NFL Player News

Head coach Kevin O'Connell intimated Friday that Cook and other key starters on offense and defense may not play the entirety of the Vikings' Week 18 game in Chicago, Joe Nelson of SI.com reports. "We've got a pretty clear cut plan with how we want to go about the whole game, but we're going to go in with the expectation of our guys going and try to get off to a good start and play good football," O'Connell said.

Minnesota is assured no worse than the No. 3 seed in the NFC playoffs regardless of how this weekend's games transpire, but since the Vikings will need a win over the Bears plus a Cardinals win over the heavily-favored 49ers to climb to the No. 2 seed, O'Connell may not have much incentive to expose key players to an injury heading into the wild-card round. While Cook and all of the Vikings' other starting skill-position players look poised to play at least one series, the uncertainty of whether they'll play much beyond that makes it tough to reliably project any in Week 18 season-long or DFS lineups.

Dallas (ankle) doesn't have an injury designation for Sunday's game against the Rams.

Even though Kenneth Walker and Dallas both didn't practice Wednesday or Thursday, the two running backs will approach the weekend without a designation after both logged some reps during Friday's session. Walker was a full participant in the workout, while Dallas was limited, but the latter still looks like he'll be in strong position to serve as the top change-of-pace option behind the former. Dallas' main competition for the backup role, Travis Homer (ankle), is listed as doubtful and appears likely to miss a second straight game, while the lone other running back on the active roster, Godwin Igwebuike, is typically used on special teams. While Homer was sidelined for last week's win over the Jets, Dallas was productive during his time on the field, carrying seven times for 43 yards and recording three receptions for 55 yards on four targets.

McCaffrey (ankle/knee) has no injury designation for Sunday's game against the Cardinals, Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area reports.

McCaffrey downplayed the pair of injuries Thursday and returned to practice Friday. He'll lead the San Francisco backfield again, though perhaps with more competition for carries now that running back Elijah Mitchell (knee) is expected to be activated from injured reserve and wideout Deebo Samuel (ankle/knee) has been cleared to return after a three-week absence.

Homer (ankle) is listed as doubtful for Sunday's game against the Rams, Gregg Bell of The Tacoma News Tribune reports.

Barring some dramatic improvement in his recovery from the ankle sprain leading up to the 4:25 p.m. ET kickoff, Homer will sit out a critical regular-season finale for the Seahawks, who can punch their ticket to the postseason with a win plus a Green Bay loss to Detroit later Sunday. Assuming Homer ends up being inactive for Week 18, the Seahawks will likely turn to DeeJay Dallas to serve as the top change-of-pace option behind lead back Kenneth Walker.

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.