Help is on the way for the Rams receiving corps, but the club likely still has to get through the rest of the month.
Head coach Sean McVay told reporters in his Wednesday news conference that Davante Adams could return after the team plays Green Bay in Week 12. That would put Adams on track for the Thursday night matchup against the Chiefs in Week 13.
“We’re optimistic Davante’s return is sooner than later, which is a big deal to us,” McVay said, via Greg Beacham of the Associated Press.
McVay added that he thinks Adams’ return after the Week 12 Wednesday contest against Green Bay “is a realistic timeline for us.”
The Rams will play the Cardinals on Sunday before an abbreviated Week 11 bye. They’ll host the Packers on Wednesday night in Week 12 for the league’s first “Thanksgiving Eve” game.
Adams has been sidelined since suffering his hamstring injury in the Oct. 18 loss to the Cardinals. He’s caught 30 passes for 480 yards with four touchdowns so far in 2026.
Adams’ absence is further magnified by Puka Nacua suffering a knee injury late in Sunday’s win over the Commanders. Nacua will be out for an extended period of time.
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The Cardinals have designated defensive lineman Zach Carter and tight end Hunter Long to return from injured reserve, the team announced Wednesday.
Both players will practice with the team Tuesday, and the Cardinals can activate them to the 53-man roster at any time during the next 21 days.
Carter’s leg was rolled up in the Hall of Fame Game, injuring his knee. He joined the Cardinals last year and played four games, totaling 13 tackles.
With Roy Lopez nursing a toe injury, Carter could quickly make his way back to the defensive line rotation.
The Cardinals lost Long after a collision on a special teams play against the Giants in Week 4 njured his knee.
The Cardinals promoted Teagan Quitoriano from the practice squad to fill his role in 13 personnel packages. With the team parting ways with Rivaldo Fairweather from the practice squad earlier this week, Long might be able to return sooner than later.
Long had two receptions for 15 yards after the Cardinals acquired him from the Jaguars.
In addition, the team has signed offensive lineman Jamaree Salyer to the practice squad.
It looks like the 49ers will be without wide receiver Mike Evans for at least one more game.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan said at his Wednesday press conference that Evans will remain out of practice on Wednesday. The wideout has been dealing with Achilles tendinitis.
Shanahan said that Evans’s timeline to return to action is week-to-week, which suggests that he won’t be in consideration to play against the Cowboys this weekend. The 49ers host the Vikings and Seahawks after their trip to Dallas.
The 49ers traded for Keenan Allen on Tuesday and they could get Deebo Samuel back in the lineup this week. Samuel is set to practice after missing three games with a hamstring injury.
Cornerbacks Renardo Green (back) and Deommodore Lenoir (foot) are also out of the team’s first practice of the week.
As expected, Cardinals rookie Carson Beck will make his first start at quarterback on Sunday against the Rams after Gardner Minshew suffered an elbow injury that requires surgery last week.
Head coach Mike LaFleur told reporters in his Wednesday press conference that he’s “real excited for Carson” to have this opportunity.
“Just go out and operate — go operate this offense and go play each play as its own,” LaFleur said of his message to the young QB. “Do what he’s been doing in practice. It’s just an extension of the practice field. Obviously, it’s live bullets and go operate. Go play this game.”
Beck has not yet made a regular-season appearance. But he did have an impressive preseason debut in the Hall of Fame game back in August before being sidelined by a rib injury.
LaFleur said he feels like Beck is ready to play.
“You never really know until you get to the live bullets on Sunday,” LaFleur said. “But just the way he goes about his business, whether it’s been from OTAs through training camp before he got hurt, obviously, seeing him operate there in that first half plus the one possession in the second half [of the Hall of Fame game].
“So, obviously we’ll know more come Sunday, but have all the confidence he’s ready to roll.”
Micah Parsons is set to take another step back toward the Packers lineup this week.
Parsons did individual work in his return to practice last week and head coach Matt LaFleur said on Wednesday that the team expects him to take part in 11-on-11 work during practice this week.
“That is the plan,” LaFleur said at a press conference.
Thursday will be the first day that Parsons can get involved in team work. LaFleur spoke ahead of Wednesday’s practice, which was held at a jog-through pace and LaFleur said Parsons would not participate due to an illness.
Green Bay has a bye in Week 11, which has led to their Wednesday night game against the Rams in Week 12 being circled as the likely date of Parsons’s first game since tearing his ACL last December. A successful return to team drills will make that scenario even likelier.
The Panthers designated three players for return from injured reserve on Wednesday and they got a couple of other starters back on the practice field as well.
Left guard Damien Lewis and linebacker Jaelan Phillips were both full participants in practice. Lewis missed the last two games with a knee injury and Phillips has missed the last three games with a hamstring injury.
Running back Jonathon Brooks (groin), cornerback Mike Jackson (groin), and wide receiver Xavier Legette (knee) were full participants after being designated for return. Cornerback Will Lee (hamstring), guard Torricelli Simpkins (ankle), offensive lineman Brady Christensen (hamstring), defensive tackle Lee Hunter (calf), and running back Trevor Etienne (ankle) also got in full practice sessions.
Linebacker Bobby Okereke (foot) and running back Chuba Hubbard (rest) were the only Panthers to miss practice.
The Vikings traded a third-round pick for Kirk Cousins on Tuesday because they need to improve their quarterback play, but head coach Kevin O’Connell stopped short of saying that Cousins will jump immediately into the lineup this week.
Cousins is familiar with O’Connell’s offense because of his previous stint playing for him with the Vikings and O’Connell said on Wednesday that will help speed up the acclimation process. He added that there are some differences from when Cousins was last with the team in 2023 and that he wants “to be fair to Kirk and make sure he feels good about it,” but that “we acquired Kirk to join a 6-2 football team and play.”
“I do think it’s still too early to commit wholeheartedly to what the plan on Sunday looks like, but I will say [I’m] excited about the opportunity of spending every minute we can between now and then to get him comfortable and allow him to play for us this Sunday,” O’Connell said.
The Packers are surely preparing for Cousins to be Minnesota’s quarterback on Sunday and it would be a surprise if anyone else is under center, but everyone will have to wait a little longer for confirmation of the Vikings’ plan.
On Tuesday, the Bengals backed out of a trade for edge rusher Arnold Ebiketie after it was revealed that the deal might cost Cincinnati with a future compensatory draft pick.
During his Wednesday press conference, head coach Zac Taylor explained the situation from the perspective of Bengals director of player personnel — and de facto General Manager — Duke Tobin.
“Obviously, we tried something yesterday,” Taylor said. “Duke was very explicit with me when he came and spoke to me about how he wanted this portrayed. I’m not comfortable doing it, but I’m going to do what he asked. We did make an effort to put some depth in there in place of Cashius [Howell]. As we got into it, it was going to be more costly than we initially anticipated.
“He’s really apologetic about it and wants it made clear — Philly was a great trade partner. It was on our end. Certainly, we have a ton of confidence in our front office and how they do things. They’ve given us the players that have allowed us to be 6-2 right now, and playing at such a high level. So, we’ll put that behind us and move forward, and just get excited for this game on Sunday. Our locker room is in a great place right now.”
Taylor noted Tobin didn’t really tell him how everything went down and he didn’t ask the question.
“It doesn’t really matter to me. It probably took three minutes of my day yesterday away from watching tape,” Taylor said. “So, got a lot of faith in how those guys operate and we’ll just move forward with it.”
With that, the Bengals didn’t make any deadline moves to improve the team. Taylor said he and Tobin like where the team is.
“I think you can talk to the players in the locker room, they really like where we’re at,” Taylor said. “So, this is a team with a lot of confidence right now. I know it’s a fun period of time — the weeks leading up to the trade deadline — for fans … but the truth is, we really like where we’re at. Our guys are playing with a high degree of confidence and we’ll continue to move forward.”
Before the season, the Dolphins named six team captains. Three of those six are now on injured reserve, which left an opening that defensive end Josh Uche will fill.
Dolphins head coach Jeff Hafley announced today that Uche was chosen after consulting with the other team captains, who felt Uche was deserving of wearing the C on his jersey.
“They came to me and they wanted to name another captain, so I listened, and we named Josh Uche a captain today,” Hafley said. “A guy who has really done a tremendous job on and off the field. He is another guy who has been an outstanding leader for our young guys. He’s a guy who last year toward the end of the season was not even active, and now he’s a guy that people have to game plan around. He’s playing the run well, getting his pressures and his sacks, and he’s been an unbelievable teammate and great help to me.”
Dolphins quarterback Malik Willis, running back De’Von Achane and defensive lineman Zach Sieler are all captains who are now on injured reserve. In addition to Uche, the captains still on the active roster are left tackle Patrick Paul, center Aaron Brewer and linebacker Jordyn Brooks.
Packers head coach Matt LaFleur was Kirk Cousins’ position coach when the quarterback came into the league.
Now the two are set to match up on opposite sidelines again after the Raiders traded Cousins to the Vikings on Tuesday.
LaFleur told reporters in his Wednesday press conference that he’s expecting Cousins to start Sunday’s matchup between Minnesota and Green Bay.
“Yeah, he’ll be out there. He’ll be starting. Fairly confident in that,” LaFleur said. “Obviously, he’s got familiarity with their system. Even if he didn’t, he’s a really intelligent guy and I think he’s been playing at a high level.”
What did make LaFleur raise an eyebrow was the trade compensation, as Minnesota sent a third-round pick to Las Vegas for Cousins.
“I was surprised they didn’t get more for him, quite honestly — I was shocked what they traded him for,” LaFleur said. “It was mind-blowing to me.”
While Cousins played under Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell in 2023 and 2024, LaFleur said what Cousins has been doing with the Raiders this year still has relevance when putting together this week’s game plan.
“You definitely watch some of that, see what he’s had success with, what he’s comfortable with,” LaFleur said. “Obviously, he’s got a long track record with that offense with all those years in Minnesota with Kevin. And [there are still] a lot of the key pieces that were there with him.”
In nine games for the Raiders this year, Cousins completed 64.1 percent of his passes for 2,340 yards with 20 touchdowns and eight interceptions.
