NFL Player News

Bell (hamstring) reverted to the Lions' injured reserve Thursday, per the NFL's official transaction report.

Detroit waived Bell with an injury designation Wednesday, but he will land on the team's IR after passing through waivers unclaimed. As a result, the 24-year-old undrafted running back will be forced to sit out the entirety of the 2022 campaign unless he can reach an injury settlement with the team.

Cecil Lammey of 104.3 The Fan reports that Williams has taken the first snap at six of seven practices and could get around 70 percent of the RB workload this year, while Benjamin Albright of KOA Colorado suggests the split between William and Melvin Gordon at camp has been around 55/45.

There's widespread agreement about Williams being the No. 1 back, after Gordon had the slightly larger portion of a timeshare most of last year. The extent of Gordon's 2022 involvement is where disagreement begins, and while there's a good chance we don't really know until after Week 1, it nonetheless figures to remain a popular topic of discussion. Williams had late-first-round fantasy hype this offseason when Gordon was a free agent, with the second-year pro later dropping to a third-round ADP after the Broncos re-signed the 29-year-old in late April. Given Williams' talent along with Denver's offseason upgrade at QB, a 70/30 split should be enough to match or beat his draft price. A 55/45 split, on the other hand, would make it tricky, requiring superhuman efficiency and/or a glut of TDs.

Evans remains behind Samaje Perine in the battle to be Joe Mixon's backup, Ben Baby of ESPN.com reports. Speaking of Perine, Bengals coach Zac Taylor said: "He's certainly got a leg up right now in that battle, but that's what training camp is for. Plenty of times, guys step up and have huge growth. We'll see where it goes."

This tracks with how Perine was used ahead of Evans last season. Evans still has pass-catching upside, but he needs to impress the coaching staff more in all phases of the game to be next in line behind Mixon.

Coach John Harbaugh relayed Thursday that Dobbins (knee) remains in a hurry to resume practicing, Jonas Shaffer of The Baltimore Sun reports.

Dobbins remains on the PUP list after more than a week of training camp, though he said at the very beginning that he felt he was ready for practice. The Ravens are holding him back, albeit with Harbaugh acknowledging multiple times that Dobbins is ahead of Gus Edwards in the rehab process. Both suffered ACL tears, and while Dobbins' reportedly was accompanied by other damage in his knee, it's Edwards who seems to be a bit behind rehab expectations. Dobbins still profiles as the lead back once he's ready, as the healthy options at Baltimore training camp right now are Mike Davis, Justice Hill, Corey Clement and Nate McCrary -- not the most inspiring bunch unless you're prioritizing coverage and blocking on special teams units.

Coach John Harbaugh said Thursday that Edwards (knee) is a little behind the Ravens' other rehabbing players, Jonas Shaffer of The Baltimore Sun reports.

The list includes J.K. Dobbins, who also is coming back from an ACL injury and remains on the PUP list despite reportedly being antsy to practice. Reports at one point suggested Dobbins would have a tougher rehab due to additional ligament damage in his knee, but it seems to have gone the other way around, with Edwards now in more danger of missing the start of the season. Mike Davis, Justice Hill, Corey Clement and Nate McCrary have been getting RB reps at Baltimore training camp.

Gibson (hamstring) followed his ramp-up plan for the first week of training camp and now has resumed practicing with teammates, Sam Fortier of The Washington Post reports.

It sounds like Gibson has avoided any setbacks with the hamstring injury that limited his participation in spring practices. He also mentioned dropping a few pounds, going from the mid-230s to low 230s, though the Commanders listed him at 220 both last season and this year. Gibson reportedly wants to get down to 220-225 before Week 1, which especially makes sense if rumors of rookie Brian Robinson stealing short-yardage work are to be believed. Gibson was the team's grinder last year, and it might actually work in his favor if he trades some inside runs for outside runs and/or receptions. On the other hand, losing goal-line work would be an obvious problem for fantasy, and the receiving ceiling is probably around three catches per game unless passing-down back J.D. McKissic is eventually injured or phased out.

Shampklin is sidelined from training camp practices for several days after testing positive for COVID-19 on Thursday, Michael Gehlken of The Dallas Morning News reports.

Shampklin joins fellow running back Rico Dowdle as unavailable to practice due to COVID-19. The rookie joined the Cowboys in May as an undrafted free agent out of Harvard and is currently at the bottom of Dallas' running back depth chart.

Strong, who had been limited in training camp by an undisclosed injury, practiced fully Thursday, Zack Cox of NESN.com reports.

The 2022 fourth-rounder's return to a full session is notable, with veteran change-of-pace back James White still bouncing back from hip surgery and no lock to be full strength by Week 1. If White ends up out or limited early on this season, Strong presumably would be a candidate to earn a portion of the Patriots' third-down back responsibilities out of the gate in 2022.

Swift got the day off Wednesday, seemingly as part of Detroit's plan to keep him healthy throughout the season, Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press reports.

Between his four missed games with a shoulder injury late last season and the presence of two experienced backups (Jamaal Williams, Justin Jackson) on Detroit's roster, there's been talk of Swift's workload being scaled back. Reduced reps in camp may feed into that discussion, but it mostly just seems to be a matter of keeping Swift healthy and fresh. He's unquestioned as Detroit's lead back, though it is fair to question how much work he'll cede to his backups. Last year he played 67 percent of snaps in his 13 active games and averaged 11.6 carries and 4.8 receptions per contest, totaling 1,069 yards and seven TDs. In terms of per-game production, he was RB20 for standard leagues and RB10 for full PPR. The split shouldn't be as wide this year, though it won't be surprising if he continues to be spelled on early downs rather than late downs for the most part. Swift said he's feeling good and expects to return to practice in short order.

Dowdle will miss the remainder of this week's training camp practices after testing positive for COVID-19 on Thursday, Michael Gehlken of The Dallas Morning News reports.

Dowdle is going through a rough stretch, having missed the 2021 season with a hip fracture and then getting his knee scoped in May, which led to his absence from OTAs. He'll now have to remain away from the team until he receives medical clearance. Dowdle joined the Cowboys as an undrafted free agent out of South Carolina in 2020 and saw the field for 15 contests in his rookie season, but he mostly just contributed on special teams. Dowdle is currently No. 3 on Dallas' running back positional depth chart, firmly behind Ezekiel Elliott and Tony Pollard.