NFL Player News

Garoppolo remains the favorite to open the season as San Francisco's starting quarterback, though he and rookie Trey Lance split first-team reps Wednesday, Eric Branch of the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

Head coach Kyle Shanahan continues to avoid naming a starter, though he talked Wednesday of utilizing quarterback substitutions similar to the Saints with Drew Brees and Taysom Hill over the past couple years. Shanahan has seemingly already made up his mind on a starter, and it appears to be Garoppolo based on how reps have been split throughout training camp and the preseason. However, the rookie Lance may still have some opportunities to see the field at the start of the regular season, though it's unclear exactly how Shanahan intends to employ the multi-quarterback strategy.

Head coach Vic Fangio said that in addition to starting the Broncos' Week 1 game against the Giants, Bridgewater will also start Denver's preseason finale Saturday versus the Rams, James Palmer of NFL Network reports.

Bridgewater will get some work in under center Saturday before ceding quarterback duties to Drew Lock at some point. The bigger news of the day is that Bridgewater has claimed the starting quarterback job and will guide Denver's offense Week 1. He'll be at the helm of a passing attack that features a number of breakout candidates on the receiving end, including Courtland Sutton (knee), Jerry Jeudy, KJ Hamler (illness) and Noah Fant (leg).

Jones submitted his practice showing of training camp during Wednesday's joint session with the Giants, Jeff Howe of The Athletic reports.

Per Howe's count, Jones completed 35 of 40 passes against the Giants' starting defense, including a stretch of 18 consecutive completions. With Cam Newton in the NFL's COVID-19 protocols and logging his third absence in a row Wednesday, Jones certainly took advantage of the added practice reps, while simultaneously making a case to be considered as the team's Week 1 starter. Head coach Bill Belichick has maintained that Newton -- who could return to the field as soon as Thursday -- is currently is viewed as the Patriots' starting quarterback, but the combination of his recent absence and Jones' strong efforts of late suggests that the case may not be closed.

Prescott (shoulder) took 18 snaps in 11-on-11 drills at Wednesday's practice and completed 11 of 12 passes, Michael Gehlken of The Dallas Morning News reports.

Earlier reports indicated Prescott would throw in 7-on-7s, but he ended up doing full-team drills instead, apparently looking sharp while throwing passes against defenders for the first time since late July. While the Cowboys aren't likely to rush him back for the final game of the preseason, Prescott is well on his way to receiving the Week 1 start Sept. 9 at Tampa Bay.

Head coach Urban Meyer announced Wednesday that Trevor Lawrence will start Week 1 in Houston, leaving Minshew to handle backup duties, Tom Pelissero of NFL Network reports.

Meyer took his time in officially naming a starting quarterback, but it ultimately comes as no surprise to see the rookie No. 1 overall pick finishing ahead of Minshew on the depth chart. Minshew will be one of the more competent backups in the NFL, to his credit. Across 23 appearances in the first two seasons of his career, Minshew logged a more than respectable 37:11 TD:INT. The 25-year-old could even still garner interest around the league as a trade candidate, should the Jaguars opt to go that route.

Head coach Mike Tomlin said Rudolph won't suit up for Friday's preseason game against the Panthers, Brooke Pryor of ESPN.com reports.

As Pryor notes, Rudolph joining Ben Roethlisberger on the bench Friday is an indication that he's locked up the No. 2 quarterback role for Pittsburgh. Dwayne Haskins will start the exhibition finale instead, with Joshua Dobbs available to relieve him at some point. Rudolph has logged 15 appearances with the Steelers over the last two seasons.

Lock will enter Week 1 as Denver's backup quarterback, with head coach Vic Fangio naming Teddy Bridgewater as the team's starter Wednesday, Aric DiLalla of the Broncos' official site reports.

An impressive preseason wasn't enough for Lock to keep his job, in part because Bridgewater also put up good numbers. Lock, a 2019 second-round pick, now slides into a backup role for the beginning of his third NFL season. It won't come as any surprise if he starts games before the end of the year, though Bridgewater theoretically has enough talent around him in Denver to win games and keep the job even if his own performance is merely average.

The Broncos named Bridgewater their starting quarterback Wednesday ahead of the Sept. 12 season opener versus the Giants, Zac Stevens of TheDNVR.com reports.

The 28-year-old had been competing with Drew Lock for the assignment, but head coach Vic Fangio has settled on Bridgewater as the team's top signal-caller. In the process, Bridgewater will be helming an offense featuring the talented backfield duo of Melvin Gordon and Javonte Williams, as well as pass catchers Courtland Sutton, Jerry Jeudy and Noah Fant.

Prescott (shoulder) will throw in 7-on-7 drills at Wednesday's practice, David Helman of the Cowboys' official site reports.

This will be the first time he's thrown passes against defenders since injuring his shoulder in late July. While it's far from ideal to miss the entire preseason and nearly all of training camp on the heels of a season-ending ankle injury in 2020, Prescott looks on track to play Week 1 against the Buccaneers.

Burrow is scheduled to receive snaps in Sunday's preseason finale versus the Dolphins, Ben Baby of ESPN.com reports.

While the quarterback is poised to get in some game action for the first time since he sustained a season-ending knee injury last November, Burrow isn't expected to draw extended work Sunday. With that in mind, head coach Zac Taylor acknowledged that the 2020 No. 1 overall pick's stint against Miami will be "very limited." In any case, Burrow's looming preseason appearance further solidifies that he'll be good to go Week 1, when the Bengals host the Vikings.