NFL Player News

Cooks has an appointment this week with a concussion specialist in Pittsburgh, Lindsey Thiry of ESPN.com reports.

On Sunday against the Bengals in London, Cooks suffered his second concussion of the season and fifth of his playing career, so the Rams seem to be taking a prudent approach with the six-year pro. He was able to overcome a head injury suffered Week 5 and take the field 10 days later, and he has even more time to recover this time around with the team currently on bye. Cooks will aim to get through the concussion protocol prior to the Rams' next game Sunday, Nov. 10 at Pittsburgh.

The Packers waived Shepherd on Tuesday, Rob Demovsky of ESPN.com reports.

The Packers signed Shepherd as an undrafted free agent hoping he'd shape up as a return man, but his performance wasn't explosive enough to overcome the demerits. He muffed a punt in Week 6 that the Lions recovered deep in Green Bay's territory, and he has negative-9 yards on the punt return this year while he hasn't returned a kick farther than 25 yards. The Packers promoted Tremon Smith from the practice squad to take over as the team's main returner.

Patrick (hand) started catching the football Monday, although it's not clear when he will return to practice, Mike Klis of 9News Denver reports.

General Manager John Elway has already stated Patrick will be one of the Broncos' two players designated to return from injured reserve, and the fact he's able to catch signals he's on the brink of returning to practice. He won't be eligible to play until after the Broncos' Week 10 bye, but there could be a respectable workload available for him once he's healthy after the Broncos traded Emmanuel Sanders to the 49ers. In four games following Sanders' Achilles injury last season, Patrick flashed his potential by posting 19 receptions for 242 yards. However, he'll compete with DeSean Hamilton, Fred Brown, Diontae Spencer and Juwann Winfree for the No. 2 or No. 3 spot behind Courtland Sutton.

Miller failed to come up with his only target in Sunday's 27-23 loss to the Titans.

Miller was coming off a three-catch performance against the Panthers in London during the Week 6 divisional matchup before the bye, with that trio of receptions the first of the rookie's career. However, he was disappointingly uninvolved against the Titans despite logging a total of 10 snaps from scrimmage in the contest. Miller was also supplanted on punt returns by T.J. Logan for the contest, and given that the latter managed a 40-yard runback on one of those opportunities, he may hang on to that job for the time being.

Harry is "trending in the right direction" in regards to his health, though coach Bill Belichick wouldn't tip his hand on whether or not Harry would be activated ahead of Week 9, Zack Cox of NESN.com reports.

Harry began practicing last week and is eligible to return this Sunday, but we may not know until later in the week what his status is for Sunday's contest versus the Ravens. New England added to its wide receiver ranks prior to the trade deadline, picking up Mohamed Sanu, and also has Julian Edelman, Phillip Dorsett and Jakobi Meyers to turn to, so it wouldn't be a shock if the team opted to hold the rookie first-round selection out of action through its Week 10 bye.

Washington had one reception for 21 yards in Monday's 27-14 win over the Dolphins.

This was a game to forget for Washington who was targeted six times and now has just 10 catches on 27 targets for 161 yards and no touchdowns this season. At this point there is little reason to roster him except in deep fantasy leagues heading into Pittsburgh's Week 9 clash with Indianapolis.

Johnson caught five of seven targets for 84 yards and a touchdown in Monday's 27-14 win over the Dolphins.

The return of quarterback Mason Rudolph resulted in the 2019 third-rounder having his most productive game this season. Johnson converted a third-and-20 for a 45-yard touchdown and now has three scores in his last five contests. In Week 9, he'll face an Indianapolis defense that has allowed just two passing touchdowns in its last three games, but Johnson still warrants a degree of fantasy consideration, given that he's emerged as the Steelers' No. 2 wide receiver behind top option JuJu Smith-Schuster.

Smith-Schuster caught five passes for 103 yards and a touchdown in Monday's 27-14 win over the Dolphins.

No Pittsburgh receiver was happier to have Mason Rudolph back under center than Smith-Schuster, who saw a season-high nine targets and had his first 100-yard game in 2019. His touchdown came on an impressive catch of an underthrown pass off the top of the defensive back's helmet to give Pittsburgh its first lead of the game. Smith-Schuster entered the contest averaging less than 57 yards per game but has now scored twice in his last three games. He faces a difficult challenge in Week 9 against an Indianapolis defense that has not allowed opposing wide receivers to catch more than one touchdown in a game this season.

Parker caught six of eight targets for 59 yards during Monday's 27-14 loss to the Steelers.

Parker has now either eclipsed 50 receiving yards or scored a touchdown in seven of eight contests this season. The 2015 first-round pick has also led the team in targets for two consecutive weeks. He and Preston Williams are operating as the clear top options in Miami's aerial attack, and Parker's consistency makes him worth legitimate fantasy consideration in deeper formats.

As expected Robinson saw his offensive snap count percentage drop to only 64 percent Sunday against the Packers. He snared both of his targets for six yards.

Robinson's drop in usage correlated with the return of Sammy Watkins, and he could see that number fall further next week if Watkins gets pack into the 90 percent range that he saw during the first four weeks of the campaign. Robinson didn't see nearly the plunge of rookie Mecole Hardman, but he's now third among wideouts and fourth among pass catchers (when including Travis Kelce) in the pecking order for targets.