Team news: New England Patriots

Patriots informed WR DeVante Parker that they are releasing him Wednesday and he now has been given permission to talk to other teams.

Related Players: JuJu Smith-Schuster, Kendrick Bourne, Pop Douglas, Tyquan Thornton

New England has a lot of work to do to make this WR room approachable from a fantasy standpoint, and this will go a little bit of the way to clearing room for new pieces. Expect the Patriots to target at least one pass-catcher in the NFL Draft.

Former Commanders' running back Antonio Gibson is expected to join the Patriots.

Related Players: Rhamondre Stevenson, Ezekiel Eliott, Brian Robinson, Chris Rodriguez

The Patriots backfield looks like it's going to be an absolute nightmare for fantasy purposes, as part of one of the worst offenses in the league. Gibson shouldn't be more than a late-round dart.

This should leave Brian Robinson as the bellcow in Washington.

Commanders’ QB Jacoby Brissett is being added to the injury report due to hamstring tightness and will be listed as questionable for Sunday’s game vs. the 49ers. If he can’t start, Sam Howell would.

Quite the curveball here ahead of Week 17. Howell would return to fantasy relevance due to his legs, but will ding the skill position groups, namely, Terry McLaurin.

The Commanders placed RB Chris Rodriguez Jr (ankle) on IR. Ends his season early.

Related Players: Brian Robinson, Antonio Gibson, Derrick Gore

After a key injury to Brian Robinson, we got to see a little bit more of the rookie, including a two-touchdown in Week 16, which was nice for dynasty owners who took a stab in rookie drafts. There's a chance that Antonio Gibson gets a huge workload ahead of a touch matchup against the 49ers in Week 17.

The Patriots are placing starting RB Rhamondre Stevenson on Injured Reserve, ending his season.

Related Players: Ezekiel Elliott, Kevin Harris

This clears the way for Elliott to continue taking the majority workload for the last two games of the regular season, making him an RB2 the rest of the way. As for Stevenson's long-term view, we can only hope for some sort of overhaul to the Patriot's pedestrian offense.

The Commanders are making a QB change with two games left. Following his impressive performance on Sunday, Jacoby Brissett will start against the 49ers, coach Ron Rivera is announcing.

Sam Howell to the bench.

Howell offered us a lot of fantasy points with his legs, but in terms of real-life football, his decision-making and processing were lacking, leading to an astronomical 60 sacks taken and 24 turnover-worthy passes that led to 17 interceptions. Brissett offers a Superflex QB2 option against a tough 49ers defense.

Ron Rivera said they're still "working through a couple things" in deciding who will be the Commanders' starting QB going forward.

Related players: Jacoby Brissett, Sam Howell

The post went on to say the players are off today, so an announcement likely will come Wednesday. It will be a tough task no matter who gets the call as they host a 49ers team fresh off a loss to Baltimore. Howell threw two INTs and was just 6 for 22 with 56 yards before Brissett entered and went 10 for 13 for 100 yards and a TD.

Via Alec Lewis of TheAthletic.com, O’Connell also mentioned that receiver Jordan Addison (ankle) and cornerback Mekhi Blackmon (shoulder) are both day-to-day.

Related players: K.J. Osborn, Brandon Powell

Addison left last week's game and didn't return. With T.J. Hockenson lost for the season at TE, the Vikings will need all hands on deck as they sit at 7-8 on the season. There is also a report that any of their three QBs could get the start in Week 17. If Addison can't go, Osborn could be in line for more targets. There is a lot of uncertainty surrounding this offense right now.

The three players the Patriots are listing as out for Sunday night’s game in Denver:

🏈RB Rhamondre Stevenson, Ankle
🏈WR JuJu Smith-Schuster, Ankle
🏈S Jabrill Peppers, Hamstring

Related Players: Ezekiel Elliott, Kevin Harris

Elliott should once again handle the majority of the workload, though it's on a floundering offense. Consider him an RB2 against the Broncos defense.

Commanders ruled out RB Brian Robinson for Sunday’s game vs. the Jets.

Related Players: Antonio Gibson, Chris Rodriguez

Chris Rodriguez took a surprising amount of early-down work last week, and should have a decent RB3 role, particularly in Standard or point-per-carry leagues. Gibson should maintain the pass-catching role and be an asset in half-PPR leagues as an RB3 in his own right.