The Sunday morning injury/illness reports are coming in, and it's a news-heavy day. Most of it seems promising for those in fantasy leagues. And some of the concerning stuff can be dismissed, I think, as not worth worrying too much about.
Matthew Stafford's COVID tests came back negative for the second straight day. He's good to start for the Lions in a favorable matchup with the Vikings this week. Stafford looks good, and so do what should be his main targets, Marvin Jones and T.J. Hockenson.
Keenan Allen showed up with a sore throat yesterday, but he also tested negative for COVID, including this morning. Allen is good to go for the Chargers in a favorable matchup with the Raiders.
Calvin Ridley (foot) is not expected to play for Atlanta. This is what we were assuming when we put the rankings together; Atlanta has a bye next week and rushing Ridley back made no sense.
Michael Thomas (hamstring) is expected to play for the Saints. This isn't surprising, and those with Thomas can go ahead and use him as normal.
Same game, Chris Godwin (finger) is expected to play for the Bucs.
Ian Rapoport came out with a report saying Christian McCaffrey, coming off injury, will rotate series with Mike Davis. This deserves some discussion. I am sure Rapoport is a fine person and all, but sometimes his reports are pure speculation, and other times I believe he's fed stuff by teams that he should be a little less gullible about. Time will tell, but I believe the chances of McCaffrey coming off the field every other series for Davis are really slim. Barring McCaffrey getting hurt again, I will be stunned if he doesn't play at least 75 percent of the offensive snaps. If there's anyone planning on sitting McCaffrey, or starting Davis, based on Rapoport's item, well, I disagree. If I had McCaffrey anywhere (I do not; I haven't had the top pick in a draft in about a billion years) I would start him without the slightest hesitation.
If I see any other interesting developments in the pregame news, I will post in the comments below.
--Andy Richardson