Team news: Buffalo Bills | Page 54

Norv Turner on Curtis Samuel: “He’s becoming an outstanding route runner.”

Samuel started getting regular work in Week 11. In his final seven games, he averaged 3.9 catches for 53 yards and 0.43 touchdowns, which equates to a 62-846-7 pace over a 16-game season. He basically matched the production of D.J. Moore in that span. We’re expecting low-end WR3 numbers from Samuel in 2019. He ranks 35th on our list.

Cam Newton began throwing regulation-size footballs again during spring workouts, including a team livestream during minicamp in June. That was the first time the public had seen Newton throw since the Week 15 loss to New Orleans. He progressed from throwing to stationary targets one day, to shorter routes the next, and finally to intermediate routes 20-25 yards down the field.

Which brings us to the present, with Newton slated to be a full participant when training camp opens July 24 at Wofford College in Spartanburg.

The Panthers have long set training camp as their expectation for Newton’s full return. The hope is he can continue developing a camaraderie with young receivers D.J. Moore and Curtis Samuel, as well as to rekindle his connection with running back Christian McCaffrey and tight end Greg Olsen.

As the story said, Newton struggled with “frustrating” shoulder soreness and tightness over the second half of last year, culminating with him sitting out the final two regular-season games. After the season, Newton had an arthroscopic procedure that was described as a “clean-out” rather than to repair any specific injury. It was said the cartilage damage was much less severe than originally suspected.

If you had to pick an offensive MVP through two days of mandatory Carolina Panthers minicamp, you’d be hard-pressed not choosing Curtis Samuel.

The third-year receiver opened the week with a highlight reel touchdown on Tuesday, catching a pass between two defenders before dipping his shoulder and sprinting to the end zone.

On Wednesday, it was more of the same. Samuel saw reps on special teams — after Damiere Byrd’s offseason departure, the team is looking for its new return man. He also carried the ball, but again made his mark receiving. On one well-timed deep route, he raced past the secondary and into the end zone for a wide open touchdown. He also had a nice sideline grab, completely slowing his momentum to make the catch before turning upfield.

Samuel started getting regular work in Week 11. In his final seven games, he averaged 3.9 catches for 53 yards and 0.43 touchdowns, which equates to a 62-846-7 pace over a 16-game season. He basically matched the production of D.J. Moore in that span. We’re expecting low-end WR3 numbers from Samuel in 2019.

We’re continuing to see plenty of Riley Ridley catches during the spring practices. He caught a touchdown Tuesday after Gabriel’s almost-score and seemed to be on the same page with Mitch Trubisky during the 11-on-11 work.

“So for Riley, he’s a really good route runner,” Nagy said. “His attention to detail is really high. And now I think the game is slowly starting to slow down for him and he has very natural hands so when the ball’s in the air he’s a 50-50 guy. He’ll get those footballs. But he’s playing really well.”

With Anthony Miller sidelined, Ridley appears to be getting more work, which could benefit his campaign to make Chicago's 53-man roster this season. His brother Calvin had a productive first year in Atlanta (64-821-10), and is being drafted as WR24 so far this season. If Ridley continues this trajectory, he could become fantasy relevant in an offense on the upward swing.

Cowboys playing to win next Sunday against the New York Giants?

Jerry Jones: “Absolutely. We’re all-out. We’ve got work to do. We’ve got some work to do out here, I think we’ll all agree. We don’t want to, if we can, go into the playoff with dangling participles — loose ends.”

Related players: Ezekiel Elliot, Dak Prescott, Amari Cooper

With the division wrapped up, the Cowboys don't feel giving guys rest is the smart thing to do in Week 17. For those with Week 17 fantasy games, this will be something to monitor as it's still hard to believe the Cowboys stud players will get full workloads in a meaningless game.