Team news: Washington Commanders | Page 53

Cardinals RB Kenyan Drake is officially out for Week 9 against the Miami Dolphins, according to Kyle Odegard of the Arizona Cardinals.

Related Players: Chase Edmonds, D.J. Foster

This was expected, so nothing to be surprised about. Edmonds will start and coach Kliff Kingsbury hints at D.J. Foster being the backup this week.

49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan told reporters Friday that QB Nick Mullens is "firmly" the starter. The 49ers also signed QB Josh Johnson to their practice squad.

Related Player: C.J. Beathard

Mullens was pretty bad Thursday night against the Packers, but not much could be expected with seven vital offensive players missing the game. This is a situation to monitor in Superflex leagues as the 49ers QB should have a bevy of offensive playmakers returning in the next few weeks.

49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan told reporters that RB Raheem Mostert and WR Deebo Samuel could play Week 10 against the New Orleans Saints.

The 49ers have a chance to be a Wild Card team and desperately need as many healthy bodies as possible. Mostert would be eligible to come off IR for Week 10, and Samuel is currently week-to-week.

49ers WR Kendrick Bourne's latest COVID-19 came back negative after testing positive Wednesday, according to Mike Garafolo of the NFL Network. Bourne's negative test removes WRs Brandon Aiyuk, Deebo Samuel, as well as himself from the reserve-COVID-19 list.

OL Trent Williams was also removed from the list, a good sign for the 49ers going forward.

The 49ers placed wide receivers Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk on the Reserve/COVID list Wednesday evening. Both players have been ruled out for Thursday's game.

The 49ers will be a severely depleted team on Thursday when they face off with the Packers. They will be starting a backup quarterback alongside backups at multiple skill positions and along the offensive line. Samuel was already set to miss Week 9, but his placement on the COVID list throws his Week 10 availability into doubt. Aiyuk was set to play a large role on Thursday, but will now miss the game entirely. It is a headache for the 49ers and anyone counting on their players for fantasy production this week.

49ers will also be without WR Deebo Samuel again this week as he works his way back from hamstring injury.

Add Samuel to the list of recent missing 49ers: Tevin Coleman, Jimmy Garoppolo, George Kittle. Brandon Aiyuk and Kendrick Bourne should get a bulk of the work at WR but it will be Nick Mullens under center.

Kingsbury said the injury to RB Kenyan Drake wasn't as bad as first feared.

Related players: Chase Edmonds

He called Drake "day to day" although he wasn't sure that meant playing this week, according to the Tweet. Kingsbury added the team and Drake were "very fortunate" from what it first looked like. The Cards have three games in 11 days: Week 9 vs. Miami, Week 10 vs. Buffalo and then a Thursday night game in Week 11 against Seattle. Looks like Edmonds should be the guy this week but it seems possible Drake returns after that, which would be two games in five days. Even if Drake returns sooner than later, with that many games in a short time Edmonds could still have fantasy value.