Broncos wide receiver Jaylen Waddle was back on the practice field Thursday.
The team listed him as a limited participant with the chest injury that kept him from practicing on Wednesday. Waddle aggravated a preexisting condition when he fell on a ball after a botched reverse that head coach Sean Payton called an “awful” playcall after last Sunday’s win over the Cardinals.
Defensive tackle Zach Allen (hamstring) was also back at practice. He was also hurt against Arizona and said after the game that it was not a serious injury. Running back RJ Harvey (knee) was added to the report and joined Waddle and Allen in the limited category.
Left tackle Garret Bolles (hip) and safety Brandon Jones (hamstring) were limited for the second day in a row.
Safety Talanoa Hufanga (ankle) was the only player out of practice. He’s missed the last two games.
Cornerback Pat Surtain II (ankle) has missed the last three games, but was a full participant for the second straight day. Wide receiver Marvin Mims (ankle), linebacker Karine Reid (elbow), and defensive tackle Malcolm Roach (neck) were also full participants.
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The Chiefs added rookie cornerback Mansoor Delane to their injury report Thursday. He was a non-participant with a shoulder injury.
Delane dealt with a shoulder injury in training camp, and he aggravated the injury in Week 1.
The report indicates Delane injured the shoulder in Wednesday’s practice.
Tight end Travis Kelce (ankle) was downgraded to a limited participant Thursday after full participation a day earlier.
Cornerback L’Jarius Sneed (personal/knee) returned to limited work after missing Wednesday’s session.
Wide receiver Rashee Rice (hamstring/knee) was limited for a second consecutive day, as was defensive tackle Omarr Norman-Lott (knee).
Quarterback Patrick Mahomes (knee), center Creed Humphrey (toe) and linebacker Nick Bolton (neck) were among those who had a second consecutive full practice.
Broncos cornerback Patrick Surtain II has missed the past three games with an ankle injury.
He has not played since Week 4 when he was injured against the 49ers.
But Surtain is trending toward a return this week, with a full practice Wednesday. It is his first full practice since Oct. 2.
Safety Talanoa Hufanga (ankle), defensive lineman Zach Allen (hamstring) and wide receiver Jaylen Waddle (chest) did not practice Wednesday. Hufanga injured his ankle in Denver’s Week 5 win over the Chargers and has not played the Broncos’ past two games. Allen and Waddle were injured in the team’s Week 7 win over the Cardinals.
Offensive tackle Garett Bolles (hip) and wide receiver Marvin Mims Jr. (ankle) were limited in Wednesday’s practice, while defensive tackle Malcolm Roach (neck) and inside linebacker Karene Reid (elbow) were full participants.
The Colts are open for business, as evidenced by the Tuesday trades that sent offensive lineman Quenton Nelson to the Seahawks and defensive tackle DeForest Buckner to the 49ers. The next question, with 13 days left in the 2026 trading window, is whether anyone else will be traded.
Running back Jonathan Taylor has emerged as an obvious candidate. His wife has posted no fewer than three videos on the subject in recent days, and Taylor has acknowledged the existence of trade rumors.
Here’s the question that will become more pressing as the week unfolds. If the Colts have decided to take the best offer they get for Taylor — and if they’ve yet to get an offer they like — the process could linger beyond the coming weekend. That will force the Colts to decide whether to play Taylor or whether to hold him out of action.
On Monday night, the opportunity for the Eagles to trade running back Saquon Barkley became complicated by the aggravation of his hamstring injury, followed by a back injury. For all anyone knows, seeing Barkley get injured may have prompted the Colts to move Nelson and Buckner before they suffered an injury, too.
Taylor plays a position that is conducive to injury. If the Colts make him a healthy scratch on Sunday, it will be the most obvious indication that a trade is coming. Unless it happens before then.
The Chiefs signed veteran kicker Justin Tucker to their practice squad on Wednesday, but he’s unlikely to be handling their kicking duties against the Broncos this week.
Harrison Butker has missed five field goals this season and four kicks in the last two weeks, which led to the move to add another option to the roster but head coach Andy Reid said that Butker will “probably” remain the team’s kicker this week. He also said that he believes Butker is aware that won’t remain the case if his performance doesn’t improve.
“He understands the business and how it works,” Reid said. “We had a practice squad position open. For security, we brought him in and put him in that spot that we had open. Butker gets it. He knows that’s part of the business. He’s struggled a little bit. He gets it, he needs to pick it up a little bit.”
Tucker was released by the Ravens in May 2025 after being accused of sexual misconduct by multiple massage therapists and he was suspended 10 games by the league under the Personal Conduct Policy while he was a free agent. Reid said the team has tried to “do our homework” on Tucker’s past and that he “did really well” in a Tuesday workout that led to his signing. Whether he gets a chance to show his skills in a game will likely be determined in large part by how Butker fares this Sunday.
The Chiefs are getting healthier as they try to bounce back from their first loss of the 2026 season.
Head coach Andy Reid told reporters at a Wednesday press conference that the team expects to have wide receiver Rashee Rice and right tackle Jaylon Moore back on the practice field.
Rice missed the last two games and the last two weeks of practice with hamstring and knee injuries. He has 13 catches for 190 yards and a touchdown in his four appearances this season.
Moore was out last week because of a concussion. Last Sunday night’s loss to the Seahawks was the first game he missed this season.
The Broncos won their third straight game last Sunday and linebacker Alex Singleton played a key defensive role in the victory.
Singleton racked up 19 tackles during the 30-16 win over the Cardinals. It’s the most tackles in a game by any player this season and the most tackles by a player in a non-overtime game since 2023. Singleton also had a sack and two quarterback hits in the win.
The NFL announced on Wednesday that Singleton has been named the AFC’s defensive player of the week in recognition of his performance.
It’s the first time that Singleton, who leads the league with 87 tackles this season, has received the weekly prize.
With all the talk about asses and advertisements, it’s easy to forget that a fairly important election is coming in six days.
Plenty of NFL owners are very much aware.
The folks at Front Office Sports have compiled a list of donations made by the people who hold the paper on pro football franchises, based on data from the Federal Election Commission.
The total is more than $18 million, with nearly half of that amount coming from one person. Rob Walton of the Broncos has given $8.95 million, primarily to Republican candidates and political action committees.
New Seahawks owner Vinod Kholsa has given $2.09 million, primarily to Democratic causes. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has donated $1.81 million, primarily to Republican causes. Browns owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam have given $1.56 million, primarily to Republican causes. No other owners have given more than $1 million.
Of the top 12 owners who wrote checks to candidates, 10 of them primarily gave to Republican candidates and PACs. Which makes sense. More than anything else, rich people tend to gravitate toward a political philosophy based on lower taxes.
Broncos head coach Sean Payton criticized himself for the play call that ended with receiver Jaylen Waddle suffering a chest injury.
There’s now more information available about Waddle’s potential availability for Week 8.
Per Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, Waddle suffered an aggravation of his previous chest injury on the play and his status for Sunday’s game against Kansas City will be determined later.
Whether or not he plays will be based on his practice participation this week.
Waddle, who arrived in Denver via offseason trade, has likely not been as productive as the team envisioned in 2026. While he caught eight passes for 138 yards in the Week 2 win over Jacksonville, he has not eclipsed 50 yards in a game since.
In all, Waddle has 26 receptions for 276 yards with one TD through seven games.
The Sunday Splash! report regarding a potential fire sale in Indy was conditioned on the Colts’ performance in their three remaining games before the trade deadline. After only one game, they tapped the “Everything Must Go” sign in the front yard.
Guard Quenton Nelson, as expected, has been traded to the Seahawks. Defensive tackle DeForest Buckner has been traded back to the 49ers, as expected.
So who’s next? Running back Jonathan Taylor has been the focal point of speculation, with ESPN linking him to the Packers, Seahawks, Broncos, and Vikings.
The Vikings got the ultimate opportunity to scout Taylor on Sunday, when he accounted for 110 of the team’s 218 total offensive yards in a 16-10 Minnesota win. Taylor averaged 5.3 yards per carry and went 38 yards for the Colts’ only touchdown of the day.
There’s an obvious incentive to maximize 2027 draft picks, especially with the Colts’ first-rounder committed to the Jets as the back end of the Sauce Gardner trade. But Taylor is under contract for two more years; they may want to keep him until the offseason, giving the next G.M. the opportunity to decide whether to retain Taylor or trade him in March.
Of course, Taylor would have more value now to a team that hopes to augment its roster for a playoff push. Although the Vikings were burned 37 years ago this month by the Herschel Walker trade, it would take much less than the ridiculous haul of picks and players (which became more picks after the Cowboys cut them) to get Taylor.
Taylor could make a huge difference for a team premised on a stout defense. While Aaron Jones and Jordan Mason have proven to be capable options at tailback, Taylor is among the best in the league. He has the power and speed to move the chains and, when given an opening, go the distance.
Whatever happens with Taylor, it’s clear the Colts aren’t waiting to see what happens over the next two weekends. In a deadline-driven business, the timeline for the Colts isn’t being driven by the deadline. It’s being determined by getting deals done now and moving on.
