Just like the Operation guy who gets operated on and the cartoon girl who goes exploring, if you work for Fantasy Index, you watch preseason games. I watched a whole lot of them over the weekend, and while I'm not about to spoil the Weekly, I will share a few takeaways.
Jimmy Garoppolo looked fine last preseason, but back then he was just a backup trying to beat out an even lesser quarterback behind Tom Brady. Now he might need to start the first four games and theoretically take over when Brady is too old to grip his underinflated footballs. Garoppolo didn't have Gronk, Edleman, LaFell or most of his starting offensive line out there, so too soon to write him off. But I don't think he's a clear "hold" in dynasty, and I don't think New England is certain to do better than 1-3 if the suspension holds.
Ameer Abdullah was my pick at 1.06 in my dynasty league rookie draft back in May (top 5: Todd Gurley, Melvin Gordon, Amari Cooper, Kevin White, DeVante Parker). In a draft held today, maybe he's available at pick 4? Or maybe not. In the magazine we raised the comparison to Barry Sanders in the rookie story, just as Todd Bowles did after Abdullah shredded his Jets. You don't want to overreact to one game, but Abdullah looks like he'll be fun to watch this year.
In a similar vein, Andre Ellington looked very good for the Cardinals Saturday night. He's not going to slam it up between the tackles on a regular basis, and apparently he's really likely to get hurt at some point. But if you start thinking too much about that stuff you lose sight of the fact that it's basically a Roulette wheel with running backs; any one of them is a decent bet to get hurt at any time. In a PPR league, I'm very interested in Ellington. It helps that the Cardinals don't currently have anyone else at running back. If they sign Chris Johnson, I might feel differently, but today I like him.
Like I suppose the rest of the fantasy world, I'm interested in Green Bay's passing game this year. I probably won't get Aaron Rodgers, who will go too early, but I'll be looking to draft either Jordy Nelson or Randall Cobb. And if I miss out on them, I'll use a mid- to late-round pick on Davante Adams. He should be OK some weeks as a No. 3. If Nelson or Cobb gets hurt, which doesn't seem too far-fetched, he'll be awesome.
Jeremy Maclin probably won't have a great year in Kansas City, but maybe he's being a little bit underrated by the fantasy world, too. He and Travis Kelce should be basically the only involved receivers. He can play, and you know that Alex Smith has seen all that talk about his inability to throw touchdowns to wide receivers and stuff. I'm not recommending drafting Maclin, but I think he might be a little better than many believe, and I won't be afraid to use him in daily leagues in a good matchup. Oh, and Kelce is going to be huge.
Amari Cooper is going to go over 1,000 yards this season. Yes, I said it. Oakland will feed him a ton of passes, and he's going to put up very good numbers on a regular basis. He's not going to be Odell Beckham Jr.-big, but A.J. Green in his rookie season-big seems very possible. Like Latavius Murray, too.
Rough start for Chicago. Kevin White probably won't do anything this year, if he plays at all. Alshon Jeffery is hurt, though it's considered minor, and he's going to see a whole lot of focused coverage by opposing defenses. Matt Forte was already one of the running backs you were kind of worried would get hurt, Jay Cutler one of the quarterbacks you have to expect to be benched at some point. John Fox doesn't fill anyone with confidence as a head coach. I like Eddie Royal as a player who will be better than where he's drafted, so at least there's that.
Two of the three Florida quarterbacks looked pretty good to me, Ryan Tannehill and Blake Bortles. Jameis Winston, not so much, but it's to be expected; he's a rookie, and he's going to struggle. Just like those other guys did.
In addition to Abdullah, players you'd like to see in bubble wrap between now and the start of the season include Julio Jones and Brandin Cooks. There are a whole lot of exciting players that if they don't make it to September healthy, it'll be really disappointing.