NFL Training Camp is a busy time of year. This is when the coaches implement their system, playbooks are drawn up and every position on every team is up for grabs. Injuries are as common as practice cones and tackling dummies. If you blink, you could just miss the preamble to a breakout season. Fortunately, I’ll be keeping up with all of it in order to ensure Fantasy Alarm Nation stays in the know all summer long.
Remember that if you have any questions you can hit me up on Twitter @Jeff_Mans:
If you’ve missed any of our previous Training Camp Reports you can find them all RIGHT HERE
DON’T READ IF YOU ARE SENSITIVE
Maybe it is my fault. I mean, I’ve only written about them, talked about them, done videos about them and posted on social media about them all summer long. Maybe somehow I didn’t quite get my message across. So let’s make this clear.
YOU SHOULD NOT BE DRAFTING:
I don’t know what else to tell you guys. Each of the above listed players have had a terrible offseason/OTA’s/training camp. If you are still even considering taking any of these players than it reflects negatively on me. I haven’t done my job properly. So, if you happen to “take a shot” on DGB now that he is with the Eagles, please don’t be surprised if suddenly you are struck with the brunt end of a railroad spike across the nut sack (or vagina for you ladies out there). Because that is evidently the only way to get you to listen.
All summer long I have been writing about training camps and who is performing well, who is moving up and down the depth charts and who has been complete garbage. Each of the above listed players thus far are not garbage. They are beneath garbage. They are garbage that has been eaten by a stray disease riddled donkey, then vomited out only to be re-ingested by a 90-year-old billy goat and turned into liquid diarrhea.
I understand that your commissioner software probably has each of these players ranked rather high in the rankings with Kendall Wright being dangerously close to a starting WR caliber value. But that is why you should NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, EVER use default rankings. Use your own, download mine or get them from somewhere else. I am not here to judge you. But if you live by the default rankings you are doomed a mediocre to bad fantasy football life.
MOVING RIGHT ALONG
San Francisco 49ers WR DeAndre Smelter is considered week to week with a leg injury. This is an interesting development because head coach Chip Kelly refused to disclose Smelter’s latest injury situation instead referring to him as having “an undisclosed condition” which sounded pretty morbid to say the least. My sources are telling me that the “leg injury” is just a continuation of the hamstring injuries that plagued him back in June during 49ers OTA’s.
Either way, the coaching staff is none too pleased with the second year receiver who is coming off of a missed season after tearing his ACL in 2014. His inability to stay healthy has the team considering placing him on season ending IR which would be just their way of cutting him loose.
I was really looking forward to seeing what Smelter could do in this up tempo run and gun type of offense this year and felt that he was in line to be a terrific late round sleeper. But alas, he should be completely avoided at this point and even if he winds up catching on with another team, he has little to no fantasy value going forward. At least until he can prove that he can actually stay on the field.
DEPTH CHARTING
A couple of notes here about backup running backs that you should be aware of. As most of you already know, I am a huge advocate of handcuffing your RB’s. This saves you so much grief and FAAB dollars it is incredibly. So, that being said you should always be aware of what the pecking order is behind each starting RB.
Last year before the season it was widely known that Knile Davis was the backup and necessary handcuff to Jamaal Charles. But then Davis got into Andy Reid’s doghouse and slipped down the depth chart until he was eventually a special teams only player and even inactive on gameday. A couple of weeks before Charles went down we did a segment on our SiriusXM radio show mentioning that little known RB Charcandrick West was the true handcuff to Charles. Little did we know what impact that segment would have on our listeners.
Nevertheless, you need to be checking up on each of these backup RB situations on the regular. If you just assume that nothing has changed than you are opening the door for an opponent to get the best of you either in trade, on waivers or in a given matchup.
In Seattle we officially have a changing of the guard as the handcuff to Thomas Rawls. Now let me first say that I am surprised that Rawls is still the incumbent running back here considering the team brought in three new faces to challenge for the job. The fact that Rawls can hold onto the job without practicing tells us that none of these guys are doing very well in camp. But, the one who has stood out is Christine Michael who was cut by the team at the start of last season. Michael was brought back late in the year after bouncing around the league for a bit but is said to be a much more mature young man this time around.
I am still not completely comfortable with the Rawls/Michael duo at this point but if C.J. Prosise and Alex Collins don’t get on the field and start producing soon, my mind will certainly change.
The other RB situation to take note of is in Denver where the Broncos have been pretty clear about their disappointment with Ronnie Hillman. Ever since bringing him back on just a one year deal with just $600,000 guaranteed ($2 million upside) they have been making him earn his lunch and so far that has gone nowhere. Hillman has continuously worked behind rookie fourth round pick Devontae Booker and even swing man Juwan Thompson as well. Booker got four carries to Hillman’s three in the Broncos first preseason game and has been working as the third team RB all this week as well. There is a very good possibility that Hillman is cut here soon as the Broncos could use the savings to help negotiate with some of their 2017 free agent class. For now, C.J. Anderson is entrenched as the starter while Booker should be considered the handcuff for him.