NFL Player News

Badie (back) has been ruled out for Sunday's game against the Chiefs, Parker Gabriel of The Denver Post reports.

Badie is in the final stages of his recovery from a back injury that caused him to be placed on injured reserve in early October. He was a full participant in practice this week, and while he won't play in Sunday's regular-season finale, Badie could be activated off IR for the wild-card round if the Broncos qualify for the playoffs.

The Cardinals elevated Jones from the practice squad to the active roster Saturday.

Jones injured his shoulder during the preseason, which caused him to be let go by the Cardinals in late August with an injury settlement. He signed with Arizona's practice squad Dec. 18, and now that he's on the active roster, the 27-year-old will serve as the Cardinals' No. 3 running back behind Michael Carter and DeeJay Dallas for Sunday's regular-season finale against the 49ers.

The Saints elevated Edwards-Helaire from the practice squad to the active roster Saturday in advance of Sunday's game in Tampa Bay.

With Kendre Miller (concussion) out and Alvin Kamara (groin) doubtful for Week 18 action, Edwards-Helaire will be among the RB options for the Saints on Sunday along with Jamaal Williams and Jordan Mims. In Week 17 against the Raiders, Kamara also was sidelined, Miller sustained his head injury, and Mims was a healthy scratch, which left Edwards-Helaire (26 of 60 snaps) and Williams (25 of 60) to split work. Having said that, Edwards turned his seven touches into 30 yards from scrimmage, while Williams managed 24 total yards on three touches.

The Giants signed Miller from their practice squad to their active roster Saturday, Dan Salomone of the Giants' official site reports.

Miller has spent the majority of the season on New York's practice squad, though he did get two elevations during the campaign. In those games, he recorded a combined seven snaps on special teams and one snap on offense. Miller could get a bit more opportunity Sunday against Philadelphia with the Giants having nothing to play for except draft-pick slotting, but he's still expected to be fourth on the running-back depth chart behind Tyrone Tracy, Devin Singletary and Eric Gray.

The Commanders activated Ekeler (concussion) from injured reserve Saturday, and he doesn't have a designation for Sunday's game at Dallas.

Since he was designated for return from IR on Wednesday, Ekeler put together three straight full practices and entered the weekend listed as questionable for Week 18 action. In conjunction with activating him Saturday, the team took him off the injury report, thereby paving the way for his first appearance since he sustained a concussion Week 12 against the Cowboys. At the very least, Ekeler should take on a pass-catching role out of Washington's backfield alongside lead runner Brian Robinson, which likely will relegate Jeremy McNichols and Chris Rodriguez to lesser roles than they've had in recent outings.

Sanders (ankle) was activated off injured reserve Saturday and remains questionable for Sunday's contest against the Falcons, Mike Kaye of The Charlotte Observer reports.

Presumably, Sanders wouldn't be activated off injured reserve unless the team intended to play the veteran, but it's unclear if Raheem Blackshear, who got the start in replace of the injured Chuba Hubbard (knee) last week, will still get the first crack at the starting job Sunday. Sanders could be a cap causality this offseason, so from that standpoint the team theoretically should be more invested in the development of Blackshear, but this overall could be a messy backfield, with Mike Boone and Velus Jones also chipping in a few snaps as well.

With Ameer Abdullah (foot) ruled out for Sunday's season finale against the Chargers, Mattison is in line to start at running back for the Raiders in Week 18, per Tashan Reed of The Athletic.

Mattison, who carried 10 times for 32 yards and caught one of three targets for six yards in last weekend's win over the Saints (a game in which Abdullah logged 20 carries for 115 yards to go along with three catches), is thus in line for an expanded role Sunday, with Chris Collier and Dylan Laube, to a lesser degree, available to mix in. With that in mind, Mattison offers fantasy managers who are dealing with injuries or resting starters with a Week 18 pivot option.

Abdullah (foot) has been ruled out for Sunday's season finale against the Chargers.

Per Paul Gutierrez of ESPN.com, head coach Antonio Pierce initially indicated that Abdullah would be listed as doubtful for the contest. However, it has been confirmed that the running back, who is coming off a strong effort Week 17, will sit out the Raiders' final game of the 2024 season. In Abdullah's absence, Alexander Mattison is in line to lead the team's Week 18 backfield, with Chris Collier also mixing in, per Vic Tafur of The Athletic, and Dylan Laube potentially seeing some work in passing situations, according to Tafur.

Dobbins may be the Chargers' lead running back Sunday at Las Vegas with Gus Edwards (ankle) ruled out for that contest.

Following a four-game stint on IR due to a knee injury, Dobbins returned to action this past Saturday at New England to a backfield that also didn't have Edwards' services. Dobbins handled a 53 percent snap share and turned 21 touches into 83 yards from scrimmage and one rushing TD, while reserves Hassan Haskins (35 percent, 9-40-0) and Kimani Vidal (11 percent, 5-24-0) also got in the mix. It's possible Dobbins takes on closer to the roughly 70 percent of snaps he handled prior to getting injured Week 12, in which case he'd be closer to a workhorse in Week 18. Having said that, if the Steelers beat the Bengals on Saturday, the Chargers would be locked into the No. 6 seed in the AFC and could opt to scale back Dobbins' workload with his health for the postseason in mind.

Edwards (ankle) has been ruled out for Sunday's regular season finale against the Raiders.

Edwards, who was unable to practice this week, thus will target a potential return to action when the Chargers commence their playoff run next weekend. In Edwards' absence versus Las Vegas, J.K. Dobbins is in line to lead the team's backfield, with Hassan Haskins and Kimani Vidal available to mix in.