Who Should I Start? Eli Wolf or John Bates

Monday, January 6, 8:18 PM

New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft said top personnel executives Eliot Wolf and Alonzo Highsmith will remain with the organization into the 2025 season and will both be involved in head-coaching interviews to find the successor for Jerod Mayo, who was fired following the Week 18 regular-season finale against the division-rival Buffalo Bills on Sunday. Wolf is the club's executive vice president of player personnel and is expected to remain with the team as their general manager moving forward. He joined the Patriots in May of last year and served as the GM throughout the offseason. As the Pats search for a new head coach, their primary selling point will be young quarterback Drake Maye, who showed flashes of being a franchise signal-caller in his rookie season despite a concerning lack of talent at mostly every other position on the roster.

Friday, January 24, 6:03 PM

Washington Commanders tight ends John Bates (shoulder) and Ben Sinnott (shoulder) were both removed from Friday's final injury report and will be available on Sunday for the NFC Championship against the division-rival Philadelphia Eagles. Zach Ertz (rib) will also be active after practicing in full on Thursday and Friday, so neither Bates nor Sinnott are realistic DFS options for fantasy managers this weekend. The 27-year-old Bates has played through a shoulder injury in both postseason games but has only one catch on three targets for 20 yards to show for it. He had eight grabs on 13 targets for 84 yards and no scores in 17 regular-season games (six starts). Sinnott, meanwhile, has not even been targeted in two playoff games and caught all five of his targets for 28 yards and one touchdown in his first 17 NFL games during the regular season.