NFL Player News

Conner ran for 26 yards on four carries in Sunday's 26-9 win against the Ravens.

The rookie running back has served only to give Le'Veon Bell the occasional breather thus far this season, totaling 46 yards on nine attempts for an average of 5.1 YPC. Nothing has changed in terms of his value as a roster stash in the event Bell suffers an injury.

Ellington rushed five times for 18 yards and caught nine of 14 targets for 86 yards during Sunday's 18-15 overtime victory over the 49ers.

Ellington's final stat line would have looked a little rosier had he gotten both feet inbounds on a potential 12-yard touchdown reception in the second quarter. Still, the 28-year-old scatback paced the Cardinals in targets Sunday and ultimately finished with over 100 yards of total offense. With both Chris Johnson and Kerwynn Williams having proved ineffective in lead roles thus far, it seems Ellington is here to stay and, having carved out a large role in the passing game, should particularly be a worthwhile fantasy option in PPR formats moving forward.

Murray rushed seven times for 22 yards and caught both of his targets for eight more in Sunday's 14-7 loss to Detroit.

Murray took over lead-back duties after productive rookie Dalvin Cook exited with a knee injury in the third quarter. If early reports of Cook suffering an ACL tear are true, Murray would move into the starting role going forward with Jerick McKinnon mixing in as well. Last season's 12-touchdown campaign with Oakland showed that Murray's capable of handling a large workload.

Abdullah sustained a minor ankle injury in the fourth quarter of Sunday's 14-7 win over the Vikings, Justin Rogers of The Detroit News reports. "I rolled my ankle up a little bit," Abdullah said. "I was ready to go back in, but circumstances kind of changed a little bit when they got the ball back only two mins left and we're flopping on the ball. Maybe it was a good thing."

Abdullah was injured with around 13 minutes left in the game and never re-entered the contest, despite being cleared to return late in the fourth quarter. The Lions stuck with Theo Riddick and Zach Zenner for clock-killing work, after Abdullah piled up 94 yards and a touchdown on 20 carries through the first 47 minutes of the game. While the injury was a small blight on his best game of the season, Abdullah didn't sound too worried about his ankle when talking to reporters after the game. He still figures to show up on the injury report for Week 5 against Carolina.

McCaffrey rushed six times for 16 yards and caught four of six targets for 33 more in Sunday's 33-30 win over the Patriots.

McCaffrey normally makes more significant contributions as a receiver out of the backfield, but quarterback Cam Newton didn't need to check down often against a porous New England secondary that allowed wide receivers Kelvin Benjamin (104 yards) and Devin Funchess (70 yards, two touchdowns) to run rampant. Jonathan Stewart significantly outproduced the rookie on the ground with 68 yards on 14 carries, leaving little room for McCaffrey to make an impact. The Stanford product's still searching for his first NFL touchdown, but he should play a larger role in the passing game most weeks.

Abdullah rushed 20 times for 94 yards and a touchdown while catching three of four targets for 15 yards in Sunday's 14-7 win over the Vikings.

Not only did Abdullah outperform Theo Riddick on the ground, but he surprisingly did more work through the air as well with Riddick managing just eight yards on two targets. After setting season highs in both carries and rushing yards here, the more traditional running back is starting to assert himself as the main man in Detroit's backfield. While his 3.9 yards per carry leave much to be desired, Abdullah's been a workhorse with 66 rushing attempts through four weeks after missing all but two games last year with a foot injury.

Rawls is inactive for Sunday's game against the Colts.

Even with C.J. Prosise (ankle) unavailable, the Seahawks have opted to make Rawls a healthy scratch. Chris Carson, Eddie Lacy and J.D. McKissic are the team's active running backs, with Carson set for the lead role and McKissic a candidate to replace Prosise on passing downs.

Mixon carried 17 times for 29 yards and caught all four of his targets for another 19 yards in Sunday's 31-7 win over the Browns.

Mixon received north of 20 touches for the second straight week, but he was only able to muster 1.7 yards per carry against an improved Browns front. This was quite disappointing from a fantasy perspective, as the makings were there for a genuine breakout after being pushed into a featured role a week ago. Jeremy Hill and Giovani Bernard combined for just 28 yards on nine carries, so it appears Mixon will continue to dominate the touches next week against the Bills. If Mixon doesn't begin to perform, however, the team could reconsider the backfield alignment in the short term.

Elliott tallied 21 carries for 85 yards and one touchdown during Sunday's 35-30 defeat to the Rams. Moreover, he tacked on four catches (on five targets) for 54 yards and another touchdown.

An eight-yard stinker aside in Week 2, Elliott has been given at least 20 carries in each of the Cowboys' other outings, surpassing 80 yards on all three occasions. The contribution on the ground was supplemented by season bests in TD count and receiving yards. Unfortunately for his owners, Elliott was unable to extend the team's final possession, as his nine-yard reception with 36 seconds remaining came up one yard short of obtaining a new set of downs. With the Packers' 18th-ranked run defense (111 yards per game) on tap in Week 5, he'll be seeking his second performance of 100-plus rushing yards in the current campaign.

West lost seven yards on four carries during Sunday's 26-9 loss to the Steelers. He was not targeted in the passing game.

West actually broke off a long run of five yards but was stifled behind the line on multiple occasions to finish with perhaps the worst performance of his career. Meanwhile, Alex Collins gained 82 yards on nine carries and Buck Allen received six targets in the passing game, illustrating how the backfield duties could be distributed moving forward. West's role is diminishing by the game, making it tough to place any sort of trust in him for next week's road game against the Raiders.