NFL Player News

Wright (head) is expected to take on a more prominent role for the Lions over the rest of the season after Detroit traded top tight end T.J. Hockenson to Minnesota on Tuesday, Justin Rogers of The Detroit News reports.

With Hockenson's departure, the Lions are left with Wright and James Mitchell as their sole options at tight end on the current 53-man roster, though at least one of Garrett Griffin and Shane Zylstra are expected to be elevated from the practice squad ahead of Sunday's game against the Packers. Before he can take claim to Hockenson's vacated snaps, Wright must first clear the concussion protocol after he exited early in the Lions' Week 8 loss to the Dolphins. Over his 17 career games, Wright has tallied 18 receptions for 205 yards and two touchdowns on 23 targets.

Tomlinson failed to record a single target in Sunday's 21-17 win over the Jaguars.

Tomlinson operated as Denver's No. 2 tight end Sunday, but he played just 18 of the team's 61 offensive snaps in the contest. Rookie Greg Dulcich, however, dominated the tight end snap share with 49 snaps on his way to leading the Broncos with 87 receiving yards. Barring an injury to Dulcich, Tomlinson is not a consideration for fantasy rosters as the Broncos head into their Week 9 bye.

Smith is in line to miss 8-to-10 weeks as a result of the high-ankle sprain that he sustained during Sunday's win against the Cardinals, Adam Schefter of ESPN reports.

With such a lengthy recovery timeline, Smith inevitably will be placed on injured reserve by the Vikings, who replaced him by trading for T.J. Hockenson on Tuesday. The timing perhaps was fortuitous for the team, but Smith himself now will be hard-pressed to see action before the end of the regular season. While he is sidelined, Hockenson and Johnny Mundt will be Minnesota's tight ends for the foreseeable future, although the latter is primarily a blocker.

Smith is expected to miss multiple weeks after he was diagnosed with a high-ankle sprain following his early exit from Sunday's 34-26 win over the Cardinals, Adam Schefter of ESPN reports.

The Vikings made it apparent that they anticipated Smith would miss time, as the team acquired T.J. Hockenson from the divisional rival Lions on Tuesday. Hockenson should immediately step in as the Vikings' new No. 1 tight end beginning with this Sunday's game in Washington, and his superior production through his first three-plus seasons in the NFL suggests he'll retain that spot atop the depth chart even after Smith returns. Before suffering the ankle injury, the third-year player had been a serviceable secondary target in the Vikings' passing game, having turned in a 22-168-2 line through the first seven games. However, his injury and the addition of Hockenson means that Smith is a drop candidate in nearly every redraft league.

The Vikings acquired Hockenson, a 2023 fourth-round pick and a conditional 2024 fourth-round pick from the Lions on Tuesday in exchange for a 2023 second-round pick and a 2024 fourth-round pick, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reports.

With Irv Smith expected to miss time due to a high-ankle sprain, the NFC North-leading Vikings swung a deal with one of their division rivals to secure a high-quality replacement in Hockenson, who should sit atop the tight end depth chart even after Smith returns. Hockenson had been the co-No. 2 option in the passing game for Detroit this season behind Amon-Ra St. Brown and was off to a strong start through seven games, producing a 26-395-3 line on 43 targets. He joins a similar situation in a Minnesota passing game dominated by another elite receiver in Justin Jefferson, but it's conceivable Hockenson could quickly challenge Adam Thielen (knee) for the No. 2 role. The tight end is due $9.39 million in 2023 after Detroit exercised his fifth-year team option earlier this year, but the Vikings could look to negotiate a longer-term extension with Hockenson next spring depending on how he performs over the back half of this season.

Brown was not targeted over 25 snaps in Monday's 32-13 win over the Bengals.

Brown moved up to second on the tight end depth chart due to David Njoku (ankle) being inactive, and his snap count was his highest since joining the Browns. Cleveland was able to run its offense, which meant a low-volume passing attack that resulted in no tight ends being targeted.

Bryant was not targeted among 53 snaps in Monday's 32-13 win over the Bengals in Week 8.

Bryant took on the role as the primary tight end, as David Njoku (ankle) was inactive for the game. Njoku is typically a key part of the passing attack, but Bryant wasn't needed for that Monday. That's largely due to the Browns playing according to plan; Cleveland had a season-high 44 rushing attempts and a season-low 23 passes. Bryant enters the bye week with 14 catches on 21 targets for 114 yards.

Hurst caught all four of his targets for 42 yards in Monday's 32-13 loss to the Browns.

Hurst finished fourth on the team in targets behind Joe Mixon (nine), Tee Higgins (six) and Tyler Boyd (five). Even in Ja'Marr Chase's (hip) absence, Hurst will likely remain the fourth option for quarterback Joe Burrow. The tight end's season high is a modest 53 yards, though Hurst has topped 40 yards four times heading into Cincinnati's Week 9 home game against the Panthers.

Swaim was not targeted in Sunday's 17-10 win over the Texans.

Swaim continued his quiet season, though that was hardly a surprise given that Malik Willis attempted only 10 passes on the day. Swaim now has zero catches in four of seven games for the campaign while serving primarily as a blocker for Tennessee.

Hooper recorded one catch on one target for five yards in Sunday's 17-10 win over the Texans.

The Titans went to an extremely run-heavy approach with Malik Willis under center, who attempted only 10 passes in the game. As a result, no Titans pass catcher tallied more than two receptions or 26 yards in the contest. Hooper now has recorded single-digit receiving yards in four of seven games on the campaign.