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Well EDGE family, by the time you read this, you’ll likely be less than half a day from the NFL’s roster cut deadline. It’s easy from a broader fantasy perspective to look at the majority of these players as irrelevant to your lives. But spare a thought for the ones who don’t make it through the chaos. Most NFL careers are not long-lasting, and these guys are not blessed with a connected minor league affiliate. They are getting small settlements at best for their injuries, and then are sent on to NFL life support via practice squad or, well, the tryout circuit -- for many, the dream will end. It’s one of the most brutal days in the sport, and it’s a hectic one over here at NBC Sports EDGE as well.
Deshaun Watson could be inactive for the whole season
Ah yes, a Deshaun Watson update that doesn’t really have an ending anyone can see in sight, that’s new and notable! Per Aaron Wilson of SportsTalk 790, the Texans are prepared to carry Watson on the active roster all season and make him a healthy inactive. Now this isn’t, strictly speaking, “legal.” Jason Fitzgerald of Over The Cap wrote a post on the CBA possibilities of a Watson challenge and noted that there’s only so long that sort of “discipline” can fly. After a weekend of media building up the possibility of a trade with the Dolphins, nothing happened Monday and it was capped off by this report. (Well, the Dolphins released Benardrick McKinney, which opened up a little more salary cap space for them. But otherwise.) [[ad:athena]]
Until and unless that trade comes to fruition, this creates an interesting stalemate situation that the NFL does not seem to have much interest in getting out in front of. It’s possible that Watson could just accept that the Texans don’t want him on the team and collect his game checks. It’s also possible that he could force Houston’s hand to activate him. The Texans have veered sharply away from addressing him as a current member of the team since the number of lawsuits against him has grown, and have spent most of training camp just referring to him as “the situation hasn’t changed” or “it’s day-to-day, as we’ve said.” Watson has reported to camp and done what’s been asked of him, and as far as the public is aware of, he has not refused to play.
Listen, I’m sure if you’ve considered drafting Deshaun Watson at this point you have some idea of what you’re getting into as far as risk/reward. There’s still the looming possibility of suspension or commish exempt list. The Texans have not seemed to be willing to give in on their trade demands -- and really, it makes little sense for them to deal Watson to a team that he would play for this year if they want the return to have any high picks. But this situation has defied any semblance of reality for so long that, hey, let’s be open to anything. Maybe he’ll be the Dolphins starter in Week 1, maybe he won’t play at all this season. For most of your home leagues, he’ll be hanging around at the end of the draft unless something changes, and you’ll be able to release him if he doesn’t make the lineup.
Carson Wentz hits COVID-19 list as close contact
A Colts trainer testing positive for COVID has placed starting quarterback Carson Wentz on the COVID-19 list for five days. Per league rules, unvaccinated players are required to sit out five days if they are a close contact with someone else who tests positive. Ryan Kelly and Zach Pascal also joined Wentz on the list.
Have I talked about COVID vaccines on this website before? Hm, I’m being told that I did last week about Cam Newton’s stint on the list for a similar situation. It turns out that these unvaccinated quarterbacks are -- regardless of your vaccine stance -- putting themselves in major danger of missing games for at least the first few months. The Colts in particular have been a COVID minefield, having had nine separate players hit the COVID list since camp opened.
You probably weren’t drafting Wentz if you weren’t in a superflex league, but his inability to stay on the practice field is keeping him from valuable reps and the fact that he’s not vaccinated has the potential to suddenly lurch the Colts offense one way or another from week-to-week. You could make an argument that it lowers the ceiling of the Colts offense, but I think in the wake of T.Y. Hilton‘s neck injury, it presents some potential fantasy arbitrage for Jonathan Taylor. The Colts might run a lot if they happen to not have their starting quarterback, and they have been fairly effective at running over the past two seasons. And, well, Jacob Eason is an unknown, but is his downside really any greater than the Wentz that we saw last year? With Hilton’s injury, things are opening up nicely for Michael Pittman as a volume play.
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“Chip” in Finger sidelines Trey Lance for a week
During Monday’s press availability, 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan noted that rookie quarterback Trey Lance -- who spent Sunday creating Gus Bradley‘s biggest run fit nightmare since Arian Foster was alive -- had a “chip” in his finger and would roughly miss a week of action. While it isn’t much of a certainty at this point, it is possible that a longer recovery than expected would hold Lance out of the Week 1 game plan against the Detroit Lions. And reader, if you like fantasy points, you’re going to want to see Trey Lance against the Lions defense.
The situation at 49ers quarterback has heavily leaned upside in fantasy leagues, with Lance taking over as the late-round pick of the litter and Jimmy Garoppolo falling well off the radar. Despite that, Shanahan threatened a rotation after their thorough domination of the Raiders second stringers. This situation might take a bit to settle -- and the injury may contribute to a slow start for Lance -- but all the upside in the backfield would seem to be with Lance and there are a lot of paths that lead to him taking over the job full-time in the near future. Don’t lose sight of that because of a minor injury.
Todd Gurley, as all breathing backs are, is linked (and disavowed) to replace J.K. Dobbins-sized hole in Ravens backfield
Media started to assemble quickly to wishcast Todd Gurley on to the Ravens roster based on a previous workout, but per Josina Anderson, the Ravens are not expected to pursue the former fantasy football No. 1 overall pick.
You pretty much have to go into drafts at this point expecting that Ty’Son Williams will be the Ravens No. 2 back, though if you scheduled a draft on the NFL cutdown day, that’s on you. This is the hottest fantasy football running back landing spot if someone is brought in to share work with Gus Edwards. There are replacement-level NFL backs who could run for 1,000 yards with Lamar Jackson setting them up. There aren’t many situations in the NFL that can hit the fantasy football radar in a big way on cutdown day purely as far as a waiver claim or signing, but this is one of them.
Edwards deserves the ADP rise for now, but he’s never been much of a passing-downs back. Edwards has just 22 pass targets in three seasons. Keep an eye on the potential that Baltimore will be aggressive about pursuing someone to fill that hole. If they don’t make a move in that vein, don’t forget to put Williams into your late-round ADP conversation.
Let’s talk about minor transactions!
Darryl Johnson flashed some pass rush upside with the Bills this preseason, notching eight total pressures in 66 pass rush snaps per PFF -- that was enough to get on Carolina’s rotational end radar. ... Billy Price‘s next good game as a starter will be his first, so it’s hard to argue with the Bengals for cutting bait and receiving someone who can play some defensive line snaps in B.J. Hill. The net effect of Price’s absence from the Bengals line is probably a net positive for Joe Burrow. ... The Lions cut loose Breshad Perriman. He will have an eternal market because of his size and speed, because this is the coach that’s going to turn his career around. Nobody else has thought of it that way before. ... Sidney Jones winds up as a player to be named later in Jacksonville’s signing of Shaq Griffin, as he heads to Seattle for a sixth-round pick. Tough news for John Reid, who was hoping he’d be the top “we just traded for this corner” on the roster.
