NFL Player News

Flowers (lower body) is practicing Thursday, Cordell Woodland of 105.7 The Fan Baltimore reports.

Flowers has been in and out of practice seemingly all summer, but he's always been eyeing Week 1 as his target date to be 100 percent, and his return to practice this week puts him on track for the opener in 10 days. The wide receiver inked a big extension with Baltimore during the offseason and is returning as Lamar Jackson's undisputed No. 1 pass-catching option.

Montgomery is one of three running backs on Houston's 53-man roster, along with Woody Marks and British Brooks, Jared Koch of SI.com reports.

Montgomery is ticketed for a prominent role after coming over from Detroit in an offseason trade, but it remains to be seen just how much Marks cuts into Montgomery's usage. The 230-pound Montgomery is much better suited for running inside and short-yardage work than the 208-pound Marks, but Montgomery recorded only 76 receptions across the past three regular seasons in Detroit, so the shifty Marks could siphon away opportunities in passing situations.

Stroud heads into the regular season with Nico Collins, Xavier Hutchinson, Jaylin Noel (hamstring) and Kayshon Boutte as his top wide receivers, while Jonathan M. Alexander of the Houston Chronicle reports that Tank Dell (knee) will begin the season on IR with a designation to return.

The Texans traded for Boutte from New England after Jayden Higgins tore his ACL, knocking the 2025 second-round pick out for the season. Boutte's 551 receiving yards for the Patriots in the 2025 regular season would have ranked second among Houston's wideouts behind Collins. Hutchinson had a career-high 428 receiving yards during the 2025 regular season, Noel has some intriguing upside as a 2025 third-round pick, and Houston is hoping to get Dell back eventually from the knee injury that sidelined him for the entire 2025 season. Stroud is looking to bounce back after a 2025 campaign in which he threw for career lows in both passing yards (3,041) and touchdown passes (19) during the regular season before coughing up seven turnovers in two playoff games.

Murray played six snaps during Minnesota's three-game preseason slate.

After completing two of his three pass attempts for 10 yards against the Giants in the preseason opener, Murray took a seat and parked it for the remainder of the exhibition season. Coach Kevin O'Connell settled on Murray as the Vikings' starter before training camp, and he's expected to have a long leash under center this season after J.J. McCarthy continued to look overmatched throughout the 2025 campaign. Murray has big upside in this quarterback-friendly scheme and has arguably the best supporting cast of his career. He's an ideal late-round fantasy target at quarterback.

Burrow said on teammate Ja'Marr Chase's (knee) podcast that the quarterback has high hopes for the Bengals in 2026 after the team's offseason personnel changes, Kevin Patra of NFL.com reports Thursday.

"We're going to have a really good team that has a chance to win every game that we step foot on the field for," Burrow said. "We brought in a lot of the right guys, a lot of the right people with the right mindsets to go and chase this goal of winning a Super Bowl." Cincinnati's offseason additions focused primarily on fixing a defense that allowed 28.9 points per game during the 2025 regular season, which was third most in the NFL. Burrow and the offense are poised for another productive campaign if the star QB can stay healthy after being limited to eight appearances last season due to a toe injury. Starting wide receivers Chase and Tee Higgins (heel), as well as running back Chase Brown, are all reprising their roles alongside Burrow to provide continuity on offense.

Bigsby played 10 offensive snaps this preseason before being rested for the final two exhibition contests.

The fact he was rested for Weeks 2 and 3 of the preseason while Will Shipley played would suggest Bigsby has a firm grip on RB2 duties in Philadelphia behind Saquon Barkley. Barkley is entering his age-29 season with plenty of miles on his proverbial tires, and there's been talk out of Philly that the team wants to get Bigsby more involved to keep Barkley fresh. If something were to happen to him injury-wise, Bigsby would immediately enter the fantasy RB1 conversation in the Eagles' run-heavy offense that features one of the league's best offensive lines, making him the premier bench stash headed into the 2026 campaign.

Ridley is among the five wide receivers on the Titans' initial 53-man roster.

Tennessee heads into the season with Carnell Tate (undisclosed), Wan'Dale Robinson (head), Ridley, Chimere Dike and Elic Ayomanor at wide receiver. Of those five players, only Robinson and Ridley have more than one year of NFL experience. Ridley was the team's No. 1 receiver in the early part of last season but finished the year with just 303 receiving yards in seven games, as he missed time due to a hamstring injury and then fractured his fibula. Having recovered from those injuries, the 31-year-old Ridley is in contention for a starting role on the outside opposite Tate, with Robinson likely to work primarily out of the slot.

Johnson didn't see any action during the Saints' three-game preseason slate.

Johnson is locked in atop the depth chart at tight end for New Orleans, and with Jordyn Tyson (hamstring) set to miss at least the first four games of the season and no clear WR2 on the roster, Johnson could have a significant pass-catching role out of the gates. Tyler Shough has already predicted a big season for his former college teammate after Johnson was fantasy's overall TE5 in yards per game and TE8 in catches per game following last season's Rashid Shaheed trade ahead of Week 10. Turning 30 years old Sept. 13, Johnson is coming off a 77-889-3 campaign on 102 targets last season.

Allgeier is poised to begin the regular season splitting carries with Jeremiyah Love (ankle), whom Josh Weinfuss of ESPN.com reports is progressing well in his recovery and trending toward being available for Week 1.

Love is expected to eventually take on the lead role after being drafted third overall in the 2026 NFL Draft, but the rookie is likely to be eased in as he recovers from a preseason ankle injury, if he's cleared at all to suit up against the Chargers in Week 1 on Sunday, Sept. 13. Allgeier has rushed for at least 514 yards in each of his four regular seasons, the last three of which were spent backing up Bijan Robinson, so the former Falcons running back figures to maintain some level of involvement even once Love is fully up to speed. James Conner (foot) is on IR with a designation to return, so Bam Knight is currently the only healthy alternative to Allgeier on the roster.

Richardson will open the season as the Colts' backup quarterback, Nathan Brown of The Indianapolis Star reports.

GM Chris Ballard confirmed Tuesday that Richardson -- who requested a trade over the offseason -- would remain with the Colts for the season, and head coach Shane Steichen revealed Thursday that Richardson beat out Riley Leonard for the backup job behind starter Daniel Jones.