NFL Player News

The Steelers activated McFarland (knee) off injured reserve Wednesday.

As expected, McFarland has been added to the 53-man roster and will likely be active for Sunday's matchup with the Browns. However, the 22-year-old running back isn't expected to see much playing time, as rookie first-round pick Najee Harris has been a three-down workhorse for Pittsburgh throughout the 2021 campaign.

Barkley (ankle) is dressed for Wednesday's practice and was spotted going through stretches, Art Stapleton of The Bergen Record reports.

Barkley looks like he may participate in his first practice since suffering an ankle sprain Week 5, though the Giants won't release an official injury report until Thursday as they prepare for a Monday game in Kansas City. A report from Ian Rapoport of NFL Network this past weekend suggested Barkley would have an "outside chance" to return Week 8, but the running back's odds of playing could be closer to 50-50 if he's truly back at practice Wednesday. That said, it's possible Barkley will be limited to stretching and/or other light activities, and the Giants aren't required to provide an update beyond what the media saw in pre-practice warmups.

Homer rushed once for 14 yards in Monday's 13-10 loss to the Saints.

Homer played just 12 of the team's 56 offensive snaps, while Alex Collins (22) and Rashaad Penny (20) handily outpaced him for work out of the backfield. Though Homer provided a good chunk of yardage on his lone touch of the time, the backfield has a whole couldn't find much open room against the Saints. Going forward, Homer will likely struggle to see enough playing time to deliver meaningful fantasy value.

Ozigbo lost three yards on one carry and caught his only target for seven yards in Monday's 13-10 win over the Seahawks.

Ozigbo entered the contest as the only healthy running back on the active roster behind Alvin Kamara. Despite New Orleans' lack of depth, the 25-year-old totaled just two touches behind Alvin Kamara, who led the team with 30 total touches. For fantasy purposes, Ozigbo is nothing more than a handcuff to Kamara, and not a strong one at that with Tony Jones (ankle) likely returning from injured reserve in the near future.

Dallas didn't record a touch in Monday's 13-10 loss to the Saints. He recorded 53 yards on the kick return.

Alex Collins and Rashaad Penny handled a bulk of the workload, and Dallas logged just one offensive snap. His main usage is as a kick returner unless either Collins or Penny goes down with an injury again.

Penny (calf) rushed six times for nine yards in Monday's 13-10 loss to the Saints.

Penny handled 20 offensive snaps (36 percent) but couldn't get anything going on the ground. Penny's performance alone doesn't warrant more playing time moving forward, but Alex Collins -- who rushed 16 times for 35 yards -- failed to distinguish himself as well. Collins will likely start as the lead back in Week 8 against the Jaguars, though Penny could have a chance to take over the job if he gets the hot hand.

McKinnon compiled a pair of catches for 17 yards on four targets Sunday versus the Titans.

McKinnon didn't carry the ball once and saw just 20 snaps Sunday despite Clyde Edwards-Helaire being unavailable for the contest. With CEH's return eventually coming, it doesn't seem like McKinnon will possess much fantasy value barring Darrel Williams joining Edwards-Helaire on the sidelines.

Head coach Mike Tomlin said Tuesday that he anticipates having McFarland (knee) back from injured reserve for the Steelers' Week 8 game in Cleveland, Brooke Pryor of ESPN.com reports.

According to Pryor, McFarland revealed Oct. 15 that the unspecified issue that has kept him on injured reserve all season is a torn MCL, an injury that occurred in practice and was an aggravation of the one he initially sustained in college at Maryland. McFarland said that he feels good since returning to practice Oct. 6, and Tomlin added Tuesday that the Steelers will see how much work the running back is able to do this week before determining if he'll be active Sunday in Cleveland. Even if he suits up this weekend, McFarland isn't expected to have much of a role behind rookie first-round pick Najee Harris, who has been a three-down workhorse for Pittsburgh throughout the season.

Head coach Sean McVay said Monday that he's "definitely not" ruling Akers (Achilles) out from playing if the Rams should qualify for the playoffs, Cameron DaSilva of USA Today reports. "You don't want to be presumptuous at all. We've got to handle our business but if you said we give ourselves an opportunity to play after the season, would there be a possible Cam sighting playing for the Rams? That's not something I would rule out," McVay said.

When Akers suffered a torn Achilles tendon in late July, the assumption was he would miss the entirety of the 2021 regular season and postseason. While a return during the playoffs is still far from a lock, Akers looks like he'll at least have an outside shot at making in back in mid-to-late January, given how well his rehab process has gone thus far. He has been sharing updates on his rehab through his personal Instagram account, with the running back most recently posting a video last week of himself going through ladder drills. According to Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic, McVay added that Akers is currently running "pretty effortlessly."

Williams had two carries for 10 yards and caught both of his targets for 24 yards Sunday against the Bengals.

Latavius Murray's injury paved the way for Williams to rejoin the active roster Sunday. The run game went out the window in the second half when the Bengals started to build a multiscore lead, so no Baltimore running back saw much work. Williams, along with Le'Veon Bell and Devonta Freeman, each saw more than 20 snaps, but none of them tallied more than five carries. Baltimore is on bye this week, which gives Murray added time to get healthy. That could complicate Williams' status for Week 9 if Murray is indeed active, though neither Bell nor Freeman are outplaying Williams by any significant measure.