Calvin Johnson signs seven-year extension with Lions

Mar 14, 2012

The Detroit Lions have made Calvin Johnson the highest-paid receiver in the history of the NFL. Johnson agreed to a seven-year extension worth close to $130 million, according to sources. The extension will make him a Lion through 2019. It also tops the eight-year, $120 million deal receiver Larry Fitzgerald signed with the Cardinals prior to last season.

More importantly, the deal reduces Johnson's $22 million cap number by approximately $9 million for the 2012 season, according to sources, and will allow the Lions to go after some of their free agent targets, specifically linebacker Stephen Tulloch.

Fantasy Impact:

This is great news for the Lions and for Matthew Stafford, who now knows that he'll have his star receiver locked in for the next seven seasons.

Jun 19

Chiefs WR Rashee Rice to be full participant at training camp

Ian Rapoport

Jun 19 · 12:22 PM EDT

Good news from Chiefs coach Andy Reid with minicamp set to wrap up: He expects both first-round OT Josh Simmons (knee) and WR Rashee Rice (knee) to be full participants at the start of training camp.

Fantasy Impact:

Great start to the ramp up to the regular season, as Rice should be in WR2 territory if he's fully healthy by Week 1. We saw how much a healthy Rice severely impacted Kelce's ceiling, as they both operate in similar areas of the field, so he should be closer to TE10 than his historical top-3 consideration.

Jun 13

Saints to sign RB Cam Akers

Dianna Russini

Jun 13 · 6:07 PM EDT

The Saints are signing RB Cam Akers, per source.

Related Players: Alvin Kamara, Kendre Miller, Devin Neal

Fantasy Impact:

We haven't seen specifics yet, but this could be as little of a role as a camp body. This has no effect on Kamara's workload and would make him an even easier grab if his ADP somehow drops further because of this.

Jun 11

Broncos sign RB J.K. Dobbins to one-year deal

Jeff Legwold

Jun 11 · 9:16 AM EDT

The Denver Broncos have agreed to a deal with running back J.K. Dobbins, adding another backfield option to a rotation that will be a work in progress as they move through training camp and into the regular season.

Related Players: RJ Harvey, Audric Estime, Jaleel McLaughlin

Fantasy Impact:

This could (hopefully) be a sign that the committee might be majorly led by Harvey/Dobbins, but we'll still see McLaughlin likely mixing in from time to time, and Estime could still handle a good amount of the goal-line work. Regardless, this is a situation to target on an offense that should continue to grow. Harvey should remain our top priority, but Dobbins is still intriguing, even if it feels doubtful that he makes it through a full healthy season.