Pittsburgh Steelers Fantasy Football News | Shark Bites

Falcons RB Cordarrelle Patterson (thigh) put in a full week of practice and isn’t listed on the final injury report. He’ll make his 2023 debut vs. the Packers on Sunday. Patterson isn’t a viable fantasy option, but we’ll see how much work he steals from RBs Bijan Robinson and Tyler Allgeier.

Steelers TE Pat Freiermuth (chest) got in a limited practice on Thursday. He was in and out of last week's game with this chest injury but should be available for Monday night's meeting with the Browns.

Falcons RB Cordarrelle Patterson (thigh) was a full participant in Wednesday's practice. He's on track to make his 2023 debut vs. the Packers this weekend. Patterson isn't a viable fantasy option but figures to steal at least a few touches from RBs Bijan Robinson and Tyler Allgeier.

The Eagles have ruled RB Kenneth Gainwell out for Thursday night's game against the Vikings with the rib injury that has kept him out of practice each day. The short turnaround from Sunday's opener certainly doesn't help the guy who dominated backfield work for Philly against the Patriots. D'Andre Swift and Boston Scott each figure to get more snaps in his absence. We're also betting Rashaad Penny gets activated for this game. (He was a healthy scratch in Week 1.) We'll all obviously be guessing on touch distribution with the Week 1 leader out. Swift seems like the top bet, but be careful not to overcommit to any Philly RB.

Eagles RB Kenneth Gainwell (ribs) did not practice on Tuesday. "Gainwell remains a wait and see issue" for Thursday night's game vs. the Vikings, insider Derrick Gunn tweeted. Gainwell's absence would leave Philly's backfield to D'Andre Swift, Boston Scott, and likely Rashaad Penny, who was a healthy scratch for the opener. Check back tomorrow for another update on Gainwell. This doesn't sound like a long-term injury, so he remains a strong target on waiver wires.

The Eagles didn't practice Monday, but they had to project a practice report because of their Thursday night game against the Vikings in Week 2. That report listed RB Kenneth Gainwell not participating because of a rib injury. Gainwell stayed involved to the end of Sunday's win against the Patriots, so there's no indication this is serious. But we'll obviously keep tracking it through the short week. If Gainwell were to go inactive, we'd bet on Rashaad Penny taking the game-day roster spot. In that case, we'd all have to guess at the work distribution, which Gainwell dominated in Week 1. D'Andre Swift and Boston Scott were active but minimally involved at New England. The short turnaround could mean a wider spread of Week 2 opportunities even if Gainwell is good to go.

Steelers DL Cameron Heyward is expected to land on IR for the groin injury he suffered in Sunday's loss to the 49ers, NFL Network reports. it's not yet clear how long Heyward will be out, and surgery remains an option. We'll watch for further updates, but you shouldn't plan to have Heyward available to your IDP lineup for the foreseeable future. We're not taking the veteran completely out of our rest-of-season rankings just yet. But he'll likely be droppable in most IDP formats. And you shouldn't look to the Steelers depth chart for a replacement. No Pittsburgh interior lineman played more than 63% of the snaps in the opener, with Larry Ogunjobi the leader.

Update: Heyward will have surgery and is expected to miss up to eight weeks, according to Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Eagles RB Kenneth Gainwell controlled the backfield in Sunday's win over the Patriots. He took 14 of the team's 16 RB carries, gaining 54 yards. Gainwell also ranked third on the team with 4 targets, catching all of them for 20 yards. D'Andre Swift contributed just 3 yards on 1 carry and caught 1 of 2 targets for 0 yards. Boston Scott carried once for 3 yards and caught his lone target for 7 yards. Rashaad Penny was a healthy scratch. We wouldn't expect the workload distribution to remain quite so divided. But Gainwell obviously heads toward Week 2 as the only usable Eagles RB. His mere 4.1 yards per touch in the opener isn't especially worrisome against a Patriots defense that we expect to rank among the league's best.

Steelers DL Cameron Heyward left Sunday's loss to the 49ers with a groin injury. He tried to return but left again shortly thereafter and missed the rest of the game. We'll see about the severity heading into Week 2.

Steelers TE Pat Freiermuth is questionable to return to Sunday's game vs. the 49ers with a chest injury. We'll update his status when we know more.

Update: Freiermuth returned to the game.

Falcons RB Cordarrelle Patterson (thigh) is inactive for today’s game vs. the Panthers. That leaves a few touches behind for RBs Bijan Robinson and Tyler Allgeier.

Falcons RB Cordarrelle Patterson (thigh) is listed as questionable for Sunday’s opener vs. the Panthers. He was limited in practice all week. Patterson shouldn’t be in your Week 1 fantasy plans, but his absence would be a slight boost for RB Bijan Robinson.

Falcons RB Cordarrelle Patterson (thigh) got in a limited practice on Wednesday. He went down with this thigh injury in mid-August but seemingly has a shot to play vs. the Panthers this weekend. Patterson isn't a fantasy option but could siphon a few touches from RB Bijan Robinson.

The Athletic's Mark Kaboly lists WR George Pickens as one of the winners of Steelers training camp. "That proverbial next step by a second-year receiver appears to be in progress," Kaboly writes. "He’s no longer just a deep-ball or highlight-catch guy like we saw last camp and last season. He has transformed into a more polished receiver with an expanded route tree, and that will do nothing but help [QB Kenny] Pickett and this offense." Pickens made plenty of highlight-reel contested catches as a rookie last season. But the knock on him was that he didn't create much separation, leading to a relatively low target-per-route rate. It sounds like Pickens is on track to earn more volume this season, which would be a big boost to his fantasy production.

Falcons RB Cordarrelle Patterson will miss a couple of weeks with a soft tissue injury. HC Arthur Smith said he’d have a clearer picture of Patterson’s status following Week 3 of the preseason. Even if the veteran gets on track for Week 1, he’s only a fantasy factor for your best ball strategy.

Eagles HC Nick Sirianni said not to read too much into the backfield usage in Saturday's preseason opener vs. the Ravens. RB Kenneth Gainwell was held out of that one, while RBs D'Andre Swift and Rashaad Penny played. That could be interpreted as Gainwell being atop the depth chart. But Sirianni said that's not necessarily the case. "We wanted to see Rashaad go. Rashaad hasn't played in a little bit," Sirianni said. "My plan with the backs ... I always like those guys getting tackled, so the first time they get tackled isn't in game one [of the regular season.] So, next game, [Boston Scott] or [Kenny Gainwell] will get a couple carries, like Swift did today. And the next game the other one will get a couple carries." So don't expect to learn too much about the Eagles' backfield plans the rest of this preseason. We know that it'll be a committee attack -- but exactly how touches will be divvied remains uncertain.

Mark Kaboly of The Athletic expects little change to RB Jaylen Warren’s role. “Honestly, I don’t see much more of a role than he had last year if [Najee] Harris stays healthy,” Kaboly wrote. Harris played through a foot injury in 2022 but still appeared in all 17 games. Warren averaged 6.5 touches per game overall; nearly 11 over the final month. The second-year back is an ideal RB5.

On Monday, the Athletic's Mike DeFabo reported that Steelers WR George Pickens is making solid impressions at camp. DeFabo writes that while Pickens entered camp with a lot of buzz, he's "exceeding those expectations" between "highlight-reel grabs" and his spirited competitiveness in practice. Another interesting note in this report is that veteran WR Allen Robinson has "has only strengthened his case" to seize the starting slot role in the Steelers' offense through his performance in the "Seven Shots" red zone drill the Steelers frequently run from the two-yard line. Pickens will need to improve upon ranking 38th in drop rate (7.1%), 49th in yards after catch (110), and 40th in PFF receiving grade among 80 WRs who recorded 50+ targets last season. To his credit, Pickens ranked first in contest catch rate (67.9%) of that group in 2022. Still, greater evolution in his route tree is something both DeFabo and the Draft Sharks staff note as something to watch out for before we get too excited about him. Pickens presently sits as a high-end WR4 in our current WR rankings.

Kenneth Gainwell has been the Eagles' "featured RB during the two-minute drill" in training camp, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer's Josh Tolentino. Gainwell has played plenty in that role over the past two seasons, but it's surprising to hear he's still in it after the Eagles acquired RB D'Andre Swift. Losing that work would be a blow to Swift's fantasy value. We'll see if preseason action reveals anything else about the Eagles' backfield plans.

Steelers TE Pat Freiermuth has shown a ton of promise in his NFL career so far. He finished last season as the TE11 in PPR points per game (9.3) in a less-than-stellar offense. Though he logged nine top-12 weekly finishes with a pair of top-24 finishes, Freiermuth finished as a TE3 or worse in his other five games in 2022. But when you look under the hood, his production profile looks much better. Among 27 TEs who received 50+ targets in 2022, Freiermuth ranked sixth in Pro Football Focus receiving grade, sixth in target share (19.6%, sixth in air yards share (19.7%), and sixth in yards per route run (1.68). Better yet, he led the Steelers in targets per route run rate (23%), ranked sixth among all TEs in targets per game (6.2), and seventh in target share (20.9%) following the Week 9 trade that sent WR Chase Claypool to the Bears. What makes Freiermuth's feats in that stretch of time even more impressive is that he ranked 22nd in snaps player per game among TEs (47.8) during that period. Whether or not fantasy managers believe in the strength of the Steelers' offense, QB Kenny Pickett developed a strong relationship with Freiermuth that puts him in fairly high standing in our current TE rankings. Take a chance on him in the later rounds of your drafts this season.