Rashee Rice is Back! (At Camp) 🏈

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• Chiefs WR Rashee Rice officially considered a ‘full participant’ in Chiefs practice, per The Kansas City Star’s Sam McDowell

  • For those of you keeping track at home, that’s the first of two hurdles that Rashee Rice has seemingly cleared between him and returning to his fantasy WR1 form in 2025. The second hurdle – his legal situation surrounding his traffic incident – may not be a hurdle at all in 2025 depending on the speed at which the legal process plays out. At its current pace, it would be fair to assume that any potential suspension that could result from the incident won’t be handed down this season. If the off-field concerns don’t amount to anything this year and Rice is as healthy as advertised, he could easily outperform his current WR16 price in Underdog drafts. Of course, as more positive news surfaces regarding Rice’s recovery, his price in drafts could reasonably increase, as well – but with legitimate top-5 upside when he’s healthy, drafters shouldn’t need to worry about having second thoughts taking him even if the cost of selecting him would climb into the WR1 price range. Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes weighed in recently on Rice’s status, stating that there are ‘no limitations’ for Rice as camp begins to ramp up. This additional report attesting to Rice’s full participation in camp reaffirms that sentiment, and barring any unforeseen circumstances, Rice should be back and at 100% come the Chiefs’ Week 1 tilt against the Chargers in Brazil.

• Dolphins TE Jonnu Smith remains embroiled in potential trade talks, with Steelers emerging as top potential destination

  • Initial reports indicated that the Steelers were interested in trading for an additional weapon on offense after shipping off WR George Pickens to Dallas for draft pick compensation. Since then, Jonnu Smith’s name has been floated over and over again and remains the hottest name in the discussion as of the publishing of this newsletter. Smith is coming off a career year in Miami that saw him rack up an all-time 8s lineup: he reeled in 88 passes for 884 yards and 8 touchdowns in 2024 and finished as the overall TE4 on the season. That production came despite Tua Tagovailoa being injured for part of the season and with both Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle on the field for the majority of the year, making Smith’s age 29, year-8 breakout all the more impressive. Smith’s connection to the Steelers in trade talks is unsurprising, to say the least, especially considering his ties to current Steelers OC Arthur Smith: not only do the two share a last name, but Arthur was Jonnu’s offensive coordinator during Jonnu’s time in Tennessee and his head coach in their lone season together in Atlanta (2023). Recent reports indicate that both Jonnu Smith and the Dolphins would like to work out a deal that keeps him in Miami, and without any trade talks heating up on the Steelers end, the most likely scenario is one where Jonnu Smith stays put with the Dolphins. That’s the preferred outcome for Smith, as well, as a trade to Pittsburgh would be sentencing him to No. 2 duties behind D.K. Metcalf on an offense that is famously not in possession of a real starting QB.

• Jaguars head coach Liam Coen pours cold water on trade speculation involving RB Travis Etienne, dismisses idea of RB being dealt

  • Whether or not his words hold any weight remains to be seen, but it’s hard to answer any other way when asked a question about trading the running back who is presumed to be the top player on the depth chart heading into the season. Etienne struggled to produce in 2024 like the Overall fantasy RB3 he was in 2023, falling well short of expectations and flopping as a second-round pick in fantasy drafts. With Tank Bigsby playing an efficient brand of football on his touches last year and all-time efficient college RB Bhayshul Tuten entering the picture in the Jaguars backfield, Etienne has likely has a short leash and his work cut out for him if he hopes to continue to be the top dog (or big cat) in Jacksonville. An Etienne trade, for all intents and purposes, would help to consolidate the amount of touches to go around from three backs to two and give Etienne the fresh start he might need to get his real life and fantasy career back on track. However, should Etienne remain with the Jaguars, he remains a dart throw late in drafts thanks to being a part of Liam Coen’s high-flying, high-scoring offense. After all, Etienne was a first round pick in 2021 and brought with him an extremely efficient college profile, as well – one that stacks up with and even outmatches Tuten’s. It’s hard to imagine any one running back monopolizing touches in this backfield, but on the off chance Etienne finds the hot hand, he’s worth a look at his current RB38 price.

Over the years, there have been countless scenarios in fantasy football that were either too good to be true or where promising players fall well short of expectations – and wind up snowballing downhill out of fantasy relevance. Zach took a look at some of the biggest what ifs in recent memory: all the should haves, could haves, and would haves.

What if Dak Prescott never got hurt in 2020?

In four healthy games to open the season, Dak was averaging 31.3 points per game and threw for 450+ yards in three of them. With Dallas' historically bad defense that year, record books could have been rewritten if he stayed healthy.

What if Le’Veon Bell never held out in 2018?

Business would have been boomin'. The Steelers 2018 offense ranked 4th in the league in yards and 6th in points, and after signing with the Jets in 2019, Bell never recaptured his form. Another RB prime unfortunately (voluntarily) cut short

What if Arthur Smith didn’t exist?

Maybe Kyle Pitts would have actually been able to build on his rookie season. Maybe Bijan Robinson wouldn't have wasted his rookie year with Tyler Allgeier siphoning touches. Maybe -just maybe - Drake London would have broken out earlier.

What if Matthew Stafford and Jared Goff never got traded?

In this timeline, Cooper Kupp's historic triple crown season never happens, and Jared Goff winds up as a career backup after flaming out as a former first overall pick. Maybe we're getting ahead of ourselves, but it's an interesting idea to entertain.

What if David Johnson never got hurt after his career year?

Like Christian McCaffrey, Johnson finished as the overall RB1 by a country mile in 2016 before missing nearly the entire next season due to injury. He had some serviceable seasons afterwards, but never got a chance to pick up where he left off.

What if Deshaun Watson never did the thing?

Watson was a perennial top-5 QB and was on pace to be one of the premier dual-threat QBs in fantasy history. If he never got rolled up in controversy and stayed with the Texans, might we still be starting him with confidence in fantasy lineups?