NFL Player News

Rourke (ribs) was discharged from the hospital Thursday night, Jennifer Lee Chan of NBC Sports Bay Area reports.

Rourke left Thursday night's preseason opener against the Titans with shortness of breath due to a rib injury. The quarterback's next chance to get preseason reps will be in next Thursday's contest against the Chargers. Rourke is competing with Adrian Martinez for the No. 3 quarterback role behind Brock Purdy and Mac Jones. Healthy preseason snaps will be a must for the 2025 seventh-rounder as he tries to remain on the 49ers' 53-man roster in consecutive seasons.

Egbuka had more tests done on his injured toe Friday, which confirmed a sprain that's stable, and the Buccaneers are optimistic that the second-year wide receiver will be available Week 1 at Cincinnati on Sunday, Sept. 13, Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times reports.

Egbuka was rolled up on by a teammate at Wednesday's practice and limped off the field, but at the time, Mike Garafolo of NFL Network reported that the issue was deemed to be minor. Friday's testing corroborated that belief, and Egbuka now will focus on getting healthy for Tampa Bay's regular-season opener. Once Egbuka is back to 100 percent, he's expected to lead a WR group composed of Chris Godwin, Jalen McMillan (knee) and rookie third-rounder Ted Hurst.

Kanak (pectoral) exited Thursday's preseason game against the 49ers early and did not return, Jim Wyatt of the Titans' official site reports.

Kanak suffered a pectoral injury during Thursday's contest, and it is unclear how much time the tight end will miss. The 22-year-old was selected in the seventh round of the 2026 NFL Draft and is competing with David Martin-Robinson, Kylen Granson and Joel Wilson for a spot on the Titans' 53-man roster.

Croskey-Merritt isn't in line to suit up for Friday's preseason game versus the Dolphins.

Croskey-Merritt will be joined on the sideline by fellow RBs Rachaad White and Jeremy McNichols (quadriceps), leaving 2026 sixth-round pick Kaytron Allen, offseason pickup Jerome Ford and undrafted rookie Robert Henry to man the backfield in the Commanders' exhibition opener. As a seventh-round rookie last season, Croskey-Merritt was a rare bright spot in the offense, turning 175 carries into 805 yards and eight touchdowns and gathering in nine of 13 targets for 68 yards. Considering White has averaged 223.8 touches per 17 games in his four-year career, he poises a legitimate threat to Croskey-Merritt's workload in the upcoming campaign.

Smith won't play in Friday's preseason game against the Buccaneers due to a sore foot, Mike Garafolo of NFL Network reports.

On Tuesday, coach Aaron Glenn told Al Iannazzone of Newsday that Smith and the rest of the Jets' starters would log some snaps Friday. While an injury to Smith has quelled those plans, the team isn't concerned about it, and he'd play through it if it was the regular season. Instead, New York will take a cautious approach with its starting quarterback, meaning his next chance for exhibition action is next Friday at Pittsburgh.

Diggs isn't in line to play in Friday's preseason contest versus the Dolphins.

After the Patriots released Diggs in March, he finally found in a landing spot in the early stages of training camp, inking a one-year, $12 million contract to join the Commanders. While he has a week of practice under his belt with his new squad, he'll have to wait until at least Saturday, Aug. 22 at Detroit to get some in-game preseason reps with new QB Jayden Daniels and top WR Terry McLaurin. In 17 regular-season games for New England last season, Diggs put together an 85-1,013-4 line on 102 targets.

McLaurin isn't slated to play in Friday's preseason contest against the Dolphins.

QB Jayden Daniels and new WR Stefon Diggs also won't be in uniform for the Commanders' exhibition opener, meaning the trio will have to wait until at least Saturday, Aug. 22 in Detroit to get in some reps together before Week 1. McLaurin is looking to bounce back from a 2025 campaign in which he was limited to 10 regular-season appearances en route to posting a 38-582-3 line on 60 targets. Swapping out Deebo Samuel for Diggs may aid McLaurin's cause.

Tagovailoa has the "inside track" to be named the Falcons' starting quarterback ahead of Week 1, Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com reports.

Helping Tagovailoa's cause so far in training camp has been his accuracy, though Michael Penix's ongoing recovery from the torn ACL he suffered Week 11 of last season has contained him to 7-to-7 drills, at best, in practice. Fowler noted that coach Kevin Stefanski "might wait this out until after the preseason to name a starter," so it appears he'll make Tagovailoa earn the role on his merits. Tagovailoa is slated to start Friday's exhibition against the Broncos, which may help him stake a claim to the eventual No. 1 role.

Daniels isn't slated to suit up for Friday's preseason game versus the Dolphins, Nicki Jhabvala of The Washington Post reports.

Other key skill-position players like RBs Jacory Croskey-Merritt and Rachaad White, WRs Terry McLaurin and Stefon Diggs and TE Chig Okonkwo are in the same boat as Daniels. Because White, Diggs and Okonkwo all are newcomers to the Commanders this season, Daniel likely will see some exhibition action before Week 1, with his next chance to do so Saturday, Aug. 22 in Detroit.

Coach Mike Macdonald said Friday that Darnold won't suit up for Saturday's preseason game versus the Cowboys, Curtis Crabtree of Fox 13 Seattle reports.

Darnold will have two more opportunities to log some exhibition action before the regular season, with the next such chance coming Sunday, Aug. 23 at Tennessee. While the Seahawks' receiving corps didn't experience significant changes in the offseason, the backfield lost Kenneth Walker to the Chiefs in free agency, while Zach Charbonnet remains in recovery mode from a January ACL tear. Darnold thus will be handing off to some combination of rookie first-rounder Jadarian Price (lower body), George Holani and Emanuel Wilson to kick off the regular season.