After months and months of waiting, NFL Preseason games are finally here!
Every day, the RSJ staff tracks fantasy football news and highlights from around the league, serving as your lead blockers to 2023 fantasy football greatness. From viral highlights to familiar coach-speak narratives to season-altering injuries, we’ve got you covered.
Here are some standout fantasy news and notes from training camps and preseason games from around the NFL on August 12th & 13th.
JUSTIN FIELDS AND BEARS OFFENSE ARE TRENDING UPWARDS
With this Bears game, we have to take everything with a grain of salt. Justin Fields got two drives worth of action but finished the day 3 for 3 for 129 yards and two touchdowns. Seems solid, until you look at the air yardage on those touchdown passes.
Not anything overly impressive from Fields here. However, the whole thing with Fields and the Bears heading into this season was surrounding him with more talent so that he doesn’t have to use his legs as the only way to get the offense moving. The trade to land DJ Moore is already paying off from what we’ve seen in camp and then his 65-yard touchdown where he made something out of nothing. Fields desperately needed a legit receiving threat and Moore is all that and then some after the catch.
In the backfield, it seems pretty likely that Khalil Herbert is set to lead the Bears as the RB1 of the offense. He played 100% of the snaps with Fields under center and boosted his stock taking the other screen pass to the house. Once Fields’ day was over, D’Onta Foreman entered the game and worked with the backups, while rookie Roschon Johnson made some plays in the second half. Herbert has a clear edge over the other running backs here and should be rise up draft boards in the near future.
JAMES COOK BREAKOUT SEASON INCOMING?
A popular name among drafts last season was James Cook, a second-round pick going to one of the league’s higher-powered offenses. He flopped big time but it now looks like it may have just been a year early for all the Cook hype. The departure of Devin Singletary certainly helps as now Cook only faces competition from an injured Damien Harris and old man Latavius Murray who refuses to go away.
Cook played 100% of the snaps with the Bills starters in their preseason game and ran in this touchdown to put a cap on his productive day. We touched on Cook earlier this preseason as an ascending running back, but more and more positive news continues to roll in for him. Josh Allen will still be a factor down in the red zone and on the goal line, but maybe Cook’s emergence will put less responsibility on the franchise QBs legs and body and more on the second-year back.
DEREK CARR IMPRESSIVE IN SAINTS DEBUT
In terms of the fantasy QB landscape, Derek Carr isn’t a sexy name or one that’s notable on draft boards. What I take away from this though is the overall bump the Saints offense looks like it’ll get with Carr under center. Last year’s duo of Jameis Winston and Andy Dalton put a serious cap on what the Saints could do offensively.
Carr isn’t an elite quarterback, but he certainly has the ability to give a boost to this Saints offense. We saw both Chris Olave and Michael Thomas play all 12 snaps with Carr and the first team. Tight end Juwan Johnson led the tight ends with nine snaps compared to Foster Moreau’s five. In the backfield, a refreshed Alvin Kamara (facing a three-game suspension to start the year) was out there for 10 of 12 snaps, had two targets on six routes and carried the ball three times.
OTHER FANTASY NOTES
- Former Seahawks and Ravens RB Alex Collins tragically passed away at age 28
- Dalvin Cook agreed to a one-year deal with the Jets worth up to $8.6 million #Pray4BreeceHallStans
- The Patriots and Ezekiel Elliott agreed to a one-year deal with up to $6 million to be the team’s bruiser in between the tackles
- Philadelphia Eagles rested both Kenneth Gainwell and Boston Scott for the first preseason game. This backfield is MESSY
- After tearing his ACL and MCL, Zach Ertz has been cleared for full football activity and is on pace to play Week 1.
- The Denver Broncos seemingly have Adam Trautman over Greg Dulcich on the tight end depth chart. Trautman’s history with Sean Payton is likely a factor
- Rookie Tank Bigsby looked good in his preseason game but got one snap with the starters. He’s still well behind Travis Etienne
- De’Von Achane appears pretty far down in the Dolphins RB pecking order currently behind Myles Gaskin and Salvon Ahmed
- While Malik Davis and Rico Dowdle battled for Dallas’ RB2 spot, it was rookie Deuce Vaughn who made headlines
