The injury updates are rolling in, with one standing out as being especially problematic. A.J. Brown of the Eagles is questionable with a hamstring injury, and with the Eagles playing Monday night, advance work must be done.
Brown was limited with a hamstring on Friday and then didn't practice at all on Saturday, suggesting he sustained the injury on Friday. Officially he's questionable, but as those who had Christian McCaffrey discovered, sometimes those guys wind up inactive. So those hoping to use Brown on Monday night, barring some more positive news today (before all the other games have been played) should be lining up somebody else in the same game. Most likely beneficiary if Brown doesn't play would be Jahan Dotson, but both DeVonta Smith (who people should be starting anyway) and Dallas Goedert would be the players seeing more passes.
I have no special insight on Brown. Guys who don't practice in the last practice of the week seem like iffy bets to be available.
Other news and notes...
Keenan Allen (heel) is questionable to face the Texans tonight. Didn't practice all week. "Could be used more sparingly than usual" according to a report. Older wideout with a foot injury who hasn't practiced all week. Not a lot of debate on that one. Rome Odunze (knee) is expected to play.
Tee Higgins (hamstring) is doubtful. Not playing, people knew that.
Jameson Williams (ankle) is expected to play for the Lions. It's a great matchup and Williams got in limited practices all week, so I'd plan to use him as normal.
Jayden Reed (calf/shin) is expected to play. Other than his quarterback being Malik Willis rather than Jordan Love, all good for Reed.
Joshua Palmer (knee) is expected to play for the Chargers. Probably shouldn't be in lineups, with the possibility of limited reps and the certainty that the Chargers will be running a ton against Carolina.
Christian McCaffrey (calf/Achilles) is on IR. He's missing the next four games, and probably more (if they thought there was any chance it would be less than four they wouldn't IR him, so 4-plus is a lot more likely).
Hollywood Brown (shoulder) on IR, not expected to play again this season. Oh, maybe he'll return for the postseason in January. OK.
Ian Rapoport has this silly report saying that if Justin Fields plays well again and doesn't turn it over and the Steelers continue to win, don't be surprised if Mike Tomlin sticks with him as his starter over Russell Wilson. Put another way, if a bunch of unlikely things happen, the Steelers will continue to use him over the washed up veteran quarterback the Broncos are paying a fortune not to be on their roster. Got it.
If I see any other significant developments this morning, I'll post in the comments below.
--Andy Richardson
