Wednesday brought a mix of good and bad injury news around the league as teams prepared for Week 9.
Baltimore Ravens traded for Jacoby Brissett following Lamar Jackson’s potential season-ending thumb injury. The Seattle Seahawks will be without Sam Darnoldand the Philadelphia Eagles are turning to Joe Milton at quarterback.
Micah Parsons and Myles Garrett each returned to practice after long absences, while the Rams lost cornerback Jaylen Watson for the year. Brandon Ayuk also filed for reinstatement with the 49th.
Here are the latest from around the NFL on Wednesday.
The Baltimore Ravens acquired quarterback Jacoby Brissett in a trade with the Arizona Cardinals on Wednesday following a possible season-ending injury to Lamar Jackson.
The move improves a depleted quarterback room with Jackson likely out for the remainder of the season. At 4-4 and with Tyler Huntley also sidelined with a toe, coach Jesse Minter needed more than undrafted rookie Joe Fagnano under center to stay competitive.
Although Jackson is expected to undergo thumb surgery and likely miss the rest of the season, the AFC North remains within reach. The trade for Brissett signals that the Ravens have no intention of waving the white flag.
The 33-year-old Brissett became available after being demoted to the third line with the Cardinals. After a poor showing against the Dallas Cowboys, they benched Brissett for Gardner Minshew and promoted rookie third-rounder Carson Beck to back up.
Brissett has struggled this season with 10 touchdowns, seven interceptions and a bottom-10 48.9 QBR. Despite those modest numbers, acquiring a veteran with starting experience remains Baltimore’s only option to stay competitive until the end.
Myles Garrett is finally back on the practice field.
The Rams defensive end returned to practice Wednesday after the team opened its 21-day practice window Monday, which starts the clock for Los Angeles to activate him from injured reserve. He has not played since undergoing knee surgery shortly after the season opener in Australia, where he made no tackles.
The Rams (4-4) have won two straight for the first time this season and visit Washington on Sunday. They badly need help up front after sending Jared Verse and three top picks to Cleveland for Garrett, the two-time Defensive Player of the Year (2023 and 2025) with 125½ career sacks, third among active players.
Los Angeles has just 12 sacks through eight games, 27th in the league, and Byron Young leads the team with 4.5, with no one else over two.
Garrett also has yet to play alongside Aaron Donald, who missed the trip to Australia and has 12 tackles in six games.
Sam Darnold will miss Seattle’s Week 9 home game against the Cardinals, coach Mike Macdonald said Wednesday, and Drew Lock will start in his place.
Darnold is dealing with a fourth injury and Macdonald said he also cracked a rib on the second play of Monday night’s 34-17 loss to the Bears.
“Sam will be out this week and it will be week to week,” Macdonald said. “He’s not going to IR.”
Darnold played the entire game against Chicago, completing just 17 of 34 passes. He has thrown for 1,478 yards, 10 touchdowns and nine interceptions with a 79.5 passer rating this season, up from the 99.1 rating he posted in 2025 en route to a second straight Pro Bowl and a Super Bowl LX title.
Lock has played well in limited action, completing 72.9% of his passes for 422 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions, including a 31-7 win over Arizona on Sept. 20. Macdonald noted, however, that Lock has been dealing with an elbow injury and “hasn’t been shooting much.”
The coach said the team could add another quarterback, with second-year player Jalen Milroe also on the roster. At 4-4 and having lost three of four, Seattle hosts the Cardinals on Sunday at 4:25 PM ET on FOX.
Micah Parsons is back on the practice field.
Packers coach Matt LaFleur said Wednesday that the All-Pro edge rusher would participate in individual drills, his first practice since tearing the ACL in his left knee in a Dec. 14 loss at Denver. The return to practice starts a 21-day window for Green Bay to activate him from injured reserve.
“It’s been a long time coming,” LaFleur said. “He’s put in a lot of effort and worked for it. To have him back will be a big boost for our team.”
Parsons had 12⅓ sacks in 13 games last season after Green Bay acquired him from Dallas shortly before the opener and signed him to a four-year, $188 million deal.
LaFleur said the thing that impressed him the most was Parsons’ “impact on the running game.” The Packers were 9-3-1 and leading Denver when Parsons went down, but they lost that game and went winless all season.
This year, they’ve still generated a solid rush without him, averaging 2.8 sacks per game, tied for seventh in the NFL, led by Lukas Van Ness with 4½.
While the Rams are set to get a boost in their pass rush, they are also losing a key piece of a revamped secondary.
Cornerback Jaylen Watson is expected to have shoulder surgery that will end his 2026 season, coach Sean McVay said Wednesday. according to the NFL Network.
“He’s been a big study for us, he wanted to be able to play through it, but he kind of understands the totality of it all and some of the different things that are recommended to do that surgery and that will put him on IR for the year,” McVay said.
Watson signed a three-year, $51 million contract with $34 million guaranteed in March, reuniting with former Chiefs teammate Trent McDuffie as Los Angeles rebuilds its cornerback room.
He dislocated his shoulder in a Week 3 loss to the Broncos and missed the following week’s win over the Eagles. He returned in Week 5 against the Bills wearing a defensive tackle and came up with his first interception as a Ram.
After offensive struggles under Tanner McKee, the Philadelphia Eagles are making a change at quarterback. Head coach Nick Sirianni will start former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Joe Milton against the Giants.
Making the first start of his NFL career, Milton gets his first try against the NFC East first place Giants.
A 2024 sixth-round pick out of Tennessee, Milton was drafted by the New England Patriots. He was traded to the Dallas Cowboys in the 2025 offseason, spending that season backing up veteran quarterback Dak Prescott.
Milton has appeared in five career games, completing 69.8% of his passes for 424 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. With Jalen Hurts sidelined for the season, Milton provides a similar duel-threat style of play to an offense in desperate need of a spark.
After not being seen since the 2024 NFL season, San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk is filing his reinstatement paperwork.
With Ayuk scheduled to report Friday, the 49ers face a big decision. Coach Kyle Shanahan must choose between activating him under his current contract, releasing him or finding a trade partner before the Nov. 10 deadline.
Aiyuk has been heavily linked with Washington’s commanders through trade if he wants to leave. However, a reunion with quarterback Jayden Daniels is likely to be delayed, as the Commanders are relying on Stefon Diggs and Antonio Williams to lead their new offense.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Shanahan made clear his stance on Brandon Aiyuk’s potential return this season. Despite needing help at receiver, Shanahan said he’s “mentally moved” by the possibility of Aiyuk going back to San Francisco.
“I have no expectations,” Shanahan said. “I’ve been keeping up with it mentally and everything, doing like I talked to you two months ago. Nothing’s really changed for me.”
