Last week saw the first round of minicamps come to a close. These mandatory practices are one of the first glimpses we get to see of how each team’s offseason additions and subtractions have paid off.
While these practices are without pads, this first glimpse can provide some valuable information in terms of which players are standing out, who needs additional work, and where we could see some depth chart shuffling. We’ll start team-by-team and find the key news and notes that we should take away for fantasy implications.
Let’s go around the horn starting with the AFC teams that just wrapped up minicamp.
Cleveland Browns
Odell Beckham finally has a quarterback in Baker Mayfield that can throw to him with anticipation this year. The two routinely put on some brilliant plays when they were in unison, and Beckham showcased his athleticism adjusting to any off-target balls when they weren’t. Unfortunately, Beckham has just as many receivers fighting for targets as he did in New York. He is currently being drafted in the mid-second round as WR5.
Diving deeper into the receiver depth chart, with Jarvis Landry sitting out (undisclosed injury), several undrafted free agents were able to get some valuable first team reps. Damon Sheehy-Guiseppi could be a name for preseason DFS players to follow. His speed has stood out showing his separation in tight quarters within the red zone. He also saw some work returning punts and kicks. D.J. Montgomery also saw some time with the first team, making some plays deep down the field and beating one-on-one coverage. The final name of note was Ishmael Hyman, who also saw plenty of first team reps. Hyman comes from the AAF (Orlando Apollos) and has reportedly looked better with each passing practice.
Cleveland is giving Nick Chubb a chance to showcase his receiving skills. He caught plenty of targets out of the backfield as the team works on making him a multi-dimensional threat. Chubb wasn’t asked to catch the ball at Georgia, making this a new task for him to improve this offseason after just 20 receptions as a rookie.
The offseason additions along the defensive line — Olivier Vernon and Sheldon Richardson — should make this a tough unit for opposing offensive lines to slow down. They were getting to Mayfield quickly, forcing him to speed up his “internal clock” and routinely collapsing the pocket. Side note — I’m stashing Larry Ogunjobi everywhere I can in IDP leagues that require DTs. He’s the cheapest of this foursome and finished with seven sacks last year. No interior defender played more snaps than him last year.
Second-round pick CB Greedy Williams worked almost exclusively with the first team during minicamp. He and Denzel Ward make a youthful starting tandem with heavy draft capital invested at the position. Those two are getting invaluable practice reps against OBJ, forcing them to elevate their game. They’ve responded well with making plays all over the field and forcing turnovers.
Denver Broncos
It was worth noting that Joe Flacco routinely threw to his tight ends and running backs. Between Von Miller and Bradley Chubb forcing pressure, Flacco utilized his hot reads and dump offs to mitigate the pass rush and pick up yardage. Flacco still has the deep ball in his arsenal, but it was noteworthy how frequently he checked down with the short-to-intermediate pass. Last year in Baltimore he was right around league average in terms of targets to these two positions — 40% for Flacco with the league average being 41%.
The deep ball was still used from time to time, most notably with receiver Courtland Sutton. The two connected on several long balls — 30 yards for a score and 50 yards for a score — highlighting Flacco’s ability to throw downfield. Prior to getting benched last year, Flacco led all quarterbacks in deep throws of 20-plus yards (5.8 per game). Sutton ranked top-10 last year in most targets of 20-plus yards downfield (25). This could be a quietly fantastic stacking option for bestball leagues.
Royce Freeman looked impressive out there while Phillip Lindsay continues to recover from offseason surgery (wrist). Freeman was able to pick up additional yardage with shifty cutbacks. After a year that was mostly defined by injury and Lindsay stealing the spotlight, Freeman could turn into a valuable ZeroRB candidate as an eighth-round draft pick.
TE Austin Fort is a name that kept repeating when looking over minicamp news and notes. He made several red zone plays operating with the second team. He’s a name I’ll be keeping a close eye on during preseason as he tries to fight for a roster spot.
Miami Dolphins
Ryan Fitzpatrick has been lights out in practices without pads. He’s connecting at all levels of the field, in the red zone, and generally playing mistake-free football. He appears to have the starting gig locked up entering training camp ahead of Josh Rosen.
DeVante Parker hype is currently at the height of hyperbole. He’s catching everything thrown to him and connecting with Fitzgerald on deep bombs with regularity. While news from minicamp was glowing for Parker, he’s had trouble translating that to the regular season. Staying healthy remains his biggest hurdle. In four years, he’s played in 54-of-64 games, often with ailing injuries that limited him. Perhaps a new coaching regime can get the best out of Parker, who was routinely put down by former HC Adam Gase. If you want a cheap DFS stack for Week 1, look for the Fitzpatrick-Parker connection at what should be minimal prices.
One receiver that has stood out with a chance to make the 53-man roster is Preston Williams. The UDFA had a tumultuous off the field past, but tore up the Mountain West Conference for Colorado State finishing with a 96-1,345-14 receiving stat line. At 6’-3”, 210-pounds, he brings some welcome size to the Dolphins receiving corps. Albert Wilson’s rehab continues to go as planned (hip), but if there were any setbacks, the Dolphins have a rather thin depth chart for Williams to climb. Keep an eye on him throughout training camp.
Right tackle Jordan Mills was brought in to help solidify the right side of the offensive line. After getting beat regularly in practice, guard Jesse Davis replaced him. Mills was a three-year starter in Buffalo and has undoubtedly had one of the more disappointing camps in Miami. The Dolphins allowed the sixth-most sacks (52) and seventh-most quarterback hits last year (107). This could remain a weakness heading into 2019.
New England Patriots
Maurice Harris is a name that’s been repeated multiple times as an early camp standout. He’s been getting in extra first-team reps with Tom Brady, impressing throughout camp. Operating primarily out of the slot, Harris has done well high pointing the ball and reeling it in. Harris had some success operating out of the slot last year for Washington (catching 15-of-18 balls) and gives New England an additional wrinkle by moving Julian Edelman around the formation and having Phillip Dorsett man the other outside receiver spot. Rookie N’Keal Harris worked with the second team for much of minicamp. He flashed at times, but had separation issues with tight coverage — a consistent knock against him during the draft process.
Sony Michel remains out (knee), leaving an opportunity for New England’s crowded running back depth chart to let other names shine. Rookie Damien Harris has been the main recipient of these additional snaps. The coaching staff has been testing him out in different situations to see what they have in the young Alabama product. After sitting out this week’s activities, Michel will have had seven weeks to get his knee right before training camp starts.
Matt LaCosse has separated himself from the tight end group early with a strong camp. The team just released Austin Seferian-Jenkins and Benjamin Watson will miss the first four games due to suspension (PED). There’s an opportunity for LaCosse to seize the TE1 role and not let it go to Watson upon his return.
The return of Jamie Collins is another noteworthy thing for IDP players. Collins was traded mid-season by New England in 2016, a year after he posted top-12 fantasy scoring with 91 solo tackles, 5.5. sacks, and five forced fumbles. Entering his age-30 season, he still has a chance to put up LB2 numbers.
New York Jets
There were a lot of changes for the Jets over the offseason — hiring Adam Gase as the head coach, bringing in Gregg Williams at defensive coordinator, and most recently, adding GM Joe Douglas has made this quite a year of change for New York.
Despite all these additions, perhaps the biggest news at Jets camp was the arrival of running back Le’Veon Bell after his signing of a four-year, $52.5M contract with $27M guaranteed. Bell has remained absent from voluntary practices, preferring to work out with his personal trainer, but finally made his Jets debut during mandatory minicamp. After skipping an entire year due to contract disputes, Bell was eased into the offense (just seven reps in first practice, eight in the second practice), despite his requests for more snaps to the coaching staff. All reports are that he’s engaged with the squad, but that a few live reps may have helped knock off some rust.
The other biggest news surrounded the development of Sam Darnold as he enters his sophomore season. He inherits a new offense with Gase calling the shots, and the initial results show there’s still work to be done. Passes were overthrown, intercepted, and often dropped by his receivers, with the first team still working on getting in sync. The 22-year-old still has a lot of work to do to learn Gase’s offense before Week 1.
