Team news: Los Angeles Chargers | Page 8

#Bears WRs Keenan Allen and Rome Odunze are questionable for the #Texans game.

Allen hasn't practiced all week. Odunze was limited today.

Related Players: D.J. Moore, Tyler Scott, DeAndre Carter, Velus Jones

Reading the tea leaves, it seems as if Allen has a better chance at playing than Odunze but that isn't set in stone or anything. As it stands, treat Allen as a solid WR3 and try to keep Odunze on your bench. D.J. Moore is a must-start, even with Caleb Williams' poor Week 1 performance.

For the second straight day, Bears WRs Keenan Allen (heel) and Rome Odunze (knee) did not practice.

Related Players: D.J. Moore, Tyler Scott, DeAndre Carter, Velus Jones

Reading the tea leaves, it seems as if Allen has a better chance at playing than Odunze but that isn't set in stone or anything. As it stands, treat Allen as a solid WR3 and try to keep Odunze on your bench. We'll keep an eye on this tomorrow for updates leading to Sunday.

Bears rookie wide receiver Rome Odunze played his first regular season game on Sunday and he’s having his first regular season MRI on Monday.

Head coach Matt Eberflus told reporters at his Monday press conference that the first-round pick is going to have imaging done on his knee.

Related players: D.J. Moore, Keenan Allen, Caleb Williams

Odunze caught one pass for 11 yards in Sunday’s win over the Titans but he played 43 of the team’s 56 offensive snaps. The story went on to say Eberflus said it’s not clear when the injury happened as Odunze played through the end of the game, but whatever issue he reported was serious enough to send him for tests. The story added the Bears are in Houston for Sunday Night Football in Week 2, but we may not know until later this week about Oduzne and his status.

Chargers QB Justin Herbert (plantar fascia) is off the injury report -- for real this time -- and good to go for Sunday's opener vs. the Raiders.

WR D.J. Chark (hip) is out.

Related Players: Easton Stick, Taylor Heinicke

Good news for Herbert and the Chargers in general, but we don't want to touch this passing attack as we head into what could be a slog against the Raiders. Leave the QB on your bench or waiver wire until we find him in a better spot.

Steelers RB Jaylen Warren (hamstring) said he did individuals and special teams work in practice today, and he anticipates joining team periods on Wednesday.

He said he'll be good to go for the season opener Sunday.

Related players: Najee Harris

Warren should find himself complementing Harris, taking on change of pace and third down and passing duties. Warren (RB24) finished two spots ahead of Harris (RB26), and if we just look at the back half of the season, Warren was the fantasy RB19 from Week 10 to Week 18. His touches increased from 10.6 to 13.9 when comparing the first half of the season to the second half. That increased workload may or may not carry over now that there’s a new offensive coordinator (Arthur Smith) in town. Smith is known to use his players in frustrating ways from a fantasy perspective. Interestingly, Warren’s increased usage did not come at Harris’s expense. Harris saw his touches increase from 14.4 to 18.8 from the first half to the second half of the season. (Harris/Warren combined to average 25.0 touches from Week 1 to Week 8 compared to 32.7 touches from Week 9 to Week 18, so Pittsburgh was much more RB-oriented in the back half of the season.) The Steelers figure to be very run-heavy under Smith so there should be room for both Warren and Harris in 15+ touch roles.

The Cowboys cut RBs Royce Freeman and Malik Davis.

Related players: Ezekiel Elliott, Rico Dowdle, Deuce Vaughn

For about a week this summer, Freeman seemed to be the darling of the Cowboys backfield, but that quickly changed and those who follow the team pointed to Dowdle as the back who stood out the most at times in camp. Both Freeman and Davis could resign on the practice squad, however. While we don't know how the workload will be split, it looks like the Cowboys are going with Elliott and Dowdle. We do rank Elliott 34th and Dowdle 51st on our RB list.

Tom Pelissero of NFL Media reports that running back Dalvin Cook is heading to Dallas on Monday night to meet with the team.

Related players: Ezekiel Elliott, Rico Dowdle, Royce Freeman, Deuce Vaughn.

As the story said, Cook was coming off shoulder surgery last year, so the Cowboys may be hoping he can rediscover his form and bolster their running back group. The Cowboys were expected to make moves at RBs long before now, but instead opted to bring back Elliott and Dowdle. For the most part, those who follow the team lean toward a split between the two as far as workload goes, which isn't all that exciting from a fantasy perspective. This news could cause a lot of owners to pickup Cook off the wire, but it remains to be seen if the Cowboys sign him, and if they do, what's left in his tank. Keep in mind, Cook hasn't drawn a lot of interest up to this point.

Jaylen Warren says he expects to play Week 1 against the Falcons.

Related players: Najee Harris, Cordarrelle Patterson

Warren says his hamstring is feeling much better. Owners will still want to hear this team from HC Mike Tomlin or from the team before counting on Warren in Week 1. However, it's good news he feels he's trending in the right direction. Warren should continue to have a role, but still share time with Harris in the Steelers offense. The addition of Patterson could complicate things in terms of fantasy, especially in terms of pass catching and third down work.

Justin Herbert practicing for the first time since July.

Last week reports said Herbert was out of his walking boot and today there was a video of him throwing in warmups. Herbert is dealing with plantar fascia, but hopefully looks to be back on track to play in Week 1. We'll likely know more based on his activity in practices going forward, but for now seems to be heading in the right direction.

I left Kimani Vidal off my 53-man roster projection after Week 1 of the preseason. My grade at that stage was “incomplete.” He had missed a week of practice, including the joint session with the Rams, before not playing in the preseason opener against the Seattle Seahawks. You have to earn your spot in the NFL, and that will especially be the case under Harbaugh. Vidal had a strong week of practice last week. He followed that up with a solid performance in his first game action. I have moved him ahead of Isaiah Spiller and onto the 53-man in my running projection.

Related players: Gus Edwards, J.K. Dobbins, Jaret Patterson

If you remember, we reported on this a few weeks ago when this writer left Vidal off the team's 53-man roster. Vidal was at least a popular dynasty selection up to this point, given the Chargers state at RB. However, Vidal looks to be making a move up the depth chart with solid, recent practices and preseason game showing. Edwards and Dobbins appear to be leading the way at the position with Patterson also having a nice camp. Vidal looks like he still has a lot of work to do to at least be the team's RB3.