Training Camp Notes: August 19

Training Camp Notes: August 19

This article is part of our Training Camp Notes series.

Here are some of the top fantasy football headlines from Wednesday.

-Miles Sanders is week-to-week with an unspecified lower body injury, though ESPN.com's Tim McManus cites a team source that assured him Sanders "will be ready to play." Philadelphia's Week 1 game is at Washington on Sept. 13, which would be roughly the 3.5-week mark from the point of the injury. If Sanders is limited upon his return, Boston Scott would likely handle the targets and outside carries while a third-stringer could emerge among Corey Clement, Elijah Holyfield or Michael Warren to handle between-the-tackle carries. Scott himself is dealing with a lower body issue, though his was described as day-to-day.

 
-With Adrian Peterson taking a veteran day off, both 2019 fourth-round pick Bryce Love and 2020 third-round pick Antonio Gibson worked with the Washington first-team offense Wednesday.

It's a good sign for both prospects, but arguably more so for Love since it was unclear where he stood in his attempt to regain his pre-injury form after a December 2018 ACL tear in his right knee, which needed a second surgery in October of 2019. If Love (5-9, 205) is back to his normal self, then he provides Washington compelling speed even if he's only in a committee role. That could be the way it ends up – Peterson might still have something left as a power runner and Gibson will be tough to match as a pass-catcher – but Love likely runs a 40 in the low 4.3 range at worst and could provide a handful of explosive carries. The Washington defense could take a leap forward with the addition of Chase Young, so the backfield could have a lot of work to do if Washington's time of possession increases.

 
-Free agent pickup Breshad Perriman has reportedly worked well with Sam Darnold to this point, which makes Perriman the clear favorite to function as the Jets' top outside receiver in 2020. Darnold referred to Perriman today as "everything you want in a receiver." That's particularly true with Denzel Mims (hamstring) week to week and Vyncint Smith out following a core muscle surgery. Jamison Crowder and Chris Herndon have respectively stood out at slot receiver and tight end, but there's still a good amount of runway left for Perriman if he keeps it up. After a brutal first four games in 2019, catching just three receptions for 16 yards on 16 targets, Perriman dominated in the final nine games with 33 receptions for 629 yards on 53 targets. It's also worth noting that Perriman has drawn air yardage at a uniquely high rate over the past two years, drawing 1,567 in his last 870 snaps. That's 1.8 yards per snap, and Perriman's 2019 figure of 1.72 air yards per snap registered at the 87th percentile.

 
-The Titans cut running back Dalyn Dawkins, leaving their depth behind Derrick Henry suspiciously weak. Even with a generous read on rookie third-round pick Darrynton Evans, at 5-10, 203 he would need some help picking up the slack in the event that Henry were sidelined. Hopefully that just doesn't happen, but if it did they'd need reinforcements. That was true even before they cut Dawkins, and now their depth chart is even worse. OverTheCap.com lists Tennessee as having the 12th-most cap space, so they seem like a reasonable candidate to add a free agent runner in the near future. Devonta Freeman, Spencer Ware, Jay Ajayi and Isaiah Crowell are maybe the biggest names left in a running back free agent list that's suddenly thinned out.

 
-AtlantaFalcons.com's Will McFadden identified Qadree Ollison as Wednesday's most impressive running back for the Falcons, a statement that followed praise for Todd Gurley's practice work. It's a team publication and therefore liable to mean little, but Ollison is the heaviest Falcons runner and was mostly very productive at Pittsburgh in college, pushed to the background only because of James Conner playing on the same team. Considered a fullback tweener at one point as a prospect, the Falcons only used him as a short-yardage specialist after selecting him in the fifth round last year, his 22 carries going for 50 yards and four touchdowns. If Ollison impresses it might be more of a problem for Brian Hill than Ito Smith, because neither of Ollison or Hill are likely to match Smith's abilities as a pass catcher.

 
-The 49ers signed free agent wide receiver Jaron Brown, formerly of the Seahawks and Cardinals after going undrafted out of Clemson in 2013. Brown is a standout athlete at 6-2, 204, but he's been unproductive as a receiver throughout his career. Turning 31 in January, he's unlikely to amount to more than scout-team purposes up to final cutdowns, even with Jalen Hurd (knee) done for the year. With tight end signing Jordan Reed offering a bigger receiving option already, speedy fellow free agent signings J.J. Nelson and Tavon Austin are probably better bets to make the final roster than Brown.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mario Puig
Mario is a Senior Writer at RotoWire who primarily writes and projects for the NFL and college football sections.
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