

With the Colts losing 28-0 at halftime and 42-7 going into the fourth quarter, there simply wasn’t any run to be established. Daniel Jones also short-circuited two drives with interceptions, further limiting volume in a game where it was already exceedingly difficult to come by. You could question why Taylor even played at all as trade rumors swirl ahead of the Nov. 10 deadline, but that will be a bigger question mark in Week 9 against the Cowboys. That’s a far better matchup than the Jaguars, so even if Taylor remains in limbo, you will have no choice but to fire him up for what could be his final game in a Colts uniform.