Fantasy Football News

9News' Mike Klis reports Broncos QB Drew Lock has been throwing to first-round WR Jerry Jeudy in Denver daily.
All signs point to the Broncos' facilities opening to players later this month, but Lock, entering his first full year as the team's starter, has been proactive in gathering a handful of players for throwing sessions at a nearby park the past two weeks. Phillip Lindsay and K.J. Hamler were also spotted participating. There's obviously no guarantee this improves Jeudy's rapport with Lock out the gates, but it's a step in the right direction. Both rookies are expected to start in three-wide sets alongside Courtland Sutton.

Source: Mike Klis on Twitter

The Athletic's Dan Duggan reports Giants QB Daniel Jones is training specifically to increase his ball security this season.
Jones' carelessness handling the ball at Duke (19 fumbles across 36 games) carried over into his rookie year off the bench as the 23-year-old recorded a league-high 18 fumbles across 12 starts. Duggan notes that Danny Dimes has since been training with an emphasis on ball security during the offseason, bulking to 230 pounds (up from 221) for a stronger grip, reaching out to Tony Romo (who infamously began his career with ball issues), and diligently working through drills that are designed for tight pocket movement. Jones flashed highs and lows, notably recording four games of 28-plus fantasy points against poor competition, in place of Eli Manning, but any concerted efforts into improving his glaring weakness is a step in the right direction. He's a bet to bounce back as a fringe QB1 for fantasy assuming he survives the Giants' opening murderer's row against the Steelers, in Chicago, versus the Niners, and cross country bout against the Rams.

Source: The Athletic

New Browns OC Alex Van Pelt this week called RB Kareem Hunt's role "something we have to keep growing," according to Cleveland.com. Van Pelt added: "We have to find a way to put the best players on the field and the matchups that will come with that each week, and it will change weekly. Kareem is an extremely talented runner ... and he is exceptional out of the backfield. He is just a football player who loves to play. We have to find ways to get him the ball." Hunt ranked 3rd among all Browns in targets after taking the field last season, trailing only Odell Beckham and Jarvis Landry. He saw just 20.9% of carries, though, vs. Nick Chubb's 69.9% rushing share. Obviously, any further growth to Hunt's opportunities would likely hurt Chubb's, though there's room for these Browns to go more run-heavy overall. Last year's offense went about 60-40 in pass-run split, ranking 18th in the league in passing share. Hunt is intriguing at his current RB30 ADP, going around the 5-6 turn in best-ball drafts. Chubb carries much more risk at his late Round 1 ADP.

Source: Draft Sharks

Patriots QB Jarrett Stidham said he's been working out with Julian Edelman regularly in Massachusetts during the offseason.
Stidham, New England's fourth-round pick last year, only played 15 snaps as a rookie but is still expected to beat out veteran Brian Hoyer as the team's Week 1 starter. While a positive rapport with Edelman doesn't guarantee success under center, it's a step in the right direction following words of encouragement from C David Andrews, RB Rex Burkhead, and other teammates throughout the spring. The 23-year-old and Hoyer will compete to be named the team's starter during camp.

Source: Mike Reiss on Twitter

Bucs HC Bruce Arians called '12' personnel his "base offense" on Thursday. ('12' personnel means 1 RB, 2 WRs and 2 TEs.) The Bucs went '12' on 23% of their snaps last season -- the 8th highest rate in the league. Over the past 2 seasons, only 1 team (the 2019 Eagles) has gone '12' on more than 36% of their snaps. We'll buy the Bucs using more 2-TE looks this year after adding Rob Gronkowski to O.J. Howard and Cameron Brate. But don't expect it to be their most common alignment. It's still unlikely that more than 1 of those TEs is a reliable fantasy option. The other result of more 2-TE sets will be more snaps outside the numbers for WR Chris Godwin. That might ding his volume a tad but shouldn't be a big concern overall. Godwin was actually more efficient outside the numbers last season, averaging 2.27 yards per route run vs. 2.22 in the slot.

Source: Draft Sharks

Browns OC Alex Van Pelt said Baker Mayfield is attempting to "streamline his footwork from under center."
“As far as the footwork goes, that’s the part that you can actually coach over the Internet, which is cool,’’ Van Pelt said. “The quarterbacks are sending the videos of their footwork to me. I can now go back, break it down and get on a one-on-one Zoom meeting with them and kind of coach them through the correction process of all the footwork we are going to use.” Van Pelt insists there was nothing seriously wrong with Mayfield's footwork, but that he needed to adjust it for Van Pelt's West Coast system. Van Pelt had previously said Mayfield's footwork led to some accuracy issues in 2019.   

Source: Cleveland Plain Dealer

Buccaneers coach Bruce Arians when asked about adding free agent RB Devonta Freeman said "If his price tag was reasonable."
Arians added, "He's asking for a lot of money and we don't have a lot of money." It's intriguing because the Buccaneers apparently don't view their backfield as complete. Ronald Jones and Ke'Shawn Vaughn are tentatively expected to form a two-RB committee of sorts, but Dare Ogunbowale could easily again function as the offense's pass-down back. Perhaps the Bucs roll the dice with another veteran free agent like Lamar Miller. Meanwhile, Freeman is reportedly willing to skip the 2020 season if he's not compensated enough.

Source: Profootballtalk.nbcsports.com

Coach Bruce Arians said 12 personnel will be the Buccaneers' base offense.
12 personnel refers to formations featuring two TEs on the field. This would indicate Rob Gronkowski and one of O.J. Howard or Cam Brate should join Chris Godwin, Mike Evans as well as Ronald Jones or Ke'Shawn Vaughn in the starting lineup. The news is a damper on Godwin's hopes of again commanding a large slot role, but he's obviously a good enough talent to still make the most out of his opportunities from the outside. The real question is whether Howard or Brate will be able to rise up and secure a full-time starting role, or if we'll see an annoying committee system for that position. There should still be plenty of three-WR and two-RB sets utilized, but clearly the Bucs are attempting to play to their strengths by leaning into their embarrassment of riches at the TE position.

Source: Greg Auman on Twitter

Raiders WR Henry Ruggs suffered a cut to his thigh while moving things into a trailer recently, his father told AL.com. "He was trying to move a trailer or something -- move furniture or something -- and the trailer just kind of pinned him against a car or a wall or something," Ruggs' father said. "He's pretty much OK ... It was just like a little open wound on his leg, a little incision." A Raiders source tells ESPN's Paul Gutierrez that Ruggs "will be fine." But his father revealed that he's using crutches to get around. We probably won't learn much more about the injury until players are cleared to report to their teams.

Source: Draft Sharks

Ravens HC John Harbaugh sees more deep passes as the next evolution in QB Lamar Jackson's game. "Those corners are going to be one-on-one and those safeties are going to be one-on-one against receivers, especially on some downfield throws, and we got to make them pay for it. We absolutely have to make them pay," Harbaugh said. "The ability to make them pay for tilting their defense toward stopping our run game with a really, really efficient passing game. I do believe that's the next step of this offense. I really do believe Lamar is going to take the next step." Jackson was already efficient on deep balls last year, posting the league's 6th highest passer rating on throws 20+ yards downfield, according to Pro Football Focus. But he ranked just 19th with 55 pass attempts of 20+ yards. It sounds like Harbaugh wants that number to rise in 2020. Baltimore certainly has the right guys at WR to make that happen. Marquise Brown, Miles Boykin and Devin Duvernay all boast plus speed.

Source: Draft Sharks

Steelers WR Diontae Johnson told reporters that he played almost his entire rookie season with a groin injury that required surgery this offseason. Johnson got hurt in Week 2. "I was running and it felt like my groin got a little tight on me," he said. He had surgery shortly after the season ended and is expecting to be cleared soon. The fact that he was playing at less than 100% only makes Johnson's rookie season more impressive. He compiled a 59-680-5 line on a Steelers team that ranked 31st in passing yards and 28th in TDs. Johnson is a 2nd-year breakout candidate if he gets improved QB play from a healthy Ben Roethlisberger.

Source: Draft Sharks

The Jets have signed QB Joe Flacco to a 1-year deal. It's worth $1.5 million with another $3 million available through incentives. Flacco is still recovering from April neck surgery and isn't expected to be cleared until "mid-September," according to ESPN's Jeremy Fowler. A healthy Flacco should slide in as QB Sam Darnold's backup. Darnold has dealt with a sprained foot, mono, a toe injury and another foot injury through 2 NFL seasons.

Source: Draft Sharks

The Seahawks have signed RB Carlos Hyde to a 1-year deal. That follows reports that Seattle had offered RB Devonta Freeman a contract, so the team was clearly looking to add to its backfield. Hyde played surprisingly well in Houston last year, averaging 4.4 yards per carry on 245 attempts. He ranked 32nd in Elusive Rating and 10th in Pro Football Focus' rushing grades among 45 RBs with 100+ carries. Hyde is solid insurance behind RBs Chris Carson (hip) and Rashaad Penny (ACL), who are both recovering from serious injuries. Carson is expected to be ready for Week 1, but Penny isn't. We'd expect Hyde to open the season as Seattle's #2 RB, although his arrival does add some downside to Carson's 2020 fantasy outlook.

Source: Draft Sharks

Falcons TE Hayden Hurst told ESPN's Mina Kimes that he's been making the 5-hour drive from Jacksonville to Atlanta to catch passes from QB Matt Ryan for the past 4 weeks. "That's helping me a lot," Hurst said. "That's really going to pay off during training camp." Acquired from the Ravens in March, Hurst hasn't been able to get any official workouts in with his new team due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But any chemistry he can build with his QB is good news for his 2020 fantasy outlook. Hurst as TE1 upside this season as he replaces Austin Hooper, who averaged 6.4 targets per game over the last 2 seasons.

Source: Draft Sharks