Look Away, Rhamondre Drafters! 🫣

One of the best throwback sets in the NFL, and absolutely the best new uniform revealed this offseason.

What’s in store:

• Look away, Rhamondre drafters! 🫣 The Patriots worked out a running back yesterday that would send shockwaves through the RB room in New England.

• Advice straight from the horse’s mouth. Faraz offers one player to target and one player to avoid in drafts for 2023.

• Still plenty of free agents available… Training camp is almost in full swing, and there are plenty of teamless players left to find new homes. Zach identifies potential landing spots for two more running backs.

• “Rushing” Roulette? The range of outcomes for Anthony Richardson is as large as any player’s, but Tyler loves taking swings on Richardson later in drafts as an extreme upside QB2.

• Leonard Fournette, Darrell Henderson work out for the Patriots, cast doubt on Rhamondre Stevenson

  • According to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, RB Leonard Fournette worked out for the Patriots on Wednesday. Former Rams RB Darrell Henderson also visited the Patriots for a workout on Wednesday, as well. The development comes just shortly before training camp begins, with plenty of veteran free agents including Fournette, Ezekiel Elliott, Dalvin Cook, and Kareem Hunt all looking for homes for the 2023 season. Fournette handled over 70 receptions last season out of the backfield with the Buccaneers, even while his snaps were slowly rolled back in favor of then-rookie RB Rachaad White. Any RB signing in New England, whether it be Fournette or another of the available players, would certainly burst Rhamondre Stevenson’s RB1 bubble. And if it would happen to be Fournette who sets up shop with Stevenson in the Patriots backfield, the Stevenson’s more valuable work in the receiving game would be in jeopardy. Given Stevenson’s high price in Underdog drafts right now (RB9, 2-3 turn), an addition to the New England backfield in any fashion would crater his value and leave those who already drafted him hanging high and dry.

• Isiah Pacheco practices, after all, in training camp yesterday

  • Following conflicting reports from certain outlets suggesting that RB Isiah Pacheco could miss the first 6 weeks of the 2023 season on the PUP list, it was revealed that Pacheco was, indeed, practicing Wednesday, albeit in a non-contact jersey. The confusion stemmed from the distinction between the regular and preseason PUP lists – Pacheco could still be eligible for the preseason PUP list, but can be activated at any time ahead of the regular season. Pacheco, who played through hand and labrum injuries during the Chiefs’ 2022 postseason run, recently had doubt cast upon his Week 1 availability for 2023, but his participation in training camp would suggest that he’s on the right track as of now to play. His price has begun to fall in drafts, with his ADP shifting down to the RB27 on Underdog at the 7-8 turn – opening the door for him to become a potential value early-down back if he can get healthy top open the new year.

• One Target: WR Nico Collins, Houston Texans

  • There’s a lot of ambiguity in the Texans WR room - a lot of people are excited about John Metchie, and are assuming that Metchie becomes the eventual WR1 here, even this year. And I love the fact that he was cleared after being diagnosed with a form of leukemia, after the ACL tear. It just hasn’t been the best time for him, so I’m rooting for him… but if I’m picking a WR to be the guy this year, it’s Nico Collins, not John Metchie, and certainly not Robert Woods, Tank Dell, or Xavier Hutchinson.

  • Metchie wasn’t the best prospect coming out on top of the ACL injury, and he’s probably going to be a slot WR at best - he’s had some big plays in college, but was a late breakout.

  • Nico Collins has showed some flashes, and he showed some targeting earning ability last year - 4 games with 9+ targets in 9 full games played, and now he can emerge given the Texans depth chart and now he has an accurate QB in CJ Stroud.

  • Everything out of OTAs and minicamp is suggesting that Collins is the guy, too… so at an ADP of the 10th round on Underdog - the WR56 off the board - you potentially got yourself a top-36 WR or at least a flex play at a solid discount. He’s someone I’d be targeting at his price.

• One Avoid: RB Isiah Pacheco, Kansas City Chiefs

  • I totally understand that the Bills “need” Kincaid to be that dude, because they really don’t have anyone dependable behind Stefon Diggs… but when players produce, it’s because they’re ready to produce - the opportunity meets ability at the same time. And I love Kincaid as a prospect, but am I going to bet that Kincaid is going to have the upside of being a difference maker at the position in Year 1? It’s a tough bet to make for me.

  • We’re also assuming that Dawson Knox completely goes away, and I think he eventually will, but he’s a solid TE that is now a veteran, who is going to be involved as well. He knows the offense, he has a huge contract, and in Kincaid’s Year 1, I can’t imagine that’s running the required route participation of 70-75% with Knox around.

  • At that price, and it’s going to go up, the hype train hasn’t even begun yet - wait until there’s a video of him making a nice grab in training camp, it’s going to get wild - his TE13 ADP is the price with least amount of hype possible. I think I’m out for 2023.

• Leonard Fournette - New York Giants

  • With the drama currently unfolding between Big Blue and Saquon Barkley regarding a potential contract extension, the Giants could sign Fournette as an inexpensive insurance policy to help ride out the storm until a resolution is reached.

  • Matt Breida is the only other ball carrier in the Giants backfield with any relevant NFL experience, but he hasn’t seen a season with more than 65 carries since 2019.

  • Fournette has certainly seen his level of play regress in the past few years, posting the 2nd-lowest yards per attempt and missed tackles forced in his career in 2022, but he would lock up the early down role in New York on Day 1. He’d likely be limited to exclusively that role, but he could enter weekly flex consideration with the Giants should Barkley hold out or otherwise not start Week 1 in 2023.

  • He wouldn’t be a plug-and-play handcuff to Barkley, but earning a few weeks of opportunity could be in the cards for him if the Giants would go this route.

• Kareem Hunt - Las Vegas Raiders

  • Josh Jacobs was an absolute workhorse last year for the Raiders, earning 400 total opportunities (339 rush attempts, 61 targets). That kind of wear and tear will bring him down very quickly if it’s maintained over a long period of time, and bringing in a dynamic receiver in Kareem Hunt will allow Jacobs to stay fresh and maintain his RB1 status while also Hunt capitalizes in the receiving game to provide flex value.

  • Hunt’s efficiency plummeted in 2022, with the former Brown posting career lows in yards per carry (3.8) and yards per route run (0.83), but it’s fair to wonder if his dissatisfaction with playing for the Browns contributed to his poor performance.

  • Nonetheless, Hunt will only be playing a change of pace role on any offense at this point in his career and will need to rely on receiving work to be relevant.

Richardson is one of the most intriguing prospects coming out of the 2022 NFL Draft, especially for fantasy purposes. Going 4th overall to the Colts, Richardson is undoubtedly Indianapolis’ QB of the future, but he is very raw as a prospect.

He was very average as a passer in college, going for 2,549 yards, 17 TDs, and 9 INTs in his final season at Florida, but makes up for any deficiencies on the ground (654 yards, 9 TDs). His arm talent and athleticism are off the charts but his accuracy and decision-making need a lot of work to make him a pro-level passer.

The good news for fantasy owners: he doesn’t need to be a successful passer to be productive.

We’ve seen rookie rushing QBs in recent years be extremely productive once they get on the field. In 2020, we saw Jalen Hurts produce as the QB7 as a starter. In 2018, Lamar Jackson was the QB6 as a starter. In 2017, Deshaun Watson led all QBs in PPG. The history and opportunity is there for Richardson to produce, even as a rookie, despite sub-par passing numbers.

There’s little question that he’ll likely be a top-15 fantasy QB the moment he steps onto the field, but the question then becomes: when does he start for Indianapolis?

It’s difficult to envision Indianapolis going with Gardner Minshew for a majority of the season, especially within a team that will likely struggle to find wins. If Richardson takes over within the first 5-6 weeks, I’d anticipate a top-12 finish, but that uncertainty in when he’ll start takes away the security of potentially investing in him as a QB1.

Projecting as a mid-to-high QB2 option in the 11th-13th round range, I have zero issues with grabbing a stable QB1 option and then grabbing Richardson as a high-upside QB2. I prefer him in dynasty formats, but he certainly has a large amount of upside, even as a rookie in re-draft leagues thanks to his legs.

Check out more of Tyler’s in-depth player preview articles here!

The Eagles RB room got crowded fast this offseason, with Philly bringing in former Seahawks RB Rashaad Penny via free agency and former Lions RB D’Andre Swift in via trade. While the offseason hype has been around the latter, and understandably so, it would be foolish to overlook the potential Penny offers behind the Eagles great offensive line, even exclusively in the early down role.

Among RBs with 50+ carries in 2022, Rashaad Penny boasted the highest yards per carry (6.1), the highest yards after contact per attempt (4.23), and the 2nd-highest explosive run rate (credit to Jonathon Macri over at PFF for digging these up!). That was before he went down with a tibia fracture in Week 5, which sidelined him for the remainder of the season.

The hesitancy with Penny is just that – he could be injured again and miss significant time. However, it’s more bad luck forcing Penny off the field than it is vulnerability to injury; none of his injuries that have costed him time in the regular season have been recurring injuries. This isn’t a tender hammy that keeps flaring up we’re talking about; a handful of muscle strains and one bad break last year should be no reason to avoid Penny, especially at his supremely affordable RB36 price given his upside.