Team news: Miami Dolphins | Page 18

Tennessee Titans rookie quarterback Will Levis is just following directions at this point.

Levis was at Titans training camp practice Tuesday out of uniform, mostly relegated to charting plays and supporting fellow quarterbacks Ryan Tannehill and Malik Willis on a team scrimmage day. Willis did go through stretching routines with his teammates and threw a few passes during special teams periods but was otherwise unavailable as he continues to recover from the lower body injury he sustained last Thursday that also kept him out of Saturday's preseason game vs. the Minnesota Vikings.

"I just had something happen in a practice that just came up," Levis said. "I went to the medical staff and I’m just following their directions in the best way to attack it and get better. It’s nothing too serious but I’m just going to make sure I take the right steps to get back to the road to recovery."

Levis is in a battle to be the QB2 on the Titans, but this injury certainly isn't helping his chances. Reports out of Tennessee indicated Willis was outplaying Levis even before his injury.

Seahawks’ first-round pick Jaxon Smith-Njigba is undergoing wrist surgery today in Philadelphia, but still could have a chance to be ready for the start of the regular season, per sources.

Related players: DK Metcalf, Tyler Lockett, D'Wayne Eskridge, Jake Bobo, Dareke Young

Schefter added that JSN broke a bone in his wrist on the play in which he almost scored Saturday night. Surgery will determine how long he will miss. Reading into it a bit, even if JSN misses games, it seems safe to conclude it may just be a couple of weeks to start the season. Metcalf and Lockett will remain the top-two targets but Eskridge, Bobo and Young are next up behind Smith-Njigba should he not be available. We'll continue to monitor his timeline.

Dolphins RB Devon Achane is also dealing with a shoulder injury. He's week to week and avoided serious injury.

QB Mike White is also in concussion protocol.

Related players: Jeff Wilson, Raheem Mostert, Myles Gaskin

Achane has been a highly-touted rookie RB who has gained a lot of traction, especially early on in dynasty leagues. Achane's biggest asset is his speed, and talk was building he'd have a significant role in the Dolphins offense because of HC Mike McDaniel's love of fast players. He still was going to lose touches to Wilson and Mostert, so it remained to be seen how much of the workload he could garner. This setback could end up costing him some work, at least to start the season. But the good news is he avoided a more serious injury.

Texans RB Dameon Pierce played every snap of the first two drives with starters, including all 3rd-downs. A change from last year, when Pierce only played on about 25% of 3rd-downs.

Devin Singletary then came on and played every snap of the third drive with starters.

Related players: Mike Boone, Dare Ogunbowale

It's tough to read into how much this will matter once the season starts. There are many in the fantasy world who are saying to stay away from Pierce, probably more when it comes to his dynasty value. Singletary is likely to have a big role in the offense as well, but if he takes away passing down value - that would obviously hurt Pierce. The good news is there isn't a whole lot to worry about fantasy value-wise behind Pierce and Singletary.

One camp surprise: Malik Willis has a good chance to beat out Will Levis for the Titans backup job.

Related players: Ryan Tannehill

Tannehill and his owners may be the happiest people to hear this news. Someone had to win the QB2 job. Willis was pretty unimpressive in his time as a starter last season and Levis fell down the draft board back in April leading many to speculate he may struggle early on.

Devon Achane, a third-round rookie, has "already looked like one of the Dolphins' more explosive offensive players."

Related Players: Jeff Wilson, Raheem Mostert, Salvon Ahmed, Myles Gaskin

Beat writer Louis-Jacques would continue, "Even in non-padded team drills, Achane showed prowess as a pass-catcher and home run ability after the catch. It's a crowded running back room in Miami, but it may not be long before the rookie has a prominent role. "

We already have Achane ranked clear tiers above Raheem Mostert and Jeff Wilson, as the RB27. Those of us who have been grabbing Achane throughout best ball drafts continue to hold our breath that the team won't sign a veteran in the vein of Dalvin Cook or Ezekiel Elliot.

Vikings are to officially release Dalvin Cook on Friday. One of the NFL’s most dynamic playmakers, Cook is coming off a fourth straight 1,000-yard season and has 52 career TDs. Now he’ll be a free agent at age 27 and will have multiple suitors.

Related Players: Alexander Mattison, Ty Chandler

The move has been long-rumored, so this doesn't come as much surprise. According to talks throughout the offseason, Mattison should be expected to takeover the lead-back role, with Chandler acting as the team's No. 2.

Vikings OC Wes Phillips on whether second-year RB Ty Chandler is ready for an increased role: "I think he's going to have to be."

Chandler probably has the advantage in the competition for the presumptive No. 2 RB spot behind presumptive No. 1 RB Alexander Mattison.

Related Players: Dalvin Cook

Yet more smoke to the fire that is Dalvin Cook playing the 2023 season outside of Minnesota. We're past June 1st, so the news on Cook moving on is presumably right around the corner.

Per Kevin Seifert, "All that remains is for the Vikings to formalize Dalvin Cook's exit, a denouement that seems likely if not completely certain."

Related Players: Alexander Mattison

We've seen the Vikings allow Alexander Mattison to fill in as a 1v1 replacement for Cook in the past but fantasy managers often overlook how Mattison has been thoroughly inefficient with those opportunities over the last two seasons.

Nonetheless, rumors leading up to an eventual trade (hello, Dolphins) will continue to boost Mattison's stock until it finally shoots him up to where we should probably avoid him. At this time, Mattison's ADP is in the 7th round as the RB25.

The Jacksonville Jaguars have signed K Brandon McManus, the team announced today. Additionally, the team has waived K Riley Patterson.

McManus, a nine-year veteran, has appeared in 144 games since 2014, all with Denver. In his nine seasons, McManus has converted 81.4 percent (223-of-274) of his field goal attempts and his 40 made field goals of 50-plus yards are third most in the NFL over that time span. His 946 total points are fifth-most in the NFL since 2014.

Things are heating up as we get some kicker news down the pipeline. As a team, Jacksonville scored the ninth-most points per drive and kicked the 11th-most field goals per game. Kicker enthusiasts rejoice; McManus has landed in a nice spot.