The Colts were without one key player in practice on Wednesday.

Coming off a huge performance in Week 3, wide receiver T.Y. Hilton missed practice due to a knee injury.

Hilton’s performance in the final minutes of Sunday’s game against the Chargers resulted in the Colts’ victory. He earned the top spot on the NFL’s clutch performers for Week 3.

He converted a fourth-and-7 pass from Andrew Luck and broke multiple ankles on his way to 63-yard game-winning touchdown. The Colts won 26-22 and Hilton finished with eight catches for 174 yards and the TD.

Don’t worry too much fantasy owners, Wednesday was most likely just a maintenance day for Hilton to get some rest before the team’s trip to London.

Last week, he missed Friday’s practice and was listed as questionable for Sunday, but then had his best performance of the season.

Let’s hope it is just a rest day. Colts fans and fantasy owners would love to see him on the field against the Jaguars’ Jalen Ramsey this Sunday.

http://www.12up.com/posts/3862311-colts-star-wr-misses-practice-with-knee-injury

The Chicago Bears’ injury list continues to grow.

Several players are sidelined, including Jay Cutler with a thumb sprain and Lamarr Houston with a torn ACL.

Now the Bears are down a star wide receiver as well, at least for practice.

Alshon Jeffery was limited in practice on Wednesday due to the knee injury and then missed Thursday’s practice completely. He was not available to the media after Wednesday’s practice.

“It’s just something that we will monitor,” coach John Fox said to ESPN.

Jeffery totaled 96 yards on five catches in Monday night’s loss. He leads the Bears in receptions with nine and receiving yards (201) through the first two weeks.

He is a player the Bears don’t want to be without. He’s ninth in the league in receiving yards since 2013 with 3,562 and is seventh all-time in receiving yards in Bears history.

It’s Jeffery’s first time on the injury list this season after missing all four preseason games and seven regular-season starts last year with a various injuries.

There is no word on the extent of Jeffery’s injury, which hopefully means he will be okay to play in Sunday’s matchup against the Cowboys.

http://www.12up.com/posts/3828938-breaking-bears-star-receiver-misses-practice-with-knee-injury

 

The Rams are preparing for their first season opener in L.A. since 1994.

The squad returned with high expectations, especially after earning the first overall pick in the 2016 draft and spending it on promising quarterback Jared Goff.

However, things didn’t quite develop as anticipated with the quarterback situation, and after an offseason of considerations, they’ve chosen to be down their star player for Week 1 against the San Francisco 49ers.

Goff was drafted first overall by the Rams this year, but he will likely be the team’s third QB behind Case Keenum and Sean Mannion, which is flat-out shocking.

Rams head coach Jeff Fisher told NFL.com that Mannion will be Keenum’s backup for Week 1, and punter Johnny Hekker will be the emergency backup. He said that Mannion and Goff could “flip” for Week 2, but the embarrassment might already be too much at that point.

For a first overall pick, Goff hasn’t impressed much in the preseason. He went 22-of-49 passing for 232 yards, sporting a 44 percent completion, as well as two touchdowns and two interceptions.

Fisher reiterated his confidence that Goff will one day be a starting QB. However, this doesn’t help much of anything.

A lot of teams are in need of help at the quarterback position, but one won’t be hitting the trade market.

Despite rumors of a possible trade, the Browns are wisely expected to hold on to veteran QB Josh McCown.

Teams such as Dallas and Minnesota are running thin at the quarterback position after their respective starters Tony Romo and Teddy Bridgewater went down with injuries. Romo is expected to miss upwards of 10 weeks while Bridgewater is out for the season.

McCown is a hot commodity at the moment, but the Browns should understand that it would be in the team’s best interest to keep him.

Their other quarterbacks are Austin Davis and Cody Kessler, but Davis has only a couple of seasons under his belt and Kessler is a rookie.

McCown is a strong backup and safety net for starting QB Robert Griffin III, in case Griffin struggles like he has in the past, or worse, gets injured.

The Browns are smart to keep McCown. He may wind up being the most important player on the team in case of emergency.

The Packers held a ‘Welcome Back Luncheon’ on Wednesday and Aaron Rodgers had an interesting choice in outfits.

Known for not taking himself too seriously, Rodgers showed up fully dressed as a cowboy. A really awesome cowboy with an interesting choice in colors.

The handlebar mustache really added something to it too.

If only we could see his teammates’ reactions.

Packers fans know that Rodgers can be a goofball, as the photo proves, but this might be the best look ever. I mean, he even broke out the bolo tie. What more can you ask for?

His good spirits lightened the mood before the regular season. You know it will carry over as the season opener approaches.

The Chiefs already know who their backup quarterback is.

Quite frankly they know who the backup to the backup is too.

Now they want to see what they can get on the open market for another one of their backups.

According to sources, the Chiefs are looking to trade former fifth-round pick Aaron Murray.

Murray is currently the No. 4 QB on the Chiefs roster, though he has reportedly impressed in the preseason so far.

He became expendable due to the pickup of Nick Foles, who has established himself as the clear No. 2 QB, and the continued development of Tyler Bray, who has gotten more practice reps than Murray.

The Chiefs currently need help on the defensive line and could use another wide receiver. Of course they could always use draft picks too.

If Murray isn’t traded he might also get cut, so hopefully the Chiefs can get something back for a guy they used a draft pick on.

Has Rueben Randle proven anything to his new team?

Since joining the Eagles this offseason, Randle has been trying to earn a starting role. He still has a lot to prove, and and he’s well aware of that fact.

 

After leaving the Giants last season, the wide receiver signed with Philadelphia in free agency. He thinks that he wasn’t given a better chance by other teams due to critiques in his work ethic and consistency.

“I feel like I get read wrong because I do a lot of things naturally and it doesn’t seem like I’m giving much effort,” Randle said to ESPN.