Saints Wire projects undrafted rookie RB Abram Smith to land on New Orleans' practice squad, leaving Dwayne Washington and Tony Jones Jr. behind Alvin Kamara and Mark Ingram II on the regular-season roster. Ingram looked pretty good after returning to New Orleans from Houston last season, but he's also 32 (33 in December). The 12th-year vet does look like the #2 RB for the Saints, as expected, ahead of a pair of reserves who have done little through multiple NFL seasons and a UDFA who clearly has more to prove.
The Eagles rested RB Boston Scott -- along with many starters -- in Saturday's preseason finale. RB Kenneth Gainwell played, however -- though he did leave after the team's 1st offensive possession. Brandon Lee Gowton of the Bleeding Green Nation Eagles blog writes that "points to him being RB3, which is a little weird because Gainwell seemed like RB2 for most of camp." Gainwell opened his rookie season as RB2 behind Miles Sanders before falling behind Scott and Jordan Howard in usage after Sanders went down. We'll see exactly how things sort out here. For now, both Gainwell and Scott make sense in the double-digit rounds of fantasy football drafts. Sanders is also going late enough to mitigate some of the risk on his role uncertainty and high injury probability. This could be a frustrating situation for fantasy players to deal with week to week, though.
The Falcons rested WR Olamide Zaccheaus along with other starters in Saturday night's preseason finale. According to Pro Football Focus' Nathan Jahnke, Zaccheaus "consistently" served as the 1st-team slot WR through the previous 2 exhibitions. Bryan Edwards, meanwhile, has split time with KhaDarel Hodge outside. Zaccheaus could very well be the #2 WR and 4th receiving option in Atlanta. That's not a high-upside spot but worth noting for the end of deep fantasy football drafts.
The Falcons rested RBs Cordarrelle Patterson and Damien Williams for Saturday night's preseason finale against the Titans. Rookie Tyler Allgeier opened in the backfield, with Qadree Allison and Caleb Huntley working in early. That usage makes it appear that Williams will enter the season ahead of Allgeier in line for carries. We'll see whether the rookie can work his way up. If he is 3rd at the moment, that would at least mark progress from how the preseason started. This looks like a backfield to avoid beyond Patterson for now.
Patriots QB Mac Jones and the 1st-team offense had another rough outing in Friday night's preseason finale. Jones completed 9 of 13 passes for 71 yards (5.5 YPA), 0 TDs and 1 INT across 4 series. The possessions went: 3-and-out, INT, 3-and-out, FG. The offense reportedly struggled throughout training camp, too, looking uncomfortable in the Josh McDaniels-less system. Pass protection has also been a problem. It'll be tough to trust any piece of this Patriots passing game in early-season fantasy lineups.
Panthers WR Terrace Marshall returned for Friday night's preseason finale after missing the first 2 contests with a hamstring injury. He played 43 snaps but finished catch-less on 1 target. Marshall is off the redraft radar at this point.
Titans WR Treylon Burks injured his wrist in Saturday night's preseason finale vs. the Cardinals. The team deemed him questionable to return, which suggests it's not a significant injury. We'll update Burks' status when we know more. It's just another bump in what's been a rocky offseason for the rookie. He won't be an early-season fantasy option but still possesses enough longer-team upside to stash on benches.
Update: Burks returned to the game, scoring a TD late in the 2nd quarter.
Packers HC Matt LaFleur shared why WR Christian Watson wasn’t active for the team’s preseason finale. "Our medical staff thought it would be in his best interest to give him two more weeks before we put him in a game situation,” LaFleur said. The rookie, of course, missed a chunk of training camp following knee surgery in June. He remains a weak bet for early-season fantasy production.
Panthers HC Matt Rhule announced Saturday that K Zane Gonzalez suffered a "significant" injury that's likely to keep him out "long term," according to ESPN's Adam Schefter. Further testing will determine whether Gonzalez misses the season. All you need to know is that Gonzalez shouldn't go in any fantasy football drafts.
Falcons LB Deion Jones returned to the practice field this week for the 1st time following offseason shoulder surgery. He worked with 3rd- and 4th-stringers, though, according to the team website. The highly paid also saw time on the punt team. "I'll give Deion credit, because he's going to come out here and he's going to compete," HC Arthur Smith said afterward. "He's going to work his way back in. It's going to be hard to get on the field in that room. And that's what you want with that competition. Rashaan [Evans] and Mykal Walker are doing a great job. We gotta see what Troy [Andersen] can do. [Nathan] Landman, Dorian [Etheridge]? They've had good preseasons. It's going to play itself out." Jones was the subject of trade/cut rumors before the shoulder surgery sidelined him. Atlanta would probably love to trade him for pretty much anything, which would offer salary-cap relief. Cutting Jones, on the other hand, would cost nearly $25 million in dead cap. The final year on his contract (2023) has much more cuttable terms. All of that is complicated by Jones coming off -- by far -- the poorest-graded season of his career. It seems likely that Rahsaan Evans and Mykal Walker start ahead of him, at least to open the season. Don't be afraid to just avoid the whole Falcons LB situation in your IDP drafts.
Seahawks HC Pete Carroll announced after Friday night’s preseason finale that QB age Geno Smith will open the regular season as the starter. We’d bet on Drew Lock also getting some starting time at some point this year, and neither looks especially interesting for fantasy football purposes. But Smith should be the guy if you’re grabbing a Seattle QB later in superflex or 2-QB drafts.
Panthers QB Sam Darnold suffered a nasty looking left ankle injury in Friday night's preseason game vs. the Bills. He was quickly ruled out for the game. We'll pass along an update on Darnold when we get one, but this had the look of a long-term injury. Darnold, of course, had already lost the starting job to QB Baker Mayfield.
Update: It's a high-ankle sprain, per multiple reports.
Panthers K Zane Gonzalez hurt his groin in Friday night's preseason finale. We'll update his status when we know more, but avoid Gonzalez in fantasy drafts for now.
Patriots RB Ty Montgomery suffered a leg injury in Friday night's preseason game vs. the Raiders. He was carted back to the locker room. We'll update Montgomery's status when we know more, but he's not worth a pick if you're drafting tonight. His absence would open up passing-down snaps for RBs Damien Harris and Rhamondre Stevenson
Panthers DT Derrick Brown left Friday night's preseason game with an oblique injury and will not return. We'll see how serious the issue is for a guy who should be Carolina's top DT.
Saints QB Jameis Winston made his 2022 preseason debut on Friday night and looked sharp. He went 4-of-4 for 59 yards on a 9-play, 75-yard TD drive. Winston connected with WR Jarvis Landry for 20- and 15-yard gains and found WR Chris Olave for 19 yards. That foot injury that cost Winston a couple of weeks earlier this month looks like a non-issue. Consider Winston a QB2 to start the season -- but there's certainly spot-start QB1 potential with this revamped WR corps.
When asked whether RB Antonio Gibson will enter the season as Commanders lead kick returner, here's what HC Ron Rivera had to say: “I think you still need to see some more stuff, but you know, I think he is. I do. I think he’s done a nice job.” That's nice. Wanna guess how many total kickoffs and punts Gibson returned over his 1st 2 NFL seasons? Zero. To be fair, Tony Pollard and Cordarrelle Patterson factored heavily into their teams' kick-return plans last year. But it sure seems like another signal of a downgrade to Gibson's standing within the offense.
Titans WR Treylon Burks left Wednesday's practice early and then didn't participate Thursday. We haven't seen any report of a specific injury, and he was on an exercise bike during Thursday's practice, according to Kayla Anderson of WKRN-TV in Nashville. We'll watch for something official on this front. Burks carries plenty of risk (but still upside talent) in fantasy football drafts right now.
The Jaguars signed K Michael Badgley. He's the only K on Jacksonville's roster. So, by default, Badgley looks like the team's Week 1 starter.
Steelers HC Mike Tomlin announced Friday that QB Mitchell Trubisky will start the preseason finale. He did not specify how much each QB will play in the game. This doesn't necessarily mean Trubisky will open the regular season as starter. But it would seem to make sense for the team to get a look at Kenny Pickett to open the game if it planned to put him behind center in Week 1. We're certainly betting on the 1st-round rookie taking over at some point this season, and we'll see about the Week 1 plan. Signs points to Pittsburgh opening with the vet, though.
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