Life moves pretty fast in the NFL. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you might miss it. Ferris Bueller would have been a great fantasy football player because he was always one step ahead of his competition. Information is king in fantasy football, and you want to keep up with all of the happenings around the league in the lead up to your draft. That way you can stay one step ahead of your competition, just like Bueller. Bueller. Bueller…
INJURY INFORMATION
Doug Baldwin: The Seahawks made some waves last week when they announced that Baldwin was dealing with some knee soreness and would miss some or all of the preseason. If Head Coach Pete Carroll is believable, the issue isn’t serious, and Baldwin will be back for the regular season. The situation is worth monitoring as a nagging knee injury will limit both the 29-year-old receiver’s upside as well as that of quarterback Russell Wilson.
Antonio Brown: The fantasy star missed some time recently with a quad injury but has returned to the team. The Steelers don’t need to rush the charismatic wide receiver back to action. Don’t be alarmed if Brown isn’t spotted in drills for a while longer yet.
A.Q. Shipley: The Cardnials’ starting center is going to miss the entire season with a torn ACL. While Shipley himself is not on any fantasy rosters, his loss will negatively affect those who are. This injury might spell disaster for the fragile and immobile Sam Bradford and its undoubtedly bad news for any players catching passes from him. Vegas projected this team at 5.5 wins before the loss of their starting center. DJ will still get his points, but you might want to avoid Arizona Cardinals in your draft.
Gerald Everette: People are expecting good things from the Rams sophomore TE in 2018. Unfortunately, Everette is dealing with a shoulder sprain and is not practicing with the team. He is still worth a flier deep in your draft if you wait on TE as he is not expected to miss any time and only has to beat out Tyler Higbee for fantasy relevance on a good offense.
Sony Michel: All offseason Sony Michel has been a darling of fantasy experts despite his fumbling issues in college. Michel was having a shaky training camp and is now out for a few weeks after having a minor procedure to drain fluid from his knee (Michel injured his knee in the SEC championship game). Proceed with caution regarding the rookie in a crowded Patriots backfield.
Darius Guice: This is a heartbreaker, plain and simple. Guice tore his ACL in the first preseason game and will miss the entire season. This is crushing for both the Redskins and for fantasy drafters. Guice was a nice mid-round value with RB1 upside. Draft Perrine at your own risk.
ADDITIONS/SUBTRACTIONS/SUSPENSIONS
Patriots Wide Receivers: The Patriots wide receiving corps has been in near constant flux this offseason. The latest victims are Jordan Matthews and Malcolm Mitchell. The Patriots released both players within one week of each other. To fill the void, the Pats signed Eric Decker off of the free agent scrap heap.
Decker will join the likes of veterans Kenny Britt, Philip Dorsett, Cordarrelle Patterson as well as Braxton Berrios, Riley McCarron, Paul Turner and Devin Lucien to compete for a spot on the team behind Chris Hogan and the suspended Edelman. Decker looks to have a great shot at the starting spot opposite Hogan while short-stack Braxton Berrios might be just what the doctor ordered at the slot in New England until Edelman returns. That said, there are rave reviews about Patterson coming out of camp. Not that we’ve ever heard rave reviews about Cordarrelle Patterson coming out of training camps before…
Corey Coleman: The Browns must have hated the 2016 first-rounder. They gave him to Buffalo for as close to nothing as possible: a seventh-round pick in a draft two years from now. Surprisingly, despite the embarrassment, the move is good news for Coleman. Coleman has an opportunity to not only get playing time but actually land a starting gig on a Bills team that needs all the help it can get. I still prefer to gamble on naked Zay Jones though.
Antonio Callaway: The biggest benefactor of the Browns jettisoning Core Coleman was Antonio Callaway. Or so we thought. As it turns out Callaway was arrested at 3am on Sunday morning and charged with possession of marijuana. Callaway, who has had a bit of a checkered past, was also driving with a suspended license. The rookie was pulled over for failing to yield to oncoming traffic. Ugh. Looks like its not time to move him up the board just yet.
HYPE TRAIN
There are loads of valuable information coming out of training camps this time of year. There is also a ton of worthless hype. Today alone the internet is abuzz with reports that Devontae Booker is listed as the Broncos starting running back and the Jets are enamored with a fourth-round TE named Chris Herndon. Ignore this type of information. Royce Freeman will win the starting job in Denver, and Chris Herndon will not be worth drafting. He might be a name to store away for DFS or a bye week pinch, nothing more.
One interesting tidbit of information that is worth noting comes from Bears camp. Jordan Howard, who is criminally underrated, has been catching between 200 and 300 balls a day before and after practice. Howard got a day off from practice on Tuesday to rest up a knee he slightly injured in an earlier practice, but the Bears don’t seem concerned. Howard can easily finish as a top-five back in fantasy.
