ESPN's Adam Schefter and NFL Network's Ian Rapoport have Bucs WR Julio Jones (knee) as a game-time decision for today's tilt with the Saints. "The hope is he can go, but it all depends on how he warms up," Rapoport tweets. We'll find out whether Jones is active around 11:30 am ET. But, considering his injury history, he'd be a very risky Week 2 fantasy play.
Bucs WR Julio Jones (knee) is listed as questionable for this weekend's game vs. the Saints. He got in just a limited practice on Friday and won't be at 100% if he suits up on Sunday. We'll get the Bucs' inactives around 11:30 am.
The Colts have ruled LB Shaquille Leonard out for Sunday’s game against the Jaguars. Leonard — working back from June back surgery — returned to full practice this week, which suggests he’s a strong possibility for Week 3. E.J. Speed stepped into Leonard’s starting role in Week 1, supplying 7 tackles (3 solo) and a sack. But he played just 54% of the snaps, which makes him tough to believe in for Week 2. LB Zaire Franklin joined Bobby Okereke as the full-timers. Expect Okereke to join Leonard in that pairing once the star is all the way back
Bucs WR Julio Jones (knee) missed his 2nd straight practice on Thursday. His availability for this weekend's game vs. the Saints is now in question. Check back Friday afternoon for another update on Jones' status.
Colts LB Shaquille Leonard (back) participated fully in practice Wednesday, pointing to a potential return for Sunday's game against the Jaguars. Leonard rejoined the team late in August but wasn't quite ready to play in the opener. If he's ready for Week 2, expect LB Zaire Franklin to lose playing time.
Bucs WR Julio Jones (knee) did not practice on Wednesday. It's unclear if this is a rest day or if Jones is actually hurt. Check back tomorrow for another update.
Eagles QB Jalen Hurts heads into Monday night as the 5th-highest scorer among QBs (in formats with 4-point TD passes) despite throwing for just 243 yards and 0 TDs in Sunday's win over the Lions. The driver, of course, was his 15-90-1 rushing line, which came from a mix of designed running plays and scrambles. Philadelphia kept the RPO heavily involved in the offense, and Hurts displayed an immediate connection with new WR A.J. Brown. The opener looked like exactly what you should have expected if you drafted Hurts, with plenty of upside remaining on the passing front.
If the opener laid out Philly's passing plan, then WR A.J. Brown will not have any target-volume issues. Instead, he'll be a big problem for his teammates. Brown claimed 13 targets among QB Jalen Hurts' 32 pass attempts in Sunday's win over the Lions, a 40.6% share. That's certainly not a rate we'd bet on continuing. But Brown could lose a quarter of that share and still rank among the league leaders in the category. He caught 10 balls for 155 yards, factoring in at all levels of the passing game. No other Eagle drew more than 4 targets, with TE Dallas Goedert, WR DeVonta Smith and RB Kenneth Gainwell tying for 2nd place. Goedert managed 3 catches for 60 yards. Smith didn't catch a pass. Brown will obviously remain a weekly starter for any fantasy team that drafted him. Goedert looks fine to continue using, as we'd expect at least a slight bump from his Week 1 target share of 12.5%. Smith would be better to bench at least until we see this passing picture develop a little further. Smith did, at least, play 6 more snaps than Brown and run 1 more route vs. Detroit.
Commanders WR Jahan Dotson tallied 3 catches, 40 yards and 2 TDs against Jacksonville. The rookie saw only 5 targets — a 12.1% share — but made them count alongside a surprisingly effective Carson Wentz. Both scores came on end zone targets, including one that was in particularly tight coverage along the sideline. Encouragingly, Dotson ran a route on 90% of Wentz’s drop-backs — not far behind Terry McLaurin’s 94%. Dotson has the talent to stick as a useful fantasy option in the right matchups. Week 2 turns up a matchup with a burnable Lions secondary.
Giants RB Saquon Barkley torched the Titans for 194 total yards on 24 touches. Yeah…he’s back. Not only based on today’s results, or the eye test. But check this one out, too: Barkley reached 21.11 MPH on today’s 68-yard run. That marked his fastest speed as a ball carrier since Week 17 of 2019, per Next Gen Stats. A healthy Barkley should continue to roll as an upside RB1. Week 2 brings up a home date with Carolina.
49ers RB Tyrion Davis-Price is a healthy scratch for today's opener vs. the Bears. Shades of Trey Sermon last year! -- although this one isn't nearly as big a surprise. San Francisco will roll with RBs Jeff Wilson and Jordan Mason behind starter Elijah Mitchell.
Broncos TE Albert Okwuegbunam isn't listed on the Week 1 injury report. He said last weekend that he was dealing with a "lower-body injury" but is evidently ready to go for Monday night's opener vs. the Seahawks. Okwuegbunam will be Denver's clear lead TE with rookie TE Greg Dulcich on IR.
The Colts have ruled LB Shaquille Leonard out for Sunday's opener against the Texans. The veteran is still working back from June back surgery. We'll see about his status for Week 2. Leonard's absence leaves Bobby Okereke as the best play at LB for the Colts, and a high-upside IDP option for the week.
Buccaneers WR Julio Jones landed on the 2nd team on Tampa Bay's initial "unofficial" depth chart of the regular season. That puts him behind WRs Mike Evans, Chris Godwin and Russell Gage. We'll exactly what that means as we move toward and then see the opener. Barring 1 of the top 3 being ruled out for Week 1, though, Jones will be a risky opening-week fantasy option.
Broncos TE Albert Okwuegbunam said he's dealing with a "lower-body" injury. He was held out of the preseason finale but said he could have played if it was a regular-season game. It sounds like Okwuegbunam will be fine for Week 1, but we'll keep an eye on his practice participation this coming week.
Colts LB Shaquille Leonard hit the practice field Wednesday for the 1st time since his June back surgery. That doesn't necessarily mean he'll be ready for the regular-season opener, but it's another sign that his full return is approaching. We'll watch the official practice reports on Leonard leading up to Week 1 and see if HC Frank Reich offers further status updates.
The Colts are taking LB Shaquille Leonard of the PUP list, according to multiple reports. We'll see what the team says about just when we should expect Leonard to return to the field, but this is obviously good news. It means Indy at least expects its defensive stud to be ready inside the 1st 4 games. Leonard has missed all of training camp and the preseason while recovering from June back surgery.
The Saints are trading DB Chauncey Gardner-Johnson to the Eagles for a 5th-round pick in 2023 and a 6th-rounder in 2024. On the same day, Philly released starting S Anthony Harris. That points to Gardner-Johnson -- who played a lot of slot CB in New Orleans -- lining up next to Marcus Epps as a safety in the Philadelphia defense. CGJ immediately gains IDP value as likely a full-time player for his new team. He was near that level with the Saints but figures to get a slight boost. Gardner-Johnson also might carry a CB designation in leagues that split DBs by position, which makes him worth particular attention there.
Bucs QB Tom Brady said WR Julio Jones is "really easy to have chemistry with" after Saturday night's preseason game. "Elite wide receiver," Brady said of Jones. The duo connected for a 20-yard gain on their only series of the final exhibition. With WR Russell Gage still sidelined with his hamstring injury -- and WR Chris Godwin coming off his torn ACL -- Jones could open the season with a big role.
The Eagles rested RB Boston Scott -- along with many starters -- in Saturday's preseason finale. RB Kenneth Gainwell played, however -- though he did leave after the team's 1st offensive possession. Brandon Lee Gowton of the Bleeding Green Nation Eagles blog writes that "points to him being RB3, which is a little weird because Gainwell seemed like RB2 for most of camp." Gainwell opened his rookie season as RB2 behind Miles Sanders before falling behind Scott and Jordan Howard in usage after Sanders went down. We'll see exactly how things sort out here. For now, both Gainwell and Scott make sense in the double-digit rounds of fantasy football drafts. Sanders is also going late enough to mitigate some of the risk on his role uncertainty and high injury probability. This could be a frustrating situation for fantasy players to deal with week to week, though.
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