NFL

Skoronski underwent an emergency appendectomy earlier this season and has missed the last three games as a result. Now, head coach Mike Vrabel said he expects Skoronski to return to practice this week, leaving the door open for a possible return in Week 5 against the Colts. We’ll know more about Skoronski’s status as practice begins on Wednesday.

Despite all of social media calling for Ridder’s benching in Week 4 against the Jaguars, Smith stuck by his guy through what was arguably the worst start of his career. Ridder took four sacks, threw two interceptions, and led the Falcons to just seven points on the afternoon, looking overmatched throughout much of the day. Despite a willing-and-able veteran in Taylor Heinicke behind him, Smith is willing to stick with Ridder for at least one more week. However, if he struggles in Week 5, it will be interesting to see if Smith opts to start Heinicke in Week 6 against the Commanders, who Heinicke spent the previous three seasons with.

Jenkins was placed on injured reserve in late August and now has 21 days until the team has to make a decision on his return. There’s no reason to think Jenkins won’t be activated at some point within that window, but the team doesn’t need to activate him for Week 5 against the Commanders if they don’t think he’s ready. With the Bears playing on a short week, it’s possible the team could keep him out at least one more game to give him some additional rest ahead of Week 6’s matchup against the Vikings.

On one hand, Johnston did see a season-high in snaps and routes run (22), but it was Josh Palmer (56) and Keenan Allen (49) who were tops amongst Chargers receivers in snaps. Johnston drew just three targets on the day, and turned them into one catch for 18 yards. Johnston appears to be playing primarily in 11-personnel, which could result in limited usage when you consider the Chargers are running out three receivers on about 60 percent of their snaps through four weeks. Johnston is still worth stashing heading into the team’s Week 5 bye, but can’t be trusted in lineups.

Week 4 marked Mattison’s first game sharing a backfield with Cam Akers, but his 69 percent snap share was only a slight drop from the 77 percent snap share he had entering the day. Mattison played well enough with his opportunities on the day, rushing 17 times for 95 yards and will likely serve as the lead back in Week 5 against the Chiefs. Akers turned in a solid 5/40 rushing line, but may need a Mattison implosion before the team considers turning to him on a more consistent basis.

Through the first three weeks of the season, Sanders played on 61 percent of the team’s snaps compared to the 36 percent of snaps Hubbard was in on. That snap share was flipped on its head in Week 4, as Hubbard out-snapped Sanders and finished the day with a 52.8 percent snap share. Hubbard didn’t do much with his touches, totaling 53 yards from scrimmage on 16 touches, but it was a more efficient performance than the 2.0 yards per touch Sanders averaged on the day. Sanders’ fantasy performance has been largely carried by his receiving upside, but Hubbard also ran 17 routes to Sanders’ 13 despite seeing one less target on the day. Fantasy managers in need of added running back depth would be wise to stash Hubbard when waivers comes around this week.

Despite reports that rookie Roschon Johnson “will gradually see an enhanced role” in the offense, Herbert emerged to see a season-high 78 percent of the team’s backfield snaps. His previous high came in Week 2 when he was in on 60 percent of the snaps. In addition to the high snap share, Herbert also ran 26 routes to Johnson’s five, which tied for the second-most routes run in Herbert’s career. Those waiting for Johnson to emerge as the starter could be waiting a little longer, as Herbert was highly efficient with his touches, averaging 5.5 yards per touch and 5.7 yards per carry. Johnson remains a strong handcuff to Herbert but is off the fantasy radar in Week 5 against the Commanders.

It was mentioned earlier that Herbert’s injury is not viewed as a major issue due to it being on his non-throwing hand. Additionally, the Chargers also have a Week 5 bye, giving Herbert nearly two full weeks to heal up before taking the field on Week 6 against the Cowboys on Monday night. We’ll know more about his Week 6 status after we get through Week 5, but we’d expect Herbert to be ready to go in a prime time matchup.

This was the only natural outcome for Claypool, who is reportedly on the trading block after falling out of favor with the team. The Bears won’t be be recouping the 32nd overall pick they gave up to acquire Claypool from the Steelers last season, but the veteran receiver could prove difficult to trade given everything going on. It wouldn’t be surprising to see a team offer up a late Day 3 pick in next year’s draft to take a flier on Claypool, but even that could prove to be too much for the disgruntled receiver.