NFL Player News

Brooks (knee), who remains on the reserve/non-football injury list after having had his 21-day practice window opened Wednesday, was listed as a limited participant on Carolina's first Week 7 injury report.

Brooks, who is working his way back from an ACL tear sustained during his final collegiate season at Texas, practiced in full pads without a brace on his right knee, per David Newton of ESPN.com. Head coach Dave Canales said the Panthers will take things a "week at a time" in terms of ramping up Brooks' activity, according to Steve Reed of the Associated Press. With that in mind, Brooks doesn't look as though he'll be rushed back into action for Sunday's game against Washington. Whenever the rookie second-round pick is cleared to make his NFL debut, he'll likely be eased into the Carolina backfield mix rather than immediately usurping Chuba Hubbard as the No. 1 option.

Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski said Wednesday that Hines (knee) is doing "very well" and could be activated from the non-football injury list ahead of Sunday's game against the Bengals, Daniel Oyefusi of ESPN.com reports.

Hines has yet to play this season while he continues to recover from the torn ACL in his left knee that he suffered last summer. However, he was cleared to resume practicing Oct. 2 and seems to have responded well to taking reps over the past couple of weeks. The Browns will likely wait and see if Hines can upgrade to full participation in practice this week before making a ruling on his status for Sunday.

Cook (toe) will participate in Wednesday's walk-through session, but head coach Sean McDermott said Thursday's practice will provide a better barometer for the running back's health, Jay Skurski of The Buffalo News reports.

McDermott previously said Tuesday that he was optimistic about Cook being ready for Sunday's game against the Titans. Cook missed Monday's 23-20 win over the Jets, opening the door for rookie Ray Davis to take 23 touches for 152 yards while handling a 58 percent snap share.

Sermon (knee) isn't practicing Wednesday, James Boyd of The Athletic reports.

Jonathan Taylor (ankle) was also sitting out practice to begin Week 7 prep, after his absence for the previous two games allowed Sermon to make consecutive starts while handling 16 and 18 touches out of the backfield. Sermon apparently came out of Sunday's 20-17 win over the Titans with a knee injury, although he was still getting carries up until the final minute of the game. He's averaging just 2.6 yards per carry as the starter and 2.5 for the season, with his poor efficiency perhaps opening the door for Tyler Goodson to get more work if Taylor is out for another week. Goodson could be busy if both Taylor and Sermon end up missing Sunday's game against Miami.

Achane is in the final stage of the concussion protocol and isn't wearing a non-contact jersey at practice Wednesday, David Furones of the South Florida Sun Sentinel reports.

Coming out of a Week 6 bye, Achane sported a red, non-contact jersey at Monday's practice. He's apparently made progress since then and now has four days to gain clearance ahead of Sunday's matchup with the Colts, which will take place 14 days after Achane suffered a concussion in the Week 5 win at New England.

Taylor (ankle) remained sidelined at practice Wednesday, James Boyd of The Athletic reports.

Though he missed the Colts' last two games with a right ankle sprain, Taylor said Tuesday during his appearance on NFL Network's "The Insiders" that he's trending in the right direction and was hopeful to resume practicing this week. While he wasn't able to return to practice Wednesday for the first time since suffering the injury Week 4, Taylor still has two more opportunities to potentially log some reps in advance of Sunday's game against the Dolphins. Meanwhile, No. 2 back Trey Sermon (knee) is also absent from practice Wednesday, leaving Tyler Goodson and Evan Hull as the Colts' top healthy running backs at this stage of the week.

Stevenson (foot) remained sidelined at practice Wednesday, Evan Lazar of the Patriots' official site reports.

Stevenson, who missed this past weekend's game against the Texans, has two more chances to return to practice ahead of Sunday's game against the Jaguars in London. If he remains sidelined versus Jacksonville, Antonio Gibson would once again be in line to lead the Patriots backfield, with JaMycal Hasty in reserve and practice-squad members Terrell Jennings and Kevin Harris representing potential candidates for elevation.

Spears (hamstring) won't practice Wednesday, Jim Wyatt of the Titans' official site reports.

Head coach Brian Callahan said Monday that Spears is viewed as week-to-week, so the running back's absence Wednesday isn't surprising. If Spears is unavailable Sunday against the Bills, Julius Chestnut would be next in line for work out of the Tennessee backfield behind Tony Pollard. The Titans would also likely elevate at least one of Joshua Kelley and Jabari Small from the practice squad to provide a third option out of the backfield if Spears is out.

Commanders head coach Dan Quinn said that Robinson (knee) will take part in practice Wednesday, JP Finlay of NBC Sports Washington reports.

Robinson failed to practice last Wednesday through Friday prior to being ruled out for Washington's loss to the Ravens in Week 6, so practicing in even a limited capacity to kick off Week 7 prep represents a notable step in the right direction. The third-year pro will work to gain clearance in time for Sunday's matchup against the Panthers and rejoin Austin Ekeler atop the Commanders' backfield depth chart.

Luepke didn't carry the ball or draw a target while playing 22 of 69 snaps on offense in Sunday's 47-9 loss to the Lions.

The second-year fullback had received three touches in both of the previous two contests, but the Cowboys didn't look to get him involved even while the contest was mostly noncompetitive by the second half. Luepke has carried four times for 14 yards and has caught seven passes for 91 yards on eight targets through six games, but he'll continue to be deployed mainly as a blocker when he's on the field.