Team news: Tennessee Titans | Page 33

Justin Jackson is ruled out to retake the field Sunday against Cincinnati due to a quad injury.

Related players: Austin Ekeler, Joshua Kelley

Rookie fourth-round pick Kelley stands to see increased touches as long as Jackson remains sidelined, the story said. Kelley likely seemed to be the RB2 behind Ekeler entering Week 1, and ended with 12 carries, 60 yards and a TD in a win over the Bengals.

Richard Skinner of WKRC in Cincinnati picked WR John Ross as the Bengals breakout offensive player. Skinner bases his choice on the return of A.J. Green to pair with Tyler Boyd, forcing defenses to shift their focus away from Ross. Skinner also talked to A.J. Green about Ross. "He’s unbelievable, siad Green. "He’s one of the fastest people I’ve ever seen, and the way he gets in and out of his breaks is unbelievable. He’s had a great camp outside of getting injured, and I’m very excited for him. He’s going to help our offense out so much."

An effective Ross also bodes well for rookie QB Joe Burrow. Ross has dealt with a myriad of injuries in Cincinnati, but showed promise in the first few weeks of 2019 before said injuries forced him to miss eight games. Until the Bengals offense shows it can support Green, Boyd, and RB Joe Mixon, it will be tough to see Ross as anything other than a waiver wire watch early this season.

The Broncos have the players to roll two tight ends in and out of the game. Nick Vannett and Noah Fant would be the starters in “12.” Jake Butt is healthy and versatile. Rookie Albert Okwuegbunam is a receiving threat. And Andrew Beck can play fullback and tight end.

Projected third receiver K.J. Hamler (hamstring) remains out. The first month of the season presents edge rushers Jadeveon Clowney (Titans), T.J. Watt (Pittsburgh) and Shaq Barrett (Tampa Bay), which means using the tight end in protection. And the best way to ease a young offense into the season is by having an effective running game. The extra tight end helps there, too, the story all said.

Jerry Jones confirmed both Tony Pollard and Ezekiel Elliott will be key parts of the passing attack going into Week 1 against the Los Angeles Rams, and then each game to follow.

"Out of the backfield, it should be interesting this year with more use of Pollard and Zeke as receiver types," Jones said to 105.3FM the Fan on Tuesday. "We've got that in and it's gonna be very effective. I'm sure excited about that area."

The offense is expected to be way more creative this year, which says a lot since the Cowboys were the league's top O in 2019. Going into 2020, the Cowboys truly have a chance to begin unleashing more two-halfback sets that utilize both Elliott and Pollard on the same play, the story said.

The Steelers claimed quarterback Josh Dobbs off of waivers from the Jaguars on Saturday.

Related players: Devlin Hodges, Ben Roethlisberger, Mason Rudolph

The team cut Hodges on Sunday as a result of the move. Rudolph and Dobbs will now back up Big Ben. The Steelers drafted Dobbs in the fourth round of the 2017 draft and he saw action in five 2018 games. He was traded to the Jags after Nick Foles hurt his shoulder last year.

The Patriots released both Nick Folk and Justin Rohrwasser, currently leaving them without a kicker on their initial 53.

Obviously that will change soon, but it’s a noteworthy development. Jeff Howe had an interesting theory regarding these moves. “The Patriots could put Nick Folk on the practice squad and make him eligible for the game-day 55-man roster for a couple weeks to preserve a spot on the 53, all while evaluating who's available, or then promoting him back to the 53”, Howe tweeted. This comes from the new rule that teams can promote two players to the active roster for game day, making a 48-man active roster (though one of the extra spot to get to 55 would have to be an OL).

It’s also entirely possible they simply bring Folk back to the active roster, possibly after Week 1 when veteran salaries no longer become guaranteed.

Joe Burrow on Tyler Boyd: TB is going to have a big season. I have a great connection with him right now.

Boyd finished with 90-1,046-5 on 148 targets in 2019, resulting in a No. 23 finish. Andy Dalton only played 13 games, and in those games, Boyd played at a 96-1,086-5.0 pace, which represent solid WR2 numbers. In 2018, he finished with 76-1,028-7 on 108 targets finishing No. 17. A.J. Green is theoretically back this season and Boyd’s 2018 splits with Green (6.1-80-0.56 on 8.2 targets per game) are encouraging, though much has changed in Cincinnati since 2018. The Bengals have a new offense and a new quarterback. Boyd is going off the board as a midrange WR3 and that seems about right.

Through two weeks of training camp practices, Nick Vannett has often lined up in a three-point stance next to right tackle Elijah Wilkinson or left tackle Garett Bolles. But Vannett has looked comfortable as a downfield receiver, too, which should be another wrinkle for offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur to utilize.

Related players Noah Fant

Vannett projected as more of a blocking TE but is starting to show signs as a receiving threat. Most of that work is supposed to go to Fant and probably still will. Even the story said Vannett isn’t going to be a 30- or 40-catch guy — there are too many other players to get touches, led by Fant, receivers Courtland Sutton and Jerry Jeudy and running backs Melvin Gordon and Phillip Lindsay. But he has 12, 29 and 17 catches the past three years so his sweet spot might be 20 to 25 receptions, the story projected

Chargers Rookie RB Joshua Kelley may have surpassed Justin Jackson as the team's number two back according to Gilbert Manzano of The Orange County Register. Manzano also mentions both backs may get snaps as a committee if Austin Ekeler sees time in the slot with the injury to WR Mike Williams.

The Chargers offense is in flux with a lack of proven wide receivers, but the versatility of the backfield may make multiple running backs fantasy-relevant. Stay tuned as Week 1 approaches.

According to The Athletic, Los Angeles Chargers rookie running back Joshua Kelley “might be having the best training camp of any player on the roster”.

The Athletic’s Daniel Popper was effusive in his praise for the rookie running back, adding that Kelley has broken off several long runs against the first team defense. He has impressed with his speed to the edge, and while he is still working behind Austin Ekeler and Justin Jackson, he has shown enough as both a runner and receiver to be a factor in the backfield. This is what head coach Anthony Lynn had to say “I believe Joshua is having an outstanding camp. He shows up every day with a smile on his face, works extremely hard. He’s made plays. I’ve thrown him in with the ones; he’s made plays. He’s in with the twos; he’s made plays. And he has shown a versatility. He can catch the ball out of the backfield well...”. Kelley appears set to open the season behind Justin Jackson, but once he masters the playbook he should be able to earn himself an expanded role behind Ekeler.