NFL Player News

Mariota opened the preseason by completing two of three passes for 42 yards and a touchdown while adding a seven-yard scramble in his lone drive of work during Thursday's 31-17 loss to Green Bay.

Mariota looked sharp despite the underwhelming cast of receivers around him, completing a 38-yard pass to Nick Williams before hitting Darius Jennings for a four-yard score. Expected to have more freedom under new head coach Mike Vrabel, the fourth-year quarterback out of Oregon looks primed for a bounce-back campaign after posting a disappointing 13:15 touchdown to interception ratio last season. His ability to lead the offense down the field without top two receivers Rishard Matthews (undisclosed) or Corey Davis (undisclosed) is certainly encouraging.

Jackson completed seven of 18 passes for 119 yards, adding five carries for 21 yards and a touchdown, in Thursday's 33-7 preseason win over the Rams.

This was an improvement over Jackson's performance last week in the Hall of Fame Game, though he was inconsistent after starting his night with a 36-yard completion and a beautiful nine-yard touchdown run on his first drive. It was noteworthy to see the rookie playing ahead of Robert Griffin, who entered the game midway through the third quarter and completed five of seven passes for 88 yards and a touchdown. Joe Flacco actually had the best night among the three quarterbacks, completing five of seven passes for 71 yards and a touchdown on his only drive. Jackson figures to stay busy throughout the preseason, with Baltimore hoping to get him ready for the No. 2 job before Week 1. The Ravens remain committed to Flacco as their 2018 starter, but the plan could change if the 33-year-old struggles and/or the team fails to compete for a playoff spot.

Trubisky completed two of four passes for four yards during Thursday's 30-27 loss to Cincinnati.

Fans looking forward to seeing Trubisky in Matt Nagy's new scheme didn't get much more than a peek. The sophomore passer tossed a short pass to new tight end Trey Burton, had a third-down scramble called back for holding, and was out after two unproductive series. Being guided by innovative offensive minds like Nagy and offensive coordinator Mark Helfrich should, in theory, be a return to more familiar territory for Trubisky, who worked in a spread-out system in North Carolina. Reports from camp and Thursday's preseason opener indicate that there's still some adjustment needed for the young quarterback.

Mayfield completed 11 of 20 passes for 212 yards and two touchdowns while rushing three times for 13 yards in Thursday's 20-10 win over the Giants to open the preseason.

Tyrod Taylor got the start in this one and played the first two drives, then Mayfield took over until early in the fourth quarter. The offense went 3-and-out on Mayfield's first possession, but the 2018 first overall pick capped the next drive with a 10-yard touchdown to David Njoku and later added a 54-yard score to fellow rookie Antonio Callaway on his final throw. While Mayfield's ability to pick up big chunks of yardage was encouraging, the rookie still has a lot of ground to make up on Taylor in the race for the starting quarterback job. He'll need to put together more sustained drives in future preseason games in order to close that gap.

Rudolph completed seven of 12 passes for 101 yards and fumbled twice during Thursday's 31-14 victory over Philadelphia.

From a pure passing perspective, Rudolph was decent in his debut -- leading the Steelers to a trio of field-goal drives after entering the game after halftime. Pittsburgh's brass felt as though they received good value for a potential quarterback of the future by snatching up Rudolph in the third round. Thursday's game, in which both Landry Jones and Joshua Dobbs made big plays, showed that Rudolph will likely need some seasoning and Pittsburgh can afford to bring him along slowly.

Hoyer completed 16 of 23 passes for 144 yards in Thursday's preseason opener against Washington.

Hoyer got the start and stayed in the game until midway through the fourth quarter, eventually engineering a pair of touchdown drives against Washington's scrubs. While one bad outing won't cost Hoyer the No. 2 quarterback job, he could face pressure from seventh-round rookie Danny Etling if the next few weeks don't look better.

Peterman, who started and ran with the first team Thursday against the Panthers, completed nine of 10 passes for 119 yards. He tossed a 28-yard TD pass to Kelvin Benjamin and threw an interception on his only miss.

Peterman is competing with AJ McCarron to win the starting job, and both quarterbacks were superb in the preseason opener, with Peterman posting a 110.0 rating to McCarron's 108.8. We'll see if the Bills flip things, as they've been doing all summer, and give McCarron the preseason start next week. While it was clear that rookie Josh Allen has more size and a much bigger arm than the two veterans, Allen hasn't done much work at all with the first team and this looks like a two-man race for the Week 1 job.

Peterman will start Thursday's preseason contest against the Panthers, Mike Rodak of ESPN.com reports.

Peterman has swapped first- and second-team reps with AJ McCarron during the offseason program and training camp, but the former is getting the first shot under center in exhibition action. The decision by coach Sean McDermott may not mean much in the long run if Peterman can't take advantage of the situation. The Bills have been working a pre-planned rotation all summer, so for now we're not going to read more into Peterman starting until the rotation starts to change.

Tannehill will play in Thursday's preseason contest versus the Buccaneers, Adam H. Beasley of the Miami Herald reports.

The appearance will mark Tannehill's first since Week 14 of the 2016 season, when he initially suffered ACL and MCL sprains in his left knee. While he was eventually cleared for training camp last July, he incurred a partially torn ACL in the same knee near the tail end of training camp and missed the entire year. Shortly after the end of last season, he was named the starter for 2018 and proceeded to have no limitations in the offseason program. On Thursday, expect Tannehill to take no more than a few series as he eases back into action.

Bradford will play in Saturday's preseason game against the Chargers, Darren Urban of the Cardinals' official site reports.

After endearing a cap on his practice reps throughout the offseason program, Bradford has been running the first-team offense since training camp opened July 28. The decision by coach Steve Wilks was a logical one due to Bradford's injury history, namely regarding his left knee. Wilks wouldn't divulge how many snaps or series Bradford will take on Saturday, but it likely won't be much with 2018 first-rounder Josh Rosen, Mike Glennon and Chad Kanoff all waiting in the wings.