Titans WR A.J. Brown has lost some recent practice time to a knee injury, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter. We haven't seen further details on the issue, but Schefter reports that Tennessee expects Brown to be ready for the regular season. We'll see about how soon he gets back on the field. It's worth remembering that Brown had "cleanup" procedures on each of his knees in the offseason.
Bills WR Stefon Diggs (knee) returned to practice on Sunday. It was a "light practice," per WGR's Sal Capaccio, but Diggs appeared to be moving well. He had missed the previous week and a half, but we never got the vibe that it was a serious issue. We'll continue to keep an eye on Diggs, but he's safe to draft at this point.
Chargers TE Donald Parham missed Week 2 of the preseason with a tailbone injury. Per Daniel Popper of The Athletic, the 6’8 TE sustained his injury in practice on Friday. Slated to handle the #2 role behind Jared Cook, Parham had generated some camp buzz for his red zone work. We'll see when he returns to the field.
Colts QB Carson Wentz (foot) will return to a limited practice on Monday, HC Frank Reich announced. G Quenton Nelson (foot) will also be back. Monday will mark exactly 3 weeks since Wentz's foot surgery -- and 2 weeks and 6 days until the Colts' season opener. How that foot responds to practice will determine exactly when Wentz is ready for game action. But it certainly looks like he has a shot to play Week 1.
Eagles QB Jalen Hurts returned to practice on Sunday. He was a late scratch for Thursday night's preseason game vs. the Patriots due to a stomach infection. It should be a non-issue going forward.
The 49ers are holding RB Trey Sermon out of Sunday night's preseason game against the Chargers. The rookie reportedly sustained a mild ankle injury during the practice week. According to Niners Nation, he returned to the field for the practice in which he came up "gimpy." That indicates it's not an issue we need to worry about. Raheem Mostert and Elijah Mitchell also won't play in the game, leaving more reps for Wayne Gallman and JaMycal Hasty.
Yahoo's Charles Robinson believes QB Deshaun Watson might be eligible to play the entire 2021 season. It's a complicated situation between the criminal investigation and NFL. But basically, the league is unlikely to suspend Watson or place him on the Commissioner's Exempt List until a grand jury decides whether to indict him. "The NFL knows multiple bodies are conducting criminal investigations and that is what is ultimately keeping the league from requesting Watson to sit down to be questioned in the NFL’s probe," Robinson writes. "Simply put, the longer Watson’s criminal investigations linger without a conclusion, the longer he will be able to stay on a football field. Possibly for the entirety of 2021." Of course, Watson still needs to find a team willing to play him. He remains just an end-of-draft flier.
Bengals DE Joseph Ossai will have surgery this week for a meniscus injury that the team fears will end his season, according to NFL Network's Tom Pelissero. The 3rd-round pick appeared headed for a spot in Cincinnati's DE rotation. He had a sack of Tom Brady among 5 total pressures in the preseason opener.
Jets QB Zach Wilson enjoyed a nice outing in Saturday's 2nd preseason contest at Green Bay. He completed 9 of 11 passes for 128 yards and a pair of TDs, finding TE Tyler Kroft for scores both early in the 2nd quarter and inside the final 2 minutes of the 1st half. Those were Kroft's only 2 targets of the game. WR Corey Davis claimed 6 targets among Wilson's other 10 attempts (including 1 negated by penalty). RB Tevin Coleman, WR Jamison Crowder, WR Jeff Smith and TE Trevon Wesco garnered 1 target apiece.
The Dolphins expect WR Will Fuller to be ready to make his debut in Week 2, after serving the final game of his suspension, according to The Miami Herald's Barry Jackson. Fuller has been sidelined since late July with what's believed to be a leg injury. But Jackson hears that it's "not serious." Fuller still comes with elevated risk in fantasy drafts until we see him back on the field.
Green Bay continued to hold RB Aaron Jones -- among other starters -- out of preseason action Saturday against the Jets. That left the starting spot to AJ Dillon, who handled the team's 1st carries. But rookie RB Kylin Hill got into the mix on the 1st drive and closed things out with a nice 12-yard TD run. According to Matt Schneidman, Hill has "all but locked up the No. 3 running back job" with his rushing and receiving work, as well as primary kick-return duties.
Broncos HC Vic Fangio said he expects RB Melvin Gordon, WR Courtland Sutton and OLB Von Miller to play in the team's 3rd -- and final -- preseason game. That'll be a good chance for us to gauge Gordon's usage vs. Javonte Williams', as well as Sutton's fitness as he works back from the 2020 ACL tear. It also indicates Denver will treat that 3rd preseason game as a dress rehearsal for the regular season. Don't be surprised if we also get the Week 1 starter at QB announced ahead of that Saturday contest against the Rams.
For the 2nd straight preseason game, both Broncos QBs appeared to play well. Teddy Bridgewater got the start Saturday against the Seahawks. He completed 9 of 11 passes for 105 yards and 1 TD, highlighted by a 35-yard completion to Jerry Jeudy on a 4th-and-5. Bridgewater also piloted another TD drive. Drew Lock then came on to go 9-of-14 for 80 yards on 3 drives that produced field goals. According to Nick Kosmider of The Athletic, HC Vic Fangio said earlier in the week that he was "pretty damn close" to deciding who will start at QB. We'll see whether we get that announcement this week. For now, it looks too close to call for fantasy-drafting purposes.
Jets RB Michael Carter played 0 snaps with QB Zach Wilson and the 1st-team offense in Saturday's preseason game vs. the Packers. RB Tevin Coleman got the start and played 10 of 19 snaps with Wilson. RB Ty Johnson played the other 9. We'll see if Carter gets any run with the starters in the final exhibition. But as of now, he's not looking like a guy we'll be able to use in fantasy lineups to start the season.
Bills RB Devin Singletary played all 10 snaps on the team’s 1st possession of Saturday's preseason game vs. the Bears. He ended up out-snapping RB Zack Moss 21 to 12 with what amounted to the 1st-team offense. Singletary took 2 carries for 21 yards, highlighted by this impressive TD. Moss finished with 4 carries for 21 yards. It’s possible that Buffalo wanted to limit Moss’ snaps after he missed a few days with a hamstring injury in mid-August. But it’s also possible that Singletary opens the season as the lead back. We've adjusted our projections for the Bills backfield.
Bears HC Matt Nagy reiterated after Saturday's preseason game against the Bills that QB Andy Dalton is his Week 1 starter. Dalton played the entire 1st half of that game vs. Buffalo, finishing 11 of 17 for 146 yards, 1 TD and 1 INT. But most of his damage came on a 73-yard score to WR Rodney Adams that was actually a tad underthrown. Outside of that, Dalton totaled just 73 yards on 4.6 yards per attempt. QB Justin Fields played the 2nd half, completing 9 of 19 passes for 80 yards, 0 TDs and 0 INTs. He made numerous plays with his legs, finishing with 46 yards on 4 carries. It’s clear to us who Chicago’s best option is at QB -- and we still expect to see Fields under center early this season.
Washington’s RB usage was similar in Week 2 of the preseason to what we saw in the opener. RB Antonio Gibson played 13 of 23 snaps (57%) with the 1st-team offense. But he was pulled for RB J.D. McKissic in obvious passing situations. Per NBC Sports’ John Daigle, Gibson has played just 1 of 9 3rd downs through 2 preseason games; McKissic has played 7. Gibson has racked up 5 targets on 24 preseason snaps, so Washington is clearly scheming him the ball in the passing game. But he’ll need to take over that 3rd-down role in order to hit his ceiling this season.
Cowboys QB Dak Prescott (shoulder) told NFL Network's Tom Pelissero that he has "no doubt" he'll be 100% for Week 1. Pelissero adds that Prescott has had no setbacks in his rehab and could have played vs. Houston on Saturday night if it was a regular-season game. Dallas reportedly plans to ramp up Prescott's reps in practice this coming week and have him be a full-go during the week leading up to the Thursday night opener vs. the Bucs
The Athletic's Jeff Howe believes it'd be a "stunner" if Patriots QB Cam Newton isn't under center for the start of the season. After a choppy start to training camp, Newton reportedly had a strong week in joint practices with the Eagles. Then he completed 8 of 9 passes for 103 yards and a score in 3 possessions vs. Philadelphia in Thursday night's preseason game. Rookie QB Mac Jones has also looked good this preseason -- and we still expect him to hit the field at some point this year. But look for Newton to be the Week 1 starter.
Larry Holder of The Athletic says of the Saints QB battle that Jameis "Winston holds the edge in the race, in my eyes." Holder adds, "But this remains a competition to watch." We're certainly not treating the competition as decided, especially ahead of Winston's 1st preseason start. (Hill started the opener.) But keep this in mind in case you happen to be choosing between Saints QBs late in a best-ball draft this weekend. We'll see how both fare Monday night against the Jaguars.
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