Kittle continues to work his way back from an Achilles tear in January and is seemingly on track to play Week 1. He practiced on Monday and gets in a limited practice again on Tuesday. Offensive coordinator Klay Kubiak was confident in Kittle’s availability this week, saying the 32-year-old looked good while the team practices in Australia. The entire 49ers offense practiced in some capacity Tuesday. Kittle’s chances of playing are trending upward; he’s a low-end TE1 if he plays against the Rams this week.
Garrett was a non-participant in practice Tuesday, but it looks to be a load management day with other Rams players listed as DNP due to rest and head coach Sean McVay saying Tuesday he expects Garrett to play Week 1. Though the team will be without Aaron Donald for opening day, the Rams are still expecting to have Garrett good to go against the 49ers.
Henderson did not practice at any point this week and should be considered questionable heading into Week 2’s games. Rhamondre Stevenson will get the bulk of the load against Seattle and should factor into the RB2 equation despite a tough matchup on paper. The Patriots also ruled out Ben Brown (knee), who did not travel with the team to Seattle.
He practiced in full on both Monday and Tuesday and seems set to go for the Wednesday opener. We’ll keep an eye on Barmore’s practice status going forward but the 27-year-old is definitely a candidate to get vet days this season.
The Buccaneers apparently reached out to Mayfield’s agent over the weekend; deadline do drive action after all. Mayfield is now under contract through his age-34 season. It’s not exactly a curious move for the Buccaneers — they didn’t have much of an avenue to find another quarterback given where they usually pick and rookie UDFA Jalon Daniels is their current backup. It is still a little surprising they let it twist in the wind as long as it did. Mayfield likely will be near the $50 million average annual value club once all the figures come in. (Some of this will be folded into the already-existing one-year contract.) He’ll be a reasonable superflex QB2 with a shot to rebound now that last year’s injuries are behind him.
He’s still “working himself into football shape,” per Rapoport and Adam Schefter. We think the Rams D/ST will manage with merely Myles Garrett and Trent McDuffie as major additions heading into Week 1’s showdown with the 49ers in Australia.
Heavily load-managed in the offseason, Garrett will enter his age-31 season fresh and ready to try to top last year’s 23-sack season in a new defense. We won’t be surprised if Garrett continues to be listed on the injury report going forward, but if he’s going to play through this there’s probably no need to be concerned about the report unless new concerns arise.
One of Seattle’s other projected starters on defense, Ty Okada, was ruled out with a hamstring injury. It would certainly be a boon to Rhamondre Stevenson’s value if Emmanwori can’t go on Wednesday. Emmanwori had surgery on his ankle in July and opened camp on the PUP list. He’s generally been regarded as more doubtful-than-questionable, but there’s a chance he’s able to go based on this listing.
Even if Horton does play, he’s unlikely to be more than the fourth receiver behind Rashid Shaheed, Cooper Kupp and all-world Jaxon Smith-Njigba. The second-year receiver looked great early in 2025 but has dealt with a ton of injuries ever since, leading the Seahawks to their midseason trade for Shaheed last year.
Fagnano completed 56-of-75 passes for 509 yards and three touchdowns in preseason action while taking just one sack. Last year’s major UDFA winner among the quarterbacks was Max Brosmer, so don’t go thinking Fagnano needs to be on your dynasty bench or anything, but him making the 53-man roster was interesting and this adds a little flavor as to why that was.
The 24-year-old former seventh-round pick — the other Jaylon Jones that plays cornerback — started 29 games in three years for the Colts. He’ll look for a fresh start after ending last year on injured reserve.
Sure, that’s what Patrick Mahomes wants to see. Josh Simmons (back) is unlikely to play, leaving the Chiefs with Jaylon Moore at right tackle and Benson, who would become the first UDFA rookie to start at tackle in Week 1 since Desmond Harrison was with the Browns in 2018, on the blind side. “If he has to be the left tackle, then he’s the left tackle and we roll with it,” Reid said. “That’s just how it goes.” Inspiring stuff!
Seems unideal. The No. 3 overall pick in the draft is dealing with an ankle injury that may or may not have him in real trouble as far as playing in Week 1. Allgeier seems like he’ll at least have a real role in this backfield even if Love is healthy. This has not been a great early runout for those who picked Love early in fantasy drafts this offseason.
Shipley hedges a bit by noting that there’s a chance that one back simply carries the momentum early in the season forward and never lets up, but ultimately falls on the idea that neither back is likely to hit 1,000 rushing yards in 2026. “I think there is a more likely chance we see both running backs hit 750+ yards than one of them hit 1,000,” Shipley writes. Such a split would probably lean towards Rodriguez at the goal line, making him slightly more fantasy-valuable on a weekly basis barring big plays from Tuten. If this prediction comes true, both backs might have trouble cracking the weekly RB2 ranks.
Bell is yet another young wideout in Miami — along with Caleb Douglas — who could make a fantasy impact right away as the Dolphins deal with what looks on paper to be an extremely rough defense. Bell only just shed his non-contact jersey in late August, so we’re expecting a slow start, but his Week 1 performance could certainly throw him on waiver wire columns if he starts and plays most of the snaps.
“He has a (back) issue there he’s working through. Josh is rehabbing. He’s working his tail off. This isn’t anything other than him having an issue with his back,” Reid said, asking what about his ‘My left tackle has a back issue he’s working through” t-shirt was unclear. Simmons’ status appears to be in some short-term doubt and we wouldn’t rule out an IR stint for him ahead of the opener.
Johnson added that he was “hopeful” Odunze would go on Sunday. Check back on Wednesday to see if he actually hits an injury report, but Odunze hasn’t practiced yet this week and that’s certainly not a great sign even if we’re not rushing to rule him out just yet.
We would be very surprised if Mahomes didn’t start Week 1 given how this has trended this offseason, but Reid left it in some doubt, adding “Most likely, he’ll be the guy that’s out there.” Justin Fields would be the starter if Mahomes couldn’t go, we doubt we’ll be talking about that possibility seriously on Friday or Saturday ahead of Kansas City’s MNF opener.
We can’t endorse relying on anyone in this backfield as a surefire bellcow in the event that Cam Skattebo gets hurt or is ineffective enough to lose playing time. It seems like it will be hard to rely on Tracy to have a major role this year with Harris in town.
He’s an IR possibility ahead of Week 1. Ossai, signed in the offseason from the Bengals, was expected to be a big part of the Jets rotation on the edge. His absence will elevate playing time for Will McDonald and Kingsley Enagbare.
Let’s hope he doesn’t find Joe Mixon’s trainers. Rapoport reports the “plan” is for Gordon to return a few weeks into the season and begin practicing shortly thereafter. He’s probably looking at a midseason timetable to return at this point.
Way back in late May, the Athletic’s Daniel Popper suggested Kolar, who signed a three-year, $24.3 million contract with the Bolts this spring, would enter the season as LA’s top tight end “because of his complete skill set.” Week 1 usage will tell us a lot about how offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel will use his tight ends, but for now it seems Kolar will lead the group in Week 1 against the Cardinals. David Njoku and Oronde Gadsden II, however, could see more pass game involvement depending on how many routes they run in a given week, and whether the Chargers go run-heavy against an opponent. None of the Chargers’ tight ends are particularly appealing fantasy plays for Week 1.
It’s McMillan, not rookie WR Ted Hurst III, who’s listed as a starter alongside Chris Godwin and Emeka Egbuka ahead of Tampa’s Week 1 game against the Bengals. Hurst, the tallest of the Bucs wideouts, has by all accounts impressed Bucs players and coaches throughout the offseason and should have some kind of role in the team’s passing attack to start the year. It could be a while before Hurst takes on a more prominent role, however. Bucs general manager Jason Licht said last week that Hurst, 22, has “proven to us throughout camp, even OTAs, practice every day that he’s been very, very steady...it’s kind of evolved into okay, we can use him this year and he’s going to play a role.” Hurst can be stashed in deeper fantasy formats for now. McMillan is unlikely to be a factor in the Tampa offense after once again struggling with injuries this offseason.
It’s a bit of a course reversal for the longtime Eagles pass rusher. Graham in May told reporters he would not retire and planned on suiting up for the 2026 season. On Tuesday he said he would hang it up after a fantastic career that included 79.5 sacks and two Super Bowl titles in Philadelphia. Graham, 38, who played all 16 years with the Eagles, had a career season in 2022 when he totaled 11 sacks to go along with 17 quarterback hits.
This, of course, doesn’t mean Tuten will dominate the backfield workload in Jacksonville’s season opener against the Browns. It could mean he leads the backfield in snaps and carries, however, as Chris Rodriguez operates as a 1B or second option behind Tuten. Whoever gets the goal line looks and targets out of the Jags backfield will be an interesting top-24 weekly option this season. LeQuint Allen’s involvement as a pass catcher could throw a wrench into the fantasy prospects of Rodriguez and Tuten, however. Jaguars running back usage will be among the most closely watched backfield situations in the NFL this week.