Team news: Green Bay Packers | Page 16

The thought is that Allen Lazard will be listed as questionable for Week 1, which leaves a brief window of opportunity for him to see the field.

Related Players: Sammy Watkins, Romeo Doubs, Randall Cobb, Christian Watson

While Lazard missing time could mean a boost for any of the four wide receivers listed above, it may be even more likely that team veterans Robert Tonyan (TE) and Aaron Jones (RB) will get peppered with targets to kick off the season. Last season, the team ran 24 plays out of 21 personnel, but they may show that look a whole lot more with Tonyan, Jones, and A.J. Dillon if Lazard ends up missing one or more games.

Aaron Rodgers has called Allen Lazard a WR1 all year. If Lazard (ankle) can't go, then Sammy Watkins could be the No. 1 option.

Related players: Christian Watson, Romeo Doubs, Randall Cobb

Demovsky said Watkins seems ready and added this quote from him: "I’ve never been this sharp. Just to be this sharp, it feels good to go out there and play freely and play fast." It makes sense Watkins would be a top target with Watson and Doubs rookies and still earning trust.

Full participation: K Mason Crosby (right knee), LB Tipa Galeai (elbow), C Jake Hanson (shoulder), S Dallin Leavitt (shoulder), T Yosh Nijman (knee), WR Christian Watson (knee)

Related players: Allen Lazard, Romeo Doubs, Randall Cobb, Sammy Watkins

It's a good sign Watson will be able to go Week 1, especially with Lazard dealing with an injury and a bit of a question mark at this point. Doubs, Cobb and Watkins should also be involved.

Matt LaFleur throws the kitchen sink at running backs, and one thing they must do proficiently is catch the ball. A.J. Dillon rarely did so in college, not because he couldn’t but because he wasn’t asked to. He caught just 21 passes for 236 yards and two touchdowns in three seasons at Boston College, and he heard everything people said about his pass-catching inexperience coming into the league.

Related players: Aaron Jones

We've heard all the hype surrounding Aaron Jones and Dillon being 1A and 1A RBs on the Packers, and it's possible both will be asked to make up for the loss of WR Davante Adams in the passing game. The story said Dillon had been asked only to run a flat or swing route in college, but he quickly learned far more was required to grasp an NFL passing game. While Jones is still considered the team's top back, if Dillon is active in the passing game, he could be a great value for those who take him later in fantasy drafts.

In the most recent —of many— pieces on Romeo Doubs this preseason, teammates continue to praise the rookie's "blasé" attitude and ability to bounce back quickly from minor mistakes.

Related Players: Allen Lazard, Sammy Watkins, Randall Cobb, Christian Watson

While Sammy Watkins is probably the player who will lose his starting nomenclature with the continued improvement of Doubs, nothing is saying the rookie couldn't be a threat to the entire wide receiver room. The oft-mentioned downfall of rookies within the Packers' structure is how quarterback Aaron Rodgers doesn't trust them, but that doesn't seem to be the case with Doubs. Per the article, “Doubs has done a lot of really nice things, but I think the standard for him is not going to be maybe the standard for a normal rookie we’ve had here in the past — especially in the past four or five years — because he’s going to be expected to play based on his performance so far in camp,” Rodgers explained last week. “So we’ve got to hold him to a standard that I know he’s capable of reaching.”

This is, of course, a bold prediction. But it also comes from a very reliable source and comes with Josh Jacobs trending in the wrong direction.

Related Players: Ameer Abdullah, Brandon Bolden

The Raiders are currently carrying five running backs (plus a fullback), so if Jacobs really loses this much ground game work to rookie Zamir White, the veteran's fantasy season is going to be miserable. Amongst those other running backs resides Brandon Bolden, who has a rich history of catching passes out of the backfield in a Josh McDaniels offense.

A reminder that Packers only keeping two RBs doesn’t mean Amari Rodgers will be RB3 Week 1.

Related players: Aaron Jones, A.J. Dillon, Patrick Taylor, Tyler Goodson, Dexter Williams

The Packers currently have just Jones and Dillon on the roster. But the tweet went on to say, if Goodson and/or Taylor clear waivers, Packers can elevate each to game day roster three times before they have to stay on the 53. Team must be confident one or both will be back on the practice squad. We've seen several teams do this today, including the Cowboys with both of their backup QBs.

Falcons players I don’t see in early part of practice (perhaps they show up later):

WR Drake London
DL Marlon Davidson
TE John FitzPatrick
OL Jalen Mayfield
RB Cordarrelle Patterson (rest)

This is the 11th straight day London has missed, which is obviously important time as we get closer to the season. London is still 33rd on our WR rankings making him a lower-end WR3 option. It’s generally a good idea to be careful with rookie receivers, but London is shaping up to be an exception since his ADP is in the seventh round, as long as he can get healthy and ready to play. With Calvin Ridley suspended for the year, it’s going to be the Drake London/Kyle Pitts show in Atlanta. London should soak up 120-140 targets with ease. (Remember, Ridley saw 52 targets in five games last season.) The quarterback situation is unsettled, but Marcus Mariota should be able to hold down the fort while Desmond Ridder figures things out.

Aaron Rodgers has said many times that expectations need to be “reasonable” for the rookie WRs.

Romeo Doubs, based on how well he’s played during camp, raised those expectations.

“The standard for him is not going to be the standard for a normal rookie we’ve had here in the past.”

Related players: Christian Watson

Doubs continues to earn high praise from Rodgers, something that's been going on for a while. While Doubs has had a bad drop or two, Rodgers seems willing to live with it based on the rest of his performance in camp, as well as his skillset. Now that Watson is back from injury, he should continue to climb our rankings as well. But for now, Doubs looks like the Packers rookie WR to own heading into the season.

The Raiders plan to release veteran RB Kenyan Drake, per source.

Related players: Josh Jacobs, Zamir White, Ameer Abdullah, Brandon Bolden

Raiders beat writer Maurice Morton added to Pelissero's tweet that he's "not surprised about this." He said Abdullah hasn’t played the last 2 preseason games and he clearly surpassed Drake on the Raiders RB depth chart. In his eyes, the depth chart goes: Jacobs, White, Abdullah and Bolden. Drake could catch on somewhere else but his role may not be as significant as it once was.