The language regarding Love’s ankle injury continues to evolve. The team initially said the No. 3 overall pick could have re-entered Thursday’s preseason game if necessary. Coach Mike LaFleur later said Love would need at least a week off. On the plus side, Fowler referred to Love as the team’s “soon-to-be lead back,” furthering the notion that some of the training camp rotation hubbub was perhaps inaccurate. Love has time to recover and play productively this season. His recovery is simply worth tracking right now.
Kraft is recovering from a season-ending ACL tear. He is on track to play in Week 1. Easing him into action before “sending [him] to the wolves” partway through the year, as Kraft says, makes sense. Kraft proved himself to be a top-tier real-life tight end and a locked-in TE1 in fantasy last year. He can still return TE1 numbers while playing on a snap count, likely receiving a few first-read passes that are designed with his post-catch skill set in mind. These comments should not impact his ADP negatively. For what it’s worth, Kraft also said that he is hoping to play his normal allotment of snaps in Week 1. The team may simply choose to take a conservative approach.
Kittle is “very confident” he will be activated from the active/PUP list before Week 1, meaning he should resume playing sometime in Weeks 1-4. The veteran tight end has not yet resumed practicing, but “hinted he’d be back at practice shortly but declined to give a timeline,” per The Athletic’s Matt Barrows. Kittle said that he is running “a lot” and hitting top speeds while doing so. The 49ers are scheduled to fly out for the Week 1 game in Melbourne, Australia roughly one week before the game. Kittle said that the next couple of weeks will determine whether he joins his teammates on that flight. From the way Kittle is discussing his recovery, it almost sounds like he expects to play in Week 2 at the latest, though that is purely an interpretive conclusion. Whether Kittle returns to form as a post-catch dominator remains to be seen, but the 32-year-old remains a top-12 player at his position at this time.
Noel has been dealing with the pinky finger issue since late July, but the hamstring is a recent injury. The second-year wide receiver would ideally be competing for the WR3 role right now, and losing reps could slow him down. He is a risky dart throw, but he flashed talent at times in his rookie season.
NBC Houston’s Aaron Wilson listed the Texans players who were not practicing on Sunday. Dell was the only player who was not listed with an injury designation, so it seems likely that this is just a rest day. The Texans are easing Dell, 26, back into action following a lengthy absence stemming from a multi-ligament knee injury suffered in 2024. Dell’s range of potential outcomes remains wide. He may be best suited to a complementary, rotational role.
Richardson is a 2026 undrafted free agent. The Titans also signed TE Matt Lauter. They correspondingly placed DE Jaylen Harrell and TE Jaren Kanak on injured reserve.
Both Fowler and his colleague, Herm Edwards, complimented QB Deshaun Watson’s recent performances in both practice and preseason play. Per Fowler, Watson “has some momentum, not all of the momentum” at this time. His competitor, QB Shedeur Sanders, will start against the Bills this weekend.
The Dolphins signed QB Mark Gronowski after Ewers picked up the injury. Ewers is the Dolphins’ primary backup, so the team was a little short-staffed for the remaining preseason games. Dolphins backup OT Jamaree Salyer reportedly suffered a season-ending injury.
McNichols probably is no higher than fourth on the depth chart in Washington behind ‘Bill,’ Rachaad White, and Kaytron Allen. Missing time due to injury doesn’t bode well for him making the initial 53-man roster.
Washington has been Lawrence’s “favorite target, and he always seems to be open” DiRocco notes. The Jaguars main pass catchers are pretty close in ADP, with Washington leading the way at WR31 and Brian Thomas Jr. at WR33. This would seem to be an argument to trust Washington as a true WR2/WR3 option — and everything we’ve gotten on Washington this offseason from beat writers has been overwhelmingly positive.
Severity is unknown at this point and the injury didn’t happen at the practice, so we’ll await further team comment before getting too worried. The Packers definitely can’t afford to have Van Ness down with Micah Parsons already on pace to miss the first month of the season.
Benson has been inundated with buzz this offseason. He caught two balls for 26 yards on four targets in Las Vegas’ first preseason game and reportedly has a strong connection with Fernando Mendoza. Outside of Brock Bowers and Ashton Jeanty it’s been hard to recommend any Raiders skill position player in fantasy circles this year; perhaps the sixth-round pick can step into a real target role given the lack of competition around him.
With Malik Nabers still off the field, that’s a given. Still, Likely finds himself as barely a top-12 tight end by ADP. The argument could be made that he belongs closer to the top 10. “Given the way [Jaxson] Dart likes to throw to his tight ends, it suggests that Likely is in for a breakout season given the chemistry they already have developed,” Raanan concludes.
Frankly, a pretty good update considering how quickly Mariota exited the field on Friday. The Commanders will likely pick up another quarterback to help navigate the final two weeks of the preseason. Mariota will be the backup for the season opener if healthy.
It certainly can’t hurt his case for head coaching work should the Bears offense continue to play well above the league average. Randle El’s offensive playcalling produced 235 yards and 24 points in the second half.
It “should be a few more weeks,” for McGovern, whose goal is to be ready for the start of the season. Lloyd Cushenberry would take over at center if McGovern can’t be ready for Week 1 against the Texans.
Klubnik played two series with the starters in the first preseason game before giving way to Bailey Zappe and Brady Cook, going 5-of-7 for 56 yards. “He has some moxie to him,” Jets coach Aaron Glenn said. “He’s very confident, he’s confident in his arm, confident in his ability to elude and make plays with his feet. His ability to be able to come out and operate with the first group the way he did, I thought, was outstanding.” Given how Jets quarterbacking has gone over the past few years and Geno Smith’s age, Klubnik will likely find himself in a starting lineup at some point this season if he can stay healthy.
We blurbed about Cooper playing deep into the preseason game on Friday — never a great sign — and this backs that up. Williams, an outstanding return man in his rookie season, enters the deep sleeper conversation at wideout.
We’d normally skip right past this, but it’s a notable quote given the open competition for the starting quarterback job. It would seem to imply that Watson is in the lead. “It was so cool to watch him play. I get all of the frustration by fans, himself (with the past), but for him to come back and work like he did is an unbelievable credit to him,” Monken said. It sounds like Monken will continue the competition through the second week of the preseason, but there’s already a lean here.
Johnson had 12 carries for 59 yards and three catches for 10 yards against the Rams. While we’ve seen a little camp buzz about Johnson, The Athletic’s Jesse Newell presents this as a step forward for Johnson who “has been running with the fourth-string offense most of training camp.” He’s still probably the best back to have rostered in the event of a Kenneth Walker injury, but this isn’t such an important role that the backup necessarily needs to be rostered in standard redraft leagues.
The good news is that Allen worked with the starters in the slot. The bad news is that he worked well into the second half in the first preseason game while leading the team in targets. He’s clearly the highest-upside stash receiver of the group, but playing deep into the first preseason game isn’t a great sign for his chances of early playing time.
It was his first game action in 20 months. The Panthers’ offense, playing their starters three series, looked dead on arrival against the Bills on Saturday. But Brooks did start with Chuba Hubbard sidelined, validating the training camp drumbeat that he’d be in the mix early. He’s at least an interesting bench option in standard leagues at this point, and could perhaps turn into more.
It’s a game that The Athletic’s Dan Duggan says “strengthened his push for the No. 2 receiver job.” His touchdown pass was from Jaxson Dart, but he was one of several receivers getting first-team snaps. It’s hard to believe Fields will be relevant early in 12-team redraft leagues unless Malik Nabers suffers a setback, but he’s squarely on the fantasy radar after a big camp.
It certainly looks like Gordon will hit reserve/PUP or injured reserve before the start of the season while he deals with this long-term calf injury. This makes both the Bears coach and GM telling you they’re frustrated with the situation.
He tore his MCL against the Raiders on Thursday night in the team’s first preseason game. "(Chase) will be out for a good amount of time, if not the whole year,” Cardinals head coach Mike LaFleur said. “Sucks for him. Always think about the player first. Sucks for the Cardinals too, He’s a good player but more importantly you hate it for the player.” The second-round pick will rehab and get ready for a return in 2027.