Team news: Atlanta Falcons | Page 2

Falcons QB Kirk Cousins is “highly likely” to get the start Sunday against the Dolphins, in place of the injured Michael Penix Jr.

Cousins worked with the first team all week in practice as Penix was limited with a bone bruise in his knee. It would make Cousins’ first start since Week 15 of last season, before the Falcons made the switch to Penix in Week 16. Cousins draws a Miami defense that has ranks dead last in expected points added per play. It’s far from the worst streaming option this week with six teams on a bye.

Falcons HC Raheem Morris told reporters that Michael Penix has bone bruise in his foot that now will leave him day to day.

Related players: Kirk Cousins

The Falcons play an early Sunday game at home against the Dolphins, which is a great matchup. Considering it's a week with six NFL teams on their bye, Penix owners may want to pick up Cousins just to be safe. The earlier start will give owners time to make adjustments if they need to.

The Falcons ruled out WR Darnell Mooney for Monday against the Bills with a hamstring injury.

Mooney suffered the injury in Week 4 against the Commanders and the bye week didn’t get him all the way back, as he still missed practice time this week because of the injury. This will be the third missed game this season for Mooney due to different injuries — a training camp shoulder injury caused him to miss Week 1. Drake London sets up as a top-ten receiver option this week. Ray-Ray McCloud and Casey Washington will work behind London.

Falcons head coach Raheem Morris on wide receiver Darnell Mooney: "Right now, Mooney is still day-to-day. We'll see what that is. He'll be out today. We'll get a good feel for what it looks like moving forward."

Related Players: Drake London, Kyle Pitts, Ray-Ray McCloud

Looks like Mooney will likely be out Week 6, which leaves London/Pitts and Bijan Robinson at the top of the food chain. While the other two are obvious starts, this solidifies Pitts in fringe TE1/2 range.

In all likelihood, the quarterback capable of breathing life into the Bengals’ season isn’t on the roster.

Current backup Brett Rypien and practice squad quarterbacks Sean Clifford and Mike White are not in consideration to replace Browning this weekend against the Packers.

Any options left open to, theoretically, replace Jake Browning in Green Bay would have to come from outside the building.

Related players: Kirk Cousins, Russell Wilson, Jameis Winston

Reports Tuesday say the team has released White, which could be an indication a new face is on the way in. Three of the bigger names to be stop-gaps until Joe Burrow returns are Cousins, Wilson and Winston, but it remains to be seen if the Bengals pull the trigger and make a deal. The Bengals are hoping to stay in the hunt until Burrow returns and the talent is still there on offense. It also looks like Browning has another chance this week to keep his starting spot.

Falcons WR Darnell Mooney suffered a hamstring injury yesterday in Atlanta's win, but with the bye coming up, it's likely that he doesn't have to miss any games, sources say.

Related Players: Drake London, Kyle Pitts, Ray-Ray McCloud

It's been a tough year for Mooney, who missed Week 1 due to a lingering shoulder issue before logging only 29 snaps in Week 4 before exiting. He has seven catches on the season and can be dropped in most leagues over the bye.

Falcons WRs Drake London and Darnell Mooney do not have an injury designation for Sunday night’s game vs. the Vikings and are good to go.

Related Players: Ray-Ray McLoud, Kyle Pitts

Good news for Michael Penix and great news for fantasy managers who took a stab at Mooney's cratering ADP as the summer moved along. London should return to back-end WR1 consideration, and while Mooney should be more in the WR4 range in his first game back, their should be better spots ahead for him.

Packers WR Jayden Reed will miss 6-8 weeks with a broken collarbone.

Related Players: Dontayvion Wicks, Malik Heath, Romeo Doubs, Matthew Golden, Savion Williams

This would presumably tighten the WR rotation a little bit, but as we saw on TNF, it would take a lot of consolidation to be able to trust any of the Packers receivers to garner a large workload. Continue to hold Golden, and potentially also Doubs in deeper leagues, but TE Tucker Kraft is the easiest click of this group, even after Reed's injury.

Atlanta Falcons head coach Raheem Morris expects wide receiver Drake London to play in Sunday's Week 2 prime-time road game against the Minnesota Vikings.

"That's not saying that he is," Morris said Wednesday. "But when you ask me, 'Do I expect him to play?' Of course. Drake is an ultimate tough guy, and when he says he's going to practice, that tells you a lot."

Related Players: Ray-Ray McCloud, Casey Washington, Kyle Pitts

There's still no concrete update on Darnell Mooney, but it seems as if he is trending in the right direction to suit up sooner rather than later. If London is good to go, he'll be a high-end WR2 in a great matchup against the Vikings.

Drake London exited Sunday's season opener between the Atlanta Falcons and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the fourth quarter due to a shoulder injury and did not return. The Falcons were already thin at the wide receiver position going into Sunday's game. Darnell Mooney is also battling a shoulder injury that kept him out of Week 1.

According to a report from NFL insider Ian Rapoport, London suffered a shoulder strain and is considered day-to-day.

Considering Mooney was a game-time decision, he will likely make his season debut in Week 2, the story added. London appears to have avoided a major injury, but there's still some uncertainty about his status for Sunday's game against the Minnesota Vikings. We'll hopefully know more Wednesday when the injury report comes out, but this will be something to monitor for those invested in the Falcon offense.