This week's update on NFL fantasy position battles will look at recent news from Indianapolis, as well as potential shakeups in the Buffalo and Cincinnati wide receiver rotations.
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Job Battles
Khalil Shakir vs. Keon Coleman vs. Joshua Palmer, WR, BUF
The Bills are substantially invested in all three of these players, so it was reasonable to suspect that the position battle between the trio might result in something of a stalemate.
Since 2023 Khalil Shakir provided one of the most efficient two-year spans of production at wideout in NFL history, drawing 145 targets on 1,127 snaps and somehow converting those targets into 115 receptions 1,432 yards and six touchdowns. If you prorate that production over 800 snaps it would project for roughly 103 targets, catching 82 for 1,017 yards and four touchdowns.
Shakir only played 544 snaps in 2024, though, so offensive coordinator Joe Brady seemingly has some sort of issue in Shakir's game preventing him from taking a three-down role. Then again, the Bills did extend Shakir through the 2029 season this offseason with an agreement that should at least amount to something like a three-year, $37.1 million deal. Can Brady really turn down more snaps from a wideout who caught 79.3 percent of his targets at 9.9 yards per target?
Keon Coleman and Joshua Palmer could present obstacles to Shakir
This week's update on NFL fantasy position battles will look at recent news from Indianapolis, as well as potential shakeups in the Buffalo and Cincinnati wide receiver rotations.
Check out the industry-leading fantasy football live draft assistant to get custom rankings for your league and follow along with a live draft on most major platforms!
Job Battles
Khalil Shakir vs. Keon Coleman vs. Joshua Palmer, WR, BUF
The Bills are substantially invested in all three of these players, so it was reasonable to suspect that the position battle between the trio might result in something of a stalemate.
Since 2023 Khalil Shakir provided one of the most efficient two-year spans of production at wideout in NFL history, drawing 145 targets on 1,127 snaps and somehow converting those targets into 115 receptions 1,432 yards and six touchdowns. If you prorate that production over 800 snaps it would project for roughly 103 targets, catching 82 for 1,017 yards and four touchdowns.
Shakir only played 544 snaps in 2024, though, so offensive coordinator Joe Brady seemingly has some sort of issue in Shakir's game preventing him from taking a three-down role. Then again, the Bills did extend Shakir through the 2029 season this offseason with an agreement that should at least amount to something like a three-year, $37.1 million deal. Can Brady really turn down more snaps from a wideout who caught 79.3 percent of his targets at 9.9 yards per target?
Keon Coleman and Joshua Palmer could present obstacles to Shakir obtaining said snap count. Coleman appears locked in as the X wideout while the free-agent pickup Palmer apparently settles in as the primary flanker, with Shakir mostly playing in the slot.
Coleman was one of the most coveted wideouts of the 2024 draft and should see some growth after drawing 57 targets on 567 snaps as a 21-year-old rookie. Palmer was a quality swing backup for the Chargers behind Keenan Allen and Mike Williams at their peak. They'll both play substantial roles in the 2025 Buffalo offense.
How much space will Coleman and Palmer inhabit, though, especially at the expense of Shakir? Coleman had encouraging production in 2024 and Palmer has had some good days over the years, but Shakir has been blazing for two years now.
Palmer has reportedly done well for himself in Buffalo training camp, including potentially better than Coleman. Given Palmer's recent momentum and Shakir's well-established abilities, it might be Coleman who's at most risk of getting blocked out in this trio, especially if Palmer can start poaching 'X' snaps, which would clear up the two-wide second rep for Shakir to take at the vacated flanker spot.
Only Brady or perhaps Josh Allen know the answers to these questions for the time being, making this one of the league's most important fantasy position battles as training camp progresses.
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Andrei Iosivas vs. Jermaine Burton, WR, CIN
Andrei Iosivas logged a starter-like snap count in 2024, playing 841 snaps that should have proved more fruitful given that Joe Burrow threw for 4,900 yards and 43 touchdowns. Iosivas finished the year with 36 receptions for 479 yards and six touchdowns on 61 targets, meaning he was a below-baseline target for the Bengals even on a meager 9.7-percent target share.
Iosivas's 7.9 yards per target was roughly in line with the Bengals' team figure of 7.8 yards per target, but Iosivas' catch rate (59.0 percent) was abysmal relative to Burrow's 73.2-percent completed target rate. In other words, for Iosivas to be a clear positive contributor in the 2024 Bengals offense he would have needed to provide a catch rate about 13 points higher. Failing that, his target share should be reduced even further down from 9.7 percent until he can stay afloat.
That Iosivas was overexposed on a starter snap count is something the Bengals seemed to anticipate, thus their 2024 third-round selection of Jermaine Burton, who was widely regarded as something close to a first-round talent but one with personal/work ethic issues. Burton was a total mess as a rookie, however – he's lucky he didn't get cut – so Iosivas never faced true competition for snaps.
It sounds like things might be changing for Burton, however, and if Burton does get it together it could be a real problem for Iosivas' fantasy margins. In a Burrow offense the fight for the WR3 role could prove one of the most momentous fantasy position battles to monitor throughout training camp.
ESPN's Ben Baby reported Burton had been doing well in early training camp practices, in contrast to his 2024 showing.
Burton had a couple of good catches in a day filled with red-zone drills. And after a bad rookie season, Burton has displayed a marked difference.
Iosivas' snaps primarily occurred in the slot, so that might be where Burton needs to earn reps to poach Iosivas' snaps. From there, though, Burton could offer the Bengals a useful downfield target to deter the safeties from fixating so singularly on Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins.
DJ Giddens vs. Khalil Herbert vs. Tyler Goodson, RB, IND
None of these three backs is an especially good prospect, with Khalil Herbert evidently maxed out as a decent rushing specialist and Tyler Goodson probably no more than a draw back.
The rookie fifth-round pick DJ Giddens seems to have a little more going for him than the other two, though. Giddens (6-0, 212) is heavier than both of Herbert and Goodson and also likely faster (4.43-second 40). Giddens was a high-volume, high-efficiency workhorse at Kansas State, too. Neither Herbert nor Goodson claimed workloads like Giddens did.
Jonathan Taylor has a history of multiple high-ankle sprains and runs with the sort of power emphasis that entails more contact than most running backs face. If Taylor were to miss time then a big usage void would occur in the Colts offense, and Giddens in particular appears to have the tools to not only win this position battle but also hold off the competition conclusively from that point.
ESPN's Stephen Holder had the following to say about Giddens:
The fifth-round pick from Kansas State is vying to be the Colts' top backup behind Jonathan Taylor, and he's off to a strong start. … The Colts see Giddens as a potential third-down back who will bring the dual threat of running the ball and catching it out of the backfield with what Steichen described as "natural" hands.
Particularly if Giddens can continue to reassure Colts coaches on passing downs, he should be able to carve out an immediate role to the tune of 20-to-25 snaps per week even when Taylor is fully healthy.
Daniel Jones vs. Anthony Richardson (shoulder), QB, IND
Holder also reported that the competition between Daniel Jones and Anthony Richardson (shoulder) unsurprisingly turned out to be a stinker to this point. While there have been myriad reports detailing the ongoing struggles of Richardson, Holder suggests that Jones is failing at about the same pace.
According to Holder, "The Colts' quarterback competition remains tight, with neither Anthony Richardson Sr. nor Daniel Jones putting distance between them."
If Shane Steichen is waiting for a positive clarity then he might be disappointed. Jones has proven he is not good, and in the meantime Richardson offers no positive contrast.
Jones should still probably be considered the favorite of this competition, if only because he can reliably post a completion percentage above 60 percent. If Richardson can't approach that number then Steichen has a good excuse to pivot to Jones.
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