Team news: Seattle Seahawks | Page 23

Pete Carroll on Geno Smith vs Drew Lock: “Geno has been the number-one guy the whole time. He’s held onto it.”

Smith will start again tomorrow night at Dallas, the tweet went on to say. Carroll says that’s important that he starts again in the preseason finale. Unless you're in a deep superflex dynasty league, there obviously isn't a ton to be excited about with the Seattle QB situation, and the offense should end up being run-heavy.

Panthers officially announced Baker Mayfield as their opening-day starting quarterback vs. the Cleveland Browns.

Related players: Sam Darnold, D.J. Moore, Christian McCaffrey

Mayfield gets a fresh start in Carolina. We expect him to post serviceable numbers for the Panthers. He was the QB18 in 2020 prior to a QB23 finish last season, though he dealt with some injuries. The weapons in Carolina are pretty solid. Moore is a solid WR1 and McCaffrey is arguably the best receiving back in the league.

Per the article, "At this point, Kmet is the No. 2 pass-catching option in the Bears offense behind No. 1 receiver Darnell Mooney. Fields trusts him, but so does [offensive coordinator Luke] Getsy."

Related Players: Equanimeous St. Brown, Byron Pringle, Velus Jones

It's not as if the team has many other options, but regardless, finding a tight end with a legitimate target floor is difficult to find in fantasy. Cole Kmet was involved in the screen game during the Bears' second preseason game, an area of the field that he was not utilized in during the last coaching regime; his four targets on screens in 2021 ranked 25th amongst NFL tight ends.

Seahawks’ QB Drew Lock has tested positive for COVID-19 and will miss Thursday’s game vs. the Chicago Bears on ESPN.

Related players: Geno Smith

Smith already had a leg up and now Lock looks like he'll miss a big chance to try and make a claim to the job in live game action starting with the ones.

Pete Carroll on who’s leading the Seahawks QB competition: “I don’t even have to say that. Geno Smith’s still the number 1 guy. He’s holding that spot at this point.”

Related players: Drew Lock

We have Lock slightly ahead of Smith at this point in our rankings but neither is a highly-desired fantasy option either. Still, in deeper superflex leagues, this is worth following.

Panthers QB Baker Mayfield received most of the work with the first-team offense.

Related players: Sam Darnold

The Panthers are having joint practices with the Patriots this week. Kyed went on to say in his tweet he wouldn’t say Mayfield or Darnold stood out today. Both QBs made some good throws near the end of practice while Darnold was picked late. We're expecting Mayfield to win this job and would have some talent around him. He was the QB18 in 2020 and QB23 in 2021.

The former first-round pick was hoping for a jump-start to his career in his first year with the Bears, but things aren't starting well.

Related Players: Equanimeous St. Brown, Velus Jones

The 24-year-old sustained the high-ankle sprain during Saturday's practice and now will miss all of the preseason and around a month of regular season action. This leaves the already barren Bears WR depth chart even thinner, offering QB Justin Fields a steep hill to climb during his sophomore year.

Unsurprisingly after Sam Darnold's lackluster 2021 and the trade for Mayfield, it looks like the latter is in the driver seat as the team's QB1.

Related Players: D.J. Moore, Robbie Anderson

Per the article, “He’s definitely improving,” Panthers coach Matt Rhule said of Mayfield. “He gets more and more of a feel of what he can do at the line of scrimmage. What he’s done in 10 days is pretty impressive — or 10, 11 practices. He’s making really good jumps.” Mayfield would add stability to the skill position group like Darnold would not. This is good news for the WR group.

Smith has taken all of the first-team reps with the starters outside of the mock game.

Related Players: Drew Lock

The article would go on to mention that Lock had "appeared to be the better quarterback in the scrimmage." Neither option is genuinely going to affect the skill positions in Seattle positively, but it would be nice to know the starter for late-round 3-QB builds on Underdog and deep Superflex leagues. Lock is the better option to potentially offer DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett a little more upside.

Hearing WR Van Jefferson’s surgery went great, and my sense is that it’s realistic to believe he can return by the Sept. 8 opener.

Related players: Cooper Kupp, Allen Robinson, Ben Skowronek, Tutu Atwell

Rodrigue went on to tweet that obviously Jefferson's experience in the offense means he can get back on board quickly once cleared. She added the team won’t pressure him, but so far things seem encouraging. The Rams should be just fine at WR with Kupp and Robinson. Next up are Skowronek and Atwell.