NFL Player News

Pettis caught each of his three targets for 53 yards and two touchdowns in a 27-3 preseason win over the Bengals on Saturday.

A 2018 second-round pick, Pettis was the Bears' No. 3 receiver as recently as 2022 but didn't play in 2023 after suffering a back injury last August. He's now battling for one of the final roster spots, having caught each of his three passes Saturday in the third quarter after starting QB Caleb Williams was pulled from the game.

Burton caught his lone target for a 19-yard gain in Saturday's 27-3 preseason loss to Chicago.

Burton started and got a lot of playing time early, while Ja'Marr Chase (contract), Tee Higgins, Andrei Iosivas and Trenton Irwin all were rested. Higgins, Iosivas and Irwin all worked ahead of Burton in the previous preseason game, but Burton came on strong in the second half to finish with a 3-82-1 receiving line on four targets in a loss to the Bucs. While he had a quieter game Saturday against Chicago and may enter Week 1 as a backup, Burton has at least done enough to remind the Bengals why they took him in the third round of the 2024 NFL Draft. Starting the season lower on the depth chart doesn't mean he'll stay there all year.

Olszewski went down with a groin injury in Thursday's practice and will be out for a while, Pat Leonard of the New York Daily News reports.

The 6-foot return specialist's groin injury ended up sidelining him for Saturday's 28-10 preseason loss against Houston. Olszewski was primed to potentially serve as the primary returner for the Giants, but Isaiah McKenzie took the reps during the preseason game and will likely continue to do so.

Blair caught four of five targets for 91 yards in Saturday's 13-12 preseason loss to Baltimore.

Blair had more than three-fourths of Atlanta's receiving yards in the first half and then added a 27-yard catch in the third quarter before calling it a day. He's a 2021 UDFA with one regular-season NFL appearance to his name, but he flashed some downfield chops this past spring with the UFL's DC Defenders while generating a 25-584-3 across 10 regular-season games. Blair's total of 136 yards through two preseason games gives him a decent case for a backup job on a team with shaky WR depth behind starters Drake London and Darnell Mooney.

St. Brown isn't in line to play in Saturday's preseason game at Kansas City, PJ Green of Fox 4 KC reports.

Lions coach Dan Campbell didn't exactly commit to anything this week but did hint at holding out a lot of starters. St. Brown, of course, is one of the players that might sit even if other starters played, coming off a 2023 regular season with a 119-1,515-10 receiving line.

Coach John Harbaugh said Walker's lack of playing time in a preseason win over Atlanta on Saturday was related to a rib injury, Jeff Zrebiec of The Athletic reports.

The rookie fourth-round pick has only one target and no receptions through two preseason games and doesn't seem to have gotten any snaps before halftime. This perhaps mitigates concern about Walker's progress, but it does seem he's headed for a lower spot on the depth chart to start the season, likely behind Zay Flowers, Rashod Bateman and Nelson Agholor at the very least.

Jeudy and numerous others starters aren't expected to play in Saturday's preseason game against Minnesota, Scott Petrak of the Elyria Chronicle-Telegram reports.

A lower-body injury has limited Jeudy this summer, but reports suggest he's been much more active in recent practices. He wouldn't play in this game even if there were no injury concern, as the Browns are also holding out QBs Deshaun Watson, RB Jerome Ford, TE David Njoku and WRs Amari Cooper (undisclosed), Elijah Moore, Cedric Tillman and David Bell (quad). The game will mostly be played by guys battling for back-end roster spots and backup roles.

Odunze caught one of two targets for 45 yards and took a carry for 16 yards in Saturday's preseason game against the Bengals.

Odunze and Caleb Williams played the entire first half, while DJ Moore and Keenan Allen were removed after three drives (all three-and-outs). After a slow start, Odunze took a jet sweep for 16 yards on the fourth drive to help set up a field goal, then made a 45-yard catch on the fifth drive on a play where Williams scrambled around before throwing a dart on the run. Shortly thereafter, Williams had another incredible pass on the run to Odunze in the back of the end zone, but the wideout seemed to lose track of where he was and had his feet on the wrong side of the chalk when he caught the ball. Williams ran it in himself a few plays later, finishing strong against a Bengals defense comprised of second- and third-stringers. Odunze likely will enter Week 1 as Chicago's No. 3 receiver in terms of playing time, but there's a good chance the ninth overall pick is more involved (and more productive) than most of the other WR3s around the league.

Walker wasn't targeted in Saturday's preseason game against Atlanta.

Bo Smolka of PressBox notes that Walker appeared to play only a few snaps on offense, with Jeff Zrebiec of The Athletic reporting that the rookie got work covering a kickoff before appearing on offense. It's not looking good for an early-season role, as Walker was also nearly absent in Baltimore's preseason opener, finishing without a catch on a single late-game target. The fourth-round pick at least figures to have a roster spot, and the depth chart ahead of him is shaky beyond Zay Flowers.

Allen was held without a catch on one target in Saturday's preseason game against the Bengals.

Allen and DJ Moore were removed after three drives, all three-and-outs, while many of the Bears' other top players (including QB Caleb Williams and WR Rome Odunze) continued playing deep into the second quarter. Oddly, much of the discussion about Allen in recent weeks has centered on his weight, after SI's Albert Breer's offhand mention in an article that Allen is 230 pounds. That doesn't seem accurate, and the 32-year-old looks about the same as he did last season when the Chargers listed him at 211 pounds (the Bears' roster has him at 211 as well).