Team news: Los Angeles Chargers | Page 2

Cowboys RB Ezekiel Elliott will be inactive for Sunday’s game against the Falcons due to disciplinary reasons.

Elliott will not even travel with the team to Atlanta. The Cowboys elevated Dalvin Cook from the practice squad to help fill out the depth chart. With Elliott out, Rico Dowdle is in line for an increase in work, though it is a tough matchup against one of the better run defenses in the league this season in Atlanta. Dowdle is an RB3/Flex while Cook is a deeper-league option and maybe a bit of a desperation play.

The Jets are placing WR Allen Lazard on Injured Reserve because of a chest injury, sources say. Aaron Rodgers’ good friend and trusted target is out at least four games.

Related Players: Garrett Wilson, Davante Adams, Mike Williams, Malachi Corley

The long-awaited Mike Williams trade feels very unlikely to happen now, but that doesn't necessarily mean he's a fantasy target, either. Lazard is an easy drop anywhere he's dangling on the roster bubble, and we should see some heightened red-zone usage out of Wilson, Adams, and Tyler Conklin moving forward.

Jets HC Jeff Ulbrich confirmed that WR Davante Adams — who has missed the past three games due to a hamstring injury — is expected to play Sunday vs. the Steelers.

Related Players: Garrett Wilson, Allen Lazard, Mike Williams

It shouldn't take much time for Adams to get heavily involved in the offensive gameplan, with literally hundreds of targets from Aaron Rodgers on his resume. Though this is a tough matchup against the Steelers' defense, targets should be funneled to Adams and Wilson from the get-go. Put both of them in WR2 consideration this week.

With Davante Adams in, another Jets receiver will be the odd man out.

And the odd man out, not surprisingly, will be Mike Williams.

Per a league source, the Jets will attempt to trade the veteran wideout who was signed in the offseason to a one-year deal.

Related players: Devante Adams, Garrett Wilson, Allen Lazard

Williams and Aaron Rodgers have yet to click, the story pointed out. Through six games, he has 17 targets, 10 catches, and 145 yards. We speculated this could be the end of the line for Williams in New York after the Adams trade news broke. Williams had a drop on MNF, and broke off his pass route on the play that became the game-sealing interception, which Rodgers called him out for. Adams and Wilson are locked in as the team's top-two WRs with Lazard the WR3.

The Raiders are completing a trade of star WR Davante Adams to the Jets, sources say.

Related players: Garrett Wilson, Allen Lazard, Mike Williams, Aaron Rodgers, Jakobi Meyers, Tre Tucker, DJ Turner

This seemed like just a matter of time, and finally Adams is back with his good friend Rodgers. The deal was for a third round pick, according to other reports. Adams and Rodgers are very familiar with one another, and it should make for a smooth transition. It's possible Adams plays in Week 7. It's likely going to be a hit to Wilson's fantasy stock, just when Rodgers and Wilson were getting things going, too. There's a report also out today that Williams ran the wrong route in the MNF loss, and was called out by Rodgers after it resulted in an interception. The addition of Adams likely means Williams takes a big backseat in the offense, and it's even possible he gets moved before the deadline at this point. As for the Raiders, Bowers could be the focal point of this offense going forward as Meyers, Tucker and Turner battle it out to have fantasy relevance at WR. It may take some time for a pecking order to develop here, so anyone hurting for WR help can take a flier on at least Tucker and Turner, who may be on your wire.

"He definitely needs to touch the ball more, without a doubt." - Mike McCarthy on Rico Dowdle.

Related players: Ezekiel Elliott

Elliott was the only other RB to touch the ball, running 8 times for 17 yards in Week 6. Dowdle ran just 5 times but gained 25 yards. Dowdle was more involved in the passing game since the Cowboys fell behind early, and he caught 5 balls for 30 yards. Dowdle did touch the ball 22 times in Week 5 against the Steelers to Elliott's 6 rushes, so the Cowboys do seem to be trending away from the committee in favor of Dowdle, which was reported a couple weeks ago. The game script probably played a factor in Week 6. The Cowboys have a bye in Week 7 and come back to a game at San Francisco in Week 8 on Sunday night, so it's possible we see a more obvious use of Dowdle with any adjustments coming off the bye week.

Mike Tomlin said that Jaylen Warren was a full participant today and is “on the upswing.”

The coach feels “optimistic about his inclusion” and will list the RB as questionable.

Related Players: Najee Harris

If Warren is available, it will come at a massive detriment to Harris' fantasy outlook, as the latter as looked like his typical, inefficient self. Warren could be a tough click in his first week back, but he also lowers Harris to an RB3 if they both play.

The Steelers will be without RB Jaylen Warren (ankle) on Sunday night against the Cowboys. Rookie Aaron Shampklin will be the complement to Najee Harris in the Pittsburgh backfield.

Shampklin, a 2022 UDFA rookie out of Harvard, has one career carry, which came in Week 4. It's a good bet that Najee Harris receives nearly the entire workload with Cordarrelle Patterson also dealing with an injury. Harris is a locked in RB2.

The running back situation has been as confounding as it has been disappointing. The Cowboys are starting to drift away from a pure committee approach, in the sense that Rico Dowdle’s snap counts and rush attempts are noticeably greater than Ezekiel Elliott or Deuce Vaughn’s.

Related players: Dalvin Cook

The story said Elliott's value is more leadership and pass protection, and it has not been in the form of purely running the football. The story added injuries on the defense may affect when Cook is able to join the roster, but the story added Cook's time could be coming soon. For now, it looks like Dowdle is at least trending in the right direction despite the team's struggles running the ball.

Chargers QB Justin Herbert (ankle) is expected to start Sunday against the Chiefs.

Herbert started Week 3 but seemed to re-aggravate the injury, leading to Taylor Heinicke entering the game. Herbert went through the week without any setbacks. Certainly there’s some caution after last week but Herbert does sound like he’s in a better position than he was entering last week’s game. Proceed with caution and consider another option if you have one, just in case.