Sunday morning injury updates are filtering in. Not a lot of surprises, but plenty of developments to keep in mind when setting those lineups.
Trevor Lawrence is expected to play through his high ankle sprain. It's his ankle, I don't blame him for wanting to keep his track record of never missing a game going. I don't see how he's going to play well, nor would I consider him (I am in fact benching him for former Jaguar Gardner Minshew, ironically enough). I don't feel good about the passing game at Cleveland and probably wouldn't even if Lawrence were healthy. Travis Etienne (rib) is expected to play, and I think he should be busy.
Derek Carr has some sort of rib/shoulder injury or whatnot, and he's been concussed in two of his last three games, but he will also be playing today against the Panthers. Carolina weak against the run, I guess Carr can hand the ball off as well as anyone. QB/TE/RB/whatever Taysom Hill is expected to miss the game, however, so don't use Hill (and it's a plus for other players, like Alvin Kamara, who won't lose goal-line chances to the 33-year-old gadget). Chris Olave is also expected to play. So is Juwan Johnson, for those interested in making the mistake of starting Juwan Johnson (who at least won't be losing looks to Hill). Same game! No Rashid Shaheed. Not surprising, nobody paying attention thought there was any chance he'd play. I think we're caught up on the Saints.
Seattle will apparently have both Kenneth Walker and Zach Charbonnet available for today's game at San Francisco. Lean is to not use either back on the road against a defense that shut them down in Seattle a couple of weeks ago. Geno Smith (groin) remains a gametime decision. Seattle elevated a quarterback from its practice squad yesterday, highlighting the real possibility that Smith sits and Drew Lock makes his first start in two years. And that is the expectation: Drew Lock at quarterback. At San Francisco. Tough spot.
One more quarterback item, Joe Flacco is expected to start for the Browns. This is not surprising, given what we've seen out of Dorian Thompson-Robinson thus far.
Breece Hall (ankle) is expected to play for the Jets. In a comically weak offense against a defense better defending the run than the pass.
Samaje Perine (knee) is expected to play for Denver at the Chargers. Committee backfield against a team weak defending the pass.
Noah Brown (knee) is expected to play at the Jets. Brown didn't practice on Friday, I consider him too risky to use, personally.
I'm sharing this tweet from Ian Rapoport, please do with it what you wish. He says, "KC won’t have RB Isiah Pacheco (shoulder), so Clyde Edwards-Helaire and Jerick McKinnon will split carries; Meanwhile, the Chargers will have Austin Ekeler starting, but he's one of three RBs to be active. They’ll ride the hot hand."
My two cents on this report. Jerick McKinnon has played in 40 regular season games across three seasons with Kansas City. He has 97 carries. That's about 2.4 carries per game. He will not be "splitting carries" with CEH unless CEH gets hurt. I think he might play a little more as a passing downs back than he has been behind Pacheco, but I still believe CEH is the back to start here.
I'm starting Austin Ekeler. Last week it was 60-40 Ekeler and Joshua Kelley, against a tough Patriots run defense. Ekeler was terrible. I'm not excited about starting him this week. But he's my best option, it's a better matchup against a Denver run defense that isn't as good, and I think he'll again get around 60 percent of the work. Kelley isn't good and that third running back who will be active, presumably Isaiah Spiller, isn't going to suddenly bust out with a big game.
If I see any other significant injury news before kickoff, I'll post in the comments below.
--Andy Richardson