NFL Player News

After staying away from the team during voluntary workouts, Pickens is officially in the facilities and “is expected to attend mandatory minicamp this Tuesday, Wednesday, [and] Thursday,” per Machota. The Cowboys franchise tagged Pickens earlier this offseason, but the star receiver is still hoping to secure a long-term deal before the start of this season, although the Cowboys have said they don’t intend to negotiate with him ahead of the July deadline to sign tagged players to multi-year deals. In his first season with the Cowboys, Pickens enjoyed a career year, totaling 93 receptions for 1,429 yards and nine touchdowns — all of which were career-highs. His decision to report to minicamp is a good sign, although that could simply be out of a desire to avoid being fined for his absence. How much he participates in practice over the three-day period will be worth watching as the week unfolds.

Irving was spotted on the sideline for the majority of the fourth quarter. It’s possible that Irving just did something that irked Bowles rather than actually suffering an injury, but given how Irving’s injuries quickly manifested last season, we’re going to want to see that on the official injury report on Wednesday before we dial the status down to “unconcerned.” This news does seem to leave Kenny Gainwell as a lower-priority waiver claim.

According to Fowler, the Panthers are expecting Horn to miss “approximately six-to-12 weeks.” We’ll hopefully get a more accurate timeline from the Panthers in the coming days, but it’s safe to assume Horn will head to injured reserve with a chance to return later in the season. Horn has been solid for the Panthers this season, allowing just five receptions on 10 targets for 63 yards.

It’s likely a season-ending injury for Oliver, although there is some hope he could return late in the season if the Vikings are still in contention. The 29-year-old tight end has been used mostly as a run blocker and has totaled just three receptions for 46 yards this season.

Parsons is nearing a return, but the star pass-rusher isn’t ready to get on the field just yet. LaFleur did say that Parsons has not suffered any setbacks in his recovery, while adding that this is “just part of the process.” Parsons’ return window can be opened at any time, which would then give the Packers a 21-day window to ramp him up before activating him from IR.

As expected, Bateman was reduced back to a lightly used WR2 with Zay Flowers back in the lineup. After going for 7-88-1 on nine targets last week against the Saints, Bateman saw just three targets in Sunday’s win, with one of those resulting in a 31-yard gain. Bateman’s 20 routes run led the Ravens’ in Sunday’s win, but he offers nothing of fantasy value as long as Flowers is in the lineup. Fantasy managers who added him after his Week 2 breakout can send him back to waivers ahead of Week 4’s game against the Titans.

Canales didn’t want to get specific about Young’s status after he took a cleat to the leg, but deferred also to the idea of “other things.” It’s never incredible news to be looking down the barrel of imaging, but Young was able to return and play through the injury on Sunday and this has the feel of an “out of an abundance of concern” test for the 25-year-old quarterback.

In other words, he’s headed to injured reserve. The Cowboys safety room has been besieged by injuries this year, with Malik Hooker also missing time. They don’t have another safety on their practice squad so they may be hunting the tryout circuit on Tuesday.

McMillan suffered a knee injury in the first quarter of Sunday’s loss to the Vikings and did not return to the game. The 24-year-old receiver has played in two games this season but has yet to register a catch on the nine offensive snaps he has played. It’s been a rough two seasons for McMillan, who missed nearly all of last season with a serious neck injury that sidelined him until Week 15.

Sugar, we’re going down swinging. Caley’s offense has been underwhelming so far — though not having Nico Collins for Weeks 2 and 3 hasn’t helped — and there’s a lot of pressure on this Texans offense at this time. In-season offensive coordinator replacements aren’t exactly bets to go well either way, but Caley is going to have to do a lot better over the next 14 weeks if he wants to keep his job after the end of this year.