NFL Player News

Elliott made both of his field-goal tries and all three extra-point attempts in Tuesday's 27-17 win over Washington.

With the Philadelphia offense opting for a more run-heavy approach over the second half of the season, Elliott has seen more field-goal opportunities of late. He has made at least two field goals in five of his last seven games.

Houston placed Fairbairn on the reserve/COVID-19 list Wednesday.

According to Aaron Wilson of Sportstalk 790 Houston, linebacker Eric Wilson is the only unvaccinated player on the Texans roster, which means Fairbairn was placed on the list after testing positive for the virus. Fairbairn will thus have an outside chance of clearing the NFL's return-to-play COVID-19 protocol before Sunday's game against the Chargers, but if he can't play this week, Houston will have to sign an out-of-house replacement. The Texans don't have a kicker on their practice squad, as Fairbairn provided little reason for Houston to add competition since he's converted on all but one of his 10 extra-point tries and all but two of his 15 field-goal attempts over the last nine games.

Carolina placed Gonzalez (quadriceps) on injured reserve Wednesday, Darin Gantt of the Panthers' official site reports

Gonzalez is thus done for the regular season due to the quad injury he suffered during pregame warmups prior to Sunday's loss to the Bills. As a replacement for Gonzalez, the Panthers signed Lirim Hajrullahu off the Washington's practice squad. Alex Kessman will join Carolina's practice squad to give the team another placekicking option if Hajrullahu falters in his team debut Week 16 against the Buccaneers.

Gay connected on both of his field-goal kicks and both extra-point attempts during Tuesday's 20-10 win over Seattle.

Now that Gay is 28-for-29 on field-goal kicks for the campaign and leads the league in field-goal percentage, it's hard to overlook Gay's high-fantasy floor and respectable ceiling. Additionally, he's now hit at least two field goals and two extra points in each of the last four games, so Gay's also contributing when it matters most for fantasy managers.

Cleveland head coach Kevin Stefanski wouldn't answer when asked whether he was considering replacing McLaughlin as the team's kicker, Marla Ridenour of the Akron Beacon Journal reports. "I am not going to get into any roster-type things like that," Stefanski said. "Chase understands that he has to make those kicks. He puts as much pressure on himself as anybody else. He wants to come through, and we are counting on him."

McLaughlin's missed 47-yard field-goal attempt proved costly in Monday's 16-14 loss to Las Vegas. The 25-year-old appeared to be the solution to the Browns' recent kicking woes early in the season, but cracks started to form Week 7. McLaughlin, who is with his sixth organization, has made 15 of 21 attempts, including just four of nine from 40-to-49 yards, with all the misses coming since Oct. 21.

Carlson made all three of his field-goal attempts and his only extra-point try in Monday's 16-14 win over the Browns.

Carlson converted from 24 and 40 yards prior to draining a game-winning 48-yarder as time expired. Monday's performance added to another superb campaign from Carlson, who has missed merely six of 61 total attempts thus far.

McManus missed one of two field-goal attempts but made his only extra-point try in Sunday's 15-10 loss to the Bengals.

McManus converted from a season-long 54 yards prior to sending his next field-goal attempt, a 51-yarder, wide right just before halftime. Counting Sunday's performance, McManus has now scored four points or fewer in three of his last four games, restricting him to 91 points on the campaign.

Gonzalez could be placed on injured reserve after he was diagnosed with a strained right quadriceps following an MRI on Monday, Jonathan M. Alexander of The Charlotte Observer reports.

The diagnosis is good news for Gonzalez, whom the Panthers feared had torn a muscle while warming up prior to Sunday's 31-14 loss to the Bills. Since the Panthers didn't have another player with NFL kicking experience on the roster, Carolina eschewed extra-point tries on both of its touchdowns and instead went for two. Though the Panthers haven't officially provided an update on Gonzalez's outlook for Week 16 and beyond, the team signed another kicker in Lirim Hajrullahu off Washington's practice squad, per Joe Person of The Athletic. Hajrullahu's addition likely foreshadows Gonzalez's eventual move to season-ending IR.

Tucker converted his lone field-goal attempt and all three of his extra-point attempts Sunday against the Packers.

Tucker has not missed a kick since Week 10 against the Dolphins. Baltimore had success finding its way to the end zone Sunday, which limited Tucker's field goal chances, as his streak of multi-field goal games was snapped at four games. Baltimore heads to Cincinnati to face the Bengals on Sunday.

Butker (illness) won't be activated from the reserve/COVID-19 list ahead of the Chiefs' Week 16 game against the Steelers after he tested positive for the virus Monday, Pete Sweeney of ArrowheadPride.com reports.

Though vaccinated players that test positive for the virus are eligible to be removed from the NFL's COVID-19 protocol in as little as one day if asymptomatic, unvaccinated players that test positive are subject to automatic 10-day quarantines. While head coach Andy Reid hasn't officially ruled Butker out, Sweeney's report confirms that the kicker is following the protocol for unvaccinated players, making him ineligible to play Sunday. The Chiefs already telegraphed that Butker won't be available Week 16 when they signed kicker Elliott Fry off their practice squad Monday, a transaction that would normally be made at the end of the week. Assuming Butker is feeling healthy by the time his 10-day quarantine ends, he should reclaim kicking duties Week 17 in Cincinnati on Jan. 2.