New Orleans Saints running back Travis Etienne Jr. (hamstring) will be looked at on Monday with the intent of judging whether or not he will have a chance to return to practice on Wednesday, head coach Kellen Moore told Ross Jackson of Locked on Saints. Etienne is eligible to return from Injured Reserve this week after straining his left hamstring in the loss to the Las Vegas Raiders on Sept. 27. The 27-year-old had an extra week to recover during the team's bye in Week 8, so he might be back in action this weekend as the team takes on the Cleveland Browns on Sunday. Fantasy managers need to be mindful that even if Etienne has his 21-day practice window opened this week, it does not necessarily mean he will return to New Orleans' backfield this weekend to take on the Browns. When Etienne does return and is back to full health, he is expected to take over lead-back duties from veteran Alvin Kamara, at least on early downs. The former first-rounder by the Jacksonville Jaguars had 30 carries for 128 yards (4.3 yards per attempt) and no touchdowns, adding 11 catches for 51 yards as a receiver in his first three games with the Saints this year before landing on IR
Analytics studies have consistently shown that NFL teams should go for it on fourth down more often. But the coach who may be the most aggressive in the league on fourth downs says he hasn’t studied the math behind the decision. Lions coach Dan Campbell said he has confidence in his offense picking up a few yards any time it needs a few yards, and that’s more about his personality than anything else. “I don’t do this big study on what’s the success rate,” Campbell said. “To me every week is different on how you’re doing it, who you have, who they have, and either you’re going or you’re not going, more than the actual numbers. I’m always going to say within a yard, two yards, three, you’re down in the red zone, your odds are pretty good that you’re going to have success. I think it’s just part of my flavor, what I believe in.” Campbell said his approach with his team might not be the right approach for every coach with every team. “Everybody’s different. It doesn’t mean right/wrong,” Campbell said. “It’s really what you believe in and there’s no right or wrong. It’s what you really believe is gonna help you win that game that week, that opponent, who do you have, where are you at, weather, all of that stuff.” Campbell both played for and coached under Sean Payton, and Campbell said Payton influenced his thinking because Payton always expressed confidence in what the Saints’ offense could do with players like Drew Brees and Alvin Kamara, regardless of whether he was making the by-the-book decisions. “Sean certainly did,” Campbell said. “Sean had plenty of both. He was very balanced in that way, but I’ve mentioned this before: If you really believe, there were times he’d come in and say, ‘I love our third-and-2, third-and-3, I’ve got eight plays I love. Inside the 5-yard line, I’ve got eight plays I love and I know who we’re going to with Drew Brees.’ And you knew those weeks, it was a go. Fourth-and-5, I know we’re going to get man-to-man, we’re gonna get AK one-on-one, there’s no doubt about it, I don’t care if it’s fourth-and-2 or fourth-and-6, we’re going to get one-on-one with AK on this and we’re going to make the play. It was really about how good you feel with what you have.” Campbell also said his coach at Texas A&M, R.C. Slocum, had success using the opposite approach, thinking of punting as a perfectly good result for his offense. “I understand the other side of it,” Campbell said. “I was trained in the other side of it. I played in the other side of it. I’ve mentioned this before, college, my first exposure, R.C. Slocum was an outstanding coach, man. Outstanding. Won a lot of games, defensive mentality, and there was times I really felt like he was nervous when the offense was on the field. You guys just hurry up, now punt, now let’s go defense. We’re gonna score on defense. Wrecking Crew. So I know all of that.” Campbell even said he shares the philosophy of John Candy’s character in the movie Uncle Buck : The title character wore a hat that a lot of people hated , but he liked it so he wore it. “You guys ever seen Uncle Buck ?” Campbell asked a group of reporters. “I think I’m a little bit like . . . the hat that he wears, right? It’s a little bit of a flavor and it’s my favorite hat, but just the mere sight of it, I think, really bothers a lot of people. So I always think of Uncle Buck , where John Candy is wearing it: Is it the hat?” Campbell went for it on fourth-and-1 with 4:53 remaining in the fourth quarter in Sunday’s win over the Packers, a decision that it’s unlikely any other NFL coach would have made. The Lions were stuffed for a two-yard loss on the play, but they won the game anyway, and Campbell said he stands by that decision. “I know what it is,” Campbell said. “But I also know there’s times, if you don’t do what you believe in and you’re sitting there and you don’t get a chance — it’s really about, when I lay my head on the pillow at night, what can I sleep with and feel good about. I do
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Steelers running back Jaylen Warren has been the focal point of the offense this season, and it was no different today against the Saints in Paris. Warren made big plays both running the ball and catching passes out of the backfield as the Steelers won 16-10. On a day when both quarterbacks, Aaron Rodgers and Tyler Shough, were find but not spectacular, the difference was the running game: Warren and Rico Dowdle consistently picked up yardage against the Saints’ defense, while Saints running backs Alvin Kamara and Kendre Miller could do nothing against the Steelers’ defense. Warren finished with 18 carries for 101 yards and three catches for 36 yards. Dowdle added nine carries for 41 yards and six catches for 45 yards. Kamara had six carries for five yards and Miller had eight carries for six yards against a Steelers front that was dominant all game. Steelers linebacker Patrick Queen had a big day. Rodgers also made his presence felt running the ball, with an eight-yard run on third-and-6 just before the two-minute warning to keep the Steelers’ game-clinching drive alive. In addition to losing the game, the Saints lost safety Justin Reid left the game with a concussion, and running back CJ Donaldson left the game with a shoulder injury. Saints wide receiver Barion Brown had a big day in a losing effort, leading the team with 57 receiving yards and also having a 42-yard kickoff return and 20-yard punt return. The win improves the Steelers’ record to 5-2 and they’re in the thick of the race in the very competitive AFC North. The Saints fall to 2-5, and they’re not out of it in the NFC South
Already in France for Sunday’s game against the Steelers, the Saints did not have many changes to their Thursday injury report. Running back Alvin Kamara (back) remained limited in the day’s session, while running back CJ Donaldson (shoulder) was upgraded from limited to full. Quarterback Spencer Rattler (knee) was added to the report as a full participant. Quarterback Tyler Shough (left hand) remained a full participant. Linebacker Kaden Elliss (calf) and edge rusher Anfernee Jennings (knee) remained limited. Cornerback Koo-Aid McKinstry (head) and defensive lineman Nathan Shepherd (illness) remained full
Saints running back Alvin Kamara reached a career milestone while putting his team in the lead for the first time on Sunday. Kamara took a short pass from Tyler Shough and carved through the Giants defense for a 31-yard touchdown. The score capped the first possession of the second half and put the Saints up 17-10 with 12:21 to play in the third quarter. The catch was Kamara’s first of the day and it moved him over 5,000 receiving yards for his career. Per the Fox broadcast, he’s the sixth player in NFL history with 5,000-plus rushing yards as well as 5,000-plus receiving yards. The Giants had a 10-0 lead in the first half, but they’ll now have to play catchup to avoid falling to 3-2-1 on the season
Week 6 marks the first bye-pocalypse of the season, with fantasy-relevant players from the Vikings, Bengals, Lions, and Dolphins all unavailable for selection. We’re going to have to make some lineup decisions that don’t feel great this week. Hopefully, this week’s sportsbook-versus-experts battle offers some clarity. Before we get into this week’s wars, let’s take a look at how last week played out. The scoring system is simple: closest to the final rank wins. I highlighted these players before Sunday’s games: Justin Herbert – Experts win Alvin Kamara – Sportsbooks win Josh Downs – Experts win Dalton Schultz – Sportsbooks win For the second consecutive week, we got ourselves a tie. Perhaps the sportsbooks learned a valuable lesson about predicting Josh Downs to do anything. Now, on to Week 6. PlayerProfiler is home to award-winning dynasty rankings and tools. Our Dynasty Deluxe package includes complete Dynasty Rankings , Rookie Rankings , Trade Analyzer , Draft Planner , Mock Drafts , and more. Check it out! The Kirk-aissance has been one of the most underrated stories of the season. Heading into the season, the prevailing feeling was that Kirk Cousins would play a handful of games before No. 1 pick Fernando Mendoza would take the reins. The Raiders offense has looked better than competent, averaging the ninth-most points per game (26.4) — a significant improvement from last season’s league-low 14.2 points per game. 2026 NFL league leaders in passing TDs after Week 5: 1. QB Brock Purdy (SF) – 13 2. QB Jared Goff (DET) – 12 3. QB Kirk Cousins (LV) – 12 4. QB Joe Burrow (CIN) – 11 5. QB Jordan Love (GB) – 10 5. QB Aaron Rodgers (PIT) – 10 5. QB Trevor Lawrence (JAX) – 10 — NFL Talk (@NFL_Talk_Sports) October 13, 2026 In Week 6, the Raiders host the Super Bowl hopeful Buffalo Bills. Look, we all know about Josh Allen . So long as he is healthy, the Bills will remain in Super Bowl conversations. But the reality is that this defense is not good… again. The Bills have adopted an optional approach to defense, which makes for some fantastic fantasy football opportunities. Through five weeks, the Bills are giving up the fourth-most fantasy points to quarterbacks (22.5), the second-most passing yards per game (295.8) and the most fantasy points per game to wide receivers (45.1). That’s why the books have Cousins ranked as a low end QB1 on the week. The 2025 summer of Jacory ‘Bill’ Croskey-Merritt seems like a mere dot on the rear-view mirror. Collectively, it’s hard not to overreact to the tiny morsels of preseason coachspeak and padless walkthroughs after being starved for months of interminable silence. In the end, Croskey-Merritt had a solid yet unspectacular rookie season, logging 800 rushing yards without his starting quarterback for the majority of the year. Year 2 has gotten off to a fine, if uninspiring start. Croskey-Merritt ranks as the RB28. He has 239 rushing yards, 67 carries, and just seven targets. Crucially, over the last three weeks, Croskey-Merritt has seen his snap share decrease from 57% in Week 3 to 45% in Week 4 to 35% in Week 5 — that was despite logging his most efficient game of the season (11 carries for 82 yards) last week. That pesky Rachaad White led the backfield in snaps against the 49ers as Jayden Daniels rushed for over 100 yards. I found this development to be particularly interesting. White offers more than Croskey-Merritt in the passing game and, crucially, in pass protection — an important advantage with a mobile quarterback like Daniels. His presence gives the Commanders another way to keep defenses guessing, but it also threatens Croskey-Merritt’s workload. The Commanders are 7.5 underdogs against a 5-0 San Francisco 49ers team which has fared middle-of-the-road when it comes to run defense (16th in rush yards allowed and ninth-lowest EPA/rush). Whilst the matchup isn’t a disaster, the books think that Croskey-Merritt is at risk of seeing his role reduced as the Commanders play
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Saints wide receiver Chris Olave was back on the practice field Friday, but his status for Sunday’s road game against the Giants remains up in the air. Olave missed practice on Wednesday and Thursday due to an illness, so his return for a limited workout on Friday would seem to have him pointing in the right direction to play in Week 6. Olave has 39 catches for 537 yards and a touchdown through the first five weeks of the season. Running back Alvin Kamara (back) is also listed as questionable. He was limited in practice all week. Defensive lineman Nathan Shepherd (illness), defensive back Lorenzo Styles (knee), and long snapper Zach Wood are the other questionable players for New Orleans. Linebackers Kaden Elliss (calf) and Anfernee Jennings (knee) have been ruled out
Alvin Kamara, Saints RB, is on the brink of joining an elite group of dual‑threat players with 5,000 yards each in rushing and receiving, but his recent production and injury status raise questions about his future impact
New Orleans Saints running back Kendre Miller rushed six times for nine yards and added two receptions for 10 yards in Week 4's loss to the Falcons. The TCU product has been very inefficient with the ball, averaging just 2.8 yards per carry and 3.75 yards per reception while also recording one lost fumble and only one touchdown. It was thought that Miller could have some standalone value with fellow running back Travis Etienne Jr. on IR, but he simply has not done enough with his touches to warrant much excitement from fantasy managers. Despite this, he should still be rostered as a handcuff for now, as starter Alvin Kamara is questionable for Week 5 with a back issue. If Kamara is unable to suit up, Miller would step into the RB1 role, but faces a difficult matchup against a Vikings defense allowing the fewest PPR points to running backs. He is ranked as RB43 in RotoBaller's rankings this week
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