He said the same about Tee Higgins, who is dealing with a heel issue. Chase suffered a serious-looking knee injury late in camp, briefly giving Bengals fans and fantasy managers nightmares of him missing extended time. He was ultimately fine and should be good to go for Week 1, even if his participation in practice is limited. Per usual, Chase is in the WR1-overall mix versus the Bengals this week.

Egbuka was seen practicing Wednesday ahead of the Bucs’ season opener against the Bengals and Stroud said there were no signs of injury for the second-year receiver, who has battled a toe injury in recent weeks. Barring any sort of setback, Egbuka should be in all fantasy lineups this week against the Bengals in what could be a high-scoring back-and-forth affair with Joe Burrow and company.

Taylor reportedly functioned as the Jets’ top tight end throughout training camp with Kenyon Sadiq (hernia) sidelined. Taylor, whose blocking ability recently drew praise from head coach Aaron Glenn, worked with Geno Smith two or three times a week in the offseason, developing chemistry with the veteran journeyman. Last year Taylor saw a target on 20 percent of his routes and logged a lowly 1.11 yards per route run in the low-octane New York offense. He’ll be a sneaky deep league option in Week 1 against the Titans.

Dobbins will once again start the season as Denver’s presumed lead back, though he’s unlikely to see much pass-game involvement. That should belong (for now) to RJ Harvey, who’s listed as the team’s RB2. Harvey last year was targeted on a strong 27 percent of his pass routes and ended the season with 47 receptions for 365 yards and six receiving scores. Rookie RB Jonah Coleman will start the year as the Broncos’ RB3. He profiles as a sneaky stash option in 12 and 14-team formats.

Monken has stressed explosive plays as an important part of the Cleveland offense headed into the 2026 regular season. “Obviously having explosive players helps that,” Monken said. “Being able to scheme it up against certain looks and then being able to execute because your protection has to hold up when you get those opportunities. I’m confident in Deshaun and our ability to push the ball down the field, otherwise we wouldn’t be starting him.” That confidence might be misplaced considering Watson completed just 1-of-6 attempts for 20 yards and an interception on downfield passes in the preseason and was among the league’s worst deep ball passers in 2024, when he threw downfield on a career-low 27 percent of his attempts. Once an elite deep ball thrower, Watson will look to regain form coming off two torn Achilles, entering his age-30 season. Perhaps rookie WR Denzel Boston will be a boon for Watson’s downfield game in 2026.

The Buccaneers apparently reached out to Mayfield’s agent over the weekend; deadline do drive action after all. Mayfield is now under contract through his age-34 season. It’s not exactly a curious move for the Buccaneers — they didn’t have much of an avenue to find another quarterback given where they usually pick and rookie UDFA Jalon Daniels is their current backup. It is still a little surprising they let it twist in the wind as long as it did. Mayfield likely will be near the $50 million average annual value club once all the figures come in. (Some of this will be folded into the already-existing one-year contract.) He’ll be a reasonable superflex QB2 with a shot to rebound now that last year’s injuries are behind him.

Henderson did not practice at any point this week and should be considered questionable heading into Week 2’s games. Rhamondre Stevenson will get the bulk of the load against Seattle and should factor into the RB2 equation despite a tough matchup on paper. The Patriots also ruled out Ben Brown (knee), who did not travel with the team to Seattle.

He’s still “working himself into football shape,” per Rapoport and Adam Schefter. We think the Rams D/ST will manage with merely Myles Garrett and Trent McDuffie as major additions heading into Week 1’s showdown with the 49ers in Australia.

We would be very surprised if Mahomes didn’t start Week 1 given how this has trended this offseason, but Reid left it in some doubt, adding “Most likely, he’ll be the guy that’s out there.” Justin Fields would be the starter if Mahomes couldn’t go, we doubt we’ll be talking about that possibility seriously on Friday or Saturday ahead of Kansas City’s MNF opener.

It’s McMillan, not rookie WR Ted Hurst III, who’s listed as a starter alongside Chris Godwin and Emeka Egbuka ahead of Tampa’s Week 1 game against the Bengals. Hurst, the tallest of the Bucs wideouts, has by all accounts impressed Bucs players and coaches throughout the offseason and should have some kind of role in the team’s passing attack to start the year. It could be a while before Hurst takes on a more prominent role, however. Bucs general manager Jason Licht said last week that Hurst, 22, has “proven to us throughout camp, even OTAs, practice every day that he’s been very, very steady...it’s kind of evolved into okay, we can use him this year and he’s going to play a role.” Hurst can be stashed in deeper fantasy formats for now. McMillan is unlikely to be a factor in the Tampa offense after once again struggling with injuries this offseason.