Eagles RB Boston Scott is sidelined with a concussion. It shouldn't impact his availability for the start of the season but is worth filing away in case he suffers another head injury. Scott is expected to open the season as Philly's #3 RB behind Miles Sanders and Kenneth Gainwell.
Bears WR Byron Pringle has a quad injury and no timetable for return, HC Matt Eberflus said Saturday. Pringle is in the running for the wide-open #2 WR job in Chicago but can't afford to miss much time if he wants to win it. We'll see when he's able to get back on the field.
Panthers HC Matt Rhule has no plans to lighten RB Christian McCaffrey's workload. “Christian’s a dominant football player," Rhule said. "He plays a high-contact, high-percent-of-injury position. We’re going to put him out there and play him. think we’re all thinking about Christian one way only, and that’s attack.” McCaffrey, by the way, has had a healthy camp so far after missing significant time in both of the last 2 seasons. He's the odds-on favorite to lead RBs in fantasy points per game.
RB Kareem Hunt has told the Browns that he won’t take part in team drills until he gets a contract extension, ESPN reports. Hunt is in the 2nd season of a 2-year deal. He also resides in a crowded backfield. That leaves little leverage for the veteran. We’ll see where this goes, but we’re not altering Hunt’s fantasy football outlook at this point
Insider Peter King came away from Packers camp believing WR Romeo Doubs will have a "prominent role early" in this offense. That's been the general sentiment from basically anyone who's watched Packers practices over the past couple of weeks. "He's been terrific in training camp," King said. "He has shined." Doubs has quickly become a priority late-round target in fantasy drafts.
Cardinals QB Kyler Murray returned to practice on Saturday. He missed 5 days with COVID but still has over a month to go before the season opener. Murray remains a high-upside QB1 in fantasy drafts.
Browns WR David Bell made his training camp debut on Saturday. Previously on the PUP list, Bell was activated following a return from a foot injury. He didn’t appear in team drills, as the Browns are bringing the rookie along slowly. Per Zac Jackson of The Athletic, Cleveland “still has high hopes” for Bell.
Ravens WR Devin Duvernay returned to practice on Saturday. He missed about 1 week of practice with a thigh bruise.
Patriots DB Kyle Dugger did not start in Friday night's simulated intrasquad scrimmage. NESN reports that he rotated in with slot CB Jonathan Jones on the "blue" team, which featured 1st-stringers. It's obviously early in the process, but this doesn't seem good for the playing time of the 3rd-year player. Dugger spent most of last season playing near full time. He came in short of 75% playing time just twice across the 1st 12 games, exceeding 80% 6 times. But his final 3 regular-season outings checked in at just 56%, 63% and 51%. Dugger rebounded to 83% in the playoff loss at Buffalo. If he continues to be more of a sub-package player through the preseason, Dugger might be hard pressed to reach 70% playing time consistently without injury to a teammate. That, in turn, would make it tough for him to deliver regularly useful fantasy points. We've knocked Dugger way down the IDP rankings for now.
Commanders LB Jamin Davis played just 56% of the defensive snaps for his 16 games as a rookie and saw no meaningful growth in his role as the season went on. Heading into Year 2, it sounds like that might not change. Cole Holcomb remains the lead LB and only 3-down player in the corps, according to ESPN's John Keim. Davis, meanwhile, is seeing inconsistent usage. That has included losing some base-package snaps to David Mayo, who Keim says the team prefers in run defense. There's obviously still time for Davis to earn more playing time before the regular season arrives. And it's just his 2nd season. But the 2021 first-round pick doesn't look like a great bet for IDP redraft leagues this year. He's still talented enough to keep stashed on dynasty rosters, however.
ESPN's John Keim says Commanders S Kamren Curl is having the best training camp among his 3 years with the team. Kim says the 23-year-old has been more vocal, displaying growth in both his confidence and his comfort within the system. Curl has reportedly seen some time in the "Buffalo nickel" role that Landon Collins played last season, which includes some LB-type duties. Curl has the versatility to play in the box and deep. He spent a greater percentage of his time in deep coverage last year vs. 2020, which is generally negative for a safety's fantasy-scoring potential. But Curl's skill set and situation give him DB1 upside for IDP leagues.
Bills S Jordan Poyer hyperextended his left elbow in practice this week. The AP reports that he's expected to miss "several weeks." That timeline could still return the vet ahead of the regular season. HC Sean McDermott also told reporters "maybe a week or 2." So we won't alter our IDP outlook for him just yet. We'll be watching for his return to the field, though.
The Broncos have LB Josey Jewell relaying plays in the defensive huddle, according to the Denver Post. It's a role Jewell filled last year, and it's not surprising given they brought him back on a sizable 2-year deal this offseason. The role puts Jewell in the green-dot helmet and should mean 3-down duty. That's obviously good for the IDP upside on a player who should stay on the board late into fantasy football drafts.
NJ.com's Chris Franklin has Quez Watkins and Zach Pascal as the Eagles' 3rd and 4th WRs right now, behind the obvious lead duo of A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith. That leaves 3rd-year WR Jalen Reagor fighting Greg Ward, Britain Covey and Deon Cain for what's expected to be the final 2 spots at the position. Reagor should certainly hold an edge at that level, but this standing doesn't bode well for his chances of finding fantasy football relevance.
Saints WR Michael Thomas took part in 1-on-1 drills Friday for the 1st time in training camp and impressed. "He looks exactly like he used to look, before the ankle injury," writes Luke Johnson of NOLA.com. Multiple reports had Thomas abusing the coverage of CB Paulson Adebo, who Johnson reports "had been locking up just about every receiver he'd gone against." The flow of positive reviews on Thomas' work makes it even easier to gamble on him in best-balls drafts. His Underdog ADP remains at just WR32 as of this writing.
Cardinals TE Zach Ertz left Thursday's practice early and remained out Friday. HC Kliff Kingsbury said the veteran strained a calf, according to Jess Root of Cards Wire. We'll watch for further indications on the severity. Rookie TE Trey McBride (back) also missed a 2nd straight day of practice Friday.
The Cardinals let LB Jordan Hicks walk in free agency this offseason, clearing the way for LB Zaven Collins to enter the starting lineup in Year 2. He has been working there so far in training camp. According to Kent Somers of the Arizona Republic, Collins and Nick Vigil have been the starting ILBs in the base defense. Collins has called plays in the huddle at times (green dot) but is also coming off the field in nickel and dime packages. "He's got to be able to diagnose it, see it and go, and not wait on the play to come to him," HC Kliff Kingsbury says. "I think last year he was kind of waiting for everything to unwind. I think he's still learning, but there's no doubt he's reacting faster than last year at this time." There's still time for Collins to earn more of a 3-down role, but we've moved him down our 2022 IDP rankings. The role uncertainty makes him a boom/bust fantasy option. Isaiah Simmons, meanwhile, has shifted to the "star" LB role, which will move him around the formation. Somers writes that he "seems to have a role in every package."
Packers S Darnell Savage sustained a hamstring injury in Friday night's practice, the AP reports. He downplayed the issue afterward, saying: "I don't think it's a concern. It's a fast-people injury. Some of those things you can't avoid. ... I'll be all right." We'd bet on the team proceeding cautiously in returning Savage to action. Vernon Scott stepped in for Savage on Friday.
Seahawks HC Pete Caroll was back with the team after a bout with COVID, and he had a Friday update on the QB competition: "Geno [Smith] continues to be on top. He's ahead. He's been in the lead for all of the obvious reasons and he's holding on to it and doing a really good job of battling." Carroll did add that there's still a good bit of time left in the evaluation process. "We need reps, we need turns to see more situations to really find any reason to see a difference between the guys," he said, according to The Seattle Times. So we won't consider it decided yet, but it does seem we need to consider Smith the front-runner at this point. His primary advantage is having been with the Seahawks since 2019. For fantasy football purposes, the winner of this battle only matters in superflex, 2-QB and DFS formats.
SNY’s Connor Hughes expressed concern over the Giants’ pass protection. “The pass protection, ever since the Giants strapped on the pads, is becoming a problem, Hughes wrote. “The severity of which has the potential to derail any [Daniel] Jones evaluation.” HC Brian Daboll admitted that this unit still has “a long way to go,” adding that he believes “they’re moving in the right direction.” We’ll see how this unit looks in preseason action. But it’s worth noting that they’re going up against one of the game’s most aggressive DCs in practice (Wink Martindale). New York’s also breaking in several new starters — including rookie RT Evan Neal.
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