PFT Clips
Vikings running back Aaron Jones finished last Sunday’s win over the Bears with a brace on his knee and the issue was bothering him enough on Monday that he missed practice.
Jones ran 23 times for 105 yards in the 9-3 Vikings win and head coach Kevin O’Connell said that the team will we see how things play out over the next few days before making a call on Sunday’s game against the Buccaneers.
“He feels great. He’s bouncing around the building like normal, but it’s more so the knee,” O’Connell said at his press conference. “Just allowing that thing to turn over. He feels pretty good. We’ll just keep getting treatment around the clock and see if we can pick up his workload as the week goes on.”
Jordan Mason is on injured reserve and DeeJay Dallas was limited with a toe injury, which leaves sixth-round pick Demond Claiborne as the only healthy back on the active roster.
Linebacker Jake Golday (ankle) and punter Brett Thorson (right hamstring) also missed practice. Defensive lineman Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins (oblique), right tackle Brian O’Neill (knee), defensive lineman Jalen Redmond (elbow), and center Nick Samac (knee) were limited participants.
Giants pass rusher Brian Burns said after Monday night’s loss to the Rams that his low ankle sprain was “nothing serious.” But it is probably serious enough to keep him out at least this week.
Burns is likely to miss some time, according to Adam Schefter.
The 28-year-old Burns is one of the Giants’ best defensive players, losing him was a big blow, on a night when the offense suffered an even bigger blow with the loss of quarterback Jaxson Dart, who will miss the rest of the regular season with a knee injury.
The Giants traded for Burns in 2024 and signed him to a five-year, $141 million contract. He has started every game for the Giants since then, and last year he had a career-high 16.5 sacks.
Buccaneers first-round pick Rueben Bain missed the team’s first practice of the week on Wednesday.
Bain suffered a groin injury in last Sunday’s loss to the Browns. The linebacker also dealt with a shoulder injury this summer and he has recorded one tackle on 76 snaps so far this season.
Linebackers Anthony Nelson (shin) and Josiah Trotter (shoulder) also missed practice on Wednesday. Bain and Nelson are join on the edges by Yaya Diaby, Al-Quadin Muhammad, David Walker, and Yasir Holmes.
Quarterback Baker Mayfield (illness), wide receiver Jalen McMillan (knee), and cornerback Jacob Parrish (back) were all listed as full participants ahead of Sunday’s game against the Vikings.
Giants coach John Harbaugh confirmed starting quarterback Jaxson Dart is out for the regular season. Jameis Winston will assume the role of starter, but Harbaugh said the Giants will add another quarterback.
“We will,” Harbaugh said, via video from SNY Giants. “We plan on doing that, absolutely. Can’t say who at this point. We’re working on that.”
Harbaugh, who said he prefers adding a veteran, did not rule out acquiring a quarterback via trade.
“All options are open,” Harbaugh said, via Jordan Raanan of ESPN.
Jake Haener is the Giants’ only other healthy quarterback besides Winston, and Haener’s only experience is eight games, including one start, with the Saints in 2024.
Earlier today on PFT, Mike Florio laid out the options the Giants have for adding a veteran quarterback.
The Cowboys rank 29th defensively, and to add injury to insult, they have three starters and a key reserve out of practice.
Cornerback Cobie Durant (hamstring), safety Malik Hooker (forearm), safety P.J. Locke (foot) and linebacker DeMarvion Overshown (hamstring) did not practice on Wednesday. That does not bode well for their availability for Sunday’s game against the Ravens in Brazil.
Durant started the first two games and played 87 snaps; Hooker started the season opener and played only 12 snaps before his injury; Locke started the Week 2 game and has played 31 defensive snaps and 11 on special teams; and Overshown started the season opener and played 51 defensive snaps and three on special teams before his injury.
Outside linebacker James Houston (shoulder) was a full participant Wednesday.
At a press conference before the Bengals practiced on Wednesday, head coach Zay Taylor said that he wasn’t sure how much quarterback Joe Burrow would be able to do at practice.
As it turns out, Taylor was either overly anxious about Burrow’s health or attempting some gamesmanship. Videos from the open portion of practice showed Burrow working without any limitations and the team did not list him on the injury report at all. That suggests he’s full speed ahead for this Sunday’s game against the Steelers.
Burrow was listed as questionable in Week 2 because of a back injury and could be heard telling teammates during the game that a hit from Texans defensive end Will Anderson popped his rib back into place.
Defensive tackles Jonathan Allen (knee) and B.J. Hill (Achilles) were both out of practice. Wide receiver Andrei Iosivas (thumb) also missed practice and he will miss at least four games after going on injured reserve.
With the Steelers facing the Bengals this weekend — and receivers Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins — it would be helpful to have cornerback Joey Porter Jr. on the field.
Yet again, it appears he won’t be playing. And the situation seems to be settling into a week-to-week lather/rinse/repeat of limited practice time (if any) and no game appearances.
On Wednesday, coach Mike McCarthy wasn’t even asked about Porter during the midweek media availability. On one hand, it’s easy to justify the absence of a question by assuming that it would have promoted the same-old response about being optimistic he’ll play (or whatever). On the other hand, the questions badly need to change.
How frustrating is it that no progress is being made?
Is injured reserve being considered?
Do the Steelers believe Porter is actually injured, or do they suspect he is declining to play because he doesn’t have a contract?
No one wants to call this what it is. It’s a hold-in that has lingered into the season. Porter is doing what former Cowboys linebacker Micah Parsons was ready to do in 2025. Once the Cowboys realized it was going to go that way, they quickly traded Parsons.
For the Steelers, there are only two ways out of this maze. Pay him, or trade him.
Playing hardball is possibly becoming harder to accomplish each week, since the Steelers are publishing injury reports that represent to the world that Porter is injured. (Today, the stated reason was “conditioning.”) If, at some point, the Steelers suddenly say “enough,” they may have to answer for weeks of possibly embellished injury reports.
Either way, it could get ugly if/when the Steelers decide to squeeze Porter to play. At some point, however, the situation becomes sufficiently obvious to be ridiculous.
It’s arguably already at that point.
And, again, there are only two good ways to fix it. Pay him, or trade him.
Ravens defensive tackle Nnamdi Madubuike injured his neck in Week 2 last season and has not seen the field since. He could return this week.
Madubuike was a full participant at Wednesday’s practice, marking the first time he has participated in team drills in more than a year.
In the first two weeks, he was limited in practice and inactive on game day.
Linebacker Teddye Buchanan (knee) also had his first full practice of the season.
The Ravens were without three starters at Wednesday’s practice, with wide receiver Zay Flowers (hamstring), outside linebacker Trey Hendrickson (finger) and offensive tackle Ronnie Stanley (toe) sitting out.
Wide receiver Chris Moore (ankle), offensive guard John Simpson (groin), safety Malaki Starks (hamstring) and outside linebacker Zion Young (quad) were limited.
Chiefs rookie cornerback Mansoor Delane was active for an emergency situation on Sunday but did not end up playing in the win over the Colts.
He may be in a better position to play this week against the Dolphins.
Delane (shoulder) was officially a full participant for Kansas City’s first practice of Week 3, according to the team’s injury report.
Delane aggravated a previous injury after intercepting Bo Nix during the Week 1 victory over the Broncos. While Delane participated in practice last week, he was full on Wednesday and Thursday before being downgraded to limited on Friday.
While left tackle Josh Simmons (back) did not practice on Wednesday, head coach Andy Reid told reporters in his press conference that he is getting better.
Defensive tackle Chris Jones (calf), defensive end Felix Anudike-Uzomah (quad), defensive back Chamarri Conner (knee), and cornerback L’Jarius Sneed (knee) were all limited on Wednesday.
Linebacker Jeffrey Bassa (shoulder), defensive back Jadon Canady (knee), linebacker Jack Cochrane (calf), defensive back Jaden Hicks (biceps), receiver Rashee Rice (knee), and quarterback Patrick Mahomes (knee) were all full.
Broncos head coach Sean Payton got his chance to address Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald’s comments about a 2024 disagreement between the teams at his Wednesday press conference.
Macdonald said earlier in the day that he called Payton to apologize after comments he intended to be off the record about Payton getting upset about the Seahawks’ use of fan videos from training camp to prepare for a 2024 game went public. Payton said he and Macdonald are good and said he called Seahawks General Manager John Schneider “shooting before I started looking” because he didn’t know how the Seahawks had obtained the videos.
The videos were posted on social media and Payton said that the incident wound up in a positive way because it allowed the Broncos to address videotaping of their practices.
“Talking with them, it allowed us to figure out how to handle our training camp relative to videos,” Payton said. “I don’t think anything was intentional by fans. We did some research online of what was available and that’s kind of how we changed our policy.”
Payton called the entire episode “eye-opening” in terms of how information from open practices can circulate and both sides will likely be sticking to official game tape to prepare for their Week 6 game.
