NFL Player News

Although Dolphins head coach Joe Philbin continues to avoid naming a starting quarterback for Sunday's game against the Raiders, incumbent starter Ryan Tannehill has no doubt in his mind he will be under center at the start of Sunday's game, per The Palm Beach Post.

"I’m taking the first snap of the game," he said.

Tannehill did admit, however, the quarterback controversy has been a distraction. 

"Obviously it doesn’t feel good," Tannehill said. "It creates a lot of stir, a lot of distraction in the locker room -- mostly from outside."

Generally speaking, skill positions players are hard to rely on when facing Thursday night matchups. Through three weeks, only one player has topped 100 yards receiving on Thursday this season, compared to 29 in 45 other games. That pattern continued last season, as only 10 of the league's 208 100-yard receiving performances came during the 17 Thursday games a year ago.

That being said, this Thursday's game has all of the makings of an outlier, as the Redskins and Giants look set for a shootout. Neither team boasts a particularly strong pass defense, with both ranking among the league's seven worst in yards per attempt allowed. That is why you will find Pierre Garcon and Victor Cruz ranked among the top-15 at wide receiver in both Jamey Eisenberg and Dave Richard's rankings for Week 4.

Cruz has enjoyed solid success against Washington in his career, averaging 71.8 yards per game in five matchups. Garcon was mostly held in check in two games against the Giants a year ago, hauling in 15 combined passes for just 117 yards, but Fantasy owners have to consider him a must-start option after the rapport he showed with new starter Kirk Cousins a week ago. Especially with DeSean Jackson's availability in question with a shoulder injury. 

If Jackson plays, he could be a nice option, as he shrugged off the shoulder injury with five receptions for 117 yards and a touchdown last week. Rueben Randle just might find himself the odd-man-out this week, however, and is more of a flex start. 

The Vikings put quarterback Matt Cassel on injured reserve, ending his season. Cassel broke several bones in his foot in Sunday's loss in New Orleans.

Rookie Teddy Bridgewater takes over as Minnesota's full-time starter. He hit 12 of 20 throws for 150 yards and ran six times for 27 yards against the Saints.

"Moving forward, I think I am definitely going to be ready," Bridgewater said. "I just need to get more practice reps throughout the week."

Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill is scheduled to start Sunday, NFL.com reports. The team hasn't committed to Tannehill as the starter for Week 4's trip to London, but the third-year signal caller should remain under center for the Dolphins.

The Jets have lost two straight games and quarterback Geno Smith has had his struggles in both outings. However, coach Rex Ryan gave the second-year quarterback a vote of confidence Tuesday following Monday's loss vs. Chicago.

"Everybody is behind Geno. He's our quarterback. Our football team believes in him," Ryan said, per the New York Daily News.

The 49ers signed quarterback Josh Johnson and waived tight end Asante Cleveland.

Quarterback Aaron Rodgers and the rest of the Packers' offensive players are facing criticism after Sunday's 19-7 loss to the Lions. Rodgers threw for just 162 yards, and Green Bay averaged 3.5 yards per carry.

Rodgers said the offense isn't playing fast enough or converting enough third downs. "We haven't made it easy on ourselves, but we're a resilient bunch," he said, via NFL.com. "We'll bounce back."

Added Rodgers: "Relax. We're going to be fine."

Green Bay visits the Bears on Sunday.

Redskins coach Jay Gruden said quarterback Kirk Cousins has a chance to start even after Robert Griffin III returns from his ankle injury, reports the New York Daily News. "Crazy things have happened in the NFL," Gruden said. 

"I'm not going to discount anything."

In two games, Cousins has thrown for 677 yards and five touchdowns with one interception. He'll face the Giants at home Thursday.

While researching players for the Week 4 edition of the Fantasy Cheat Sheet (coming soon here!), I started off with a look at Kirk Cousins. And I just couldn't resist adding more than 2 cents on the Washington signal-caller. 

As I explain in my recent blog post, I like Cousins this week. In fact, I like him enough to start him. Here's a snippet:

"We can now see why the Redskins liked the fit of Cousins in this offense as his accuracy is better than Griffin's. It doesn't clinch him as a rock-solid Fantasy starter week after week. This week we'll take a chance on him, even against the Giants (who have been good against the pass) on a short week."

At the moment I have him at No. 11 and Jamey Eisenberg has him at No. 12 in our rankings. A start for both of us!

Read more of our blogs here and get the latest player news and analysis here.

Over at the Fantasy Football Today blog, I broke down Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater's debut against the Saints last week. Included are video breakdowns of some of Bridgewater's best plays, plus some discussion of what he needs to work on: 

"He showed fine arm strength on that throw to Jennings, and actually struggled more with his accuracy on short throws, as when he rushed a pair of passes to Jerick McKinnon in the flats in the second quarter, both resulting in incompletions."

Check out the rest over at the blog to determine if you want to pick up Bridgewater now that he's running the show in Minnesota.