DAVIE, Fla. — Miami Dolphins veteran quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick has tested positive for COVID-19 and will be unavailable for Sunday’s regular-season finale against the Buffalo Bills, a source confirmed to ESPN.
He was placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list on Thursday afternoon, the team announced.
The Dolphins and the NFL have conducted initial contact tracing with no high-risk close contacts determined as of Thursday afternoon, a source told ESPN, but that process will continue. Fitzpatrick practiced fully Wednesday and wasn’t listed on the injury report, but he didn’t practice Thursday afternoon, indicating that the positive COVID-19 test was a recent surprise.
Dolphins safety Eric Rowe said that coach Brian Flores informed the team about Fitzpatrick’s status during a Zoom meeting.
“It hurts. He’s a leader on our team. He brings energy,” Rowe said. “I’m sure it’s worse for him because he loves the game and no one wants to catch COVID. With that, you have to push forward.
“COVID is a real-deal thing whether you don’t have symptoms or you do. Just praying he doesn’t have symptoms or he didn’t pass it to his kids.”
INDIANAPOLIS — People in Lucas Oil Stadium during Sunday’s game between the Colts and Jaguars will have to find an alternative way to check the scores of games that have playoff implications for Indianapolis.
That’s because the Colts do not plan to post the scores of games involving Baltimore, Cleveland, Miami and Tennessee on the scoreboard at the stadium to try to avoid any possible distractions for players and coaches before and during their game against Jacksonville, which is 7-3 in its past 10 games against Indianapolis.
The Colts need to beat the Jaguars and have one of the Ravens, Browns, Dolphins and Titans lose to make the playoffs. Baltimore, Cleveland and Miami play at 1 p.m. ET. The Colts’ and Titans’ games are at 4:25 p.m. ET.
Each week of the NFL season, we will identify fantasy football waiver-wire pickups specifically for those of you looking for streaming options in deeper formats (including IDP leagues). These are players available in a majority of ESPN Fantasy leagues (or close) who have enticing matchups in the week ahead that make them worthy of consideration for your lineup.
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While you might notice some overlap with Field Yates’ pickup column that publishes on Mondays, an important distinction is that the options mentioned in this column are focused solely on this week’s matchup and not the players’ values for the remainder of the season.
Do you need replacement options for injured players? Or are you looking to block your championship game opponent from picking up a player who might help beat you? A roundtable of fantasy analysts join me to identify some names to consider.
Here are some of our favorites for Week 17:
Quarterback
Philip Rivers, Indianapolis Colts (14.8% rostered; vs. Jaguars)
Prior to last week’s struggles against the Steelers’ steady pass rush, Rivers had strung together five consecutive outings with multiple passing scores and had tallied at least 17 fantasy points in ESPN standard scoring in seven of the previous nine games. With the Colts incentivized to win in an attempt to make the postseason in a crowded AFC playoff bracket and the Jaguars depleted on defense and headed for the top draft pick next spring, Rivers makes for a solid streaming candidate given Jacksonville has surrendered the third-most fantasy points to passers this season. -Jim McCormick
Running Back
Gus Edwards, Baltimore Ravens (22.5% rostered; at Bengals)
I’m not sure what else this dude needs to do. Really. I mean, he’s averaging 5.2 yards per carry. Not over the past month or this year… for his career (402 carries). He led the Ravens in carries last weekend with 15 against the Giants. While I’m not labeling him the top dog in this backfield, I expect Baltimore to pound the rock plenty against the second- worst run defense in terms of running back yards per carry against (5.1). -Kyle Soppe, ESPN Fantasy researcher
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — With the Kansas City Chiefs having clinched the AFC’s No. 1 playoff seed and a first-round playoff bye, coach Andy Reid said some starters wouldn’t play in Sunday’s final regular-season game against the Los Angeles Chargers at Arrowhead Stadium.
Reid wasn’t specific about which players would be out of the lineup, saying he hadn’t decided on a plan. But he suggested backup quarterback Chad Henne would play instead of Patrick Mahomes.
“There’s a good chance you might see Chad somewhere in that game, if not the beginning then somewhere in there,” Reid said. “I’m not telling you it’s not the beginning. I’m sorting through all of it.”