NFL Player News

Allen's threw for the second straight Saturday, the first time he's done so on back-to-back days since suffering his elbow injury. Coach Sean McDermott says he has not yet ruled Allen out for next week's game against the Jets and will evaluate the rookie all week, Joe Buscaglia of WKBW.com reports.

After watching Nathan Peterman and Derek Anderson struggle miserably the past three games, Allen can't come back soon enough, though the Bills could always play it safe with a bye coming up in Week 11. We'll know more about Allen once practice starts up for the struggling Bills on Wednesday.

Mahomes completed 23 of 32 passes for 375 yards, three touchdowns and an interception during Sunday's 37-21 win over Cleveland. He added 18 yards on two carries.

Facing off against one of the higher-ranked pass defenses in the league, Mahomes set a career high in passing yards and got things going in the middle of the first quarter with a 50-yard dump-off to Kareem Hunt for the game's first score. Mahomes has now thrown for 300 or more yards in eight consecutive games -- one away from Drew Brees' record -- and has tossed three or more touchdowns in six of those games. He shows no signs of slowing down, and, although a solid Arizona pass defense looms next Sunday, he should have no trouble considering he's bested statistically better pass defenses in Denver, New England and Cleveland.

Mayfield completed 29 of 42 passes for 297 yards with two touchdowns and an interception during Sunday's 37-21 loss to the Chiefs.

Sunday's contest marked Mayfield's third consecutive game with two touchdown passes, though he also turned the ball over for the second straight game. Through eight career games, the rookie signal caller has eight touchdowns to six interceptions. With a new head coach and offensive coordinator, Mayfield's favorite target Sunday was Duke Johnson, as the two connected nine times for 78 yards and two touchdowns. He was able to complete 69 percent of his attempts -- mostly due to the fact he relied on Johnson as a pass catcher out of the backfield -- which is his highest completion percentage since his debut in Week 1. Mayfield's improvement has been steady, but he and the Browns haven't been able to put up enough points to find the win column as of late. They'll look to change that against the Falcons in Week 10.

Darnold completed 21 of 39 pass attempts for 229 yards and four interceptions during Sunday's 13-6 loss to the Dolphins.

Darnold struggled while completing just 54 percent of his passes, though he did go over 200 passing yards for the first time on the road. He dealt with constant pressure on the day and was even limping after one hit, according to Connor Hughes of The Athletic, but he was able to finish the game. Unfortunately, one of Darnold's four interceptions came on the last drive as his team searched for a touchdown to tie the score. The rookie continues to take his lumps in what has been a rough first NFL season, but he'll look to bounce back in Week 10 against the Bills.

Beathard is expected to remain the 49ers' backup quarterback in Week 10 against the Giants with Nick Mullens on track to earn another start, Jay Glazer reported on "Fox NFL Sunday."

After Jimmy Garoppolo went down with a season-ending knee injury in Week 3, Beathard started the 49ers' subsequent five contests, completing 60.4 percent of his passes while averaging 7.4 yards per attempt and throwing for eight touchdowns and seven interceptions and losing three fumbles. Though a wrist/thumb injury rather than those lackluster numbers resulted limited him to a backup role in Thursday's 34-3 win over the Raiders, Beathard will lose out on the starting gig mostly as a result of Mullens' breakthrough performance. Mullens completed 16 of 22 passes for 262 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions in the Week 9 win, showing incredible poise for a quarterback who had taken no prior NFL snaps. It appears the 49ers will give Mullens at least one more opportunity to prove his worth, though any major downturn in productivity could result in Beathard recapturing the top job.

Mullens is expected to remain the 49ers' starting quarterback Week 10 against the Giants, Jay Glazer reported on "Fox NFL Sunday."

Coach Kyle Shanahan wouldn't confirm his plans at quarterback going forward when he met with the media after Thursday's 34-3 win over the Raiders, but it would be hard to justify turning away from Mullens after the 23-year-old dazzled in his first NFL start. Mullens torched the Raiders for 262 yards and three touchdowns through the air while completing 16 of 22 passes, showing the sort of efficiency and turnover-prevention skills that C.J. Beathard had lacked since taking over Jimmy Garappolo (knee) in Week 4. Expect the 49ers to formally announce Mullens as their starter when the team reconvenes for practice next Thursday, if not sooner.

Peterman is on track to start Sunday's game against the Bears after teammate Derek Anderson (concussion) was downgraded to out for the contest.

It will be the fourth career start for Peterman, who has provided little evidence to date that he's an NFL-caliber backup, let alone a No. 1 option. Given the Bills' all-time anemic passing game over eight games and the fact that Peterman can improve his career passer rating by throwing every single pass Sunday directly into the ground, the 25-year-old makes for a rather undesirable fantasy option, even in two-quarterback formats. In fairness, he's shown enough skill at times to where there's some hope he'll show the Bills something against the Bears, in what might be a last chance to convince the team he's worth keeping around as Josh Allen's backup into next season.

Bradford was released by the Cardinals on Saturday, Adam Schefter of ESPN reports.

Bradford signed a one-year, $20 million contract with Arizona in March and began the season as the starting quarterback, but has been relegated to third-string duties. The 30-year-old completed 50 of 80 passes for 400 yards with two touchdowns, four interceptions and two lost fumbles before being replaced by rookie Josh Rosen late in the Week 3 loss to the Bears. Bradford will hope to latch on elsewhere after a disastrous stint with the Cardinals, though his potential contract could make that a reason teams look elsewhere.

Coach Kyle Shanahan declined to name Mullens or C.J. Beathard the team's starting quarterback for the Week 10 matchup against the Giants when he met with the media Friday, Matt Barrows of The Athletic reports.

Given that Beathard was viewed as San Francisco's the clear No. 1 signal-caller before a combination of wrist and thumb injuries limited him to backup duties Thursday against the Raiders, Shanahan's silence on the matter seemingly bodes well for Mullens' chances of earning another nod. Despite entering the Week 9 contest with no career NFL regular-season snaps, Mullens delivered the best performance of any 49ers quarterback in 2018, completing 16 of 22 passes for 262 yards and three touchdowns in the 34-3 win. While the Raiders' lack of pass rush and beleaguered secondary contributed to Mullens' success, the flawless outing probably makes the 23-year-old deserving of another opportunity to build on that effort. The 49ers have more draft capital invested in Beathard, a 2017 third-round pick, but his 1-9 record as a starter and penchant for turning the ball over don't offer much optimism for his long-term prospects. Shanahan could remain mum on his Week 10 starter until next Thursday, when the 49ers will reconvene for practice.

Savage signed a one-year contract with the 49ers on Friday.

Savage will join the 49ers for his third stint with the club in just over a week after the team opened room for him on the roster by placing Raheem Mostert (forearm) and Emmanuel Moseley (shoulder) on injured reserve. The veteran signal-caller will step in as the No. 3 option on the depth chart behind Nick Mullens and C.J. Beathard, in some order.