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NFL Training Camp Notes: It's Not Easy Being Green

Practices are in full swing, contract holdouts are in full, uhh, stall, and ADP lists are in turmoil. There's really nothing like the early days of training camp to keep fantasy GMs on their toes, and Sunday's news has some major implications at the draft table. Let's dive in and take a look.

  • in what shouldn't really be a surprise to anyone, A.J. Green's ankle is more serious than the Bengals were initially hoping. The receiver has torn ligaments rather than just a bad sprain, and the timetable for his return is now 6-8 weeks. That now only puts his availability in doubt for Week 1, but an eight-week absence could keep him sidelined through Week 3's tilt in Buffalo. Green's seeing a specialist Monday, so some good news is still possible, but his chances of suiting up for a full 16-game schedule -- something he's managed to do only once in the last three seasons -- already look bleak. Cincy's depth chart behind him is also precariously thin -- Tyler Boyd showed out pretty well last year in the lead role, but John Ross is already dealing with a tight hamstring in camp and can't be counted on.
  • another early-round pick who came up limping this weekend was Damien Williams, who left practice Sunday with a hamstring issue. Given how early it is in camp, Kansas City is probably just being cautious with their new No. 1 RB, but we still don't really know how Williams will hold up under a significant workload, as last year's 73 touches were his career high. If he has further breakdowns in the preseason, it might be prudent to secure Carlos Hyde as a handcuff if you're invested heavily in Williams.
  • not all of Sunday's injury news was bad. Antonio Brown was placed on the Non-Football Injury list to begin camp by the Raiders, but he's already off the list and back at practice, although Brown was limited to individual drills. It remains to be seen how he'll perform outside of Pittsburgh, and Derek Carr is no Ben Roethlisberger, but the more time AB has to nail down his chemistry with his new QB, the more he'll be able to make the Steelers regret moving on from him.
  • another WR off to an encouraging start to camp is Will Fuller. The Texans deep threat practiced without restrictions Saturday, just nine months removed from ACL surgery. Fuller's extensive injury history is well documented, and his has yet to play a full 16-game schedule in three NFL seasons, but his explosive connection with Deshaun Watson still make him a strong best-ball option, and you never know if this is the year he might stay mostly healthy.
  • among the rookie WR cohort, Parris Campbell has plenty of boosters among fantasy experts, but he apparently has a more important one in Colts coach Frank Reich. Campbell did tweak his hamstring towards the end of Sunday's practice, but before that he impressed Reich enough to draw the following comment out of him: "The two plays he made in the end zone today weren't gadget, hybrid, slot-receiver type plays. They were legit, NFL, I'm-gonna-be-a-stud-receiver plays." Indy already has an I'm-gonna-be-a-stud-receiver in T.Y. Hilton, but Devin Funchess never hit for 1,000 yards or 70 catches during four years in Carolina and hardly has an iron grip on the No. 2 WR role after signing a one-year deal in the offseason. If Campbell keeps impressing, the second-round pick has the talent to make himself one of  Andrew Luck's favorite targets.
  • Washington's camp is in its usual chaotic state. Seven-time Pro Bowl offensive tackle Trent Williams isn't in camp, and it's not even clear why he's holding out -- some reports have said he wants a new contract, while others suggest he's not happy with the team's medical staff following offseason surgery to remove a growth from his head. Of course, both could be true, and the team had to trot their senior VP of public relations out for the media Sunday just to deny that the relationship between Williams and the team was damaged beyond repair. HTTR, indeed. If Williams doesn't end up returning, it would leave a very big hole on the offensive line, potentially impacting the value of every skill player on the roster -- especially RBs Derruis Guice and Adrian Peterson. In fact, if Williams leaves, there's really no way of telling how his long-time best friend Peterson (they've known each other since high school and own a gym together in Houston) will respond.
  • finally, fantasy GMs looking at D'Onta Foreman as a sleeper may want to pump the brakes a bit. While Texans running backs coach Danny Barrett has raved about Foreman's recovery from his 2017 Achilles tear, head coach Bill O'Brien wouldn't even commit to the third-year back being his No. 2 when asked about the state of the depth chart Sunday, saying only that Lamar Miller was his No. 1. It's hard to imagine the likes of Josh Ferguson or Taiwan Jones supplanting Foreman, but O'Brien's obstinacy isn't a secret. If for some reason he's decided he just doesn't like the kid, there may not be much Foreman can do to prove he deserves a significant role in the offense.