NFL Player News

The Patriots are waiving Ozigbo, Aaron Wilson of ProFootballNetwork.com reports.

Ozigbo's chances of securing a depth role in the Patriots backfield took a hit when the team selected both Pierre Strong and Kevin Harris in the recent NFL Draft. The 25-year-old Ozigbo now will look to catch on with another team looking to bolster its running back corps.

Williams will compete with Tyler Allgeier and Qadree Ollison for touches after the release of Mike Davis, Josh Kendall of The Athletic reports.

Williams agreed to a one-year deal with the Falcons this offseason after serving as a backup in Chicago last year. Cordarrelle Patterson likely will lead the backfield once again, but the release of Davis and the acquisitions of Allgeier and Williams change the rest of Atlanta's running back depth chart. With Marcus Mariota at the helm, it wouldn't be surprising to see the Falcons feature a heavy dose of the run, so all four backs may get opportunities throughout the season, though Patterson certainly boasts the highest fantasy upside going into training camp.

The Bills drafted James Cook out of Georgia in the second round of the NFL Draft, and the rookie presumably will compete with Moss and Devin Singletary for playing time in 2022.

This spells a bit of trouble for Moss, a third-round pick in 2020. His struggles to date probably are part of the reason the Bills drafted a running back so high. Meanwhile, Singletary ended the 2021 season on a tear, scoring nine touchdowns over the team's last six games (three regular season, three playoffs) while surpassing 80 rushing yards in four of them. Moss last received double-digit carries all the way back in Week 5, and he even was a healthy scratch at times. Expect Cook to start chipping in on Singletary's workload right away, and the rookie could even leapfrog Moss in short order for the No. 2 role.

The Bills drafted James Cook out of Georgia in the second round of the NFL Draft, and the rookie will presumably compete with Singletary and Zack Moss for playing time in 2022.

Singletary ended the 2021 season on a tear, scoring nine touchdowns over the team's last six games (three regular season, three playoffs) while surpassing 80 rushing yards in four of them. However, the Bills mostly have run a committee system during coach Sean McDermott's tenure, and with Moss being a shaky option and Singletary being limited to one very nice hot streak in a three-year career, Cook now will fill out the room. While we imagine the No. 1 job in the committee is Singletary's to lose, the Bills didn't use a second-round pick on a benchwarmer. Expect the rookie to start chipping in on Singletary's workload right away, and Cook could even leapfrog Moss in short order for the No. 2 role.

Carter will be joined by rookie second-round pick Breece Hall in New York's backfield, Rich Cimini of ESPN reports.

Hall was the first running back selected in the 2022 NFL Draft, as the Jets traded up two spots in the second round to grab him 36th overall. The Iowa State product is capable of playing a three-down role, but there still should be plenty of touches left over for Carter working alongside Hall. Carter proved capable of excelling in a timeshare while in college, as he topped 1,000 rushing yards in each of his final two years at UNC, despite splitting carries with Javonte Williams.

The Chargers selected Brown in the seventh round of the 2022 NFL Draft, 260th overall.

Horvath is a bit of a unique prospect given his 4.60 40-yard dash at 6-foot-2, 228 pounds. The Chargers don't typically use a fullback in their base offense, so it's possible the redshirt senior, who compiled 1,181 rushing yards and eight touchdowns over the past three seasons with Purdue, could actually operate as the team's short-yardage thumper. Either way, it seems unlikely Horvath will see enough carries to earn fantasy value early on.

The Chiefs selected Pacheco in the seventh round of the 2022 NFL Draft, 251st overall.

Pacheco might be a mere seventh-round pick, but don't count him out. He was one of the most athletic running backs at the combine, boasting a 4.37-second 40 at a sturdy 5-foot-10, 216 pounds, and he runs with a noticeable motor on tape. His production at Rutgers was quite bad, but it's worth considering an exemption in his case given how dysfunctional the offensive line and quarterbacks were on that team. The odds are not in Pacheco's favor as a seventh-round pick and he's well behind Clyde Edwards-Helaire and Ronald Jones, but just keep an eye on him.

The Raiders selected Brown in the seventh round of the 2022 NFL Draft, 250th overall.

Brown becomes the second running back selected by the Raiders less than 24 hours after declining Josh Jacobs' fifth-year option, joining Zamir White. After starting out at Duke, Brown transferred to UCLA, where he appeared in 17 games over two seasons. He was largely overtaken by Zach Charbonnet in 2021 but Brown still produced 615 yards and seven touchdowns at a 6.0 YPC clip. Brown wasn't heavily used as a pass catcher but was efficient when targeted, snaring 18 of 19 targets for 129 yards in 2021. He ran a 4.66 in the 40-yard dash at his pro day, so athleticism is below baseline for an NFL running back and it will be an uphill battle for him to crack the roster despite being drafted.

The Bears selected Ebner in the sixth round of the 2022 NFL Draft, 203rd overall.

James Cook didn't do anything at Georgia that Ebner failed to do at Baylor -- both are pass-catching specialist running backs -- and Ebner even has better size-adjusted speed with a 4.43-second 40 at 5-foot-11, 206 pounds (Cook was credited with a 4.42 at 199 pounds), yet Ebner goes here four rounds later. Ebner is a natural pass catcher to the point that he can actually line up at wide receiver rather than just catch passes out of the backfield, and the Bears are notably short on proven pass catchers. Ebner is no doubt a long shot to provide fantasy value -- he needs to worry about making the team first -- but there is a chance that the Bears need him to catch a surprisingly high number of passes early in his career.

The Cardinals selected Ingram in the sixth round of the 2022 NFL Draft, 201st overall.

Ingram appeared to be on the fast track to stardom after strong freshman and sophomore seasons at Texas, but Bijan Robinson -- an elite prospect in his own right -- ended up boxing out Ingram in 2020. As a transfer at USC, Ingram was clearly the team's best running back in 2021 with 156 carries for 911 yards (5.8 YPC) and five touchdowns while adding 22 catches (25 targets) for 156 yards. While Ingram has never handled a workhorse role in college, he may have that capability, as he measured in at 6-foot, 221 pounds at the combine and ran a 4.53 40-yard dash. He has a good chance to settle in as the No. 2 running back behind James Conner right away, with Eno Benjamin representing his stiffest competition at the moment.