Robert Mays of The Athletic recently spent a couple of days at Rams training camp, and here was his "main takeaway" from the time: "The staff here is in love with Allen Robinson. From his approach in meetings to what he can give them in this offense. His route tree and where he can line up are more varied than they'd even hoped. Potential monster year incoming." We're not quite sure a "monster year" will be in order, given that incumbent #1 WR Cooper Kupp is coming off his own monster year (plus other talent on hand). But Robinson has undoubtedly landed in a good situation. And we're at least on board with liking him in fantasy football drafts.
Lions WR Jameson Williams (knee) has been placed on the non-football injury list. He gets that designation, rather than PUP, because his injury happened before he was drafted. Recovering from a January ACL tear, Williams isn't expected to be ready for Week 1 and probably won't be a real factor before the 2nd half of the season.
The Lions re-signed LB Alex Anzalone this offseason and opened spring workouts with him and 2nd-year LB Derrick Barnes as starters. LBs coach Kelvin Sheppard says no one's job is "safe," though. "[Anzalone] has the most time-on-task in my room, but that doesn't designate him the starter," Sheppard tells PrideofDetroit.com. "The things we did last year are not acceptable ... so don't tell me about what a guy did last year." Detroit also added Chris Board and 6th-round rookie Malcolm Rodriguez, brought back former Lion (and 1-year Jet) Jarrad Davis, and got Shaun Dion Hamilton back from a full year spent on IR. In the same interview, Sheppard had praise for Barnes ("The sky's the limit for him."), Board ("He has a unique skill set."), Anthony Pittman ("putting on a clinic so far") and Rodriguez ("It's arrows up on him."). Sheppard added that Rodriguez has already showed the potential to call the defensive plays, which would mean wearing the green dot and likely staying on the field 3 downs. The whole situation will need to play out in camp and preseason, and we're not ready to invest in any of them. Barnes and Rodriguez look most intriguing as dynasty stashes and late-round dart throws in IDP fantasy football leagues.
Per Lions beat writer Kyle Meinke, “the table is set for [Jared] Goff to improve dramatically this season.” As Meinke points out, Goff improved down the stretch last year when OC Ben Johnson took over the offense. This unit is suddenly deep at pass catcher, too, although the health of Jameson Williams (ACL) will be key. Goff might enter the spot-start radar for fantasy, but a lack of rushing upside makes him a clear QB2 for season-long projecting.
Rams insider Cam DaSilva told us to expect a big bounce-back season from WR Allen Robinson. "I love the fit of Allen Robinson as the #2 receiver opposite [Cooper] Kupp," DaSilva said. "He's a different type of receiver than the Rams have had over the years ... bigger, physical receiver. He can stretch the field a little bit ... He can do pretty much everything in the offense. He's not gonna be strictly an 'X' receiver ... He can run the routes that Cooper Kupp can run. He's gonna run probably screen routes, too, and these little hitches ... I think he's gonna have probably one of his best seasons in the NFL this year with Matthew Stafford." DaSilva also noted that Stafford has gotten big seasons out of other big-bodied receivers like Calvin Johnson and Kenny Golladay. We're buying the bounce-back for Robinson, who cracks the top 20 WRs in our current PPR rankings. Check out the full interview with DaSilva -- also talking Stafford, Cam Akers and the Rams offensive line -- right here.
NFL insider Jordan Schultz believes Rams WR Allen Robinson will have his best season to date in 2022. A-Rob once posted 80-1400-14, but that was back in 2015. So we’ll forgive Schultz for that one. Still, there’s a ton of hype behind Robinson’s bounce-back candidacy. And he’s certainly off to a strong start alongside Cooper Kupp. “We’ve been able to feed off each other off the get go,” Robinson said. “Being able to just sit down, talk football as we’re watching and going over different routes, seeing different angles. I think that’s the biggest thing is the two of us are guys that are very versatile across the board. We both can do a lot of different things and I think that gives us a tremendous advantage because it’s not predictable at all to what either of us will be doing when it comes to a particular concept.” The almost 29-year-old remains an upside WR2.
New Rams OC Liam Coen gave his early impressions of WR Allen Robinson. "I think his route tree is extremely expanded from probably years ago, or maybe what we've had our other receivers do," Coen said at minicamp. "I mean, he can run a lot of routes that Cooper [Kupp] can, you know – some of those option routes and choice routes and things that we asked Cooper to do – because he just has an unbelievable ability to play underneath, himself.” Robinson, 29 in August, looks primed for a rebound alongside Matt Stafford and Sean McVay. He profiles as a top-20 WR for the upcoming season.
Saints DE Marcus Davenport is enduring "a particularly rough offseason health-wise," according to Katherine Terrell of The Athletic. The 5th-year edge player has had 2 surgeries for his injured right shoulder and 3 on his left pinky. The finger injury dates back to college, with the most recent setback being an infection developing after he broke a plate previously inserted into the finger. Davenport says the digit is down to a "nub." The combo of operations have kept Davenport out of workouts this offseason, and it's not yet clear whether he'll start training camp on time. "Training camp would be the goal," HC Dennis Allen said recently. "We've just got to wait and see where he's at." Davenport is in the final year of his rookie contract and coming off a career-high 9 sacks in just 11 games. If he can get all the way back far enough ahead of Week 1, there's plenty of upside. But Davenport also has yet to play more than 13 games in a season. So we'll be tempering expectations.
Lions HC Dan Campbell doesn't expect 1st-round WR Jameson Williams to be on the field for the start of camp. "I don't see him being ready for training camp," Campbell told reporters this week. "We'll see then. I'm very hopeful, but I don't see it. We're going to do this thing the right way, and when he's ready, he'll be ready. I don't feel like you're going to see him out there Day 1." That makes sense and falls in line with recent word that Williams is no lock to begin the regular season on time. "He needs a lot of strength development in that body, his lower extremities, his legs, his knees, his everything," Campbell added. The Lions have reason to be cautious with Williams this season, and cautious definitely seems like the ideal way to approach to the rookie's fantasy outlook.
Rams QB Matt Stafford likes what he's seen from WR Allen Robinson so far this offseason. "I've been very, very impressed with his ability to grasp our offense, his role in our offense," Stafford said. "His understanding even when he might miss something or mess something up, the reason is so sound on why he did something." Robinson is coming off an ugly 2021 but is in a prime bounce-back spot with a clear path to #2 WR duties in a strong Rams offense.
Lions OC Ben Johnson admits that it'll be a "challenge" to get WR Jameson Williams ready for the start of the season. The 1st-round rookie continues to rehab his January ACL tear and isn't participating in OTAs. "That’s a real struggle for us is to get him back, to get him healthy, and then (get him) as many reps as possible with the quarterbacks so that we know exactly where he’s going to be, we can anticipate the throw," Johnson said. Williams seems like a long shot to be active come Week 1 and might even open the season on the PUP list, which would cost him the first 6 games. Fantasy owners shouldn't be expecting him to contribute early, although he could be an asset over the 2nd half of the season.
Speaking at rookie minicamp, Lions WR Jameson Williams said he doesn’t have an update on when he’ll resume running routes. Williams tore his ACL on January 10 — 8 months prior to Week 1. “We’re taking it slow,” Williams said. “I’ve been out here getting some good rehab with the trainers two times a day. So everything’s been going good so far.” HC Dan Campbell passed on putting any sort of timetable on Williams’ return to the field, but it’s safe to call the ‘Bama stud questionable for Week 1. We’ll update his status throughout the summer.
The Lions traded up 20 spots to select Alabama WR Jameson Williams with the 12th overall pick of the 2022 NFL Draft. Detroit sent the 32nd, 34th, and 66th picks to Minnesota to make the big move. A torn left ACL suffered in January’s National Championship prevented Williams from working out in the pre-draft process. But the tape is clear: Williams has unnatural speed. He blows by defenders in his routes and destroys angles after the catch. He averaged a huge 19.9 yards per catch at Alabama last year, including 9.3 yards after the catch, and scored 4 TDs of 70+ yards. Williams led the Tide and ranked top 5 in the nation with 1,572 yards and 15 TDs. He also averaged 35.2 yards per kick return with 2 TDs, earning SEC Co-Special Teams Player of the Year honors. That, curiously, followed 2 mostly invisible seasons at Ohio State, where Williams totaled just 15 catches. It’s worth factoring into his NFL projection – but it’s tough to look at his 2021 production and tape and not come away excited. We’ll, of course, need to keep an eye on that left knee. Williams underwent surgery on January 13. University of Alabama team orthopedic surgeon Dr. Lyle Cain, who did the procedure, said in March that he expects Williams to be ready by training camp. When healthy, he’ll join D.J. Chark and Amon-Ra St. Brown as Detroit’s top 3 WRs.
EDGE Aidan Hutchinson landed with the Lions in the 2022 NFL Draft. Hutchinson topped 60 tackles in each of his 2 full seasons starting at Michigan (among 4 total). He finished with a school-record 14 sacks in his final season. But Hutchinson’s career 0.76 tackles for loss per game ranks just 16th in this edge class. He’s an above-average athlete and hard worker but doesn’t profile as quite a top-shelf pass rusher.
WR Tre'Quan Smith has re-signed with the Saints on a 2-year deal. It has a base value of $6 million with another $4.5 million available via incentives, according to ESPN's Field Yates. Smith has flashed on occasion but has yet to hit 500 receiving yards through 4 NFL seasons. He'll battle Marquez Callaway and Deonte Harty for targets behind Michael Thomas and Alvin Kamara this year.
The Vikings are signing EDGE Za'Darius Smith to a 3-year, $42 million deal with a top value of $47 million, according to multiple reports. Smith nearly signed with the Ravens but backed off that and lands with a Minnesota defense that will position him opposite DE Danielle Hunter. It's not yet clear how the new Vikings staff will primarily align its front 7. That only matters for how the positional designations will settle out for IDP leagues. The contract -- and the fact that 2 teams were willing to pay him -- indicates that Smith should be ready to return from the back surgery that halted his 2021 campaign. He has a chance to be a nice value in pressure-friendly fantasy football leagues. Smith totaled 26 sacks over his past 2 healthy campaigns.
The Rams are signing WR Allen Robinson to a 3-year, $46.5 million deal. It's a particularly surprising move considering the money. The Rams obviously return Cooper Kupp, get Robert Woods back from his ACL tear and retain Van Jefferson. There had also been reports of the team being interested in re-signing Odell Beckham Jr. (whose Super Bowl ACL tear makes it unlikely that he begins the season on time). The investment in Robinson clearly points to the team believing the veteran wideout will rebound from his 2021 performance. We'll see whether it also indicates concern for Woods' recovery or means that Jefferson's role will shrink. Robinson could have landed in better situations for his target volume, but Matthew Stafford will easily be the best QB he has played with. Robinson has been going low in WR4 range of early best-ball drafts and remains a solid-to-good shot to take if he continues to go in that range.
NFL Network's Ian Rapoport reports that EDGE Za'Darius Smith is not signing with the Ravens, despite previous reports that they'd agreed to terms. So he remains on the free-agent market after his release from the Packers.
The Ravens have agreed to a 4-year, $35 million deal with EDGE Za'Darius Smith, according to multiple reports. Smith played his 1st 4 seasons with Baltimore before leaving for Green Bay in free agency. Smith racked up 26 sacks over 2 years with the Packers before missing nearly all of last season with a back injury. He returns to a Baltimore defense that needs the pass-rush help. The money says the Ravens believe Smith will be all the way back, but we'll keep an eye on his status through the offseason.
The Lions are re-signing WR/KR Kalif Raymond, according to NFL Network's Mike Garafolo. Raymond caught a career-high 48 balls in 2021, his 1st year with Detroit. We wouldn't bet on a repeat, though, with T.J. Hockenson and D'Andre Swift returning from injuries, Amon-Ra St. Brown having broken out late in the year and D.J. Chark arriving in free agency. (Plus, we'll see what the team does in the NFL Draft.)
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