NFL Player News

Tonyan (hip) is listed as inactive Sunday at Kansas City, Jason Wahlers of the Packers' official site reports.

Missing his third game in a row due to a hip injury, Tonyan hasn't made enough appreciable progress in practice to indicate that a return is imminent. Instead, the Packers will continue to roll with a TE combination of Jimmy Graham and Marcedes Lewis.

Smith corralled six of seven targets for 78 receiving yards and one touchdown during Sunday's 27-23 win against Tampa Bay.

With Delanie Walker (ankle) sidelined, Smith saw a massive upgrade in offensive usage, garnering more than twice as many targets as he had in any other game this season. Though his involvement was limited prior to Week 8, Smith had still been making his presence felt of late, picking up 55-plus receiving yards in two of his three outings preceding Sunday's game against the Buccaneers. Next up is an extremely challenging matchup, as Smith and the Titans will be opposing a Panthers defense that entered the weekend allowing the fourth-fewest receiving yards to opposing tight ends this season.

Hill secured all three of his targets for 63 yards and a touchdown in the Saints' 31-9 win over the Cardinals on Sunday.

Hill rotated in at quarterback as well from time to time, but never attempted a pass. However, he actually checked in with the Saints' second-highest receiving yardage tally of the afternoon, with his performance highlighted by a 36-yard grab and a five-yard touchdown catch. Hill's role figures to continue to fluctuate week to week, making his fantasy value difficult to pin down, but he'll look to build on Sunday's effort at the expense of the Falcons' poor defense Week 10 following New Orleans' bye.

Fant caught five of eight targets for 26 yards during Sunday's 15-13 loss in Indianapolis.

A question heading into Sunday was which Bronco would benefit from Emmanuel Sanders' trade to San Francisco. The early indications are positive for Fant, who set season highs in catches and targets, albeit with measly yardage. Despite his unique size-speed combination, Fant is only averaging 9.8 yards per reception and has been a relative non-factor in the red zone with his only touchdown of the season coming on a 25-yard screen play in Week 4. The results may not improve much, but expect Fant to get WR2-level targets down the stretch on a Denver team without many options at receiver.

Goedert secured three of five targets for 22 yards and a touchdown in Sunday's 31-13 win over Buffalo.

Goedert finished with more yards than fellow tight end Zach Ertz for the second straight week, and Philadelphia's No. 2 tight end has found the end zone in both games to boot. While this run has worked Goedert into the low-end TE1 range, make no mistake that Ertz is still the Eagles tight end to own. It wouldn't be surprising to see Ertz pick up the pace at Goedert's expense moving forward, starting with Week 9 against the Bears.

Henry caught four of his six targets for 47 yards in the 17-16 win Sunday over the Bears.

This was always going to be a difficult matchup for Henry and the rest of the Chargers, so it seemed likely the third-year tight end would have trouble replicating his previous two weeks figures. In a game in which quarterback Philip Rivers completed just 19 passes, it's a positive sign that Henry netted over a fifth of the looks, and it seems likely the 24-year-old will continue to be an elite option at the fantasy tight end position, especially with a handful of easier matchups to come.

Ertz caught two of four targets for 20 yards in Sunday's 31-13 win over the Bills.

Ertz set a season low in yardage for a second straight week while also watching fellow tight end Dallas Goedert score a touchdown for the second game in a row. It's too early to press the panic button on the star tight end, but a Week 9 dud from Ertz against the Bears would certainly set off alarm bells for his owners, especially if Goedert continues to outplay him.

Tomlinson returned kicks with James White during warmups ahead of Sunday's game against the Browns, Zack Cox of NESN.com reports.

The nasty weather conditions have the Patriots expecting some short kicks, so Tomlinson is getting prepared to take on a workload as a returner. With Matt LaCosse (knee) and Ryan Izzo (concussion) inactive as well, Tomlinson is the Patriots' No. 2 tight end behind Ben Watson and could see an increase in offensive snaps this week.

Hudson is active for the first time in his career in Week 8 against the Titans due to O.J. Howard's hamstring injury, Scott Smith of the team's official site reports.

Hudson opened some eyes this past preseason with his athleticism and sure hands, which helped lead to him logging the second-most receptions leaguewide over the course of the exhibition slate. The young tight end's opportunity comes as a direct result of Howard's inactive status, although Hudson will still work as the third option at the position behind veteran Cameron Brate and blocking specialist Antony Auclair.

Though Fant (foot) didn't practice Friday, he doesn't carry an injury designation for Sunday's game against the Colts, Zac Stevens of TheDNVR.com reports.

Stevens relays that the rookie tight end cut his foot after Thursday's practice when cutting the tape off his ankle, which led to Fant sitting out Friday's session. Fant downplayed the issue, noting that it's "1,000 percent" he'll play this weekend. "It's completely fine." Per Nicki Jhabvala of The Athletic, the No. 20 overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft had three drops in Week 7's 30-6 loss to the Chiefs en route to being held to one catch on five targets. That's an issue Fant hopes to bounce back from this weekend, but until he gets back on track after three straight quiet games, he'll remain a speculative fantasy lineup option.