I am once again asking for players to stop getting injured during training camp and preseason.

What’s in store:

• Multiple WRs go down with non-contact injuries 🤕 Treylon Burks and Russell Gage headline the most concerning developments.

• Fantasy team preview: Dallas Cowboys. At least, picking RBs early in drafts. Faraz has two zero-RB targets for your fantasy squad that are currently going back-to-back in Underdog drafts.

• Target this Browns receiver, but avoid that NFC South RB. Read on to see who Zach’s talking about in his most recent One Target, One Avoid Piece!

• The Eagles and Browns square off tonight to open Preseason Week 2. See which players Tyler will have his eye on!

• Treylon Burks gets carted off field after sustaining leg injury on Wednesday

  • Burks was officially diagnosed with a sprained LCL and is expected to miss just a few weeks. Per Paul Kuharsky, Burks was unable to put weight on his left leg. The second-year receiver has been having himself a solid camp so far, but will now hit the sideline for the time being. With the season just a few weeks away, as well, Burks could be bordering on missing some time in the regular season along with likely the remainder of training camp. Despite the injury causing him to not be available, this is likely the best case scenario all things considered and it looks like Burks will be able to play very close to, if not a full season in 2023.

• Russell Gage goes down with non-contact knee injury, slated to miss 2023 season

  • Gage, who was projected to fill the slot role for the Buccaneers as one of the big three with Chris Godwin and Mike Evans, is squarely off the draft radar for 2023. With the target distribution likely to be top heavy anyway with Evans and Godwin commanding the majority of the offense’s WR target share, Gage’s injury does not warrant a bump for either other WR in the Bucs offense – especially with one of Baker Mayfield or Kyle Trask at QB. Gage has been going undrafted in all formats besides the deepest leagues, but it’s a terrible development for a receiver who has been talented enough to deserve to be a featured player in an NFL offense. At just 27 years old, his dynasty stock remains intact, but it’ll be an uphill climb for him return to fantasy relevance in 2024.

• The Athletic’s Josh Kendall projects RB Tyler Allgeier to handle 170 touches in 2023

  • Not necessarily concrete news, but it’s interesting to see that reporters with a thumb on the pulse of the Falcons offense aren’t projecting Tyler Allgeier to simply fade away. Kendall also went on to elaborate that the Falcons “will go into each game this season with a plan for which running back will get the most carries, but [head coach Arthur] Smith believes in sticking with what’s working, too.” As one of the most run-heavy teams in the NFL since Smith arrived, Atlanta should be able to support both Bijan Robinson as an RB1 and Allgeier as a potential fantasy RB3 – but it seems like the idea of Robinson commanding a true top-heavy workload isn’t likely to come to fruition.

• Dak Prescott - Faraz’s QB13

  • Dak should remain in a pass-first offense with Mike McCarthy calling plays, and the upgrade to bring in Brandin Cooks as WR2 is a bigger boost than being advertised.

  • Jake Ferguson can handle Dalton Schultz's role, and Michael Gallup should be a better version of himself running a higher variety of routes with McCarthy. Pollard should get his too in the receiving game. Prescott has his weapons, and I expect him to bounce back from a down season.

• Tony Pollard - Faraz’s RB3

  • Pollard finished as the PPR RB9 in fantasy PPR points/game - without the goal line role. Zeke was 2nd among all RBs last year with 19 goal line carries, and all of that work is going to Pollard. Zeke's also vacating 231 carries total, which is huge.

  • This might be a surprise, but Pollard was 1st in yards after contact per attempt among RBs with 150+ attempts last year. He was 10th in TOTAL yards after contact. He was the only RB in the Top-15 who did it on less than 200 carries. He was breaking away runs like no one else, with the highest rate of 10+ yard runs, and 2nd highest rate of 15+ yard runs.

  • he added element of him in the receiving game is key. He was one of the best pass-catching RBs in 2022: 5th in yards/route run among RBs with 50+ targets, only behind known receiving RBs like CMC, Kamara, Swift, and Ekeler. A goal line role and more volume from an efficient RB on a good offense, who already finished as a RB1, gives Pollard a chance to finish as the top running back overall.

• Ceedee Lamb - Faraz’s WR6

  • With OC Kellen Moore leaving to LA, there has been some worry that the Cowboys offense would go run-heavy. I don't think that's the case, given how they're set up. Mike McCarthy might be talking like he wants to run the ball more, but if Tony Pollard is your lead RB, and you have CeeDee, Brandin Cooks, and Michael Gallup as your 3 WRs, you're probably going to be pass-heavy - just like how how you were your entire career in Green Bay.

  • In 10 of McCarthy's 12 seasons as play caller in Green Bay, he was in the top-half of the league in pass attempts, and 11 of those years he was top-10 in passing yards. And yes, that was with Aaron Rodgers, but the mentality should stay true.

  • CeeDee Lamb is the clear alpha in Dallas, and while some might not want to put him near the elite WR stratosphere, this year can prove the doubters wrong. Lamb had 11 games of 15+ PPR fantasy points last season, which ranked 3rd behind Justin Jefferson and Tyreek Hill. He was 9th in yards/route run, 4th in target share (27.3%), 5th in targets/route run (28%), and 9th in air yards share (38.6%).

  • The addition of Cooks improves the offense, and Lamb should maintain elite target share and opportunity going into 2023. If he continues to run primarily out of the slot, he's unguardable.

One player to target: WR Amari Cooper

Target him as your: High-upside WR2

Strange home and away fantasy splits aside, Amari Cooper figures to reprise his role as the Browns’ WR1 in 2023 with a presumably much more dynamic Deshaun Watson under center. The two struggled to remain on the same page at the end of last season, but there’s no reason to think that Amari Cooper, one of the upper-echelon separators in the league, will have trouble building chemistry with Watson after a full offseason of work together. And it’s not as if Cooper needs a top-tier quarterback to produce; he garnered 126 targets last year with average, at best, quarterback play, including 37 of those targets in the red zone (5th in the NFL among WRs).

His nine touchdowns were also tied for the third most among all WRs – a number that could certainly go up if Deshaun Watson returns anywhere close to form (which all reports have indicated that it looks like he has).. His WR18 price in the late third / early fourth round doesn’t sting at all, either, making him a very safe pick at WR with upside to finish inside the top 10.

One player to avoid: RB Miles Sanders

Sanders has yet to finish a fantasy football season as a top-12 running back, but he has two RB15 finishes (2019 and 2022) under his belt as he makes his way to Carolina for 2023.

Last year saw him take over Philadelphia’s backfield, as he out-snapped both Boston Scott and Kenneth Gainwell by 200 carries each. However, Sanders’ biggest drawback has been his receiving ability – his 35.5 PFF receiving grade pales in comparison to Chuba Hubbard (59.6) and Raheem Blackshear (71.4), the two running backs behind him on the depth chart.

There’s no question that Sanders will likely control the rushing snaps and opportunities given that he signed a lucrative deal with the team in the offseason, but the Panthers 2023 offense will not be anywhere close to the Eagles 2022 offense. If Sanders is relegated to an early down role in the Panthers offense, he won’t be able to lean on batches of touchdowns to carry his value in weeks where Carolina is slumping.

At his mid sixth round price as the RB19, I’d much rather take a swing on J.K. Dobbins a few picks later or even James Cook at the 7-8 turn than accept the low fantasy ceiling Sanders projects to have.

August 17th (Preseason Week 2)

Deshaun Watson (QB - Cleveland Browns) - vs PHI, 7:30 PM on NFL Network

• We saw a very different Deshaun Watson from last year, given that it was only just one drive. After major rust in the preseason and for the first several games upon his return in 2022, Watson went 3/3 for 12 yards but added another 20 yards on the ground (3 Att) in his lone drive of action, taking the Browns all the way down the field before the running game failed to break through on a goal-line situation.

• One shouldn't anticipate much action for Watson again tonight, but we'll be watching to see if he can continue a solid preseason as he transitions to his first full season as the Browns' starter. It'll be particularly interesting to see how involved he is in the rushing attack - something we saw limited action out of in 2022, but something that had provided a solid foundation to his fantasy production back in Houston.

D'Andre Swift (RB - Philadelphia Eagles) - vs CLE, 7:30 PM on NFL Network

• Swift saw very limited action in the Eagles' preseason debut, ultimately opening up the game as the Eagles' lead back and producing efficiently when presented the opportunity (2 Att, 24 Yards). Perhaps even more importantly, fellow Eagles' RB Rashaad Penny saw work well into the 2nd quarter, indicating more of a disparity between the two than initially anticipated.

• We've yet to see Swift relative to the entirety of the backfield with both Kenneth Gainwell and Boston Scott sitting out the preseason opener. We know what Scott offers, but Gainwell's absence raises some eyebrows, especially with him receiving a majority of the first-team reps throughout camp.

• I'm watching to see if Gainwell plays (and when) as well as Swift's presence within the offense with Gainwell active (if it occurs). It's unclear what the split will be within the Eagles' backfield, but tonight should give us a slightly better idea.

Rashaad Penny (RB - Philadelphia Eagles) - vs CLE, 7:30 PM on NFL Network

• The preseason opener raised more concerns than positives for Penny in 2023. He got work - and that's the issue.

• Not only did Penny post a rather pedestrian 9 Att for 34 Yards (3.8 YPC), playing second-fiddle to Swift, but Penny also played well into the 2nd quarter. With Kenneth Gainwell seeing the most first-team reps in camp, Swift serving as the top back in the preseason debut, and Penny getting notable work later in the first half, Penny appears closer to the roster bubble than competing for the starting job.

• Tonight will be a major indicator of that status, especially if Gainwell sees action. Another instance of Penny playing late into the 1st half (or another average performance) could lock Penny into a secondary/backup role, if not push him to a potential cap casualty.

The Seahawls WR room is as crowded as any in the NFL right now, featuring the likes of D.K. Metcalf, Tyler Lockett, and this year’s Round 1 draftee Jaxon Smith-Njigba. While any of them could finish as Seattle’s WR1, there can only be one in 2023… and if 2022 was any indicator, that player could once again be Metcalf.

Despite Tyler Lockett averaging more points per game and scoring three more touchdowns in 2022, his route to doing so relied much more on exceptional efficiency than exceptional utilization. Despite seeing just nine end zone targets last year, Lockett scored 6 end touchdowns - meaning two out of every three end zone targets for him were touchdowns!

Metcalf, on the other hand, was the model of inefficiency, receiving a league-leading 22 end zone targets, but converting just five of those for touchdowns - just a 23% rate. Geno Smith clearly had a favorite target when he was looking to the end zone, with Metcalf more than doubling every other Seahawks player last year in end zone targets. If that continues this season and Metcalf can reel in those valuable targets at just a slightly higher rate, we could see 6 touchdowns in 2022 turn into double digit scores in 2023.