RB Aaron Jones, like the entire Packers offense, struggled to get going in Thursday night's loss to the Lions. Green Bay finished with only 53 plays and 10 RB carries, as they played from multiple scores behind for the final three quarters. Jones garnered five of those carries but could only grind out 18 yards. He was crunched for a four-yard loss on his only reception of the night. Jones wound up getting out-snapped 38 to 20 by backfield mate A.J. Dillon, but that was very likely due to Jones coming back from that hamstring injury and the scoreboard. The good news is that Jones seemingly avoided a setback. Expect him to be back in the lead role in a plus Week 5 matchup vs. the Raiders. It's a good bounce-back opportunity for Jones and the Packers.
QB Jordan Love and the Packers offense was abysmal for most of Thursday night's loss to the Lions. Love was under pressure throughout the game and rarely got into a rhythm. He headed into halftime with 50 yards, 0 TDs, and 1 INT on 6-of-13 passing. Love chucked it another 20 times in the second half, though, compiling 196 yards and a TD to a wide-open WR Christian Watson. Love added a nine-yard TD run on a QB draw to post another 20+ point fantasy outing. He's now topped 20 fantasy points in all four games to open the season, despite not playing particularly well. Love has completed just 56% of his passes at 6.8 yards per attempt. But he's thrown eight TDs and run for two more. That scoring rate will not hold, and Love will need to play much better in order to maintain this fantasy-scoring pace. He at least got WR Christian Watson and RB Aaron Jones back on Thursday night. But LT David Bakhtiari landed on IR with his knee trouble and has no timetable for a return. Love draws a plus Week 5 matchup vs. the Raiders before a Week 6 bye.
Lions RB Jahmyr Gibbs played well behind RB David Montgomery in Thursday night's win over the Packers. Montgomery, back from his thigh injury, carried a whopping 32 times, including eight times inside Green Bay's 10-yard line. Gibbs totaled just eight carries, with none of those coming inside the 10. The rookie was efficient, totaling 40 yards on 5.0 yards per carry. And he added four catches on five targets for 11 yards. But this was not the usage fantasy owners who spent a third or fourth-round pick on Gibbs were looking for. He's now totaled just 15 carries and seven targets in two full games with Montgomery. Gibbs' role might grow over the course of the season, but the 3-1 Lions have no reason to divert from their current plan right now. Gibbs at least gets a plus Week 5 matchup vs. the Panthers' 29th-ranked RB defense, but it'll be tough to consider him more than a RB3.
RB David Montgomery returned from his one-game absence as Detroit's clear lead back, racking up a whopping 32 carries for 121 yards in Thursday night's win over the Packers. RB Jahmyr Gibbs toted it just eight times. Just as importantly, Montgomery continued to hog work near the goal line. He carried eight times inside Green Bay's 10-yard line and converted three of those into TDs. Montgomery is already up to five rushing TDs on the season, despite missing about five quarters with that thigh injury. He's now tallied 21 and 32 carries in his two full games -- and 16 carries in about three quarter's worth of action in Week 2. Montgomery looks like an easy weekly fantasy starter going forward with this type of volume. He has an excellent Week 5 matchup vs. a Panthers defense currently ranked 29th in adjusted fantasy points allowed to RBs.
Packers TE Luke Musgrave sustained a concussion in the first half of Thursday night's game vs. the Lions and will not return. He at least has a few extra days to clear protocol before Week 5's meeting with the Raiders. Musgrave's absence leaves Green Bay with TEs Tucker Kraft and Josiah Deguara.
Seahawks WR D.K. Metcalf (ribs) did not practice on Thursday. He played through this injury last week and should be fine for Monday night's game vs. the Giants, but we'll keep you updated on his status over the next few days.
Giants RB Saquon Barkley (ankle) was listed as a limited participant in Thursday's practice. NFL Network's Ian Rapoport described Barkley's status for Monday night's game vs. the Seahawks as a "wait-and-see" situation, adding that Barkley "has a long way to go." We're still not projecting him to play this week but will continue to monitor his progress over the next few days.
49ers WR Brandon Aiyuk (shoulder) remained limited in Thursday's practice but was out of his non-contact jersey, according to The Athletic's David Lombardi. Aiyuk is trending toward returning for this weekend's game vs. the Cardinals. We'll see how he's listed on the final injury report tomorrow.
49ers WR Deebo Samuel (ribs, knee) missed practice again on Thursday. WR Jauan Jennings (shin) also remained sidelined for the second straight day. “They’ll be questionable for the game [vs. Arizona]," HC Kyle Shanahan said. "We’ll see how they go tomorrow. Hopefully they can get out tomorrow and give them a chance for Sunday." We'll update Samuel and Jennings' statuses again tomorrow.
Cardinals WR Marquise Brown was added to Thursday's injury report with a thumb and limited in practice. That likely means he injured the thumb today. We'll see what he does in Friday's practice and how he's listed on the final injury report for this weekend's game vs. the 49ers.
Chargers RB Austin Ekeler (ankle) remained limited in Thursday's practice. We'll see what he does on Friday and how he's listed on the final injury report for this weekend's game vs. the Raiders.
Raiders QB Jimmy Garoppolo (concussion) returned to a limited practice on Thursday. So he's made some progress through the protocol but still has multiple stages to clear in order to play vs. the Chargers. We'll get another update on his progress tomorrow.
Rams TE Tyler Higbee (Achilles) missed his second straight practice on Thursday. His status for this weekend's game vs. the Colts is uncertain. Check back tomorrow to see how he's listed on the final injury report.
Commanders TE Logan Thomas (concussion) graduated to a full practice on Thursday. He's on track to be cleared for this weekend's game vs. the Eagles. We'll see how he's listed on the final injury report tomorrow.
Ravens RB Justice Hill (foot) returned to a limited practice on Thursday. It gives him a shot to play vs. the Browns this weekend, but we'll see how he's listed on Friday's final injury report. RB Gus Edwards (concussion) put in another full practice on Thursday.
Ravens WRs Odell Beckham (ankle) and Rashod Bateman (hamstring) remained sidelined for Thursday's practice. They're both looking iffy for this weekend's game vs. the Browns. Their absences would leave Nelson Agholor as Baltimore's No. 2 WR. We'll see how Beckham and Bateman are listed on the final injury report tomorrow.
Broncos WR Jerry Jeudy (knee) was limited in practice for the second straight day on Thursday. We haven't seen anything to suggest that Jeudy is in danger of missing this weekend's game vs. the Bears, but check back tomorrow for another update on his status.
Titans WR Treylon Burks (knee) did not practice on Thursday. That followed a limited practice on Wednesday. Burks either hurt that knee in Wednesday's practice or just got today off. We should know more about his status when we get Tennessee's final injury report tomorrow.
Lions S Kerby Joseph (hip) and CB Emmanuel Moseley (knee, hamstring) are inactive for tonight's game against the Packers. Joseph's absence -- for the second straight week -- should mean more playing time for rookie Brian Branch once again. He went from 68% and 69% snap shares the first two games to playing every snap last week. That helped Branch rack up 11 solo tackles, 3 tackles for loss, and 2 passes defensed in the win over the Falcons. He has moved up our Week 4 DB rankings.
Packers WR Christian Watson (hamstring) is active for tonight’s game vs. the Lions. NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reported this morning that Green Bay will be cautious with Watson in his 2023 debut. But we’re expecting to see him out there in most passing situations. See where Watson sits in the Week 4 WR Rankings.
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