Rapoport: Steelers RB James Conner likely OUT Week 15

Dec 15, 2018

Steelers RB James Conner, listed as questionable with an ankle injury, is unlikely to play vs. the #Patriots, source said. He should be good to go Week 16, though.

The Steelers downgraded Conner to doubtful Saturday afternoon.

Related player: Jaylen Samuels

Fantasy Impact:

Samuels should step back into a high volume role that should again make him an upside RB2 in Week 15.

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Steelers WRs Diontae Johnson (knee), JuJu Smith-Schuster (ribs) expected to practice

Action News 4

13 minutes ago

HC Mike Tomlin said he also anticipates that JuJu Smith-Schuster, who left Sunday's game against the Cincinnati Bengals with a rib injury, will practice at some point this week, though the wide receiver may be limited Wednesday.

Linebacker Alex Highsmith (groin) and wide receiver Diontae Johnson (knee) will also practice after both were inactive for the Bengals game, Tomlin said.

Fantasy Impact:

It's certainly great news after Johnson missed Week 3 after getting hurt on the final play of Week 2. Tomlin said, "We'll let the quantity and quality of that practice be our guide in terms of determining their availability." We'll continue to monitor both players ahead of Week 4.

Giants 'focused' on getting ball to WR Kadarius Toney

Pro Football Talk

28 minutes ago

“It’s something we’re focused on right now,” HC Joe Judge said. “We’ve got to get [Kadarius Toney] the ball and we definitely want to. I think we saw yesterday a couple of glimpses of just him with the ball in his hands. He’s got the ability to make some guys miss in space, he runs hard and he competes. He comes off the ball with a different level of speed than a lot of guys, so in terms of trying to get him the ball, that’s definitely a focus for us going forward."

Related players: Sterling Shepard, Darius Slayton

Fantasy Impact:

Toney got his chance to play in Week 3 with injuries to Shepard and Slayton, but only caught two balls for 16 yards. With Shepard and Slayton dealing with hamstring issues and their status in doubt, Toney has a full week of practice to try and get ready for possible significant playing time in Week 4. The team may not have much choice but to try and get him touches.

Texans Beat: RB Phillip Lindsay struggling this year

The Athletic

1 hour ago

The failures don’t all fall on the offensive line. The Texans’ two qualified rushers, Mark Ingram and Phillip Lindsay, have both gained fewer yards than expected by Next Gen Stats tracking data. Lindsay has run 9.6 actual yards for every yard gained, which is league’s highest average by a wide margin. The second-least efficient running back, Las Vegas’ Kenyan Drake, has run 6.6 actual yards for every yard gained — three full yards fewer than Lindsay. This matches up with the eye test, as six of Lindsay’s 20 carries have not advanced past the line of scrimmage, with him often seeking to bounce runs outside only to find no hole.

Fantasy Impact:

The Texans RBs aren't really a highly-desired play by most fantasy managers anyway, but this confirms the struggles. The story pointed out the team does face a lot of "eight-in-the-box" formations by defenses looking to stop the run, and those defenses have proven to be good against the run the rest of the season too. For a while this offseason, it looked like Lindsay would be the team's primary ball carrier but that hasn't happened and doesn't seem to be in the cards based on his early struggles.

Rapoport: Steelers RB James Conner likely OUT Week 15

Steelers WRs Diontae Johnson (knee), JuJu Smith-Schuster (ribs) expected to practice

Giants 'focused' on getting ball to WR Kadarius Toney

Texans Beat: RB Phillip Lindsay struggling this year

Steelers news