Vikings TE Irv Smith Jr. (thumb) expected to be ready Week 1

Bills HC Sean McDermott tells reporters he’s confident that RB James Cook will practice today noting "things have changed.”

There were no specifics as to what has changed exactly, but one can speculate his hold-out or hold-in is - hopefully - over. Cook wants a new deal and missed several practices and also declined to play in the team's last preseason game.

Tory Horton, who had his final college season cut short due to multiple injuries in his leg, has played as well as any of the young guys through three weeks of camp. He’s earned many reps with the first-team offense beside Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Cooper Kupp.

It's just another day of positive reports when it comes to Horton, who looks like he'll at least be the team's WR3 to start the season. As we talked about many times before, it's also easy to see Horton passing Kupp on the depth chart as well, should everything fall into place for the rookie. The story went on to say: because of Horton's shiftiness, soft hands, athleticism, catch radius and speed, Horton is in the mix to be the punt returner. He'll be a player to keep an eye on in the team's next preseason game against the Chiefs, and it looks like he should be someone to keep an eye on later in redraft leagues.

As Bo Nix enters his second season as Denver’s starting quarterback, piloting a team that has been outspoken about its championship aspirations, the Broncos have no plans to meddle with his running instincts. However, they are emphasizing an important caveat.

“The audit would be more in regard to protecting himself at the end of those plays and the timing of when (the run) is a got-to-have-it versus (not),” Payton said. “So we’re comfortable with (Nix scrambling); it’s a strength. When the combine came, he didn’t shuttle. He didn’t do a number of these drills that I thought he would be exceptional at."

The story said because Nix didn't run at the combine, the team was surprised about his overall speed. The story added there may be a natural decline in Nix’s scramble attempts due to his increased familiarity with the offense and a better understanding from his receivers about how their quarterback prefers to make plays when he leaves the pocket. Nix had 26 scrambles in the first seven games of his rookie season. He had only 24 across his final 10 as he finished more of his pocket-escaping plays with throws to receivers who did a better job mirroring his scrambles, the story added. We are projecting Nix to have 86 rushes for just about 400 yards this season, and overall we have him ranked ninth among our QBs.