OUT
Nelson Spruce and Landry Jones are the two big notable inactives. Spruce is still a few weeks away from a potential return, if he returns at all. Landry Jones was announced as an inactive, which isn’t too surprising since he has a partially torn MCL. Kasen Williams is out again for Seattle and it’s a little unclear when he’ll be good to suit up. Sammie Coates will not play Saturday afternoon after dealing with a hamstring injury this week. Aside from this group there weren’t too many notable/surprise inactives. UPDATE: Brandon Silvers is a surprise inactive for Seattle. This means BJ Daniels will get the start.
QUESTIONABLE
Kahlil Lewis (HOU) – Lewis has been Questionable all week with a groin injury. Fellow wideout Sammie Coates has already been declared inactive with a hamstring injury. It does sound like Lewis is more likely to play than not, but this is an injury that can easily be re-aggravated so even if he does play, there’s risk and plenty of other options for the Roughnecks offense.
Matt Jones (STL) – Jones is technically Questionable for Sunday’s game. However, he was a full participant on Thursday so that bodes well for his chances of playing in DC. Jones has popped up on seemingly every injury report, but he plays through it and still gets the workload. The downside is last week was by far his work game, but hopefully he can take advantage of a good matchup against a struggling DC defense.
Christine Michael (STL) – So Jones’ teammate, and fellow running back, Christine Michael was on the injury report this week as well. He’s been dealing with a slight illness, but he did partake in Thursday’s practice. Michael is trending toward playing despite the Questionable designation.
Martez Carter (LA) – Two weeks ago, Carter went out and put up a three-touchdown performance on the DC Defenders. Unfortunately he missed last week’s game with a hip injury. He’s been a limited participant the past few days, but the coaching staff has said he “looked good.” Proceed with caution, as there isn’t as much optimism with him as there is for Lewis, Jones, or Michael.
Brandon Barnes (LA) – Barnes has been fighting a knee injury, but was a full participant in practice on Thursday. He’s been steadily catching a few passes each week and he’ll likely find the end zone in short order if you look at how Josh Johnson has performed lately. You can expect him to suit up for Sunday night’s game against Tampa.
PROBABLE
Donald Parham (DAL) – Parham is dealing with a hand injury. He was a limited participant in practice this week, but it does seem like he’ll be active. He’ll provide for a nice target for backup quarterback Philip Nelson. Tight ends are usually a good safety net for backup quarterbacks so Parham should still get plenty of targets.
Matt McGloin (NY) – McGloin missed last week’s game, but he did return to practice this week to split reps with Luis Perez. He hasn’t been that effective this season and it would be surprising if he was named the starting quarterback after Perez performed well as a game manager last week.
De’Veon Smith (TB) – DraftKings lists him as Questionable, but based on more recent injury reports he sounds Probable to play this week. Tampa plays in the last game of the week Sunday night on the West Coast so there’s an extra day for him to rest up. He’s coming off a 100-yard rushing effort last week and this is a good spot for the Wildcats ground game.
Nick Truesdell (TB) – Nick Truesdell was a full participant this week after missing Tampa’s last two games. Truesdell is one of the better tight ends in this league and he’s been the victim of poor quarterback play and injuries through four weeks. He’s priced down in DFS formats and Taylor Cornelius is now under center for Tampa. There’s modest upside with Truesdell Sunday night.