Team news: New England Patriots | Page 7

Buccaneers are signing former Broncos’ running back Chase Edmonds to a one-year deal.

Related Players: Javonte Williams, Samaje Perine, Rachaad White, Ke'Shawn Vaughn

Edmonds will more than likely split snaps with Ke'Shawn Vaughn and possibly even another late-round running back in Tampa Bay.

The Washington Commanders are signing QB Jacoby Brissett to a one-year deal worth up to $10 million and $8 million guaranteed. Washington gets a starting option for a quarterback who played well for Cleveland last year.

Related Players: Sam Howell

This constitutes one of the first quarterback competitions of the 2023 offseason, so buckle up. This contract is essentially double what the Browns paid him on a one-year deal, so we can take that as a hint as to how Washington perceives Brissett. Howell only started one game during his rookie season, so it's difficult to compare them statistically, but one can assume that Brissett has the leg-up at the moment.

Patriots and JuJu Smith-Schuster reached an agreement on a three-year, $33 million deal with $22.5 million earned over the first two years of the deal.

Related Players: DeVante Parker, Nelson Agholor, Kendrick Bourne

New England continues its never-ending bid to have deep pockets of WR3s. Smith-Schuster performed well enough last season as the Kansas City Chiefs used an interesting approach to replace Tyreek Hill's lost production. JuJu did his part and finished as fantasy's WR29. His floor and ceiling are much lower with the Patriots.

Commanders ruled out RB Antonio Gibson for the New Year’s Day matchup vs. the Browns.

Related Players: Brian Robinson, Jonathan Williams

This should be the Brian Robinson show on Sunday, as he becomes an RB2 with definite high-RB1 upside.

RB Antonio Gibson (sprained ankle/knee) is not practicing today.

Related Players: Brian Robinson

This could impact Brian Robinson's ceiling, but hopefully you weren't planning on playing Gibson in your Championship matchups. He hasn't scored double-digit PPR points or hit 40 yards rushing since Week 11. Robinson remains a solid RB 2 against the porous Browns rushing defense.

Ron Rivera: "Antonio Gibson has a sprain, so we're going to have to monitor that very closely this week."

Related players: Brian Robinson, Jonathan Williams

As the tweet said, no location of the sprain was given, leaving us all wondering if it's a knee, ankle, perhaps shoulder? Either way, Robinson looks like he could be in store for a heavy workload against the Browns in Week 17, in what is also a good matchup. He's a potential nice start at RB in your fantasy finals.

Patriots TE Hunter Henry, who was dealing with a knee injury this weekend, is considered day-to-day. He's sore. But has a chance to play.

Related Players: Jonnu Smith, Scotty Washington

Former UDFA Scotty Washington saw his first snaps of the year, but Jonnu Smith would be the true beneficiary if Henry were to miss any time. Smith shifted away from his run-blocking duties for the most part in Week 15, but it still only resulted in four targets and 21 yards. Jonnu's time in New England has not been fortuitous for fantasy, and it isn't like to change regardless of Hunter's status.

Per Leonard, "I hate when people be on here just talking saying I’m out of shape etc do y’all understand I’m playing with a lisfranc in my foot every week can barley push off my foot but through the Grace of God I’m going to keep proving y’all wrong."

Related Players: Rachaad White, Ke'Shawn Vaughn

While it's admirable that Fournette is plugging away on an injured foot, he's also averaging 3.6 yards per carry on the season and has such lowlights as his three-week stretch between Weeks 7-9 when he accumulated 62 yards on 26 rushes (2.3 YPA). Look for Rachaad White to continue seeing a bigger role over the final two weeks of the season.

Asked directly whether the plan is for Jones to start the final three weeks of the season, Belichick didn’t answer, instead just saying they’re focused on this week’s game against the Bengals.

Related Players: Bailey Zappe

Mac Jones has had a difficult sophomore season, but it's hard to say that the offense would receive a miraculous upgrade with Zappe on the field. It's best to ignore the Patriots quarterback situation for now, and hope that they hire an offensive coordinator ahead of the 2023 season.

Patriots injury update: RB Rhamondre Stevenson (ankle) has been downgraded to out.

Related players: Damien Harris, Pierre Strong, Kevin Harris

Stevenson tried to return to the game before heading to the locker room and eventually being ruled out. Stevenson's injury is worth monitoring as Damien Harris was inactive for Week 14 leaving Strong and Kevin Harris to handle the workload. Strong outshined Kevin Harris, running five times for 70 yards and a score and adding a two catches for 20 yards. Kevin Harris ran eight times for 26 yards and a score. Kevin Harris is considered more of an early down, bruising back while Strong is more of the change of pace and pass-catching back, but did showoff his speed with a 44-yard run.