This article is part of our Training Camp Notes series.
Injury Notes
The Buccaneers were supposed to give Mike Evans a bit of work in their final preseason game, but he never got a snap. Turns out he's dealing with a groin issue. Coach Todd Bowles said the decision was just precautionary and Evans would have played if it were a regular-season game, yadda yadda yadda, you know the spiel. The 30-year-old always seems to pick up a minor lower-body injury or two during the course of the year, and so far that's never stopped him from posting a 1,000-yard campaign (nine straight and counting), so there's no reason for too much concern here.
Wan'Dale Robinson looks like he'll avoid the PUP list to begin the season, which is good news for the 2022 second-round pick but bad news for any fantasy GM trying to make sense of the Giants' depth chart at wide receiver. Isaiah Hodgins and Darius Slayton are the top holdovers from 2022, but the former came from out of nowhere and it's always possible he heads back, while the latter seemed under constant threat of losing his roster spot last year before injuries forced New York to use him. Meanwhile, offseason signing Parris Campbell is presumably on the team for a reason, while 2023 third-rounder Jalin Hyatt has shown flashes of big-play ability in the preseason. Now Robinson and Sterling Shepard (and, heck, maybe even Cole Beasley) will apparently be healthy and in the mix too. Given the draft capital used on Robinson in Brian Daboll's first year in charge, he'll presumably fit into the puzzle somehow, but there are a lot of pieces here and only Daboll has the box. There's no Stefon Diggs in this group -- although Hyatt stands the best chance of becoming a receiver on that level some day -- so there's really no clarity on how they'll be juggled, and maybe not even a large pie to divide up. Remember, Daniel Jones was 15th in passing yards last year, just ahead Davis Mills and the Ghost of Matt Ryan. Did I mention Darren Waller will need to get his share? Throw darts at this depth chart if you must, but any significant fantasy investment seems like wasted resources until we actually see who Daboll and Jones like to target.
Mike Gesicki, who suffered a shoulder dislocation in mid-August, shed his red non-contact jersey for Sunday's practice and appears on track to be ready for the Patriots' opener. It's not clear what kind of role the former Dolphin's going to have behind Hunter Henry in the offense, and the history of tight ends who can't hold their own as blockers in New England isn't pretty, but the return of Bill O'Brien does open up those two-TE sets the team used to be famous for. Maybe Gesicki can carve out a role, but his one-year, $4.5 million contract is an easy one to write off if he proves not to be a good fit.
The Dolphins got some good news, as Salvon Ahmed seems to have avoided a concussion after his early exit from Saturday's preseason game. Third-round rookie De'Von Achane is already iffy for Week 1 due to a shoulder issue while Jeff Wilson missed the entire preseason due to an undisclosed injury, so Miami can ill afford to lose any more backfield depth. Raheem Mostert, Myles Gaskin and undrafted rookie Chris Brooks are the only full healthy running backs on the roster at the moment.
Demario Douglas has been described as a "pleasant training camp surprise", but the 2023 sixth-rounder apparently picked up a shoulder injury somewhere along the way and was in a red non-contact jersey during Sunday's practice. Rumors have circulated that Kendrick Bourne is on the trading block, which may have been prompted by Douglas' performance, but the Liberty product's chances of winning a gameday role in the New England offense would take a big hit if he's unavailable for Week 1.
After being out since mid-July due to blood clots in his legs and lungs, Marquise Goodwin came off the NFI list Sunday and returned to practice. The veteran deep threat seemed a bit redundant on a roster that already had Donovan Peoples-Jones, but the Browns will presumably give him a real chance to win a depth role. His one and only fantasy-relevant season came back in 2017 though, and at 32 years old he's unlikely to turn back the clock.
Job Battles
Cleveland and New England made a small but potentially significant trade Sunday, as Pierre Strong went to the Browns in exchange for offensive tackle Tyrone Wheatley. Strong, a fourth-round pick in 2022, didn't see a lot of action as a rookie, but he suddenly looks like the favorite to fill the backup role behind Nick Chubb if Jerome Ford's hamstring injury keeps him sidelined into the regular season. Even if Ford's healthy, Strong offers a speed element to the backfield the other two don't and could take on some of the passing-down work Kareem Hunt used to get.
The Colts cut Kenyan Drake loose Sunday, and while that's not a huge surprise, it does confirm that Deon Jackson and rookie Evan Hull are the two most interesting Jonathan Taylor backups. Indy doesn't really seem all that interested in trading Taylor, but putting him on the PUP list due to contractitis his ankle injury to begin the year would give the Jackson-Hull duo four weeks as the co-lead dogs... in an offense led by a rookie quarterback who is still more athlete than passer, and which has no real game-breaking threats other than Taylor. I'm not saying Jackson and Hull don't have fantasy value, just that you should keep your expectations in check even if one outright gets named the starter in JT's theoretical absence.
Despite injuries to Jerry Jeudy and Tim Patrick, the latter season-ending, the Broncos did some churning at the bottom of their receiver depth chart Sunday by letting Kendall Hinton go. That's good news for second-year player Brandon Johnson and former Saints deep threat Marquez Callaway, who will battle for snaps and targets in the WR3 role for Week 1 if Jeudy isn't available. Callaway produced a 46-698-6 line on 84 targets in 2021, Sean Payton's final year in New Orleans, and probably should be considered the favorite for the job when things begin to matter.
If you have a leg and know how to use it, you might want to head to Nashville. The Titans' kicker job is open again after they cut Michael Badgley loose less than a week after signing him following his release by the Commanders. Tennessee will scrounge someone up -- teams always do -- but this could be the end for Badgley, who has kicked in regular-season games for four different teams over the last two seasons without making a good enough impression to stick around.
You want more kicker job battle news? We got more kicker job battle news. Kevin Stefanski declined to name Cade York as his Week 1 starter, even though the team used a fourth-round pick on him in 2022. This could just be a motivational tactic -- the Browns never had another kicker in camp to compete with York -- but it could also be a signal to all the agents for kickers out there that Cleveland is listening and looking for another option. The lesson here is to never use a real draft pick on a kicker if you run an NFL team, no matter how great they looked in college.
