In this first rendition of what I hope will be a weekly release, I’ll start out by explaining the significance of this article. I want this series to be a way for fantasy football fans to find all the relevant information from a week in one place with a short breakdown of what the news means on a deeper level. Training camp news comes out fast and frequent, and it can be difficult to keep track of, which is what I’m hoping to do for you all. Rather than further explanation, let’s get right into things.
AJ Green injures his foot and needs to be carted off the field
Obviously this is a major impact on the already weak Bengals offense. While there is no official news on the severity of the injury, AJ Green has dealt with foot problems multiple times before. He has been one of the league’s best receivers since he came into the league back in 2011 and this season he has become a great value in fantasy drafts, often times lasting al the way until the 4th round. Losing Green affects nearly all of the other fantasy-relevant pieces on the Bengals in a negative way. Joe Mixon is the only player who I would say this injury has little to no effect on. Tyler Boyd becomes the number one on this offense without Green, which is actually a bad thing. After Green got hurt in Week 9 last season, Boyd struggled with the attention he was getting from opposing teams’ best corners. Andy Dalton is also hurt quite substantially by this as he is losing his best and favorite target.
Update: As I am writing this article I just got the news that Green’s timetable for return is 6-8 weeks, which would get him back right around the start of the regular season or maybe a little after. Fingers crossed for this one.
Spin: Monitor this situation as your draft approaches. If Green stays on track to return for the regular season, he could be a great value as he will likely fall even lower than the fourth round. It is worth mentioning, however, this is a repeat injury for Green who has been nagged by his foot before. Making sure he is 100% will be very important before he returns to action.
The New York Giants lose not one, not two, but three wide receivers in the span of two days
Things can’t get a lot worse for the Giants’ receiving corps right now. Already hurting after trading away all-pro receiver Odell Beckham Jr., the Giants’ took three more blows this week as they lost WR1 Sterling Shepard to a broken thumb, WR2 Golden Tate to a banned substance suspension, and WR3 Corey Coleman to a torn ACL. Of the three, Coleman is the only one who will miss the whole season. Shepard will likely miss all of minicamp and preseason but is on schedule to start the season. As for Golden Tate, this is a bit of a weird one. He was taking a fertility drug to try to have children that happened to also be on the banned substance list. He as given a four game suspension, but has a solid case to have the ban reduced or erased altogether.
Spin: My major worry with all of these injuries is that Eli Manning and Daniel Jones will struggle to get on the same page with their receivers without the reps from minicamp. Cody Latimer will see a bump to the WR3 role, but that shouldn’t matter too much for fantasy purposes. Shepard and Tate are still decent late-round fantasy draft targets.
Running back Theo Riddick is cut by the Detroit Lions
In what was a surprise to many around the league, the Detroit Lions cut their third-down satellite back Theo Riddick. Riddick has been with the Lions for six seasons and established himself as one of the more reliable pass-catching backs in the league. Riddick will likely be signed by another team with a need at the running back position or at the third-down back role.
Spin: This is great news for Kerryon Johnson. Johnson now has a real shot at playing all three downs, as Riddick was the only major roadblock in his way. With LeGarrette Blount gone and the substantially less talented CJ Anderson and Zach Zenner behind him, Kerryon could see a massive number of touches in 2019. Fantasy drafters take note!
Ezekiel Elliott and Melvin Gordon hold out from their respective camps
This is huge news for anyone with a top 6 pick in fantasy drafts. I am not all too worried about the Ezekiel Elliott situation. He still has two years left on his contract, and this holdout is more of a scare tactic than it is an actual threat of him missing games. If he does not get a new contract this season or next offseason, then a holdout will be very scary, much like Melvin Gordon’s situation right now. Gordon has already stated that he is very willing to sit out games if the Chargers refuse to give him an extension or trade him. The logical place for any fantasy owner’s mind to go to is the Le’Veon Bell situation in 2018. Bell, however, was in a different situation as he was franchise tagged by the Steelers last year and Gordon is still under contract. Here is the fine print simplified: Gordon will be fined every week he misses until the end of October, which is his final report date. If he holds out past October, this season (2019) will be null and void contractually, and he will still be under contract in 2020.
Spin: If Gordon takes this holdout as far as he can, he will miss a maximum of 8 weeks. I don’t believe that Gordon will take the financial hit that holding out this long will bring, and I expect to see him settle for less money and return before the preseason is over. If Gordon does continue his holdout, Austin Ekeler and Justin Jackson are the heir apparents to Gordon’s job.
Michael Thomas holds out from camp in search of a new deal
This situation is much less intimidating than the running backs’ situations. Michael Thomas is an absolute beast on the field and has quickly become Drew Brees’ go-to-guy. 2019 is the final year of his rookie contract before he hits free agency in 2020 as an unrestricted free agent. It is certainly in the Saints best interests to lock Thomas up long term. The early rumor is that the two sides are very close in negotiations, so expect a deal to get done and Thomas to return to camp in the next week or two.
Spin: This holdout should not last anywhere near as long as Elliot’s or Gordon’s, as NFL teams are generally much more willing to give money to receivers than running backs. I expect Thomas to be back before preseason games begin, and he should be selected in fantasy drafts like normal – somewhere at the end of the first round or beginning of the second round.
Other minor headlines:
- Derrick Henry deals with lower leg injury during first week of camp; seen in walking boot
- Trent Williams holds out from Redskins camp
- Chris Carson says his knee is back to full health and he is “ready to go”
- Kalen Ballage and Kenyan Drake are splitting first-team reps
