NFL Player News

Head coach Sean McDermott told reporters Monday that Buechele will be out for an extended amount of time after sustaining a neck injury in Saturday's 33-6 preseason loss to the Bears, Jay Skurski of The Buffalo News reports.

Buechele took over under center in the second half of Saturday's contest after Josh Allen and Mitch Trubisky handled snaps in the first half. Buechele finished the contest completing six of 10 passes for 53 yards and one interception while adding 22 rushing yards on three carries. The Bills brought in Ben DiNucci to take snaps with the second- and third-team offenses while Buechele is sidelined.

McCarthy (knee) is not practicing Monday, and it is unclear if he will travel to Cleveland for joint practices, Dane Mizutani of the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports.

McCarthy excelled during his preseason debut to the tune of two passing touchdowns and 188 yards through the air. The rookie also completed 11 of 17 passes and finished with a 116.8 passer rating. It is unclear how serious his knee soreness is, but it would not be surprising to see the Vikings exercise caution with the 10th overall pick in this year's draft. If McCarthy ultimately misses more practice time, Sam Darnold would presumably get all of the first-team reps while Nick Mullens and Jaren Hall continue competing for the No. 3 role under center.

Coach Mike Macdonald said Monday that Seattle's starters, Smith included, aren't expected to play in Saturday's preseason game against the Titans, Curtis Crabtree of Fox 13 Seattle reports.

Macdonald looks set to hold the Seahawks' starting units out of a second straight exhibition matchup, as Smith also didn't suit up this past Saturday against the Chargers. Instead, Macdonald stressed that the starters will get plenty of reps during joint practices with Tennessee, which will be fully padded. Smith dealt with hip and knee injuries earlier in training camp but has been a full participant at practice as of late.

Watson is slated to play in the Browns' preseason finale against the Seahawks on Saturday, Aug. 24, Mary Kay Cabot of The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports.

Watson isn't in line to play Saturday against the Vikings in Cleveland's second preseason contest, but he's expected to see some action in the team's final exhibition outing. Per Scott Petrak of the Elyria Chronicle-Telegram, coach Kevin Stefanski has generally played most of the Browns' healthy starters, including the QB, in preseason finales during his tenure, and in that scenario Watson would be seeing his first game reps since Week 10 of the 2023 season.

Haener completed nine of 13 passes for 107 yards during Saturday's 16-14 preseason win against the Cardinals. He also rushed once for three yards.

Haener relieved starting quarterback Derek Carr after he and the rest of the team's first-team offense came out of the game following their second offensive series. While the 25-year-old backup did not score himself, Haener did lead back-to-back field-goal drives in the second quarter. This included the biggest highlight of the game when he heaved a 58-yard pass down the left sideline for second-year wideout A.T. Perry, setting up kicker Blake Grupe for a 33-yard field goal as time expired in the first half. Haener then turned the reins over to rookie signal-caller Spencer Rattler for the second half. These two will continue to compete for the No. 2 quarterback job heading into New Orleans' second preseason game at San Francisco on Sunday.

Flacco was 3-for-5 passing for 28 yards and played one series in Sunday's preseason loss to Denver.

Flacco should get more work later in the preseason as the backup to Anthony Richardson. The reigning NFL Comeback Player of the Year is coming off an impressive showing with Cleveland last season but will be strictly a backup in Indy. He gives the Colts a veteran capable of keeping the team afloat should Richardson go down.

Ehlinger was 5-of-6 passing for 80 yards with an interception in Sunday's preseason loss to Denver. He also had one carry for four yards.

Ehlinger looks set win the third quarterback role and may not see any regular-season action if Anthony Richardson and Joe Flacco are healthy.

Bennett played the entire game in Sunday's 13-12 preseason win over the Cowboys, completing 24 of 38 passes for 224 yards and a touchdown with four interceptions.

The Rams' coaching staff elected to sit both Matthew Stafford and Jimmy Garoppolo (suspension) for the preseason opener, instead giving the team's 2023 fourth-round pick a full four quarters to show what he could do. Bennett, who didn't play at all in his rookie season, was predictably rusty, but the Cowboys failed to take full advantage of his turnovers and consistently settled for field goals. That left the door open for the Georgia product to engineer a scoring drive inside the final three minutes of the fourth quarter, and Bennett found depth tight end Miller Forristall for a six-yard touchdown with just four seconds left on the clock. With Garoppolo suspended for the first two games of the regular season, the Rams have plenty of incentive to get Bennett up to speed as quickly as possible, so he could see a hefty workload again Saturday against the Chargers.

Trubisky completed 10 of 18 passes for 82 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions in Saturday's preseason loss to the Bears, good for a 67.4 rating. He also rushed three times for 12 yards.

Trubisky is the clear No. 2 behind superstar Josh Allen, and he didn't do anything too terribly in this outing to put his spot at any risk. No. 3 quarterback Shane Buechele had a rough game with an interception and a 34.6 rating, so at this point it would be a pretty big shock to see the Bills enter the regular season with anything other than an Allen-Trubisky pecking order. Trubisky also has experience with the Bills dating back to 2021, and the Bills like that he offers a similar type of big-bodied player with an ability to run should anything happen to The Franchise.

Lance completed 25 of 41 passes for 188 yards in Sunday's 13-12 preseason loss to the Rams. He added 44 rushing yards on six carries.

Cooper Rush got the start for Dallas in the team's preseason opener but saw only one series before handing the reins to Lance, who played the rest of the game. The 24-year-old quarterback flashed the physical ability that made him the third overall pick in the 2021 Draft, escaping pressure with his legs and showing off his arm strength, and his numbers were impacted by some drops by the second-team receiving options he was working with. Lance also had some accuracy issues of his own, though, and he failed to get the ball into the end zone despite multiple trips inside the 20, forcing the Cowboys to settle for four Brandon Aubrey field goals. This performance likely wasn't enough to push the former 49er ahead of Rush in the battle to be the primary backup to Dak Prescott, but Lance should get another chance in Saturday's preseason clash with the Raiders.