Team news: Buffalo Bills | Page 40

According to Jeff Legwold on Twitter, Denver Broncos rookie wide receiver KJ Hamler suffered a hamstring injury In Thursday’s practice that will keep him on the shelf for a couple of weeks.

Explosive rookie K.J. Hamler will miss valuable time that he could have used to help convince the coaching staff to shift towards more of a three wide, pass oriented attack. Firmly behind Courtland Sutton and Jerry Jeudy, Hamler should find his way to meaningful snaps at some point of this season. He will of course be the true definition of a boom-or-bust option, as he will likely spend half of his snaps functioning as a low volume, low efficiency home run threat. Our number 85 overall wide receiver for the 2020 season, K.J. Hamler remains an interesting late round flier.

The Bills hope to see significant improvements from Dawsom Knox in a couple of areas: blocking and ball security. Knox has shown he can execute at a high level, but he had too many lapses as a rookie. We haven’t seen enough catch opportunities to get a full gauge on Knox’s ball security, but he’s clearly improved as a blocker through the first two practices.

Knox has good strength and size and used that to his advantage in both pass protection and run blocking on Tuesday. Knox stood his linebacker assignment straight up in a one-on-one blocking drill and controlled him through the full rep, drawing praise from his coaches and teammates. He also powered through and created running room during run-blocking opportunities later in the day.

In order to become a three-down threat for the Bills, Knox must be consistent with the blocking, and he’s off to a great start in 2020, the story said. That's good news for potential owners at a position that can often be a struggle for fantasy owners. Dawson is part of a pretty stacked offense in Buffalo, though, so targets could be tough to come by. Knox is just 34th on our TE list.

There wasn’t much separation between the quarterbacks in Monday’s practice, but I’ll give a slight edge to Nick Foles because he finished strong and avoided the risky throw that Mitch Trubisky got away with. There’s a lot more that needs to be decided though. If the opener against the Lions was tomorrow, I’d expect Trubisky to get the start.

The story added both quarterbacks finished stronger than they started, but Foles was especially sharp late as his last two incompletions were a drop and a smart throwaway. The veteran was also able to overcome a skipped shotgun snap to complete a pass to Jimmy Graham. This likely won't be the last QB comparison we have between the potential Bear QBs this season. For what it's worth, we rank Foles higher on our QB list.

According to ESPN's Jeff Dickerson, 'unless Mitch Trubisky strings together a terrific training camp', it could only be a matter of time until Nick Foles permanently takes over under center for the Chicago Bears.

Mitch Trubisky has shown flashes of his upside in his time under center for the Chicago Bears, but with the team having a defense built to win now, the franchise is looking for their quarterback to help propel them to wins. Trubisky looked awful in 2019, and will be hard pressed to prove that he gives Chicago a better chance to win than former Super Bowl MVP Nick Foles. Nagy has experience with Foles from their time together in both Philadelphia and Kansas City, as do some of the other assistants on the staff. This is likely a major part of the reason they chose to pursue him over one of this offseason's talented (and less expensive) free agent quarterbacks. His knowledge of the system and verbiage should help him overcome the lack of a normal offseason, and his proven track record makes him the Bears best option under center. Foles is an intriguing superflex and best ball target.

Amari Cooper intends to re-sign with the Dallas Cowboys on a 5-year, $100 million deal, league sources tell ESPN.

This move should have been a no-brainer for Dallas. Amari Cooper was the fantasy WR10 in 2019 and that was with a bit of inconsistency at the end of the season due to both knee and ankle issues.

Sean McDermott said the majority of the Bills' players will practice and play this week but not all of them. Josh Allen will play.

Related players: Matt Barkley

Fairburn added that Barkley could see some time in the game at QB, but McDermott added not every player is going to play the same. McDermott said he feels it's the right thing to do for the team in this situation. The Bills are locked into the fifth seed.

Carolina Panthers wide receiver D.J. Moore did not return after sustaining a concussion against the Colts.

Related players: Curtis Samuel, Jarius Wright, DeAndrew White

If Moore can't go in Week 17, Samuel likely takes over as the WR1 with Wright and White probably getting an increase in snaps and targets.

Panthers WR Curtis Samuel (knee) did not practice Friday and is listed as questionable for Week 16 against the Colts.

Samuel's practice status went in the wrong direction this week. He was not listed on the report Wednesday, was added as a limited participant Thursday and was downgraded to missing practice Friday, so his status is very much up in the air for Sunday. With Will Grier in at quarterback, expect D.J. Moore to get a ton of looks in the passing game, along with the returning Greg Olsen. Even if he plays, Samuel is a major boom-or-bust play for championship week.