Fantasy Football News | Page 17

The Cowboys’ loss to the Bengals on Monday night dropped them to 5-8 on the season and left them with scant hope of making it to the playoffs this season, but that’s not going to lead to a shift in their plan at quarterback.

That was the word from team owner Jerry Jones on Tuesday morning. Cooper Rush has been the team’s starter since Dak Prescott’s hamstring injury, but there have been questions about whether the Cowboys will take a look at Trey Lance before his contract expires at the end of the season.

The story said Jones has been resistant to playing Lance and that he hasn't changed his mind about who will start against the Panthers in Week 15. Jones added in a quote he thought the team "did some good things out there" against the Bengals, and that he believes Rush "gives us our best chance." Unless things change over the final couple of weeks, it doesn't look like Lance is going to get any kind of chance in Dallas.

Looking ahead to 2025, the Raiders will find themselves searching for an answer at quarterback for the third offseason in a row.

Related players: Aidan O'Connell, Gardner Minshew, Desmond Ridder

The author said O'Connell is the best bet to be in the mix, but it's only because he hasn't really played much. Minshew is under contract for next season, but hasn't played well in his time this season. The Raiders are on pace to have one of the top picks in the NFL Draft, but also could opt to go another direction and take the best player, much like they did last draft with Brock Bowers at TE. The author said the Raiders could once again explore the available veterans: Sam Darnold, Russell Wilson, Justin Fields and Jameis Winston are scheduled to be free agents. Either way, it appears the Raiders will probably have a new starting QB in 2025.

It's hard to get the ball when you play only 25 snaps like Jayden Reed did against the Lions. That followed the Thanksgiving win over Miami, when Reed played 36 of the 54 offensive plays the Packers ran.

In fact, since Reed's five-catch, 113-yard performance in the Week 9 loss to the Lions at Lambeau Field, he has totaled 73 yards receiving on eight catches in four games, including the zero-catch game against Detroit last week.

Packers head coach Matt LaFleur was quoted on the story as saying the Lions were daring them to throw the ball and the team didn't want to get into that kind of game. So, the Packers continued to run the ball, and used a bigger, two-TE personnel formation. As the story pointed out, when that happens, it's typical for the slot WR to leave the field, which was Reed. In the story, LeFleur admitted the team could have done a better job of trying to get Reed more involved. Now the question for fantasy owners is, as we enter the playoffs, will there be an over-correction, where the Packers look to force-feed Reed the ball. It will be tough to trust Reed in lineups based on his lack of production over the last several weeks. The Packers have a Sunday night game at Seattle in Week 15.

Starting in Washington, this is now his third straight week Rico Dowdle taking 70%+ of the carries.

Related players: Ezekiel Elliott, Deuce Vaughn, Dalvin Cook

The post went on to say Dowdle was averaging 48% of the Cowboys' carries over the course of his first nine games. Pittsburgh was the only week he got more than 57% of the team's carries. We did report, even starting back in summer, that Dowdle was the best RB on the team according to those who cover the Cowboys. Unfortunately for owners, it took some time for Dowdle to become the clear RB1, but for those who own him heading into the playoffs, this is a comforting stat to know. The next question will be what is Dowdle's future with the Cowboys. With so many needs and questions heading into 2025, it's possible Dowdle is back as an overall inexpensive option.

Joe Burrow with a postgame bombshell:

“I’m confident we are going to do what it takes to get Tee Higgins back (in 2025).”

The post added that Burrow went on to say he is willing to do what it takes to make that happen. As Clifford said himself, it's a mega statement coming from Burrow. We can't blame Burrow for wanting to keep both Chase and Higgins around, and it sounds like he'll be willing to at least restructure his deal to make it happen. Higgins should be a highly-sought after player in the offseason, and a recent report said the Patriots would be willing go pay him a lot.

On his Zoom call with the beat coach Mike Macdonald says Kenneth Walker's issue is his calf.

Related players: Zach Charbonnet

The post added it's no longer Walker's ankle that's the issue. The post also added the Seahawks are sending Walker for more tests, and they should know more about how much longer their lead RB may be out. Walker didn't practice last Thursday and Friday before being downgraded to out on Saturday. ESPN and Adam Schefter said Walker should have a chance to play in Week 15, but owners will want to monitor how the tests go and see if Walker can get on the practice field this week. Charbonnet had a huge game filling in, rushing 22 times for 134 yards and two TDs, adding seven catches for 59 yards.

The 49ers had a big win on Sunday against the Bears, but 49ers wide receiver Deebo Samuel did not have a big game.

Samuel was held to two catches for 22 yards, continuing a disappointing season in which he’s averaging career-lows in catches per game and yards per game. But Samuel took to social media on Monday afternoon to say nothing is wrong.

“Not struggling at all just not getting the ball!!!!!!!” Samuel wrote.

He later added: “Just cause I voice my opinions mean I’m hating on any of my teammates!! Be Fr,” Samuel wrote.

Related players: Jauan Jennings

As the story mentioned, a comment like that could be portrayed as a complaint. The story mentions that Jennings has more targets, more catches and more yards, as well as more TDs than Samuel this season. The 49ers play on Thursday night in what is likely your opening round of the fantasy playoffs. So, owners may be hoping his post causes the Niners to come out and heavily target Samuel to potentially fix any hard feelings.

The Giants aren’t planning to make another quarterback change this week, but they’ll have to wait for word on Drew Lock’s health before they know for sure.

Giants head coach Brian Daboll said at his Monday press conference that Lock is sore and dealing with a couple of things after Sunday’s 14-11 loss to the Saints.

Related players: Tommy DeVito

Daboll said Lock is having an MRI to rule out any structural issues, but he did not specify what part of the body is being looked at, the story said.

On Monday, Darren Rizzi confirmed that Carr is now in the concussion protocol while saying the hand injury is not something that will lead the Saints to rule him out for multiple weeks at this time.

“Derek’s dealing with a non-throwing hand injury,” Rizzi said. “As it stands at this moment, I don’t believe it’s going to be an IR situation, I think it’s going to be a week-to-week situation. We’re gonna kinda take this day by day this week. We’ll see how this week plays out. He is in the concussion protocol also so he’s gotta complete the first step of that tomorrow.”

Related players: Spencer Rattler, Jake Haener

We just reported Carr would likely miss the rest of the season, but the Saints weren't putting him on IR with the hope he could return this season. It looks like the week to week tag means Carr will at least miss this week, with a window open to play in Week 16. The Saints are expected to make a decision at QB for Week 15 on Tuesday.

Aaron Rodgers fought through wayyyy more painful injuries than people realized this year, which propped him MORE in the eyes of his teammates, while others including owner talked of his benching his teammates didn’t feel same way seeing how much pain his played through

Rodgers has dealt with a grade two hamstring strain, an MCL sprain, and a high ankle sprain, according to Glazer. Rodgers hasn't played well this season but is coming off one of his better games in Week 14. The Jets lost to the Dolphins, but Rodgers threw for 339 with a touchdown and no interceptions. He's expected to finish out the season as the Jets starting QB.