Texans WR John Metchie (hamstring) got in a limited practice on Wednesday. He was sidelined all three practices last week, so this is an upgrade. Houston could use Metchie with WR Noah Brown on IR, but he's not a Week 2 fantasy option.
Bills WR Stefon Diggs caught 10 of 13 targets for 102 yards and a TD in Monday's loss vs. the Jets. This was a classic performance from Diggs. Fantasy managers likely fared better in their matchups than Buffalo did with that stat line. Diggs will look to keep the big numbers rolling vs. the Raiders in Week 2. Also worthy of mention is that rookie TE Dalton Kincaid hauled in all 4 of his targets for 26 yards in his NFL debut. A sub-10% target share isn't the most exciting item to see from Kincaid, though any production in lineups is appreciated given the week fantasy managers had with TEs.
Texans WRs Nico Collins and Robert Woods combined to draw nearly half of QB C.J. Stroud's 44 pass attempts in Sunday's loss to the Ravens. Collins led the team with 11 looks, catching 6 passes for 80 yards. Woods drew 10 targets and caught 6 for 57 yards. No other Texan drew more than 4 looks. WR Tank Dell, WR Noah Brown, and RB Mike Boone tied for third with 4 apiece. Target shares in the 22%+ range would make Collins and Woods decent-to-good PPR options going forward. Each is a fine reserve option in leagues of 12+ teams.
Texans QB C.J. Stroud threw for 242 yards in Sunday's season-opening loss to the Ravens. He took 5 sacks and lost a fumble but avoided INTs while attempting 44 passes. The most notable moment from Stroud's debut might have been when he caught his own first NFL pass attempt. Stroud's throw got batted into the air just short of the line of scrimmage. So Stroud charged ahead, caught the ball, and made it back to the line for no gain. That gave him just 1 catch fewer than TE Dalton Schultz collected for the game. Stroud's not a fantasy option outside of 2-QB and superflex leagues.
Bengals RB Joe Mixon recorded 13 attempts for 56 rushing yards in Week 1’s loss to the Browns. He also added 3 catches on 5 targets for 17 receiving yards as a receiver. The Bengals’ offense as a whole experienced a hard time getting anything going in the crummy Cleveland weather. Fortunately, there’s some hope to hold onto moving forward. Mixon dominated the RB workload, receiving 13 of the team’s 15 carries (86.6%). No other Bengals’ back saw more than 2 attempts. Managers looking ahead to Week 2’s matchup vs. the Ravens can feel good about the workhorse-like share from Mixon.
Texans S Jalen Pitre left Sunday's game against the Ravens with a chest injury and was quickly ruled out. We'll see about the official diagnosis. M.J. Stewart entered the game in Pitre's place in a secondary already missing S Jimmie Ward (hip).
Update: Pitre went to the hospital with a bruised lung after taking a knee from Ravens QB Lamar Jackson. NFL Network's Tom Pelissero reports that Pitre "should be OK." We'll see how much time he's expected to miss.
Texans WR John Metchie (hamstring) is out for Sunday’s game vs. the Ravens. He’s off the redraft radar. Nico Collins, Robert Woods, Noah Brown, and Tank Dell will operate as Houston’s top four WRs.
Texans WR John Metchie (hamstring) did not practice on Wednesday. He missed much of the spring with a hamstring injury, although it's unclear if this is related. Metchie wasn't slated to open the season with a top-three role even if he was healthy. He's not worth rostering in redraft leagues right now.
Texans TE Dalton Schultz ranked third at the position in first-team snaps in Sunday night's preseason finale. He played just four of the nine snaps that QB C.J. Stroud played, running two routes and drawing one target. Schultz did lead Houston TEs in those latter two categories. But he trailed Teagan Quitoriano (six snaps) and Dalton Keene (five) in playing time. It's just one game, and Stroud attempted only four passes total. Schultz's three targets in the previous outing tied for second on the team. So Sunday night's usage shouldn't leave you panicking if you've already drafted Schultz. But it's enough to confirm that he belongs in TE2 territory of upcoming fantasy football drafts. And if you have already drafted Schultz, you might want to check our TE rankings for an early pickup off waivers as insurance.
The Texans have officially named QB C.J. Stroud their regular-season starter. It's the move we've all expected basically since he was drafted. But it's nice to get official word ahead of the regular season. Stroud sits low in our QB rankings, though, and shouldn't be in your sights outside of superflex or 2-QB leagues, or late in best ball tournament drafts.
Texans WR Tank Dell was held out of Saturday’s preseason game with a tight leg muscle. In other words, he shouldn’t miss much practice time. “[He] felt a little tightness there… Tank will be fine,” HC DeMeco Ryans said. “We didn’t think it would be smart to put him out there, but Tank will be fine.” Dell remains an intriguing late-round flier in PPR setups.
A judge has ruled Bengals RB Joe Mixon not guilty of aggravated menacing charges that stemmed from a road-rage incident, according to multiple reports. That can only be good for Mixon's chances to avoid league suspension. He still faces a civil suit related to an offseason shooting that occurred on his property. We have no way of knowing how -- or if -- that might affect Mixon under the personal-conduct policy. We'll keep watching the situation. But Mixon's spot in our 2023 fantasy football rankings assumes no NFL suspension.
Texans WR Tank Dell was the most impressive player in Thursday night's preseason opener vs. the Patriots. The rookie caught five of eight targets for 65 yards and a score, flashing explosive burst after the catch and impressive concentration on his TD. “It was good to see Tank make some plays,” HC Demeco Ryans said afterward. “We’ve seen him make a lot of plays throughout training camp, some of these same plays, so it was good to see him do the same thing here in a game. He’s going to be an explosive playmaker for us, and we look forward to him continuing to make some of those plays.” There's plenty of room in Houston's WR corps for Dell to carve out a significant role this season. He's moving up our WR rankings.
Texans QB C.J. Stroud has taken “the bulk” of first-team reps for three straight days, per beat writer DJ Bien-Aime. While a near lock to start Week 1, the rookie barely cracks the top 30 of our fantasy QB rankings.
Update: Stroud will start Week 1 of the preseason on Thursday.
Bengals RB Joe Mixon has a lingering legal case that might still produce NFL discipline. He has an Aug. 14 court date on aggravated menacing charges stemming from the March 6 shooting incident at his home. Mixon was cleared of any further charges there but has been sued by the minor who was shot at by the boyfriend of Mixon's sister. We'd assume that lawsuit wouldn't motivate NFL discipline against Mixon. But the NFL's personal-conduct policy doesn't require any certain level of legal action to trigger suspensions. We'll certainly keep watching the whole situation but aren't currently factoring it into Mixon's spot in the fantasy football rankings.
Texans TE Dalton Schultz was back on the practice field on Friday, participating in full-team drills, per insider Aaron Wilson. Schultz missed a few days with an undisclosed injury, but consider his fantasy value unchanged.
Texans QBs C.J. Stroud and Davis Mills remain in an “interchangeable rotation as starters during practice,” per reporter Brooks Kubena. Houston’s been serious about making Stroud earn the starting job. We see the second overall pick under center come Week 1, but we’ll watch him closely come preseason play.
Texans TE Dalton Schultz missed his second straight practice on Tuesday. HC DeMeco Ryans recently downplayed the injury, but we’ll see when Schultz returns to practice.
Texans beat writer Jonathan M. Alexander believes the ground game will be the “focal point” of new OC Bobby Slowik’s offense. RB Damien Pierce leads the attack after an eye-opening rookie campaign. “For us to be a good offense, we have to have Dameon at his A-game,” Texans HC DeMeco Ryans said. “Dameon has been having a great offseason from OTAs to even now. He looks great and in shape. Every time he touches the ball, you see the speed and physicality.” Now, Pierce has his eyes set on hitting 1,000 rushing yards. “I definitely want to cap 1,000 (yards rushing),” Pierce said. “Slowik expects that, everybody around me expects that and I’m going to try everything in my power to get that.” The 23-year-old hits our fantasy RB rankings as a top-24 option.
The Vikings and Edge Danielle Hunter have agreed to a one-year, $20 million deal, according to NFL Network's Tom Pelissero. The pact ends offseason negotiations that included reports of Hunter being on the trade market. Hunter will play out his age-29 season in Minnesota. He has remained high among D-linemen in our 2023 IDP rankings.
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