NFL Player News

Sanders (knee) doesn't have an injury designation for Sunday's game against the Giants, Adam Caplan of SiriusXM NFL Radio reports.

Sanders will lead the backfield, per usual, as Philadelphia looks to earn the No. 1 seed in the NFC. The real question is whether quarterback Jalen Hurts, who is listed as questionable, will return from his shoulder injury this week or in the playoffs. Either way, Sanders has a nice matchup against a Giants defense that won't have star lineman Leonard Williams (neck) available for a game with no playoff implications on New York's side. Sanders might get a chance to run the ball against the Giants' second-string defense at some point this Sunday.

McCaffrey (ankle/knee) returned to practice Friday, Matt Barrows of The Athletic reports.

McCaffrey already said he feels fine and downplayed any potential concern about his knee or ankle. He'll likely be active ahead of Sunday's 4:25 p.m. ET kickoff with the Cardinals, though it's possible the Niners scale back McCaffrey's workload if outcomes around the league suggest their result is unlikely to impact playoff seeding. There's also the matter of Elijah Mitchell (knee) likely being activated from injured reserve and potentially taking a few more carries than Jordan Mason or Tyrion Davis-Price would. Even so, McCaffrey remains among the best running back plays for Week 18 as the likely focal point of San Francisco's offense for at least the first half of Sunday's game.

Walker (ankle/illness) doesn't have an injury designation for Sunday's game against the Rams, Gregg Bell of The Tacoma News Tribune reports.

Walker topped 20 carries and 100 rushing yards while playing through the same ankle injury the past two weeks, and he'll be out there Sunday despite missing some practice time because of an illness. The Seahawks may ride the rookie hard again, as they need a win plus a Packers loss to qualify for the playoffs.

Jones (knee/ankle) doesn't have an injury designation for Sunday's game against Detroit, Rob Demovsky of ESPN.com reports.

Jones has dealt with lower-body injuries throughout the second half of the season, but he's mostly played well all the same and still gets a few more snaps than AJ Dillon most weeks. Dillon's recent dominance of goal-line work has taken a chunk out of Jones' fantasy value, but it's possible the latter gets more work Sunday, and then maybe more in the playoffs if the Packers are able to punch their ticket with a win over Detroit.

Head coach Kliff Kingsbury said Ingram and Corey Clement will be in store for increased roles in Sunday's game against the 49ers with top back James Conner (shin/knee) ruled out for the contest, Darren Urban of the Cardinals' official site reports.

While Conner was sidelined for the entire fourth quarter of last week's win over the Falcons, Clement played 94 percent of the Cardinals' offensive snaps and carried five times for 25 yards in the final 15 minutes. Meanwhile, Ingram didn't garner any snaps on offense at any point during the contest, which suggests Clement may be the better bet of the two backs to pick up the Week 18 start and absorb most of Conner's snaps and touches. That being said, the Cardinals have more recent draft capital invested in Ingram, a sixth-round rookie, while the 28-year-old Clement has bounced around the league the past few seasons and profiles as more of a special-teams player at this stage of his career. With that in mind, it wouldn't be a complete surprise if Ingram carved out a larger role Sunday than expected, despite how he and Clement were deployed a week ago.

Head coach Kliff Kingsbury said Clement and Keaontay Ingram will be in store for increased roles in Sunday's game against the 49ers with top back James Conner (shin/knee) ruled out for the contest, Darren Urban of the Cardinals' official site reports.

Before exiting in the fourth quarter of last week's loss to the Falcons, Conner had been handling massive snap shares in each of the Cardinals' previous seven games. His early departure in Week 17 paved the way for Clement -- who has mostly contributed on special teams this season -- to play 29 snaps on offense en route to carrying seven times for 32 yards while going without a reception on his lone target. Ingram, meanwhile, didn't play any snaps on offense, so Clement appears to be the better bet to see the larger share of Conner's vacated workload in the season finale. That said, the Cardinals have some recent draft capital invested in Ingram -- a rookie sixth-round pick -- so it wouldn't be entirely surprising if he was prioritized over the journeyman Clement.

Conner (shin/knee) has been ruled out for Sunday's game against the 49ers, Tyler Drake of ArizonaSports.com reports.

The Cardinals are left with Corey Clement and Keaontay Ingram in the backfield, after mostly using Clement last week when Conner made his early exit from a 20-19 loss to Denver. The Cardinals haven't indicated that Conner's injury is one that might require offseason surgery, and there's a good chance the 27-year-old is back with the Cardinals in 2023 given that his $5.75 million base salary is fully guaranteed, per OverTheCap.com. A $2 million roster bonus due in mid-March is one potential complicating factor, along with the possibility of the Cardinals bringing in a new coaching staff.

Foreman was added to the practice report Friday as a limited participant with a knee injury and is listed as questionable for Sunday's game against New Orleans.

An end-of-week addition to the injury report puts Foreman's availability into question for the season finale. If he's deemed inactive ahead of the 1 p.m. ET kickoff, Carolina will rely on Chuba Hubbard and Raheem Blackshear out of the backfield. Interim head coach Steve Wilks said Friday that he expects Foreman to be a game-time decision, according to Joe Person of The Athletic.

Williams is expected to serve as the Commanders' starting running back Sunday against the Cowboys with Brian Robinson (knee) ruled out for the season finale and with Antonio Gibson (foot/knee) having been placed on injured reserve earlier this week, Ethan Cadeaux of NBC Sports Washington reports.

J.D. McKissic (neck) has also been sidelined since early November and won't be activated from IR for Week 18, so the Commanders will close the season without any of their top three running backs entering the campaign. While Gibson was sidelined for last week's loss to Cleveland, Williams saw a healthy amount of work behind Robinson, carrying nine times for 30 yards while reeling in three of five targets for three yards across 31 snaps. His ability to contribute on three downs makes Williams a more appealing fantasy target than Jaret Patterson, who was elevated from the practice squad Thursday and should also have a role in the finale, but more likely as a runner than as a weapon in the passing game. Washington could also bring up Reggie Bonnafon from the practice squad to provide additional depth behind Williams and Patterson.

Gibson (knee) underwent surgery Thursday to address a fracture in his foot, John Keim of ESPN.com reports.

Gibson played through the fracture for most of December but then missed the final two games of the regular season after spraining his knee Week 16. He's expected to recover in time for offseason workouts, at which point he'll be in the fourth and final season of his rookie contract. Rookie back Brian Robinson, meanwhile, will miss Week 18 with a knee injury that isn't considered especially serious. Jonathan Williams and Jaret Patterson are Washington's healthy backs for the season finale, while Robinson and Gibson should be ready to go for OTAs.