We're officially into Week 2 of the 2022 NFL Preseason as NFL Training Camps roll on and the fantasy football regular season draws closer. There's plenty of NFL news, injury updates, and practice reports from the last 24 hours that will impact fantasy football rankings and our NFL pre-season projections. The quarterbacks lead the way today with Deshaun Watson's suspension and Tom Brady's absence headlining the latest NFL training camp news. Joe Burrow could be returning from the NFL injury report soon. Michael Pittman Jr. is showing why he could out-perform his fantasy football ADP. Plus, might we have a fantasy football sleeper in our midst in Jaylen Warren? As you prepare for your fantasy football drafts, we're here to keep you informed on the biggest and latest NFL news. Let's dive in and take a look at some fantasy football advice surrounding those NFL headlines and training camp news items.

 

Browns QB Deshaun Watson Suspended 11 Games

If you missed it yesterday, we finally got word on Deshaun Watson’s suspension for the 2022 season. The NFL and NFLPA agreed on a settlement yesterday that Watson will be suspended for 11 games this year and fined $5 million. The Cleveland Browns quarterback will be eligible to return in Week 13 with the team’s bye week factored in. Go check out Andrew Cooper’s full breakdown of the Watson suspension for the in-depth impact on your fantasy football leagues.

Bengals QB Joe Burrow Returns From Appendectomy

Joe Burrow is finally back at Cincinnati Bengals practice this week after undergoing an appendectomy on July 26. He participated in 11-on-11 team drills on Thursday and is slowly ramping up to be ready for Week 1. Though Burrow isn’t expected to play in any preseason games, that’s not surprising considering he’s recovering from a ruptured appendix and the subsequent surgery. It seems like Burrow should be ready to go for the season opener for those that are counting on him or the Bengals pass-catchers in fantasy football. Even if you’re not, it’s sure nice to see Burrow connect with Ja’Marr Chase once again:

Tom Brady Remains Away From Buccaneers Camp

It's now been a week since Tom Brady stepped away from Tampa Bay Buccaneers camp due to personal reasons. We have no idea why Brady is absent from practice right now and there's no point in guessing until we have more information. When we learned about this last week, head coach Todd Bowles said he expected the Bucs QB to be back sometime after the team's preseason game on August 20. Well, that's Saturday and it seems like Bowles still doesn't know when Brady will return. Bowles told reporters on Thursday that there's “no definitive date” for the GOAT to be back. Check out his full comments below. We'll try not to get too worked up about this, but it's something to monitor still.

Colts WR Michael Pittman Jr. Dominates Lions in Joint Practice

The buzz surrounding Michael Pittman Jr. has been wild over the past couple of days. We all knew Pittman Jr. was good after his breakout season in 2021 and current fantasy football ADP in the third round. It's still nice to hear that the Indianapolis Colts wideout was lighting up opposing defensive backs in this week's joint practices with the Detroit Lions. He had reporters from both teams buzzing. Colts reporter Joel A. Erickson of the Indianapolis Star notes that the Lions could barely cover Pittman Jr. across two joint practices. Erickson also says that Matt Ryan is targeting his new No. 1 receiver a ton in camp. Then we have The Athletic's Colton Pouncey, a Lions reporter, noting that Pittman Jr. “carved up the Lions' secondary all day." Finally, The Athletic's Zak Keefer, who covers the Colts, tells us that he was a problem for the Detroit defense all week with nearly every type of route. Keefer also reports that Pittman Jr. is “primed to break out,” if he didn't do so already last year. We also have video proof of the Colts receiver doing Stephon Gillmore dirty in one of those joint sessions.

Jaylen Warren Is Steelers’ Handcuff RB to Najee Harris

In Tuesday's training camp report, we mentioned that Jaylen Warren was getting first-team reps at Steelers practice and looked to be the frontrunner to be the Pittsburgh Steelers' main backup to Najee Harris. Well, we got even more clarity on the situation yesterday with the tweet below from Dale Lolley of DK Pittsburgh Sports. You gotta love it when beat writers refer to us fantasy folk directly. Before this week, it looked like Benny Snell would be the main handcuff to Harris in the Steelers backfield. Now it's Warren, an undrafted rookie out of Oklahoma State who had an impressive preseason debut and is taking advantage of Snell's injury in camp. This is pretty notable for fantasy because the Pittsburgh offense will likely give Harris plenty of touches and if he gets hurt, then Warren would become a viable starter. 

Cowboys WR Michael Gallup Back at Practice

If you’ve drafted Michael Gallup already, this is really good news. The Dallas Cowboys wide receiver took another step in his offseason rehab and finally got onto the practice field to run routes on Thursday. This is the first time Gallup has done some route running since he tore his ACL and MCL back in January, according to Michael Gehlken of The Dallas Morning News. While he was back practicing a bit, Gallup is still on the PUP list and is unlikely to suit up in Week 1. This is an encouraging sign, though, and it’s possible he’s back with the Cowboys’ starting offense in the early weeks of the season.

 

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