LaFleur: ‘Realistic’ Kraft in joint practices

Jefferson spent all offseason with the Commanders but found himself on the outside looking in when camp cuts came around. The 30-year-old receiver caught 29 passes for 350 yards and one touchdown last season with the Titans and has bounced around the league over the last four seasons. He could be an injury away from being promoted to the 53-man roster, but we wouldn’t expect him to offer much fantasy production even if he is active on game day.

Head coach Dave Canales said last week that he was “very optimistic” that Brooks would play in Week 1 against the Bears, so we won’t worry too much about this one just yet. The Panthers won’t release their first official injury report until Wednesday, which should give us a better idea of where things stand for Brooks in the season opener. The 23-year-old back has had a strong training camp and is expected to split work with Chuba Hubbard if active. Both RBs should be viewed in the RB3 range for Week 1 if active.

Henderson has missed multiple weeks of practice since sustaining an ankle injury on August 24th. After being a DNP on Sunday, Henderson missing Monday’s practice would be a bad sign for his availability for Wednesday’s season opener against the Seahawks. The Patriots will take the field later in the day, so we should have an update soon on whether or not he’s with the team. If he’s unable to play on Wednesday, Rhamondre Stevenson would be in line to handle a significant workload against a stout Seahawks defense.

Veteran QB Cooper Rush will serve as the Falcons’ QB2 in the season opener. Speaking on Monday with the media, Stefanski declined to put a timeline on when Penix could be ready to take the field, instead saying he is “very confident in the plan” they have for the 26-year-old QB. Earlier, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported that the Falcons wanted to give Penix “a couple more weeks” to prepare for the season, so it wouldn’t be surprising if we are a few weeks away from him dressing for game days.

This is an encouraging piece of news from Evans, who dealt with a quad injury and an abductor injury during training camp. According to the 33-year-old vet, none of the injuries he was dealing with would have resulted in him missing game time, which should give fantasy managers a boost of confidence entering this season. Evans signed a three-year contract with the 49ers this offseason and is coming off a year in which he was limited to just eight games due to a hamstring injury and a broken clavicle. Evans is expected to serve as the Niners’ WR1 this season and profiles as a high-upside WR2 in fantasy who should provide plenty of big weeks this season.

Penix was cleared to participate in 11-on-11s back on August 22nd and hasn’t logged much practice in camp. As a result, Tua Tagovailoa has been named the starter for the Falcons to kick off Week 1 against the Steelers, buying Penix some additional time to get practice reps and get his knee right before being put in game situations. Rapoport said the Falcons hope to give Penix “a couple more weeks” before playing him, so it wouldn’t be surprising if we saw Tua under center for the first few games of the season before the Falcons consider a switch at the position. Tagovailoa struggled in camp and throughout the preseason and is expected to be on a short leash once Penix is ready to go.

Kittle was on the field on Monday when the Niners took the field to begin prepping for their Week 1 opener against the Rams in Australia. The veteran tight end has long been expected to play in Thursday’s game, so the fact that he was on the field doesn’t come as much of a surprise. Kittle was able to log a few practices last week, but could be on a bit of a pitch count in his first game since suffering a torn Achilles in mid-January. Assuming he is limited in some capacity, Kittle should be viewed as a boom/bust TE1 for fantasy purposes.

While most of us were asleep on Sunday night, the 49ers were already conducting a Monday afternoon practice in Australia. According to NBC Sports’ Matt Maiocco, McCaffrey was not seen taking part in drills during the early portion of practice. It’s possible this is by design as the Niners prepare for their season opener on Thursday against the Rams, so we won’t read too much into this just yet. McCaffrey missed some time during training camp due to “tightness,” but seemingly downplayed any idea of an injury when he later said the time off during camp was “the plan from the jump.” This is something to keep an eye on in the coming days, but for now, we’ll assume McCaffrey will be good to go for the season opener. According to Maiocco, DE Nick Bosa was also not spotted during the early portion of practice on Monday.

Despite an up-and-down training camp, Tagovailoa will get the nod as the starter when the Falcons kick off the season on Sunday against the Steelers. Given the fact that Michael Penix Jr. (knee) was still limited at the start of camp, Tagovailoa had long been assumed to have the inside edge on the QB1 job at the start of camp, but Penix was still given a shot to compete for the job despite not being cleared for 11-on-11 practice until August 22nd. According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, part of the decision to name Tagovailoa the starter came down to the fact that Penix “did not believe that he was ready” to play on game days. Tagovailoa shouldn’t be counted on in standard 1QB leagues at this point, and fantasy managers looking to add him in 2QB and superflex leagues shouldn’t view him as a long-term solution. It would not be at all surprising if we saw both Tagovailoa and Penix start multiple games for the Falcons this season, with rookie UDFA Jack Stand also being a dark horse to see snaps at some point in the season after an impressive training camp and preseason.

Popper makes clear that RB Omarion Hampton will be an offensive centerpiece, but Mitchell should have his own helpful role as well. Mitchell will be involved in the passing game, at times lining up outside and getting involved “vertically” as a receiver. Mitchell will need to maximize his touches if he is going to warrant FLEX treatment as Hampton’s sidekick, and his health remains a question at the moment, as he deals with an undisclosed injury. On the plus side, Popper did not mention the ailment at all, which could be taken as a positive.