Justin Jefferson Is Out. Puka Nacua Is Back. The Report Has Teeth.

Friday's paperwork ruled out Justin Jefferson, cleared Puka Nacua, and left San Francisco's Mike Evans strapping his ribs into a padded shirt. The official word has arrived.

Bring out the receipts.

FEATURED PLAYER: Justin Jefferson

Justin Jefferson is OUT against Miami with a sprained left ankle. An MRI confirmed the injury, which ESPN's Jeremy Fowler called "minor," and Kevin O'Connell ruled Jefferson out Friday. Minor is a diagnosis. OUT is a fantasy problem.

Jordan Addison becomes Minnesota's top target, with T.J. Hockenson next in line. Jauan Jennings, Tai Felton, and Myles Price should also see more work, though the Vikings are dividing Jefferson's missing volume because there isn't another Jefferson sitting in the equipment room.

Tuesday's call was blunt: "Out. Not Questionable. Out." We flagged some flip risk, but the ankle held the line. HIT.

Surprise, might play

Puka Nacua, WR, LA Rams. Tuesday leaned toward a sit. Nacua answered with a full practice, no injury designation, and ACTIVE status against Philadelphia after missing two games with hip and groin trouble. That isn't a late escape. He kicked the door off its hinges.

Mike Evans, WR, San Francisco. Yes, that Mike Evans, the longtime Buccaneer now catching passes for the 49ers. He's QUESTIONABLE with a rib injury George Kittle described as fractured, and Kyle Shanahan calls him a game-time decision, but he practiced on a limited basis Friday and plans to play in a padded compression shirt. Tuesday called him OUT with high confidence. The ribs were right; the hard designation wasn't.

Ronnie Stanley, OT, Baltimore. Stanley is QUESTIONABLE with a toe injury after two limited practices. He missed the previous week entirely, so the Questionable tag is progress for Derrick Henry and Baltimore's offense. The tackle spot looked like Henry's biggest efficiency threat Tuesday. It eased.

Might not play

Justin Jefferson, WR, Minnesota. He won't play. The ankle ends the discussion, no matter how mild the MRI language sounded.

Breece Hall, RB, NY Jets. Hall is OUT against Chicago with a quad injury, remains week-to-week, and didn't practice. Tuesday called it a thigh injury, which was imprecise, but the sit call landed. Braelon Allen and Isaiah Davis share the replacement work.

Colby Parkinson, TE, LA Rams. Parkinson is QUESTIONABLE with a knee injury. Tuesday called him a true toss-up, and Friday handed us the official version of a shrug.

Jayden Daniels, QB, Washington. Daniels is OUT for the London game against Indianapolis while recovering from a dislocated elbow. He hasn't received full clearance, so Marcus Mariota starts behind a line missing Laremy Tunsil and Sam Cosmi. Tunsil is on injured reserve with a triceps injury; Cosmi is out with a concussion and didn't travel.

Rams-Eagles absences. Philadelphia ruled out DeVonta Smith and Dallas Goedert, plus linebacker Zack Baun. Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald is OUT with a back injury. None of these were among Tuesday's graded calls, but they change the shape of Sunday's game.

Surprise, might not play

Zay Flowers, WR, Baltimore. Tuesday called him clean, tag-free, ready to go. Friday slapped QUESTIONABLE on him for a hamstring injury. Baltimore built him up to a full Thursday practice, then held him to a limited Friday just for rest, so he may still play, but the promised clean report never arrived. Call it a miss and move on.

The rest (on watch)

Josh Allen, QB, Buffalo. Allen carries no injury designation against New England after his coach downplayed the previous week's knee bump. Tuesday called for a full workload, and nothing on Buffalo's report argues otherwise.

Derrick Henry, RB, Baltimore. Henry has no individual designation. Stanley's improvement from a complete absence to Questionable also makes Baltimore's tackle situation less threatening than it looked Tuesday.

Christian McCaffrey, RB, San Francisco. No Broncos-week injury tag turned up for McCaffrey; his most recent absence was a scheduled veteran rest day, not an injury concern. Tuesday's call on him holds. The paired Trent Williams note stays UNCONFIRMED: he was returning to practice after a Week 3 neck stinger, but nothing tied to this specific game turned up in our check, so we're saying so instead of guessing.

RJ Harvey, RB, Denver. Harvey's exact status for this game is UNCONFIRMED. Tuesday correctly caught an earlier concussion evaluation, but Harvey was cleared the same day, and nothing fresh tied to this week's 49ers game turned up. J.K. Dobbins has recently handled early-down work ahead of him, which speaks to usage, not to a current injury.

Washington's returning depth. Marcus Mariota is the confirmed starter; Frankie Luvu and Chig Okonkwo are both back after missing time. Washington gets bodies back even as Daniels, Tunsil, and Cosmi stay out.

Cleveland at Pittsburgh, already played Thursday. Elgton Jenkins was OUT with a concussion, and Luke Wypler started at center in his place. Teven Jenkins was OUT with a back injury. Tylan Wallace was OUT with a knee injury. Tytus Howard played clean, no designation, and Parker Brailsford was healthy depth, not a casualty. Tuesday found two real line injuries and inflated them into a four-man pileup by counting two healthy linemen as hurt.

Rico Dowdle, RB, Pittsburgh. Dowdle's final Thursday designation isn't confirmed in our research. The last public word gave him a "pretty good chance" to play through a toe injury, but a pregame trend isn't a final tag. He stays UNCONFIRMED.

Grading Tuesday's calls

Booth: Fourteen calls. Every one gets a grade.

Color: Even the ones hiding behind coach-speak?

Booth: Especially those. That's where confidence gets mugged.

1. TC-01, Josh Allen. Tuesday: "plays, full workload, high confidence." Allen has no injury designation. HIT. Tally: 1 HIT, 0 MISS, 0 UNCONFIRMED.

1. TC-02, Justin Jefferson. Tuesday: "Out. Not Questionable. Out." Minnesota ruled him OUT with the ankle sprain. HIT. Tally: 2 HIT, 0 MISS, 0 UNCONFIRMED.

1. TC-03, Zay Flowers. Tuesday called for a clean report, no tag. Flowers is QUESTIONABLE with a hamstring injury. MISS. Tally: 2 HIT, 1 MISS, 0 UNCONFIRMED.

1. TC-04, Derrick Henry. Tuesday kept the workload intact and flagged Stanley's tackle spot as the risk. Henry has no tag, and Stanley improved to Questionable. HIT. Tally: 3 HIT, 1 MISS, 0 UNCONFIRMED.

1. TC-05, Mike Evans (San Francisco). Tuesday called him OUT with injured ribs, high confidence. He's QUESTIONABLE, a game-time decision. The concern was right; the hard designation wasn't. MISS. Tally: 3 HIT, 2 MISS, 0 UNCONFIRMED.

1. TC-06, Christian McCaffrey. Tuesday said he'd play, workload intact or bigger. No current-week injury tag turned up, so the player call holds. The Trent Williams piece of this call can't be confirmed for this exact game. HIT. Tally: 4 HIT, 2 MISS, 0 UNCONFIRMED.

1. TC-07, Breece Hall. Tuesday called him OUT and named Braelon Allen as the beneficiary. Hall is out: it's a quad, not the reported thigh, and Isaiah Davis also shares the replacement work. HIT, with a correction. Tally: 5 HIT, 2 MISS, 0 UNCONFIRMED.

1. TC-08, RJ Harvey. Tuesday corrected the injury to a concussion and called it a lower-confidence game-time decision. The evaluation happened, but he was cleared that day, and nothing fresh for this game turned up. UNCONFIRMED. Tally: 5 HIT, 2 MISS, 1 UNCONFIRMED.

1. TC-09, Puka Nacua. Tuesday leaned sit, called it close to a coin flip. Nacua practiced fully, carries no designation, and plays. MISS. Tally: 5 HIT, 3 MISS, 1 UNCONFIRMED.

1. TC-10, Colby Parkinson. Tuesday called him a true toss-up. Parkinson is QUESTIONABLE with a knee injury. HIT. Tally: 6 HIT, 3 MISS, 1 UNCONFIRMED.

1. TC-11, Jayden Daniels. Tuesday called him OUT with the elbow injury. He's out, not fully cleared. HIT. Tally: 7 HIT, 3 MISS, 1 UNCONFIRMED.

1. TC-12, Marcus Mariota. Tuesday said he'd start but flagged Washington's battered line. Mariota is confirmed; Tunsil and Cosmi are both out. HIT. Tally: 8 HIT, 3 MISS, 1 UNCONFIRMED.

1. TC-13, Tylan Wallace. Tuesday leaned sit. Wallace was ruled OUT: direction right, severity understated. The supporting line read was messier than Tuesday made it sound. Both Jenkinses were out, but Howard played clean and Brailsford was never hurt. HIT, with a correction. Tally: 9 HIT, 3 MISS, 1 UNCONFIRMED.

1. TC-14, Rico Dowdle. Tuesday called him OUT, high confidence, with Jaylen Warren as the clean beneficiary. Pregame reporting leaned toward Dowdle playing, but the final Thursday designation isn't in our record. UNCONFIRMED. Tally: 9 HIT, 3 MISS, 2 UNCONFIRMED.

Final tally: 9 HIT, 3 MISS, 2 UNCONFIRMED. That's 9-for-12 on confirmed outcomes, 75 percent. The two we couldn't confirm get no credit and no forced loss. We're not rounding this in our own favor.

Disclaimer

This is not inside information and not betting advice. Every status above comes from public reporting, team injury reports, or NFL designations, with a source and retrieval date listed below. Where our research didn't turn up a named current-week source or a final designation, the player is marked UNCONFIRMED rather than guessed, and is held out of the hit-rate denominator.

Sources

All statuses retrieved 2026-10-01 through 2026-10-03, cross-checked against each other:

• ZeroChalk's Sept. 29 injury-predictions piece supplied calls TC-01 through TC-14.
• Josh Allen's status comes from CBS Sports and Yahoo Sports.
• Jefferson's ankle and Minnesota's replacement roles come from Yahoo Sports and ESPN.
• Flowers, Stanley, and the Henry context come from the Baltimore Ravens official site and Baltimore Beatdown.
• San Francisco's Mike Evans comes from NBC Sports Bay Area and ESPN.
• Breece Hall's quad comes from The Washington Post and ESPN.
• Nacua and Parkinson come from SI.com and ESPN.
• The Rams-Eagles absences come from Yahoo Sports and ESPN.
• Daniels, Mariota, Tunsil, Cosmi, Luvu, and Okonkwo come from CBS Sports, Yahoo Sports, and ESPN.
• The Cleveland-Pittsburgh final report (already played Thursday) comes from NBC Sports, SI.com, and Yahoo Sports.
• Dowdle's pregame reporting comes from NBC Sports Fantasy and FantasyPros.
• McCaffrey, Trent Williams, and RJ Harvey drew only general-season reporting; no game-specific outlet confirmed a fresh designation for this exact matchup, so those three are flagged UNCONFIRMED above rather than stated as fact.