Team news | Page 131

Tight end Evan Engram and the Jacksonville Jaguars reached an agreement on a three-year contract, agent Mike McCartney announced Sunday.

Related Players: Brenton Strange, Luke Farrell

Engram had a fantastic 2022 season, setting career highs in catches (73) and receiving yards (766). This was after years as a notoriously inefficient fantasy piece with the New York Giants, consistently ranking near the bottom of the league in yards per target. Doug Pederson's tight-end-friendly offense turned that around, making him '22's overall TE6 in half PPR scoring.

Ahead of this season, the target tree could very well shrink with Calvin Ridley back from suspension, but Engram should absolutely be considered a top-10 option.

Free-agent WR DeAndre Hopkins is expected to sign with the Titans, per source. Deal is expected to become official over the next few days.

Related Players: Treylon Burks, Nick Westbrook-Ikhine

DeAndre Hopkins is an immediate impact to the entire operation of this offense and should allow Burks to operate out of slot more often which also raises his floor. Hopkins can be considered a WR2 if this goes through.

The Bengals and RB Joe Mixon are finalizing a restructured contract that will keep him in Cincinnati for the 2023 season. Mixon was due $10.1 million this season with a $12.791M cap number. The new deal frees up cash and cap for Cincinnati, and Mixon stays as RB1.

Related Players: Trayveon Williams, Chase Brown, Chris Evans

Congratulations to those who stayed the course this offseason and selected Mixon when he dropped consistently into the sixth round in drafts. Mixon should be considered a high-upside RB2 for the 2023 season.

New Orleans Saints running back Alvin Kamara agrees to plead no contest to misdemeanor charge of breach of peace for Las Vegas nightclub beating. He will have to do community service and pay $100K to victim for medical bills.

Related Players: Jamaal Williams, Kendre Miller

The NFL has historically drawn a line in the sand between misdemeanors and felonies, so this should presumably be good news in reference to Kamara's full-season availability. With that said, the NFL has kept mum on this situation so we don't know for certain whether or not he will face a suspension. Regardless, this is sure to boost his ADP while inversely affecting those of Williams and Miller.

We will continue to update Kamara's news page as we find out more information.

Denver Broncos running back Javonte Williams, who suffered a torn ACL in Week 4 last season, said Sunday "the plan'' is for him to be cleared for the start of training camp and to participate at least some in practices after the team's veteran players report July 25.

Related Players: Samaje Perine, Tyler Badie

The article doesn't really give any definitive answers beyond Williams being quoted as saying, "I mean, that's the plan. I feel like I'm ready to go" when asked if he would be medically cleared for training camp. An optimist could take away that it means he will be ready for Week 1, but we should probably wait for some more ringing endorsements before we jump on that train. With those worries still in the air, Javonte should still be considered a low-end RB2 for the time being.

Panthers free-agent acquisition Miles Sanders is back —he hopes— to being a three-down back. Sanders, now 26, is confident that reuniting with running backs coach Duce Staley, who was a Pederson assistant in Philly, will help him re-emerge as a receiving threat out of the backfield.

Related Players: Chuba Hubbard, Raheem Blackshear

Sanders bottomed out as a pass-catcher in 2022, with new career lows in receptions (20), yards (78), and receptions for first downs (two). He's really got nowhere to go but up after finishing the season, ranking 49th/49 qualifying backs with a 0.28 yards per route run mark. Leaving a team that has a quarterback that is prone to taking off with the ball on third downs should help, but his efficiency marks last year were stark. The good news is, he doesn't have a ton of competition for backfield touches with the way the depth chart is set up at the moment. Sanders is currently ranked as a mid-tier RB2.

Per beat writer Boyd, "Richardson has a lot of growing to do, and while Gardner Minshew was brought in to help mentor him, it’s not like Minshew is going to lie down and give the rookie the starting job. Richardson must show strides with his grasp of the playbook, throwing mechanics and leadership to garner more first-team reps throughout the summer. My belief is that Richardson won’t be a better quarterback than Minshew, a five-year vet, by Week 1. "

Boyd would go on to say that Anthony Richardson does have an out, and that would include receiving more first-team reps than Minshew until the Colts "finally pull the trigger and name him the starter." This doesn't mean that Richardson won't see action as a rookie, just that it doesn't seem likely that he gets the entire 2023 season to himself.

While talking with the Bussin' With the Boys podcast, Bills QB Josh Allen remarked, "The media has blown this so far out of proportion. We are in rookie or minicamp. We're not playing a game for four months. He doesn't show up for one day. He's still there. Coach asked him to go home. They're in talks. They're trying to resolve some things. It wasn't anything major. And (the) media blew it up. They're still talking about it. Let it go. There's no reason to continue talking about it."

In the doldrums of the first week of July, news is slow, and the back-and-forth regarding Diggs continues to sway from positive to negative. The situation is still worth monitoring, regardless of what Allen is saying here. Though we're still a long way away from regular season kickoff, we have seen multiple occasions in recent years in which an unhappy wide receiver pops back into the news throughout the year. Diggs is currently sitting as the WR5 in our WR rankings.

Titans running back Hassan Haskins has been charged with aggravated assault by strangulation. It looks as though it is a domestic violence exchange, as both he and his girlfriend were arrested and jailed.

For now, there are no fantasy takeaways. Other RB options currently on the Titans depth chart include '22 UDFA Julius Chestnut and '23 third-round rookie Tyjae Spears.

The Patriots & WR DeVante Parker reached an agreement on a 3-year new contract worth up to $33M.

Related Players: JuJu Smith-Schuster, Kendrick Bourne

This number seems astronomical. Parker barely cleared 30 receptions in 13 games played last season and this receiver group doesn't look much different than 2022. Regardless of this incentive-laden contract, he is still a WR5/6 in fantasy terms.