NFL Player News

Three Browns have been designated as questionable for Sunday against Jacksonville, but none are starters. They are offensive lineman Martin Wallace (illness), tight end MarQueis Gray (hamstring) and defensive lineman Armonty Bryant (back).

The probables are wide receiver Josh Cooper (illness), cornerback Buster Skrine (ribs), tackle Mitchell Schwartz (toe), running back Willis McGahee (knee), punter Spencer Lanning (knee) and linebacker Paul Kruger (finger).

Texans tight end Garrett Graham is facing an average matchup Week 13 against the Patriots.

The Pats have been about middle-of-the-pack against tight ends this season, allowing them to score 7.18 Fantasy points per game. The team has allowed 18 passing touchdowns in 11 games. Only four of those touchdowns have gone to tight ends.

Graham has been a fairly large part of the passing game since Case Keenum took over, catching 21 of his 38 receptions with Keenum at quarterback. He hasn't been a big threat to score with Keenum, though. After scoring three touchdowns in the first three weeks of the season, Graham has caught just one since. Graham probable isn't a strong matchup Week 13.

The Packers' Week 13 loss at the Lions was ugly -- a 40-10 collapse on Thanksgiving. Some Packers who produced some decent numbers include fullback/third-down back John Kuhn (10 total yards), tight end Ryan Taylor (an 8-yard catch) and tight end Andrew Quarless (a 7-yard catch. Taylor left the game and was evaluated for a concussion. 

The Packers host the Falcons in Week 14. 

Several players helped the Lions in their 40-10 win over the Packers on Thanksgiving Day. Dorin Dickerson saw a few snaps and caught a 26-yard pass. Backup rusher Theo Riddick had a 5-yard catch. Tight end Joseph Fauria had a chance to score but ran the wrong route in the end zone and wasn't thrown at again the rest of the game despite logging a decent amount of snaps. 

The Lions play at the Eagles in Week 14. 

Lions tight end Brandon Pettigrew had just one catch for 6 yards on Thursday against the Packers, but he could have had a little more. Pettigrew was targeted in the end zone and had a Matthew Stafford pass bounce off his fingertips in the first quarter, costing the Lions a touchdown. They settled for a field goal on the drive. 

Entering this game Pettigrew had at least three catches in eight straight games. He'll attempt to pick up more catches when they play at Philadelphia in Week 14. 

Cowboys tight end Gavin Escobar (hamstring), defensive tackle Jason Hatcher (neck), defensive tackle Nick Hayden (ribs), defensive end George Selvie (shoulder), defensive end DeMarcus Ware (thigh) and safety J.J. Wilcox (knee) were all cleared to play Week 13 vs. Oakland. The only player that wasn't listed as probable was Escobar, who was considered questionable.

With Brandon Bostick inactive for Thursday's game at Detroit, tight ends Andrew Quarless and Ryan Taylor are expected to split the positional duties with Bostick unavailable for his regular workload. But neither one is worth risking in Fantasy play. 

Buccaneers tight end Timothy Wright snapped out of his recent malaise in Week 12, catching a season-high eight passes for 75 yards. And he did so against a Lions team that -- for all their failings against wide receivers -- have been pretty solid in defending tight ends this season.

The Panthers -- Wright's Week 13 opponent -- have allowed three touchdowns to tight ends in the last five weeks. And one of those belonged to Wright, who caught five passes for 48 yards and a touchdown in Week 8. The passing game has changed for the Bucs since that game, however. Most notably, Mike Glennon threw 51 passes in that game; he hasn't thrown more than 23 since.

Still, Wright has some momentum from Week 12, and has been successful against the Panthers before. While there's some downside here (his two previous games, for example), there's enough good to consider Wright a startable asset in deeper formats, or in leagues where an owner has been streaming tight ends on a weekly basis.

Eagles tight ends Zach Ertz and Brent Celek have spent most of the season cannibalizing each others' value. Ertz has one touchdown and one game of 50 or more receiving yards. Celek has three touchdowns and two games of 50 or more yards.

Coming out of the bye, there's always a chance that the Eagles may have tweaked their tight end strategy, but we won't know what the tweaks were until after the game. This deep into the season, though, it's pretty safe to assume that neither tight end will have much value while the other is around.

Ertz and Celek can be left on the bench in most formats.

Cowboys tight end Gavin Escobar is questionable Week 13 against the Raiders.

Escobar did not appear on the team's injury report until Wednesday. He's dealing with a hamstring injury.