NFL Players News and Weather Week 17.

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Last week of the season so you might want to keep track of teams resting players

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Re: NFL Players News and Weather Week 17.

NFL Network's Ian Rapoport Sammy Watkins suffered a calf injury in Kansas City's Week 16 win over the Falcons.
Coach Andy Reid already said a majority of the team's starters will rest in Week 17, giving Watkins the season finale and Kansas City's first round bye to heal before practicing again.

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Re: NFL Players News and Weather Week 17.

Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury said he's "hopeful" Kyler Murray can play in Week 17 against the Rams.
The Cardinals still control its own destiny against Los Angeles, basically guaranteeing Murray takes the field come hell or high water. For what it's worth, Kingsbury was in a similar situation last year and still threw an injured Murray to the wolves for the team's meaningless regular season finale against the Rams.

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Re: NFL Players News and Weather Week 17.

Washington Football Team waived QB Dwayne Haskins.
It's the culmination of a professionally catastrophic week for Haskins, who was fined $40,000 and stripped of his team captain title after violating COVID-19 protocols by attending a party maskless. The team was forced into starting him in Week 16 against the Panthers, who looked like the 1985 Bears defense with Haskins completing half of his passes for 154 yards, two interceptions, and a fumble. He was benched in favor of Taylor Heinicke, who had never played a regular season NFL snap but proved a major upgrade over Haskins.


Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski said the team will activate its receivers from the reserve/COVID-19 list on Thursday if they continue testing negative for the virus.
Jarvis Landry, Donovan Peoples-Jones, KhaDarel Hodge, and Rashard Higgins missed Week 16's game against the Jets -- a devastating loss for Cleveland -- after contact tracing identified them as high-risk close contacts of someone who had tested positive for COVID-19.

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Kyle Rudolph (foot) is out for Week 17 against the Lions.
Rudolph is technically being sent to injured reserve, which is just a formality at this point since the Vikings' season will be over this time next week.

Bills coach Sean McDermott has labeled Cole Beasley (leg) "week to week."
The good news is that it's not season-ending, but it's still a major blow for a team that doesn't know when John Brown (COVID-19) might be ready to return. Beasley has majorly stepped up in Brown's second half of the season absences, clearing eight catches three times in his past six games.

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Re: NFL Players News and Weather Week 17.

Rams placed RB Darrell Henderson on injured reserve with a high-ankle sprain.
The Rams would need to make the NFC Championship Game for us to see Henderson again this season. It leaves the Jared Goff-less team in backfield limbo for Week 17's must-win game against the Cardinals, as Cam Akers (high-ankle sprain) is probably on the wrong side of questionable. That would default Malcolm Brown to starting duties alongside first-time starting quarterback John Wolford.

Rams placed WR Cooper Kupp on the reserve/COVID-19 list.
Good grief. It is unknown if Kupp is merely a "close contact" or COVID positive himself. If it's the latter, he will be inactive for Sunday's essentially must-win game against the Cardinals.

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Re: NFL Players News and Weather Week 17.

Mason Rudolph will start at quarterback for Pittsburgh in Week 17 against the Browns.
The Steelers having a shot at the No. 2 seed in the AFC is apparently not enough motivation to start Ben Roethlisberger against Cleveland. Starting Rudolph could signal that Mike Tomlin will sit many key starters in the season's final week. Tomlin said Tuesday that he's "not overly concerned" about players keeping their rhythm headed into the postseason.

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Kyler Murray (leg) is expected to practice Wednesday.
It's a good sign after Murray went down late in Week 16. Murray's leg injury isn't expected to keep him out of a game Arizona needs to make the playoffs.

Cooper Kupp (illness, reserve/COVID-19) has been ruled out for Week 17 against the Cardinals.
NFL Network's Ian Rapoport confirms Kupp tested positive and will miss this week. It means the Rams are down Jared Goff, Kupp, and potentially two of their running backs in a must-win game.

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ESPN's Courtney Cronin reports Dalvin Cook (personal) will be unavailable to play in Week 17 against the Lions.
Cook had an "unexpected family emergency" come up Tuesday and has returned to Miami. He'll spend this week away from the team.

Matthew Stafford (ankle) didn't practice Wednesday.
Stafford's sprained ankle has his status for Sunday's game in doubt. He's also been playing through rib and thumb injuries, so the Lions may decide to shut him down. Chase Daniel is taking first-team reps at practice and will start if Stafford can't go.

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Re: NFL Players News and Weather Week 17.

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Re: NFL Players News and Weather Week 17.

Mike Davis (ankle) is out for Week 17 against the Saints.
With Christian McCaffrey (quad) also out, it'll be Rodney Smith, special teamer Trenton Cannon, FB Alex Armah, and likely even Curtis Samuel in the Panthers' backfield against New Orleans.

Coach Andy Reid announced Patrick Mahomes will rest Week 17 against the Chargers, and Chad Henne will make the start.
Kansas City has already locked up the No. 1 seed in the AFC and a first-round bye. Mahomes will essentially get two weeks off and sets his eyes on what the team hopes is a second straight Super Bowl title.

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Jimmy Garoppolo (ankle, I.R.) is out for Week 17 against the Seahawks.
Garoppolo hasn't played since Week 8 and started just six games this season after "managing" the 49ers to the Super Bowl last year on the back of a great defense. Garoppolo went 94-of-140 this season (67.1%) for 1,096 yards (7.8 YPA) and a measly 7:5 TD:INT mark. The Niners know Garoppolo isn't a game-changer at the position, and coach Kyle Shanahan refused to fully commit to Garoppolo being back as the starter in 2021. He has two years left on his deal, but the Niners can clear $24.1 million in cap space by releasing Garoppolo this offseason, absorbing a dead cap hit of just $2.8 million.


Keenan Allen (hamstring) is not expected to play Week 17 against the Chiefs.
Allen played through injury in Week 15, catching one pass, before missing Week 16 altogether. One of the most consistent WR1's all season, Allen scored or exceeded 95 yards in 10-of-13 healthy games as a targets dominator for Justin Herbert.

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Cam Akers remained sidelined Wednesday with a high-ankle sprain.
Akers missed Week 16 after securing the team's lead back duties, a role that might now fall to Malcolm Brown with Darrell Henderson also dealing with an injury. The Rams likely will be without their top quarterback, one of their lead wide receivers, and their best ball carrier in a win-and-in game.

DeAndre Hopkins missed Wednesday's practice with a hip injury.
Hopkins left Week 16's game against the 49ers with a midsection injury, and we assume that has now been designated a hip issue. Hopkins previously dealt with a neck and back issue. In a pivotal Week 17 game against the Rams, it would be a stunner if Hopkins is not on the field.

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Re: NFL Players News and Weather Week 17.

Jarvis Landry was activated from the reserve/COVID list.
Rashard Higgins, KhaDarel Hodge, and Donovan Peoples-Jones were removed as well, ensuring Cleveland enters its must-win game against the Steelers at full strength on offense.

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Re: NFL Players News and Weather Week 17.

The Rams have yet to rule Cam Akers (high-ankle sprain) out for Sunday's game against the Cardinals.
It's likely coming after Akers missed another practice on Thursday, but with everything on the line Sunday, coach Sean McVay is willing to take Akers' status down to the wire. It is possible he will be a game-time decision who ends up with a limited role.