Fantasy Football News | Page 1

After missing the past few days of practice due to a stomach virus, Lamar Jackson returned today.

Related Players: Josh Johnson, Devin Leary

There's probably no predictive value in this, but it sure seems like Jackson gets sick more than any other NFL player. Regardless, if he's on the field, he's a locked-in top-3 option at the position and should be treated as such in your fantasy drafts.

Colts GM Chris Ballard told reporters that QB Anthony Richardson will be a full go during training camp. “I'm not expecting any limitations right now,” Ballard said.

Related Players: Joe Flacco

We're not expecting anything to keep Richardson off the field come Week 1, making him a possible top-5 QB option in fantasy football.

While they moved quickly to sign Tony Pollard in March, they don’t project the former Cowboy will play a similar role to the one that Travis Henry filled in Tennessee. Last year’s third-round pick Tyjae Spears is also on hand and head coach Brian Callahan made it clear on Tuesday that he expects both players to see plenty of time in the offense this season.

“The fun part for me is: How are we going to deploy those guys?,” Callahan said, via the team’s website. “Maybe they both play at the same time, maybe one gets hot and you let him run, maybe we just rotate back and forth. I don’t know what that’s going to look like yet. But they are both going to play quite a bit of football for us, and I don’t view either one of them as a starter or a back-up. They are both starting players to me.”

Not exactly what fantasy owners want to hear. The statement makes a lot of sense and probably shouldn't come as a surprise. However, many consider Pollard and Spears to be of the same mold. As you would expect, the expectation of both players seeing lots of time puts a hit on their rankings. We have Pollard ranked 32nd and Spears 34th, with Pollard's ADP in the 8th round and Spears' the 9th round. Hopefully we get a better feel by the time fantasy drafts come around, but it looks like both players could be Zero RB targets for those using that approach.

The Rams and quarterback Matthew Stafford have come to an agreement on a reworked contract, avoiding a holdout to begin training camp.

We reported Monday that although things were quiet on both sides about a potential deal, Stafford was expected to show up to camp today. The story said head coach Sean McVay announced the agreement at his Tuesday press conference. McVay was scheduled to speak hours before his presser actually began, but he was part of the meeting between the Rams’ brass and Stafford’s representation, finalizing the new deal.

Running back Alvin Kamara left the Saints’ mandatory minicamp early last month because of issues with his contract that have not been resolved, so his status for the team’s training camp in Irvine, California has been up in the air for the last month.

Saints veterans reported to camp on Tuesday and, per multiple reports, Kamara is among them.

The next question will be whether Kamara will practice with the team on Wednesday or if he is holding in by reporting to avoid the fines he’d incur by holding out, the story said. It went on to say Kamara is due a salary of $10.2 million this season and is under contract for 2025, but has a cap hit of over $29 million and is not due any guaranteed money.

Denver Broncos coach Sean Payton said Tuesday the team's three quarterbacks, including rookie Bo Nix, will open training camp getting equal time with the starting offense but offered no guarantee how long that rotation would last.

Nix, Jarrett Stidham and Zach Wilson split the work with the starting offense during the offseason program and will split the work initially when the team begins its training camp practices Wednesday.

Payton made it clear if one of the quarterbacks earns more work with the starters early on, he will get more. Nix, of course, is the rookie selection from this past spring and reports say he had a good spring. The story added Payton had lauded Nix's maturity, decision-making, accuracy and composure throughout the Broncos' offseason program.

While he’s still seeking a new contract and has requested a trade, receiver Brandon Aiyuk will not hold out.

Per a report from NFL Media, Aiyuk is reporting to training camp.

Related players: Deebo Samuel, Ricky Pearsall, Jauan Jennings, Jacob Cowing

Aiyuk, 26, is slated to make just $14.124 million in 2024 on his fifth-year option. The No. 25 overall pick of the 2020 draft, Aiyuk has demonstrated throughout the offseason that he would like to receive a new contract from San Francisco or be traded to another team willing to give him a new, lucrative deal. But to this point, the 49ers have not expressed a willingness to sign Aiyuk to the deal he desires or move him to another team, the story went on to say. The 49ers drafted Pearsall and Cowing this past spring, but Pearsall is starting camp on the NFI list, according to reports.

The Browns and star WR Amari Cooper have agreed to a restructured one-year contract, guaranteeing his $20M and adding an additional $5M, per multiple sources.

Cooper earned his fifth Pro Bowl selection last season after a career-high 1,250 receiving yards and 5 TDs, and is poised to be the team's WR1 again this season. Last year, in his ninth season, Cooper set career-highs in receiving yards per game (83.3) and yards per reception (17.4) en route to a WR14 finish. He was the WR9 in 2022. Cooper is entering his 10th season, which is when receivers’ production tends to fall off of a cliff, per Ryan Heath’s excellent Age Curves study. Cooper’s splits with and without Deshaun Watson were similar, so that’s not much of a concern. Cooper’s career-highs last season are reason to be optimistic that his production won’t fall off too much in 2024. His WR27 ADP seems like a solid value given the age discount.

49ers TE George Kittle dropped to 214 pounds — a 30-pound loss — after his core muscle surgery (he wasn't able to work out).

Kittle is now fully healthy and back to 240-243 pounds, the rest of the tweet said. Last season, Kittle averaged 5.1 targets per game in 14 games with Deebo Samuel, and saw 18 targets in the two games Samuel missed. In the six games that Samuel has missed over the last two seasons, Kittle has averaged 5.2 receptions for 84 yards and 1.0 touchdown. He’s basically THE fantasy TE1 when Samuel is out and just another TE1 when Samuel is active. Keep in mind that Kittle is entering his age-31 season, though his advanced metrics are still elite.

49ers rookie WR Ricky Pearsall injured his hamstring. Because it happened away from the facility, he is — by rule — on the NFI list instead of the PUP list.

Related players: Jauan Jennings, Jacob Cowing, Ronnie Bell, Chris Conley

GM Lynch anticipates Pearsall will miss the "first block" of training camp practices — which means the first four sessions, according to the rest of the post. Jennings has been the next man up for the Niners for the last couple seasons, but the rookie Cowing could be an interesting name to watch as well.