Team news | Page 110

The Bears have settled on a backup quarterback for the start of the regular season.

The Bears opted for experience in the No. 2 role. The team released its depth chart for this week on Tuesday and it shows Nathan Peterman behind Josh Fields with Tyson Bagent in the No. 3 role.

As the story said, Bears head coach Matt Eberflus said last week that the team had not decided whether Peterman or undrafted rookie Bagent would back up Justin Fields against the Packers. Bagent played well in the preseason and the Bears cut both Peterman and P.J. Walker on their way to setting their first 53-man roster, but re-signed Peterman after making other roster moves.

Chiefs’ HC Andy Reid told reporters that Travis Kelce hyper-extended his knee at practice today and his status for Thursday night’s opener vs the Lions is uncertain.

Related players: Noah Gray

Well, this will get the heart pumping... With most drafts in the books at this point, owners may want to jump on the wire ASAP and make sure you have a backup plan. Gray is next up on the Chiefs depth chart and should be available in typical leagues. He may be worth grabbing if you didn't address a TE2 option on your roster to this point and you play in deeper leagues. Hopefully we get more news leading up to Thursday night. At the very least we'll know Kelce's status 90 minutes before the start of the game.

Judging from how the Chiefs utilized their receivers in training camp, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Skyy Moore and Justin Watson will get the most playing time. Kadarius Toney missed all of camp after having surgery for a torn meniscus, but is back at practice and should be available to play against the Lions.

It’s less clear how much the others might play. But they all bring something to the group. Richie James has the most single-season catches of the group, having caught 57 passes for the New York Giants last season. The Chiefs tried to get the ball to Rashee Rice on plays like screens and pop passes during the preseason to highlight his ability to run after the catch.

Justyn Ross is big at 6-foot-4 and 210 pounds. Veach suggested he could take the red zone role held last year by Jody Fortson, who is out for the season with a shoulder injury.

Rice, a second-round draft pick, is a rookie. Ross is playing his first season with the Chiefs. He joined last season as an undrafted rookie but didn’t play because of injuries.

The Chiefs claim they will use their WRs based on defenses and who they are playing, allowing them to attack in different ways. While a lot of the young WRs got attention over the summer at some point - either working with the first team or just standing out - the story said Rice and Ross, especially, could see their roles be limited early in the season or at least until the coaches are comfortable with giving them a bigger workload. The Chiefs receivers could be a frustrating group for fantasy purposes, at least early on in the season.

Both Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery have proven to be very capable and reliable receiving threats.

Gibbs made a ton of catches down the field in training camp and I think that's something we could see that is a little unconventional from other pass-catching backs around the league.

Writer Tim Twentyman went on to say Gibbs, in particular, "might be the best pass catching running back I've seen in Detroit in my 15 years covering the team. He's got natural hands and is a terrific route runner." With wide receiver Jameson Williams suspended and DJ Chark no longer in Detroit, Twentyman said vertical threats don't have to be receivers so that's one thing to watch out for with Gibbs.

Ian Rapoport said all signs point to Bengals QB Joe Burrow playing Week 1.

Rapoport went on to say this has been heading in the right direction for a while, ever since Burrow returned to full padded practices a couple days ago. HC Zac Taylor said Burrow is officially considered day-to-day, according to Rapoport, but has looked "really, really good." Rapoport added it remains to be seen if Burrow has a new contract upon his return.

Zack Moss has returned to practice after breaking his arm early in training camp and he will join Deon Jackson and Evan Hull as options in the backfield against Jacksonville this weekend. On Monday, Colts head coach Shane Steichen suggested that all three backs will get chances to show their skills and that the team will make choices about how to divvy up playing time based on how they perform.

“I think it’s running back-by-committee,” Steichen said, via Joel A. Erickson of the Indianapolis Star. “Whoever’s got the hot hand, let ‘em ride a little bit.”

Related players: James Robinson, Jonathan Taylor

This isn't shocking news, but still disappointing for fantasy purposes. Last year, the Colts gave the RB1 role to Moss to close out the season, and he preformed well to the surprise of many. But with a new coaching staff in place, Moss may not get the same chances he did last season. Jackson has preformed well at times when filling in for Taylor, but Hull is a rookie drafted by the current coaching staff. The team was also expected to host free agent Robinson, who was cut by the Patriots earlier this offseason.

Technically, the Saints now have four quarterbacks on the 53-man roster.

As noted by Nick Underhill of NewOrleans.football, the team shifted the designation of Taysom Hill from tight end to quarterback. He had been listed as a tight end for all of camp.

The story went on to say that under that approach, Derek Carr would serve as QB1, Hill would fill the role of QB2, and Jameis Winston or rookie fourth-rounder Jake Haener would be the emergency third quarterback. The third quarterback could play only if both Carr and Hill were both unavailable due to injury or ejection. If that’s what the Saints do, it’s a creative application of the rule. The second quarterback can play at will and line up at other positions like tight end; only the emergency third quarterback is restricted to operating under center, the story said. However, it won't help fantasy owners much if Hill is only listed as a QB.

You’re not going to like my answer, but I’m not sure we do [see Kyle Pitts become a dominating force]. This doesn’t mean I don’t think he’ll be very valuable this year and into the future. It’s just that in this system, I’m not sure he’s going to be “dominating” in any traditional sense.

The story went on to say the thing about Pitts is his best fantasy football value would be to essentially use him like the Falcons used him in 2021, which is to say as a wide receiver. Miami’s Mike Gesicki was the only tight end to play more snaps split wide than Pitts in 2021 (240 to 227), according to TruMedia. However, Atlanta drafted Pitts with the idea that he was a player with No. 1 wide receiver ability who could also play tight end well enough to give the team true positional flexibility. If Pitts can’t — or just isn’t asked to — block then it handcuffs the Falcons’ ability to manipulate the types of defensive personnel they face, the story went on to say. The piece did add Pitts' blocking ability has been praised this offseason.

In the last 10 years, five running backs have been taken in the top 10. Four of the five (Saquon Barkley, Ezekiel Elliott, Leonard Fournette and Todd Gurley) had 229 carries or more in their rookie season. The fifth (Christian McCaffrey) had only 117 carries but added 80 catches. When teams draft backs in the top 10, like Bijan Robinson, they use them a lot.

Related players: Tyler Allgeier, Cordarrelle Patterson

The author went on to say Allgeier will still get plenty of use because the Falcons ran the ball an NFL-high 559 times last year. So even if Robinson carries the ball 250 times, there are still plenty of carries to go around. Patterson’s role is a little bit more of a mystery, the story added. He'll be third on the team in carries, according to the author, but how far back he’s going to be is a question mark. The prediction is Patterson's 144 carries from a year ago could get cut in half this season.

Ravens TE Mark Andrews is expected to return to practice Wednesday.

Related players: Isaiah Likely

As the post went on to say, Andrews has missed six straight practices. HC Jim Harbaugh was quoted in the post as saying, “We’re still on 'don’t push the panic button’'.” If Andrews can't go in Week 1, Likely would be in store for a potentially huge workload, but it looks like Andrews is at least trending in the right direction.