Team news: Pittsburgh Steelers | Page 6

The Chicago Bears released backup quarterback P.J. Walker on Sunday, the team announced.

Related players: Tyson Bagent, Nathan Peterman, Justin Fields

Walker signed a two-year contract worth $4.15 million in March with over $2 million in guarantees. After three seasons with the Carolina Panthers, Walker was brought in to compete for the backup quarterback job behind Justin Fields. The Bears will now hand that role to undrafted rookie Bagent or veteran Peterman. Bagent, who signed with Chicago after playing for offensive coordinator Luke Getsy's squad at the Senior Bowl, has been the team's strongest backup QB throughout training camp, the story went on to say.

Diontae Johnson, George Pickens, and Allen Robinson will be the Steelers’ starters, with Calvin Austin holding down punt return duties and Miles Boykin adding speed and special teams duties at the back of the rotation.

Related Players: Gunner Olszewski

A forgotten piece in Fantasyland, Robinson has the ability to make some noise in 11 personnel, which the team figures to use extensively. In typical redraft leagues, he figures to be a guy coming off and back on waiver wires throughout the season, but makes for a great pick deep in best ball leagues, particularly when you have Kenny Pickett on your roster.

One to watch heading into the season: Broncos WR Jerry Jeudy is being carted off at practice with an apparent hamstring injury.

Related Players: Courtland Sutton, Marvin Mims, Marquez Callaway, Kendall Hinton

Early prognosticators believe the best-case scenario would leave Jeudy out for Week 1, while something more severe could immediately land him on the PUP. It seems like even moderate timetables put him at a six-week recovery from today, so it would seem that he is going to be missing some game time regardless, unless we see an additional report about a mistaken diagnosis. Conservatively, we should be ignoring Jeudy at his ADP and push him far down draft boards until we hear otherwise.

Falcons coach Arthur Smith is still letting rookie running back Bijan Robinson know he’ll have to earn a starting job.

Although Robinson was the No. 8 overall pick and will surely be the No. 1 running back in Atlanta when the regular season starts, he remains the third running back on the depth chart for the Falcons’ third and final preseason game.

Cordarrelle Patterson is listed as the No. 1 running back and Tyler Allgeier is listed as No. 2.

While depth charts in August don't tend to mean a whole lot, the story went on to say Smith prefers to keep rookies behind veterans who have already proven themselves, and both Patterson and Allgeier played well last season. But Robinson was drafted to be the Falcons’ starting running back, and it remains overwhelmingly likely that he will be for the Falcons’ Week 1 game against the Panthers.

Unsurprising news, but the Lions have waived WR Denzel Mims — acquired from the Jets last month — with an injury designation. Mims certainly looked the part of a big-bodied X receiver with intriguing speed, but he was never able to gain momentum after an ankle injury sidelined him for much of camp.

Related Players: Josh Reynolds, Trinity Benson

Upsetting news for Mims, who was hoping to add some depth to a team that sorely needs it. It's tough to hold him in all but the deepest of dynasty leagues at this point.

Head coach Dan Campbell added that WR Amon-Ra St. Brown will likely be back on the field between Monday-Friday of next week after a small ankle injury suffered yesterday.

Related Players: Marvin Jones, Josh Reynolds, Denzel Mims, Kalif Raymond

It doesn't seem to be anything to be concerned about, but we'll keep an eye on it. The wide receiver depth chart looks iffy, with Jameson Williams suspended until October and now nursing a hamstring injury that will keep him out of the rest of the preseason. Rookie tight end Sam LaPorta may be a bigger part of this offense than most were expecting.

Arthur Smith said Cordarrelle Patterson will be out a couple of weeks, likely the rest of the preseason, and they will reevaluate and have more info on his status in the week before Week 1.

Related Players: Tyler Allgeier

This could end up being a huge boost to Allgeier, as the RB2 in Atlanta's scheme figures to be heavily involved. We will keep an eye on the situation, but a soft tissue injury for Patterson, who is entering his age-32 season could end up lingering longer the team is hoping.

Rams’ offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur on the status of WR Cooper Kupp, who hurt his hamstring this week: “He’s day-to-day. He'll be back in the right time and stuff like that. So he is just going through the rehab process, but he's day-to-day. He'll be alright.”

Related Players: Ben Skowronek, Van Jefferson, Puka Nacua

Kupp walked off the field earlier this week after he "came up a bit" during a red zone route. This is good news, though it wouldn't be surprising if the team shuts him down until closer to Week 1. If drafters are scared off of Kupp, and you find him past his 1.05/1.06 ADP, feel free to pounce.

After missing camp and the first 11 games of his rookie season, while recovering from an ACL tear in his left knee, the second-year Detroit Lions receiver Jameson Williams will also sit the first six regular season games of 2023 due to suspension for violating the NFL’s gambling policy.
Lions coach Dan Campbell says they’ll “douse him with a ton of game reps” during the upcoming preseason contests against the New York Giants, Jacksonville Jaguars, and Carolina Panthers.

Related Players: Amon-Ra St. Brown, Marvin Jones, Josh Reynolds, Denzel Mims

The article goes on; "Williams returned from a leg injury to participate in his first padded practice of the summer on Monday, struggling at times with drops and during 1-on-1s in the red zone."

With only 37 routes run through six truncated games to begin his career, it's obvious that this is not what Detriot had in mind when selecting him with the 12th-overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft. If everything goes to plan during his time away from the team, Williams *should* be able to operate as the team's WR2 by the end of 2023, which will push down the veterans playing opposite St. Brown. Amon-Ra remains a very interesting selection in this year's fantasy drafts, but we'll have to slightly temper expectations in the back-half of the season with the return of Williams and the addition of receiving-game specialist rookie Jahmyr Gibbs.

LA Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp underwent an MRI on his injured hamstring after leaving practice early Tuesday night, a source told ESPN's Adam Schefter. The source said the Rams will be cautious with Kupp's injury but that he could be back "for scrimmages in a few weeks."

Related Players: Ben Skowronek, Van Jefferson, Puka Nacua

Kupp walked off the field with the training staff about 30 minutes into a two-hour workout at UC Irvine. Matthew Stafford and other players didn't see exactly what happened, but coach Sean McVay said he was told Kupp "came up a little bit in a red zone route."

The immediate feedback around the injury is that it's of minimal concern regarding his Week 1 availability. If Kupp starts to fall back into the back-half of the first round he would remain a great bargain.