Fantasy Football News | Page 274

Breece Hall is coming off the PUP list today, per source. He’ll be limited at practice.

Related players: Dalvin Cook

Hall returns a day after that Jets sign Cook to join him in the backfield. The Jets will likely bring along Hall slowly for the rest of the summer and perhaps even the start of the season. Many feel eventually Hall will take over the backfield based on youth and talent.

"And since (Roschon Johnson has) gotten in there, we really love the style. We’re just gonna keep letting that thing compete out where it belongs, and we’ll see where it goes."

Related players: Khalil Herbert, D'Onta Foreman

Fantasy opinions have been all over the place when it comes to Johnson and his potential, while reports so far say Herbert has had a great camp and will be tough to overtake as the RB1. Johnson got a couple reps with the first team in 11/11 and in the two min drill on Monday. Cronin said Bears coaches are impressed with what they've seen to give him a look with the starters. The unnamed coach in the post added about Johnson: "Just the running style. He’s a downhill guy that we’re excited about. He’s got good vision."

Free agent RB Dalvin Cook is planning to sign a one-year deal worth up to $8.6 million with the New York Jets, per source.

Related players: Breece Hall, Michael Carter, Israel Abanikanda, Zonovan Knight

Another RB domino falls today as many felt it was just a matter of time before Cook ended up with the Jets - this despite a story today where Carter said he felt the team didn't need Cook. Perhaps the biggest question now is the status of Hall, who is coming off a torn ACL last season. Speculation at this point is Hall either isn't completely ready or the Jets just want to ease him back in. As a result, it may be safe to assume Cook leads the backfield, at least early on until Hall is back to form, where perhaps a split or hot hand situation forms. It's a win-now move for the Jets, who didn't seem to want to give Carter, rookie Abanikanda or last year's sensation Knight, a bulk of the work. Cook's signing moves all three backs down the depth chart. Last year, Cook played in all 17 games running 264 times for 1,173 yards and 8 TDs while adding 39 catches for 295 yards and two TDs.

The Saints needed running back help after Kendre Miller’s knee sprain. They brought in free agents Kylin Hill and Darrel Williams to work out for them Monday and decided to sign one of them.

Williams has agreed to terms with the Saints, Nick Underhill of NewOrleans.Football reports.

Related players: Jamaal Williams

It is a homecoming for Williams, who grew up in Louisiana and played at LSU. He spent his first four NFL seasons with the Chiefs before going to the Cardinals last year. Miller is expected to be ready for Week 1, according to reports. However any missed time may push Miller down the depth chart, at least to start the season.

OC Mike Kafka said early in camp that it was “too early to tell” if Sauqon Barkley would be more of a receiver but “we’re practicing all kinds of things with people at every position.”

But it appears that the brain trust might be reconsidering because Barkley has been an early read on more passes — returning to a plan that was unveiled in May 2022 but scrapped before the season for reasons that Barkley declined to share on the podcast.

Related players: Matt Breida, Gary Brightwell, James Robinson, Eric Gray

The story pointed out the irony in Barkley potentially getting his wish to show that he can be a Christian McCaffrey-type dual threat is that the contract he finally agreed to — one-year, $10.1 million with an additional $909,000 in incentives — pays extra for a would-be career-high 1,350 rushing yards and for 65 receptions. But increased receptions, the story said, likely means fewer carries — making it difficult to hit both markers — to manage Barkley’s workload and keep him healthy. For fantasy purposes, an increased workload in the passing game would give a bump to Barkley's value in PPR leagues. Barkley had 91 receptions his rookie season but then 52 in 2019, 41 in 2021 and last year he had 57. He was injured most of 2020.

The Patriots are expected to sign former Cowboys star RB Ezekiel Elliott to a 1-year deal worth up to $6M after his successful FA visit earlier in camp.

Related players: Rhamondre Stevenson, Pierre Strong Jr., J.J. Taylor, Kevin Harris

As Rapoport added, New England loves Stevenson, but they’ve been seeking a running back to bang it between the tackles, while adding Elliott's prowess in pass blocking at the same time. The move seemed to be in the works for a while. Elliott is expected to take on a Damien Harris-type role in the Patriots offense, a role that saw Harris collect about 9-10 carries a game last season in 11 games. He ran for 4.36 YPA and added three TDs. Although older than Harris, Elliott could potentially see a similar workload, and he also has some pass-catching ability as well. Still, Elliott will likely be tough to trust even as a flex, at least early in the season until we see his role.

Terrace Marshall just took a front seat ride on a cart. Not sure what happened there. Didn’t seem like anything super dramatic.

Related players: D.J. Chark, Jonathan Mingo, Adam Thielen, Laviska Shenault

Other reports claimed HC Frank Reich said Marshall tweaked something in his back. Marshall has been a disappointment after getting second round draft capital in 2021. He's battling for a top-three spot on the re-made Panthers offense, but we put him behind Chark, Mingo and Thielen on our fantasy depth chart.

Patriots TE Mike Gesicki left practice early with an upper body injury.

Related players: Hunter Henry

The post said Gesicki got hurt on a tackling drill against LB Jahlani Tavai. Gesicki walked off in pain with the head trainer grabbing under his shoulder pads, and he didn't return. While Gesicki was starting to get noticed at camp recently, we still rank him 31st on our TE list and below Henry, who is 20th.

Colts RB Jonathan Taylor, who has been away from the team getting additional rehab on his ankle, is back today, source said.

Related players: Zack Moss, Evan Hull, Deon Jackson, Kenyan Drake

Taylor remains on PUP and his stance has not changed, and he wants a trade out of Indy. But, he has returned to the team, according to the rest of Rapoport's post. With Taylor out and Moss dealing with an arm injury, Hull and Jackson look to be later-round targets, at least for now.

Atlanta Falcons rookie running back Bijan Robinson is expected to make his debut Friday against Cincinnati, but even then don't expect a full gamut of what the No. 8 pick in this year's NFL draft can do.

"We're not going to go crazy," Falcons head coach Arthur Smith said. "We just need the reps. We need to get our bread-and-butter concepts in there and he'll see his tracks."

The story went on to say Smith said they'll give Robinson some of the basic stuff so he can feel the speed of facing another opponent in a game and have tackling in order to get him ready for Week 1 against Carolina. Robinson sat out the preseason opener against Miami along with many of the team's key players.