Kraft has been trending toward playing in Week 1 for a long time. Not appearing on the injury report in any capacity means he is good to go. Kraft may still have somewhat of a pitch count for his first game back from a 2025 torn ACL, but Matt LaFleur will be sure to get him the ball when he is on the field. Kraft is a fantasy TE1 for the Packers’ Week 1 game against Minnesota.

Pierce is recovering from offseason surgery that caused him to miss the entirety of training camp and the preseason. The lack of reps could leave him a little rusty heading into Week 1, but the good news is that a limited practice today means he should be active versus the Ravens. Pierce will be a high-risk WR4 for the first slate of the season. Josh Downs and Tyler Warren were not on the injury report.

Raiders No. 2 TE Michael Mayer should be added wherever available. On the plus side, this does not appear to be a long-term absence, but missing Bowers for a couple of games is obviously concerning. According to Schefter, Bowers “got banged up ‘a little in camp’ and the injury was diagnosed last week.” With any luck, fantasy managers can expect to get their TE1 back for the Raiders’ Week 3 game against the Saints. Mayer is a TE1 in the meantime.

Giants coach John Harbaugh told reporters he thinks Nabers is ready to go. Harbaugh didn’t fully commit to him playing in Week 1, but we would be stunned if Nabers isn’t out there on Sunday. Even if Nabers takes a few weeks to get back to form, he should be in fantasy lineups out of the gate. Nabers is, at worst, a high-end WR2 for his first game since suffering a torn ACL in Week 4 of the 2025 season.

He said the same about Tee Higgins, who is dealing with a heel issue. Chase suffered a serious-looking knee injury late in camp, briefly giving Bengals fans and fantasy managers nightmares of him missing extended time. He was ultimately fine and should be good to go for Week 1, even if his participation in practice is limited. Per usual, Chase is in the WR1-overall mix versus the Bengals this week.

Egbuka was seen practicing Wednesday ahead of the Bucs’ season opener against the Bengals and Stroud said there were no signs of injury for the second-year receiver, who has battled a toe injury in recent weeks. Barring any sort of setback, Egbuka should be in all fantasy lineups this week against the Bengals in what could be a high-scoring back-and-forth affair with Joe Burrow and company.

Taylor reportedly functioned as the Jets’ top tight end throughout training camp with Kenyon Sadiq (hernia) sidelined. Taylor, whose blocking ability recently drew praise from head coach Aaron Glenn, worked with Geno Smith two or three times a week in the offseason, developing chemistry with the veteran journeyman. Last year Taylor saw a target on 20 percent of his routes and logged a lowly 1.11 yards per route run in the low-octane New York offense. He’ll be a sneaky deep league option in Week 1 against the Titans.

Dobbins will once again start the season as Denver’s presumed lead back, though he’s unlikely to see much pass-game involvement. That should belong (for now) to RJ Harvey, who’s listed as the team’s RB2. Harvey last year was targeted on a strong 27 percent of his pass routes and ended the season with 47 receptions for 365 yards and six receiving scores. Rookie RB Jonah Coleman will start the year as the Broncos’ RB3. He profiles as a sneaky stash option in 12 and 14-team formats.

Monken has stressed explosive plays as an important part of the Cleveland offense headed into the 2026 regular season. “Obviously having explosive players helps that,” Monken said. “Being able to scheme it up against certain looks and then being able to execute because your protection has to hold up when you get those opportunities. I’m confident in Deshaun and our ability to push the ball down the field, otherwise we wouldn’t be starting him.” That confidence might be misplaced considering Watson completed just 1-of-6 attempts for 20 yards and an interception on downfield passes in the preseason and was among the league’s worst deep ball passers in 2024, when he threw downfield on a career-low 27 percent of his attempts. Once an elite deep ball thrower, Watson will look to regain form coming off two torn Achilles, entering his age-30 season. Perhaps rookie WR Denzel Boston will be a boon for Watson’s downfield game in 2026.

The Buccaneers apparently reached out to Mayfield’s agent over the weekend; deadline do drive action after all. Mayfield is now under contract through his age-34 season. It’s not exactly a curious move for the Buccaneers — they didn’t have much of an avenue to find another quarterback given where they usually pick and rookie UDFA Jalon Daniels is their current backup. It is still a little surprising they let it twist in the wind as long as it did. Mayfield likely will be near the $50 million average annual value club once all the figures come in. (Some of this will be folded into the already-existing one-year contract.) He’ll be a reasonable superflex QB2 with a shot to rebound now that last year’s injuries are behind him.