NFL

Andy Reid never confirmed as such at a presser today — the last three games of the Chiefs season are not exactly a pressing topic right now for some reason — but Minshew replaced Patrick Mahomes after Mahomes tore his ACL in Week 15. A date against the Titans is promising for some superflex QB2 consideration this week, but the Broncos over Christmas in Week 17 will likely be a game where the Chiefs just try to survive on offense.

Buchanan’s impressive rookie season comes to an end. The rookie fourth-rounder played his way into a starting role in training camp and wound up totaling 93 tackles, five TFLs, and one forced fumble in 14 games. Buchanan will now have to undergo surgery and rehab in hopes of being ready for next season, although, given the late nature of his injury, it wouldn’t be surprising if he wasn’t ready by Week 1.

Was there ever any doubt? After nearly five years away from the game, Rivers was thrown into the fire in Week 15 against a top-ranked Seahawks defense and nearly came away with the victory. Rivers knows Steichen’s offense after years of playing in his system and is widely viewed by Steichen and the staff as the best man for the job. He’ll have a slightly easier matchup on tap against the Niners in Week 16.

Glenn’s delayed decision to name a starter could be due to injuries, as Justin Fields (knee) and Tyrod Taylor (groin) were both unable to play in Week 15, or he just wants more time to evaluate his QB room full of backups. Brady Cook threw for 176-1-3 in his first career start against the Jaguars in Week 15, and would get the Saints in Week 16 if he were to be named the starter. The situation is a clear: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Assuming the Buccaneers do not advance out of the wild card round, this will be a season-ender for McCollum. He started 13 games for the Bucs after signing a three-year extension ahead of the 2025 season. McCollum ends the regular season with a 61.9 PFF coverage grade in 766 defensive snaps, playing roughly equivalent to his 2024 numbers by the same metric.

“Obviously got to get to the practice week. I’m very hopeful he can go out there and play for us,” Morris said while labeling him “day to day, but more hopeful.” London looks like a true question mark for Week 16 based on this update from Morris. We still wouldn’t be surprised if he only tested the knee in practice later in the week. A cleared London would be a must-play against the Cardinals, obviously.

We are not injury experts here at Rotoworld, so we don’t have much to offer regarding what this second opinion could mean for Mahomes. The Chiefs’ star quarterback was confirmed to have suffered a torn ACL in Week 15’s loss to the Chargers and is expected to miss the rest of the season. Gardner Minshew, who has backed up Mahomes all season, is expected to draw the start as the now-eliminated Chiefs look to finish out the final three games of their 2025 schedule.

Could a healthy Richardson start for the Colts at some point in the next three weeks? It’s not impossible to imagine. Of course, Philip Rivers didn’t join this team to sit. We’d expect Richardson to be designated to return from injured reserve in the near future. Richardson probably would be the team’s backup over Riley Leonard if both were fully healthy, but anything beyond that comes down to ego and what the Colts have left to play for.

The worst was confirmed on Monday, as the Packers will now be without their star pass rusher for the remainder of the season. Parsons suffered a non-contact knee injury in the third quarter of Sunday’s loss to the Broncos and remained down for several minutes before being helped off the field by trainers. Head coach Matt LaFleur said after the game that things “didn’t look good,” for Parsons, with reports later coming out that the team feared a torn ACL. There isn’t much to explain here. Parsons is one of the premier pass rushers in the league. He totaled 12.5 sacks in 14 games this season while also posting 41 tackles, 12 TFLs, and forcing two fumbles. The Packers now have to find a way to get by in the regular and postseason without their best player, who has accounted for 37.9 percent of their sacks this season.

Ryans said the team will monitor Marks’ injury this week, but this doesn’t appear to be too big of an issue. Ryans said after Sunday’s game that Marks could have returned against the Cardinals if needed, so his comments on Monday aren’t too surprising. Fantasy managers will want to keep an eye on his practice status throughout the week, but Marks has a nice Week 16 matchup against the Raiders on tap if he is able to go.