NFL Player News
-
Michael Pratt QB | TB
Buccaneers' Michael Pratt: Signs with Tampa Bay
Pratt signed a reserve/future contract with Tampa Bay on Tuesday.
Pratt was a seventh-round pick by the Packers in the 2024 NFL Draft, but he didn't make the team out of the preseason and spent the majority of the campaign bouncing between the Bucs' practice squad and active roster as the team's emergency QB3. Pratt never got into a regular-season game but will get another shot to try and impress the coaching staff this offseason.
-
Patrick Mahomes QB | KC
Chiefs' Patrick Mahomes: Returns to practice in full
Mahomes (ankle) was a full participant in Tuesday's practice.
Mahomes was inactive in Week 18 with Kansas City having already secured the AFC's No. 1 seed. The star quarterback instead benefited from more time to recover from the right high-ankle sprain that he sustained in a Dec. 15 win over the Browns and then played through in Weeks 16 and 17. Mahomes looks like he'll be good to go for a divisional-round matchup with the Texans on Saturday.
-
Skylar Thompson QB | PIT
Steelers' Skylar Thompson: Inks deal with Pittsburgh
The Steelers signed Thompson to a reserve/future contract Tuesday.
Selected in the seventh round of the 2022 NFL Draft by the Dolphins, Thompson spent the past three seasons with Miami as part of the team's backup situation behind Tua Tagovailoa. Thompson appeared in 10 regular-season contests in that time and even started Miami's wild-card playoff game against the Bills as a rookie. Thompson, however, looked overwhelmed when forced into action, completing 99 of 183 passes (54.1 percent) for 941 yards (5.14 yards per attempt), two touchdowns and five interceptions across those 11 contests, while absorbing 16 sacks. He'll compete for a backup gig in Pittsburgh this upcoming offseason.
-
Matthew Stafford QB | LAR
Rams' Matthew Stafford: Stands out in wild-card win
Stafford completed 19 of 27 passes for 209 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions while adding two carries for minus-1 yard in the Rams' 27-9 wild-card win over the Vikings on Monday night.
Stafford got off to a blazing start during the convincing win, recording completions of 27 and 23 yards to Puka Nacua and Tyler Higbee, respectively, on his first pair of throws. The veteran signal-caller connected on all six pass attempts during the crisp opening possession, which he capped off with a five-yard scoring toss to Kyren Williams. Stafford subsequently connected with Davis Allen for a 13-yard scoring strike just before halftime as well, and although the offense slowed down considerably in the second half, the quarterback already laid the groundwork for an impressive victory. Stafford and the Rams now will ready themselves for the challenge presented by a road divisional-round clash versus the Eagles on Sunday afternoon.
-
Sam Darnold QB | SEA
Vikings' Sam Darnold: Ragged finish to season Monday
Darnold completed 25 of 40 passes for 245 yards with a touchdown and an interception in the Vikings' 27-9 wild-card loss to the Rams on Monday night. He also rushed four times for 19 yards and lost a fumble.
While his final stat line looks serviceable enough, it belies the uneven nature of Darnold's season-ending performance and the amount of duress he frequently found himself under from a Rams defense that collected a whopping nine sacks against him for a net loss of 82 yards. Darnold couldn't facilitate anything more than a 64-yard effort -- that total belonging to T.J. Hockenson -- for his pass catchers, and although he targeted the duo of Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison a combined 16 times, that only yielded a modest 8-87-0 line. Darnold's fumble, which came with just over four and a half minutes remaining in the first half, also had disastrous consequences, as it was scooped up and returned 57 yards for a touchdown by Jared Verse to extend Los Angeles' lead to two scores at the time. Darnold rightfully received plenty of credit for the Vikings' standout regular season by putting together a career-best 2024 campaign in which he completed 361 of 545 passes for 4,319 yards with a 35:12 TD:INT and added a 67-212-1 rushing line, all across 17 games. However, he looked like a different quarterback in back-to-back lopsided losses to the Lions and Rams to close out Minnesota's season, and with unrestricted free agency looming for him at the start of the new league year, the topic of Darnold's future will be one of great intrigue considering the presence of 2024 first-round pick J.J. McCarthy (knee) on Minnesota's roster.
-
Daniel Jones QB | IND
Vikings' Daniel Jones: Emergency QB for wild-card round
Jones (coach's decision) is inactive for Monday's NFC wild-card game against the Rams but will serve as the Vikings' emergency third-string quarterback, Ben Goessling of the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports.
Jones joined the Vikings' practice squad in late November after being released by the Giants. He wasn't elevated to Minnesota's active roster during the regular season, but he was signed to the active roster this past Tuesday. As the emergency quarterback, Jones will not be allowed to play Monday unless starter Sam Darnold and backup Nick Mullens were both to be taken out of the game due to injury, illness or ejection.
-
Lamar Jackson QB | BAL
Ravens' Lamar Jackson: No practice limitations expected
Ravens coach John Harbaugh doesn't expect Jackson to be limited in practice this week, Jamison Hensley of ESPN.com reports.
Jackson grimaced and clutched his torso at one point during the fourth quarter of Sunday's 28-14 win over the Steelers, but he never left the game and apparently doesn't have a noteworthy injury. Harbaugh said Jackson was kneed in the back during the second quarter, which might explain why the QB was in pain later on. Regardless of the specifics, Jackson is expected to practice this week and then start Sunday's divisional-round game at Buffalo.
-
Tanner McKee QB | PHI
Eagles' Tanner McKee: Returns to No. 3 role
McKee was inactive as the Eagles' emergency No. 3 quarterback for Sunday's 22-10 wild-card win over the Packers.
Though Jalen Hurts cleared concussion protocol and returned to the starting role after missing the final two games of the regular season, McKee looked as though he might have made a case to replace Kenny Pickett as the Eagles' No. 2 signal-caller based on his performance in Weeks 17 and 18. Pickett started and played the majority of the Eagles' 41-7 win over the Cowboys in Week 17, but he left that game early with a rib injury to pave the way for McKee to take his first NFL snaps. McKee completed three of four attempts for 54 yards and two touchdowns in relief, then started the Week 18 win over the Giants while both Hurts and Pickett were sidelined and completed 27 of 41 passes for 269 yards and two touchdowns. Despite McKee's strong showing the previous two games, the Eagles ultimately elected to keep him in the No. 3 role for the playoff opener with Pickett displaying enough progress in his recovery from the injury in practice this past week to suit up as Hurts' top backup.
-
Jake Haener QB | NO
Saints' Jake Haener: Logs one subpar start in 2024
Haener completed 18 of 39 passes for 226 yards with one touchdown and one interception during eight regular-season appearances for the Saints in 2024. He also recorded 11 rushing attempts for 22 yards.
Haener failed to impress during any of his significant opportunities this season. The second-year quarterback came in for mop-up duty during back-to-back blowouts in Week 1 and Week 2, and he stepped in when QB1 Derek Carr suffered an oblique injury Week 5. But, the Saints started rookie Spencer Rattler when Carr missed the following three games. Haener didn't get his first chance to start until the Week 15 loss to the Commanders, in which he was benched after completing four of 10 passes for 39 yards and an interception in the first half. Haener never saw the field again for the rest of the season, as New Orleans started Rattler for the final three games. In two seasons, Haener has thrown just one touchdown and has passed for over 100 yards once. The Saints don't appear to have a surefire long-term plan at quarterback after back-to-back underwhelming seasons with the 33-year-old Carr. Given Haener's apparent lack of growth and production, it's unlikely he'll be anything more than a QB2, or possibly even QB3, for the Saints moving forward.
-
Jayden Daniels QB | WAS
Commanders' Jayden Daniels: Performs well in first playoff game
Daniels completed 24 of 35 pass attempts for 268 yards and two touchdowns while rushing 13 times for 36 yards in Sunday's 23-20 playoff win over the Buccaneers.
Daniels looked like a seasoned veteran in his postseason debut, showing tremendous poise in the pocket (110.2 QB rating) without committing a turnover in a ruckus road environment. The rookie standout didn't post gaudy rushing totals on 13 attempts, but his four-yard scramble on third down in the waning moments of Sunday's narrow victory helped push Washington into the next round of the playoffs. Daniels and the Commanders will face a stiffer test in the divisional round when the team travels to Detroit to face the NFC's No. 1-seeded Lions on Saturday. Despite entering the contest as an underdog, the dual-threat quarterback still makes for a strong fantasy play given how decimated Detroit's secondary has become due to injury.