NFL Player News

Elliss gets $23 million guaranteed in a contract carrying a max value up to $39 million. He returns to New Orleans, where he spent the first four years of his career as a backup. Spending the last three seasons as a starter for the Falcons, the 30-year-old tallied 3.5 sacks in 2025 with an 83.6 PFF pass rush grade, No. 4 among linebackers. Elliss will slot in as a starter with Demario Davis leaving the Saints this offseason.

Robinson was likely only involved as much as he was because the Falcons ran the ball 31 times, compared to just 22 pass attempts, with Cooper Rush under center. Brian Robinson looked fine and broke some tackles, but he is not a threat to steal meaningful touches from Bijan Robinson.

Moore also added a long 46-yard DPI penalty in the end zone to get the Bills their second touchdown of the game. The catch wasn’t anything fancy, but Texans S Reed Blankenship tried to jump the ball and once Moore caught it there was nobody behind him. It is worth noting that Moore left late in the game to the medical tent, it looked like he was rolled up on during James Cook’s late-game fumble, but he did return to play. We’ll be monitoring for Moore on the early injury reports ahead of Week 2’s TNF showdown with the Lions, but he’s an obvious Week 1 success story as the team’s leading receiver. He’ll be on the WR2/WR3 line if everything is fine, as we suspect it will be.

London also added six yards on one rush as the Falcons looked to do anything to get the ball in the hands of their best receiver. The 25-year-old was an absolute non-factor in this one, largely because Cooper Rush was highly inefficient and ineffective under center. The role is not in question though. London played 60 of the team’s 61 snaps and ran a route on 28 of their 29 dropbacks. However, he will be tough to trust with Cooper Rush (and probably even Tua Tagovailoa) under center. London has a much better matchup next week against the Panthers, but there is some fear that he’s more of a WR2 option until Michael Penix (knee) returns.

Smith “added” six rushes for seven yards. Although it was not a productive day in fantasy football, it was a highly encouraging one in “real life.” At least for one game, the Jets’ blocking was 10x better than what Smith experienced in Las Vegas last season, and he took advantage by taking zero sacks and hitting several down-field passes to his talented skill corps. Three different receivers generated gains of 30-plus yards, but Omar Cooper Jr.'s was more of a catch-and-run. Unfortunately, the rookie injured his ankle in the process. Smith is going to be a “highs and lows” quarterback in even the best of years, but there is now reason to believe 2026 will not be all lows like 2025 was with the Raiders. The Packers will be a tougher opponent for the Jets’ home opener in week 2.

The Bears broke scoring records in their Week 1 demolition of the Panthers but Loveland — leading the team in pass routes — was largely invisible. Caleb Williams missed a wide open Loveland in the middle of the field in the second half and nearly connected with his second-year tight end in the end zone. Cole Kmet, meanwhile, ran about half of the Bears’ routes and turned three targets into two catches for 35 yards and a score. Loveland is almost certain to bounce back in Week 2 against the Vikings.

Abdullah rotated into the game as the Jaguars’ third running back, showing some burst with 32 yards on four carries. He won’t see enough opportunities to reach fantasy relevancy but will mix in to spell Bhayshul Tuten and Chris Rodriguez. LeQuint Allen was active but coming off a hip injury, seeing just one snap on the day. As Allen gets healthier, Abdullah could see less opportunities, though neither would be fantasy relevant barring a Tuten or Rodriguez injury.

To say Bijan Robinson was the majority of the team’s offense would be an understatement. He had 173 of the team’s 238 total yards and 29 of the 43 touches by any skill player. He played on 47 of the team’s 61 total snaps and only lost carries to Brian Robinson because the team couldn’t possibly continue to ride Bijan Robinson any more than they were. His involvement in the short passing game, especially given who will be at quarterback, makes Bijan Robinson seemingly matchup-proof for fantasy purposes.

Cook had two yards on the game’s first drive, but the game eventually skewed pass-heavy for the Bills and Josh Allen had the game’s only two rushing touchdowns. Per PFF’s early charting data, Cook had 41 of the 57 snaps and almost all the work ahead of Ray Davis and Frank Gore Jr. Assuming Ty Johnson remains out on a short week against the Lions in Week 2, Cook will remain a touch-dominator on the RB1 line and will have a chance for a better touchdown runout.

Ward also took three sacks for 13 yards. His touchdown was a too little, too late 11-yard strike to Elic Ayomanor with the Titans trailing 23-3 at the 2:42 mark of the fourth quarter. As was the case down the stretch last season, Ward did a good job of avoiding turnovers, but he struggled to generate positive plays of any kind. He was besieged by pressure, but he just wasn’t making anything happen. That could come in time — there’s a new experienced play-caller in Brian Daboll and several new weapons in the skill corps — but this was a highly discouraging start to the year at home vs. a not-exactly-amazing Jets defense. It was certainly confirmation that Ward is on the outside looking in of top-24 status in superflex leagues for the time being. The Eagles are a rough Week 2 matchup, though also at home.

Perhaps Rush was still feeling the effects of the back spasms that he experienced on Saturday, but the veteran did not look good on Sunday. He attempted just five passes longer than 10 yards downfield and was 2-for-5 on those passes. Even when the pocket was clean, Rush wasn’t really driving the ball down the field, even with the Steelers daring him to do it. The Falcons gained just 238 yards on the day, and it’s tough to have any confidence in the pass-catchers with Rush under center. He’ll look to bounce back with an easier game against the Panthers next week.