NFL

Campbell said that Branch hasn’t had any setbacks in his recovery from a torn Achilles, but wouldn’t put a timeline on the 24-year-old safety’s eventual return. Branch attended practice in a T-shirt and shorts on Thursday. Campbell jokingly set the timetable for Branch to return in December, just so the media would stop asking about it. Christian Izien and Chuck Clark continue to take the first-team safety reps for the Lions in practice with Branch and Kerby Joseph (knee) sidelined.

It’s a good sign. There’s no reason for the Lions to push LaPorta at this point after having surgery on his back in November. Detroit is taking the cautious approach with the 25-year-old tight end, holding him out of positional and team drills. Ideally, LaPorta will be ready for next month’s training camp.

Back in Michigan for a charity event, Ragnow met with the Detroit media and opened up on his retirement and failed comeback attempt. Ragnow, who turned 30 in May, said he didn’t plan on retiring last summer, but his body had other ideas. He admitted to feeling guilty watching the Lions struggle without him during the season, which is when he made what he called the “bonehead decision” to try to play again. Ragnow suffered a Grade 3 hamstring strain that derailed his comeback attempt. In typical Ragnow-like fashion, the resilient center wasn’t aware the injury was so severe. He made it clear he has no plans to try another comeback, closing the book on a career worthy of the Lions’ Ring of Honor. The Lions have moved on as well, signing C Cade Mayes to a three-year contract in free agency this offseason.

Per Shipley, Washington is now “in a full-time role on offense,” and believes the Jaguars are ready to let him “take his chance and run with it.” Jaguars coach Liam Coen said earlier this offseason that he wants to “unlock” Washington’s post-catch potential. Recently, he celebrated Washington’s ability to line up out wide, in the slot, run routes at all three levels and his improvements in reading coverages pre-snap. Last season, Coen employed three-wide receiver sets at the league’s third-highest rate (70.9 percent). If he does so again, the offense might be able to produce usable fantasy stat lines for Washington, WR Brian Thomas Jr. and WR Jakobi Meyers. If Coen shifts even 5-10 percent toward two-wide receiver sets, things could get slightly volatile. We should learn more in training camp. Stay tuned.

McCarthy fielded questions from reporters after practice on Tuesday and was asked about Heidenreich at the very end. McCarthy kept things short, but complimentary, saying Heidenreich is an instinctive, natural football player with an excellent skill set, who has had a tremendous start. The Steelers’ coach adds that Heidenreich has “picked up the offense” and has “positional flexibility.” Notably, the Steelers are listing him with an RB/WR designation on their team website. Heidenreich has a long way to go before becoming fantasy-relevant, but McCarthy’s words are encouraging.

Noel has been “making waves” in organized team activities and mandatory minicamp and has “all the makings of a second-year breakout,” running as the first-team offense’s primary slot receiver. Koch believes WR Tank Dell (knee) could face a slow ramp-up process and will likely play on the outside most of the time, rather than in the slot. The Texans’ sixth-round rookie WR Lewis Bond is apparently Noel’s only real competition for the slot role, which is to say, he has almost none. If Noel can carry this momentum into training camp, he has a chance to return FLEX value, or more, this season.

Kirchner spent the last 16 seasons working for the Seahawks alongside the Vikings’ recently hired GM Nolan Teasley. Kirchner spent the last seven seasons as the Seahawks’ vice president of player personnel and “is widely regarded as one of the NFL’s top talent evaluators.” The Vikings also hired Andrew Healy as an assistant general manager. He previously served as the Browns’ vice president of research and strategy and will now serve as the team’s secondary football executive.

Gall really dug into Ward’s play and coach Robert Saleh’s qualified responses on the matter. We’ll spare you the details on the latter subject, but it is safe to say that Gall is displeased with both parties. Per Gall, Ward “frequently” overthrew receivers downfield and found it hard to complete passes in the flats, especially checkdowns to the right side of the field. Keep in mind that the Titans are installing a new offense, and Saleh did say that Ward fared well on the unscripted plays, so there is at least something positive here. The Titans retake the field next week for mandatory minicamp. Hopefully, Ward delivers a bounce-back performance then.

Per Jackson, organized team activities and mandatory minicamp “offered clues” about Monken’s use of motion and how he plans to “hunt mismatches in the quick passing game and use misdirection to create space and passing lanes for the quarterback.” That said, Jackson also believes that either TE Harold Fannin or fellow rookie WR Denzel Boston will be the “leading receiver.” It remains to be seen whether Monken will actually dial up a high target volume for an X-receiver like Boston. He featured WR Zay Flowers, who Concepcion has been likened to, as the top target-earning wide receiver with the Ravens. If Concepcion only gets a few designed looks per game, it will be tough for him to produce reliably in fantasy. If he can be more than that, even while earning targets behind Fannin while Boston stretches the field, Concepcion can return FLEX value in his first season.

This means that Fannin missed all of organized team activities and mandatory minicamp, which is slightly concerning. Fannin’s only injury, on record, is the groin injury he suffered during a Week 17 practice, which limited him to less than one quarter of play through the season’s final two weeks. We hope to get word on whatever is ailing him by the time training camp rolls around. For what it’s worth, Jackson seemed unbothered by Fannin’s absence and expects him to compete for the No. 1 pass-catcher role. We do, too. He has decent odds of winning the role.