NFL Player 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.

Jets coach Rex Ryan told reporters he doesn't believe quarterback Geno Smith has regressed, despite Smith throwing two bad interceptions Monday night. The first was returned 45 yards for a touchdown.

"Guys, this ain't the same quarterback as he was at the beginning of last year, I don't care what people say," Ryan said, per NFL.com. "Did he make a mistake? Absolutely. Their quarterback made a mistake but the difference was, they caught the [interception] and we didn't. ... I feel good about this football team and I feel good about Geno Smith."

Smith, who threw for 316 yards, missed several open receivers and guided his team to one touchdown in six red-zone trips.

"I've gotta make sure that when we get down in that red zone -- we were 1 for 6 today and that's completely awful," Smith said. "We don't ever expect to go 1 for 6 because we hold ourself to a high standard, and it starts with me."

Jets quarterback Geno Smith threw two more interceptions in Monday night's loss to the Bears, giving him five turnovers this season after he committed 25 last year. Smith completed 26 of 43 throws for 316 yards and a touchdown and he ran three times for 20 yards.

But the picks cost his team 14 points. Smith's first pass, a screen intended for Chris Johnson, turned into a 45-yard pick-six by Bears safety Ryan Mundy. Smith later forced a throw into the end zone and was intercepted by Kyle Fuller.

Smith repeatedly struggled in the red zone, the exception a 19-yard touchdown to Jeremy Kerley in the second quarter. Smith plays the Lions in Week 4.

Teddy Bridgewater did not elicit as much excitement coming out of college as his fellow draft peers, and his NFL debut Sunday against the Saints reflected that. While Blake Bortles was tossing two touchdowns -- and two interceptions -- and Johnny Manziel was being used as a wide receiver on trick plays, Bridgewater came in did a solid, unspectacular job for the Vikings after Matt Cassel's injury Sunday.

Bridgewater put together a professional performance, though he didn't give the team enough to mount a comeback in the 20-9 loss. He completed 12 of 20 passes for 150 yards and added 27 on six carries, without recording a touchdown or turnover.

Bridgewater was not asked to do much, but he has plenty of weapons in this Minnesota offense, so that should change moving forward as he gets more comfortable. He targeted six players Sunday, and a breakdown of that could give Fantasy owners an idea of how he might spread the ball around moving forward:

Greg Jennings: six targets, four receptions; Cordarrelle Patterson: three targets, three receptions; Jerick McKinnon: five targets, two receptions; Matt Asiata: four targets, two receptions; Kyle Rudolph: one target, one reception; Rhett Ellison: one target, no receptions

The Dolphins might have a new starting quarterback for their Week 4 showdown with the Raiders in London.

Dolphins coach Joe Philbin was asked Monday following Miami's 34-15 loss Sunday against the Chiefs if Ryan Tannehill will start next week against Oakland, and Philbin didn't exactly respond with a vote of confidence for Tannehill.

"We’ll decide our game plan before we leave to play Oakland," Philbin said, per The Palm Beach Post.

Matt Moore is the Dolphins' backup quarterback.

Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill had another disappointing performance in Week 3 at home against the Chiefs.

The offensive line struggled to protect Tannehill, as he was taken for five sacks on the afternoon. Tannehill failed to complete half of his passes, compiling only 205 yards through the air while completing 21 of 43 attempts. Tannehill found an open Brian Hartline on a playaction for a 1-yard score early in the third quarter -- his only touchdown of the game. He finished without an interception and rushed for nine yards in a 31-15 defeat.

Tannehill has yet to crack the 250-yard mark through three weeks. He will look to bounce back in London against the Raiders in Week 4.