It's Sunday morning of Week 18, the last full day of NFL games, with a bunch of teams playing out the string. But some people do in fact have fantasy matchups riding on these games, and there's some NFL playoff spots at stake too. Here are the morning updates so far.
Ian Rapoport says Jimmy Garoppolo (thumb) is playing. I'm not going to 100 percent believe it until Jimmy G steps on the field, but most likely San Francisco will have its mediocre veteran starter in the lineup, rather than the rookie for whom they gave up three first-round picks to replace him with. Garoppolo's return is a definite plus for George Kittle, Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk. I'd say the possibility of some kind of a setback makes Garoppolo himself a risky choice, although presumably no one was starting him with much enthusiasm. But Trey Lance is not an option as an occasional backup.
Two running backs coming off injury are in, and out, for today's games. The Rams are expected to have Cam Akers (Achilles) active against the 49ers. Sony Michel will start, and Michel played almost every snap a week ago, so no one should be expecting Akers to do more than get a handful of plays. But he'll be active. On the other hand, the Titans won't have Derrick Henry (foot); they're planning to bring him back for the playoffs. If they win today, they earn the top seed and a first-round bye, giving Henry another two weeks to get healthy.
D'Ernest Johnson was activated off the COVID list yesterday for Cleveland. He should serve as the No. 2 behind Nick Chubb in the meaningless game against the Bengals, if Kareem Hunt (ankle) doesn't play. Should be a committee also involving Demetric Felton either way.
Not much else being reported at the moment, outside of some random coaching interest/guys who are going to be fired stories. Will add in anything interesting I see between now and kickoff in the comments below.
--Andy Richardson