Team news: Minnesota Vikings | Page 21

Panthers’ QB Sam Darnold is eligible to come off of IR, but he’s still not close to being from the high ankle sprain he suffered in late August. It’s still, in the words of a source, “going to be a while.”

Related Players: Baker Mayfield

Carolina's offense has been moribund through four weeks, with Baker Mayfield looking as bad as he's ever looked. If Darnold were to return to health at any point this season, there would be an immediate —if tedious— quarterback controversy in the works.

Lions’ WR Amon-Ra St. Brown has been ruled out for Sunday’s game vs. Seattle.

Related Players: D.J. Chark, T.J. Hockenson

The Lions are now missing their two biggest offensive pieces in St. Brown and D'Andre Swift. The passing game could very well run through tight end T.J. Hockenson but things don't look positive for Detroit's offense as a whole for Week 4.

For a second straight day, Lions’ WR Amon-Ra St. Brown did not practice due to an ankle injury.

Related Players: D.J. Chark, T.J. Hockenson

Although St. Brown's absence would theoretically open up opportunities for other pass catchers, he has solidified himself as a true WR1 and it would be a detriment to the offense as a whole if he were to miss Week 4. If Amon-Ra is on the field, he is a top-10 fantasy option.

RB A.J. Dillon added to report with a knee and is limited.

Related players: Aaron Jones, Patrick Taylor

It's at least a good sign he was limited, but it's worth monitoring heading into Week 4. The Packers host the Patriots in a later afternoon game on Sunday.

Frank Ragnow, Jonah Jackson, T.J. Hockenson, Amon-Ra St. Brown (ankle), D'Andre Swift (shoulder) among the long list of players who won't practice today.

Related players: Jamaal Williams

St. Brown and Swift are "day to day" the tweet went on say. But reports have said Swift is likely going to miss time, possibly two weeks leading up to the team's Week 6 bye. Williams would be a solid fantasy option at running back with Swift possibly out. St. Brown doesn't appear to have a serious injury but isn't a lock for Week 4 yet, but seems to have a better chance to go than Swift. Both players would probably need to log practice time to have a chance in Week 4.

Look for the Vikings to continue tinkering with their scheme to spring Justin Jefferson in the coming weeks. "I have to do a better job," O'Connell said, "of giving Justin different aspects of lining up in different spots, different personnel groupings, whatever I need to do to help him."

Jefferson's fantasy production has taken a hit the past two weeks as the Eagles and Lions made sure to take him out of the game with double teams. The good news is the Vikings are working on ways to counter what defenses have been doing to Jefferson.

K.J. Osborn racked up 56 of his 73 receiving yards in the Vikings' game-winning drive, taking advantage of the Lions' consistent double-teaming of Justin Jefferson.

Related Players: Irv Smith Jr.

Osborn more than doubled his season total of receiving yards on the last drive, but as the article mentions, this was not a fluke. Kirk Cousins was quoted after the game, “In the two-minute (drill), you sort of have guys in their spots. And you don’t really move people around. It ends up being a more organic way of getting people the football. It just kind of happens. Whoever’s open. And that’s what happened last year with K.J. a lot in two-minute. He was now in primary spots, where during the normal game he was in secondary and tertiary spots, if you will.”

It's not often Jefferson will be held to a 3-14-0 stat line, but Osborn is emerging as the team's third receiving option, and if Cousins continues to attempt 40+ passes, there is fantasy value in that.

Those formations (two true running backs and no fullback) are commonly referred to as “Pony” personnel — a nod to the 1980s SMU Mustangs’ “Pony Express” RB pairing of Eric Dickerson and Craig James. And the Packers’ version with Aaron Jones and A.J. Dillon has been incredibly effective in 2022. Jones has earned a first down on half of his 20 carries so far; Dillon is third in the NFL at a first-downs-per-rush rate of 32.1 percent.

With the loss of WR Davante Adams, the Packers just want to get their best players on the field at the same time, and that means more of Jones and Dillon together. While Jones is a must-play for fantasy owners every week, Dillon is making a case to be one as well. Getting on the field more will only help make that case. Dillon wasn't a huge fantasy factor in Week 2, but he was in Week 1 when the Packers played from behind. We reported yesterday that QB Aaron Rodgers said on a podcast the team wants to get Jones and Dillon at least 15 touches each per game.

"The goal is to always get Aaron Jones and A.J. Dillon the ball ... the flows of different games don't allow it sometimes," Aaron Rodgers.

Jones stood out last week, but in Week 1 it was Dillon who out-carried Jones and also had more receptions. While both players are worthy starting in fantasy lineups their workload may not be guaranteed every week. But it sounds like Rodgers and the Packers want to include the running backs as a major part of the game plan.

Sean McVay said he "loved the way" Cam Akers responded this week.

"I like the way that he went through the first walkthrough of the week. I liked his focus and concentration in the meetings and I expect that to translate to practice."

Related players: Darrell Henderson

McVay went on to say "...I have true confidence that he and Darrell [Henderson] are both going to do a very good job for us and I’m excited about that coming to life this week." Seems like this could become a muddy fantasy RB situation for the Rams going forward, but it's hard to believe if Akers is healthy and eventually comes out of the doghouse, he won't be the team's RB1. It's a nice matchup against the Falcons this week and for now at least, Henderson seems like the safer play. After last week, it would be hard to insert Akers back into lineups this week for Week 2.