Cleveland Browns coach Kevin Stefanski fears that quarterback Deshaun Watson suffered a season-ending Achilles injury during their 21-14 defeat to the Cincinnati Bengals.
Watson will go through tests to confirm a diagnosis for his injury, which he suffered on Sunday.
But Stefanski did not have a great outlook after the game.
"Obviously, it doesn't look good with the injury," he told ESPN.
"I'll give him a call here in a little but ... disappointed for him. Any of our guys that you lose, you're disappointed because you know much this means to them and how hard they work. It's tough."
Watson's injury was sustained during a non-contact play when his leg hyperextended and he fell to the ground.
It compounds a miserable start to the season for the Browns, who are bottom of the AFC North with a 1-6 record.
Fan frustration was noticeable, with many seeming to cheer Watson's injury after he had been booed during the pregame.
"We don't boo guys that are injured on the field, especially when the cart comes out," said defensive end Myles Garrett said after the game.
"We should be ashamed of ourselves as Browns and as fans to boo anyone and their downfall."
Stefanski was in agreement with Garrett.
"I don't think it's ever OK to cheer when someone's injured. I'm sure it's not every person in the building doing that, but that's disappointing," he said.
Meanwhile, it is feared San Francisco 49ers receiver Brandon Aiyuk suffered a torn ACL during their 28-18 defeat to the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday.
"That's what it looks like, but we don't know for sure," coach Kyle Shanahan told ESPN. "Been wrong before. So, praying that we are [again]."
Further tests will confirm the exact issue and determine whether Aiyuk will miss the rest of the season.
With fitness problems mounting for the 49ers, Deebo Samuel was also announced to be suffering from illness before kick-off but was still expected to play.
He was withdrawn after four snaps with no catches or carries.
"Throat, stomach things, just real fatigued," Shanahan said, on Samuel. "Struggled to breathe, couldn't catch his breath ... he kept trying to fight through it, but once he was struggling with the breathing and everything, we had to shut him down."
Aiyuk's teammates, meanwhile, were vocal in their disappointment at potentially missing the wide receiver for the remainder of the season.
"It sucks," said tight end George Kittle. "I love Brandon Aiyuk, the energy that he brings, what he can do on the football field, routes, catching the ball. He's an incredible football player. You can't really replace, in my opinion, one of the best receivers in the NFL."
Quarterback Brock Purdy echoed Kittle's sentiments.
"What BA does for our offense and who he is and as a teammate and the brother of ours, man, it's sad," he said.
"Wish him nothing but the best and praying for him. So that's my guy. And when he goes down like that, obviously we have other guys that can step up and do their job really well ... we all just got to come together as a group collectively, the receiver unit and all of us."
McVay glad Kupp is back, expects him to stay amid trade speculation
Sean McVay is happy to have Los Angeles Rams receiver Cooper Kupp back out on the field and "expects it to stay that way".
The Rams caused an upset on Thursday, beating the Minnesota Vikings 30-20 as they were boosted by the returns of Kupp and Puka Nacua, playing together for the first time since their opener.
It is the first time the Rams have recorded back-to-back wins this season, and scored a season-high 30 points, snapping a streak of 10 consecutive games with fewer than 30.
Kupp recovered from a left ankle sprain he suffered in week two to play the Vikings, and had five catches for 51 yards and a touchdown.
In the build-up to the game, there was trade speculation over the 31-year-old, with LA reportedly approaching teams about him before the November 5 deadline, but McVay was quick to shut down the idea.
"I'm really glad to have Cooper Kupp back with us and I expect it to stay that way," McVay said.
"Teams reached out," he added when asked about the trade speculation. "Some of the things that I've seen out there, they're just not true.
"We've addressed that with those individuals. Teams have called about him, and we let him know what the dialogue was there. And then there's a lot of stuff out there where there's not a lot of accountability to the reports. And that's unfortunate."
Nacua, meanwhile, was only activated to play on Thursday, having recovered sooner than expected from a posterior cruciate ligament in week one.
He led the team with seven catches for 106 yards on nine targets, making it his eighth career game (out of 19 played) with 100 receiving yards.
Overall, McVay was pleased with the spark that the pair's return provided to the team.
"There's a confidence, there's a comfort, there's a rapport that's been established with Matthew [Stafford] and Cooper over the years and then Puka and Matthew last year and then leading into this season," McVay added.
"And so, these guys are ballers. Matthew brought out the best in everybody. But I thought Puka and Cooper were ready to go. They made an impact."
Rams get receivers Kupp, Nacua back in win over Vikings
Cooper Kupp caught a touchdown pass and Puka Nacua had 106 yards receiving in their returns from lengthy injury absences, and Matthew Stafford passed for 279 yards and four TDs in the Los Angeles Rams ' 30-20 victory over the Minnesota Vikings on Thursday night.
Demarcus Robinson caught two TD passes from Stafford as the Rams (3-4) won back-to-back games for the first time this season with 386 yards from an offence that looked exponentially more dangerous with its top two receivers back in uniform.
After missing the previous five games, Nacua had seven catches while posting the eighth 100-yard game of his short career. Kupp returned from a four-game absence with five catches for 51 yards, including a 27-yard grab for a key first down late in the fourth quarter.
Kyren Williams rushed for 97 yards and caught an early TD pass for the Rams. Robinson caught a 25-yard TD pass late in the third quarter to put Los Angeles ahead, and he caught a 10-yard TD throw with 6:17 to play for a 28-20 lead.
Sam Darnold passed for 240 yards for the Vikings (5-2), who followed up their first loss of the season with an ineffective defensive performance.
Justin Jefferson had eight receptions for 115 yards, while Josh Oliver and Trent Sherfield caught TD passes from Darnold. Minnesota was held to two field goals in the final three quarters.
Chiefs land Hopkins in trade with Titans
Another star wide receiver is on the move, as NFL.com reported on Wednesday that the Kansas City Chiefs are finalising a trade with the Tennessee Titans for five-time Pro Bowl selection DeAndre Hopkins.
The Titans will reportedly receive a fifth-round draft pick that can become a fourth-rounder if certain conditions are met. Tennessee will also retain some of Hopkins' remaining salary to facilitate the trade.
Hopkins, who recorded his seventh career 1,000-yard season in 2023, fills an obvious need for the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs, who have been hit hard by injuries at the wide receiver position.
Kansas City lost top wideout Rashee Rice to a season-ending right knee injury in Week 4 and is also without projected starter Hollywood Brown, who is recovering from shoulder surgery and aiming to return for the playoffs. Veteran JuJu Smith-Schuster is also currently sidelined after injuring his hamstring in the Chiefs' win over the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.
Hopkins has just 15 catches totalling 173 yards and one touchdown in six games this season while hindered by the 1–5 Titans' instability at quarterback, but bounced back from a pair of injury-plagued campaigns during his first season in Tennessee in 2023. The three-time All-Pro registered 75 receptions for 1,057 yards with seven touchdowns while playing in all 17 games.
The 32-year-old missed a total of 15 games over the course of the 2021 and 2022 seasons while then with the Arizona Cardinals. Hopkins dealt with hamstring and knee injuries in 2021 and sat out the first six games of 2022 while serving a suspension for violating the NFL's policy on performance-enhancing substances.
Tennessee signed Hopkins, who spent his first seven seasons with the Houston Texans from 2013-19, to a two-year, $26 million contract following his release by the Cardinals in May 2023.
The 6–0 Chiefs are the NFL's lone unbeaten team this season despite an offence that's lacked consistency. Star quarterback Patrick Mahomes has just one 300-yard passing game thus far and has thrown more interceptions (eight) than touchdown passes (six).
Hopkins became the third accomplished veteran wide receiver to be traded in just over a week. The New York Jets acquired six-time Pro Bowl honouree Davante Adams from the Las Vegas Raiders on Oct. 15, and the Buffalo Bills swung a deal with the Cleveland Browns for Amari Cooper the same day.
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