NFL Player News

Ford (personal) returned to practice Monday, Scott Petrak of the Elyria Chronicle-Telegram reports.

Ford missed practice from Thursday through the weekend to attend to an unspecified personal matter. He remains the favorite to lead Cleveland's backfield if Nick Chubb (knee) isn't ready by Week 1, but it could be a committee situation with D'Onta Foreman, Pierre Strong and/or Nyheim Hines (knee) also having roles.

Irving, who the Buccaneers selected in the fourth round out of Oregon in the 2024 NFL Draft, has looked like an ideal fit for the versatile run scheme within new offensive coordinator Liam Coen's system, Brianna Dix of the team's official site reports.

The rookie surpassed the 1,000-yard mark on the ground in each of his last two seasons with the Ducks, making him quite the potential value pick in the fourth round. In his first pro season, Irving is expected to fill a solid complementary role alongside Rachaad White, who he boasts a very similar skill set to, albeit at a slighter frame of 5-foot-10, 195 pounds. Irving also is very familiar with many of the run concepts in Coen's scheme from his college days, and Dix notes the rookie has already showcased his receiving acumen on screen passes over the first few practices while flashing strong suddenness, change-of-direction ability and above-average contact balance.

Jennings (undisclosed) passed his physical Sunday and was activated from the active/PUP list.

Jennings opened training camp on the sidelines with an undisclosed injury but appears to be all set to return to the practice field now. The running back has an uphill battle to crack the Patriots' active roster in 2024, so he'll look to make up for the lost time in the coming days.

Montgomery is entering his second campaign as a primary backfield option for the Lions.

Montgomery signed with Detroit ahead of the 2023 campaign, turning 219 carries into 1,015 yards and a career-high 13 touchdowns, while also securing 16 receptions for 117 yards over 14 games with the Lions. The running back operated in the more "traditional" role in the backfield while Jahmyr Gibbs handled more of the receiving work at the position. Although Montgomery had a career low in receptions, his role as the bruiser with Detroit has proven to be a fruitful one over the last two years, with Jamaal Williams scoring 17 touchdowns on the ground for the Lions in 2022. With Gibbs' ADP in the first or second rounds of fantasy drafts, Montgomery's ADP sits around the mid-60s, providing great value to fantasy managers.

The Bears signed Felton to a contract Sunday, Courtney Cronin of ESPN.com reports.

Felton spent 2023 as a member of the Bengals' practice squad after failing to make the team's 53-man roster at the end of training camp. After being selected by the Browns in the sixth round of the 2021 NFL Draft, Felton played in 24 regular-season games for Cleveland over the next two seasons. He has accrued just 20 rushing yards and 189 receiving yards in his NFL career, and he will compete with Travis Homer and Ian Wheeler for the fourth spot on the Bears' running back depth chart.

Edwards-Helaire was held out of practice Sunday due to an illness, Pete Sweeney of ArrowheadPride.com reports.

Edwards-Helaire had been placed on the active/non-football illness earlier in camp before being cleared to return to practice last Sunday. It's not clear if the running back's current ailment is related to the earlier issue. Edwards-Helaire is slated to compete for backup running back duties behind Isiah Pacheco during training camp.

Cook is absent from Bills practice Sunday for personal reasons, Joe Buscaglia of The Athletic reports.

The nature of the personal matter Cook is dealing with hasn't been clarified, nor is it known how long the issue will keep the running back out of practice. At this point, there's no reason to believe he is in danger of missing substantial time. After compiling 1,567 yards from scrimmage and six touchdowns last season, Cook is primed to lead the Buffalo backfield again in 2024.

White stands to be the beneficiary of the revamped running scheme in new offensive coordinator Liam Coen's offense, Brianna Dix of the team's official site reports.

White already had a fine season in 2023 -- his first as the No. 1 back -- reaching 1,539 yards from scrimmage and recording nine total touchdowns across 17 regular-season games. He added another 166 total yards and a receiving score in two postseason contests, but this coming season, he'll be deployed in a system that will include a healthy mix of mid-zone, wide-zone, tight-zone, duo and gap runs. The mid-zone concept is one White particularly has familiarity with, having operated within it successfully during his college days at Arizona State. "Mid-zone, outside zone -- all that -- it creates a bigger palette, and it forces the defense to guard not just a certain perimeter, but it makes them guard the whole field because the defense doesn't know what we are going to do," White said.

Brown took a majority of first-team reps during the first three practices of training camp, Charlie Clifford of NBC 5 Cincinnati reports.

Free-agent signee Zack Moss is healthy and also getting some first-team work, but apparently not quite as much as Brown, a 2023 fifth-round pick who averaged 8.8 touches for 53.7 yards over the final six weeks of last season. It was a promising finish to his rookie year, with the stipulation that Brown's production came from a few big plays rather than snap-to-snap consistency (he also played only eight snaps on offense before Week 13). There are some other positives in his profile, including a 4.43 40-yard dash (at 5-foot-10, 209 pounds) and a senior season at Illinois with 355 touches for 1,883 yards and 13 TDs. The question now is whether Brown shows enough skill development to earn a starting job over the steady-but-boring Moss.

Ford (personal) remained away from the team and missed Friday's practice, Chris Easterling of the Akron Beacon Journal reports.

Ford was out for a second consecutive practice, but Cleveland head coach Kevin Stefanski reiterated that Ford would be back "shortly." The coach also hinted that the running back will have "great news" to share once he returns to camp. The 24-year-old Ford is projected to be the Browns' lead back as long as Nick Chubb is recovering from his knee injury.