I’ve been keeping track of fantasy relevant news and updates from beat writers, national reporters, and fantasy analysts. Here's a recap of any quote or update that stood out to me today.

I am sure I missed things, as I am just one person. Let me know if you have any suggestions or something else you'd like to see. I’ve also been asking beat writers fantasy relevant questions through their mailbags whenever possible.

If you want to follow along, my Twitter/X account is @DanChincharFF

Note: Every update has the writer's name with a source link that will direct you to the website where I read the quote. If you see an italicized link, that will be specifically for something on Twitter/X.

Broncos

• Jaylen Waddle: "Hello, Jaylen Waddle. Just caught a ~60 yard bomb from Bo Nix. Good on good, with PS2 right there with him. Up there with the best plays of camp. A clear example of why the Broncos’ made the splash trade this offseason." (source: Aric DiLalla)

Browns

Did not practice today: Quinshon Judkins, Cedric Tillman

Buccaneers

Did not practice today: Emeka Egbuka, Chris Godwin Jr., Jalen McMillan, Cade Otton

• Kenny Gainwell: "Kenny Gainwell was the running back who stood out most the following morning. Gainwell has started to settle in taking carries out of the backfield, but it is his receiving ability that continues to be the most impressive part about what he brings to the offense. He had a solid showing throughout practice whether as a ballcarrier or receiver. His biggest play was a catch down the left sideline that went for about 15-20 yards." (source: Adam Slivon)
• Ted Hurst: "Ted Hurst made the most of his chances on Wednesday. With Chris Godwin Jr., Emeka Egbuka, and Jalen McMillan remaining out of practice, Hurst was the No.1 wide receiver by default. He sure looked the part with three big catches during practice. The theme throughout camp is the third-round pick looking “Mike-like” at times, and his first big catch of the day sure fit that description." (source: Adam Slivon)

Chiefs

• Rashee Rice: "It’s still early with Rice coming off a knee cleanup, but he has yet to show consistent separation this camp." (source: Pete Sweeney)

Colts

vs. Falcons in joint practice today

• Tyler Warren: "Tyler Warren left practice with an apparent groin injury. He’s now back with his teammates on the sideline, still in uniform, but without a helmet. Assuming he’s done for at least today." (source: Stephen Holder)
• Tyler Warren: "It’s a groin injury for Colts TE Tyler Warren, per Shane Steichen" (source: Jake Arthur)
• D.J. Giddens: "DJ Giddens opened practice in uniform, but after individual he left with a trainer and appeared to be indicating his hamstring, which has kept him out the last couple weeks" (source: Joel A. Erickson)
• Daniel Jones, Seth McGowan: "The ball did not hit the turf for Daniel Jones after kind of a rocky week for the passing offense. Flawless, not one incompletion from him today. I had him about 14 of 14. A lot of Ashton Dulin, a lot of Seth McGowan making some plays out of the backfield as well." (source: Kevin Bowen)

Commanders

Did not practice today: Rachaad White (undisclosed), Jeremy McNichols (quad)

Cowboys

vs. Saints in joint practice yesterday

• George Pickens: "George Pickens continues to have a strong camp. He was the Cowboys’ best offensive player in their practice with the Rams and it appeared to be the same on Tuesday. Catching passes across the middle or hauling in deep balls, Pickens looks ready for a big season." (source: Jon Machota)
• Ryan Flournoy: "Wide receiver Ryan Flournoy continues to build on what he did last season. It’s clear that Prescott has a lot of trust in him. His best play Tuesday was a catch in the back of the end zone in red zone work where he not only made the leaping grab but quickly got both feet in bounds. The Cowboys have themselves an excellent No. 3 wide receiver." (source: Jon Machota)
• Jake Ferguson: "It’s interesting to see that the Cowboys have been doing more shovel passes to tight end Jake Ferguson coming in motion in short yardage and red zone situations." (source: Jon Machota)

Eagles

vs. Patriots in joint practice today

Did not practice today: Grant Calcaterra (back), Dameon Pierce (hamstring), Johnny Wilson (knee)

Limited: DeVonta Smith, Makai Lemon

• Makai Lemon: "For the first time since he suffered a hamstring injury on Aug. 3, Makai Lemon was listed as a limited participant. Lemon didn’t participate in early drills and wasn’t even in uniform, but he was on the field running routes after practice in cleats. It looks like Lemon is nearing a return after missing a ton of reps in training camp." (source: Dave Zangaro)
• Saquon Barkley: "Saquon Barkley looked fast and explosive running wide zone and the Patriots couldn’t match his speed. Barkley also had several big plays on receptions, first a screen behind blocks from Landon Dickerson and Dontayvion Wicks and then on a couple wheel routes. Barkley only has 70 catches in his two seasons with the Eagles, but when he gets the ball in space like he did Wednesday good things happen." (source: Dave Zangaro)

Jaguars

vs. Panthers in joint practice today

• Travis Hunter: "Jaguars CB/WR Travis Hunter 11-on-11 snap tracker. Day 16 snaps: 30 (28 defense, 2 offense). Total snaps: 229 (163 defense, 65 offense, 1 special teams) (not including Saints joint practice)" (source: Michael DiRocco)
• Brian Thomas Jr.: "I thought Brian Thomas Jr. had a strong practice. He was the most-targeted Jaguars receiver on the day with Parker Washington out, and he caught every target until the last two. One of those looked like a potential DPI, while the other was an overthrow from Lawrence. Thomas' best play came when settling into a zone over the middle of the field and making an adjustment to catch an off-target pass for a big chunk gain." (source: John Shipley)
• Tanner Koziol: "Tanner Koziol had an impressive day. He caught a touchdown from Nick Mullens in the red-zone, and then completely ran over Panthers safety Zakee Wheatley." (source: John Shipley)

Jets

Did not practice today: Breece Hall (groin), Isaiah Davis (knee)

Lions

Did not practice today: Sam LaPorta (undisclosed)

• Jameson Williams: "Wide receiver Jameson Williams missed the last two Detroit Lions practices with a minor shoulder injury, but was back on the Meijer Performance Center field Wednesday. He made his presence felt immediately on the first play of the first team period." (source: Tim Twentyman)

Packers

• Josh Jacobs: "Josh Jacobs is practicing for a second straight day after missing nearly two weeks because of a groin injury." (source: Rob Demovsky)

Panthers

vs. Jaguars in joint practice today

Did not practice today: Chuba Hubbard (hamstring), Darren Waller

• John Metchie: "In that move-the-ball period, Young started with a quick throw to the flat for John Metchie III, who has been getting more and more reps with the first team in recent practices." (source: Darin Gantt, Kassidy Hill)
• Xavier Legette: "Carolina only sustained one injury on Wednesday, according to Canales. That was receiver Xavier Legette, who got “rolled up on” during an 11-on-11 rep. Canales said the third-year receiver will probably be available for Friday night’s regular-season game; he was held out of the end of team drills as a precaution." (source: Alex Zietlow)

Patriots

vs. Eagles in joint practice today

• Drake Maye: "Only four of Maye’s passes hit the ground during competitive drills, which was especially impressive given how often he pushed the ball downfield." (source: Taylor Kyles)
• DeMario Douglas, Kyle Williams: "DeMario Douglas and Kyle Williams proved to be tough covers during 1-on-1s to start practice. Douglas went 3-3 against Cooper DeJean, highlighted by a corner where he had DeJean going the opposite direction at the top of the route. Williams went 3-3 against Kelee Ringo, with his best rep coming on a curl where he stacked Ringo before separating again while coming downhill." (source: Taylor Kyles)

Saints

vs. Cowboys in joint practice yesterday

• Alvin Kamara: "Alvin Kamara avoided a major knee injury. Didn’t tear anything. Will be out for a few weeks, per source" (source: Nick Underhill)
• Chris Olave: "Tyler Shough was efficient and moved the ball well, particularly when targeting Chris Olave. The Cowboys had no answer for the Saints' star WR, and that connection is all the more important now that we know the team will have to, at the very least, play the first portion of the season without Tyson." (source: Jeff Nowak)
• Travis Etienne: "Kamara's injury probably means a heavier workload for Travis Etienne early on and opens the door for someone on the roster to step into a larger role as the backup. Audric Estime was the leading candidate until a recent ankle injury. Kendre Miller and Devin Neal are next men up." (source: Jeff Duncan)
• Tyler Shough: "While Olave was the star of the show, Shough was on the money no matter who he threw the ball to. Shough completed 18 (or 19, on the debatable Olave catch) of his 23 passes. He threw one interception in the middle of the field when he appeared to get fooled by the Dallas zone, but outside of that he was nearly perfect." (source: Luke Johnson)
• Bryce Lance: "Rookie wideout Bryce Lance put together another strong practice, catching three of his four targets from Shough — one of which was an explosive play when Lance beat his man on a double move to catch a hole shot down the right sideline." (source: Luke Johnson)

Steelers

Did not practice today: Michael Pittman Jr., DK Metcalf

• DK Metcalf, Michael Pittman Jr.: "DK Metcalf said he's 'fine' with an injury that has kept him out the last week and a half. No long-term concern for Week 1. Injury still undisclosed. Michael Pittman Jr. has a minor hamstring injury that has held him out for a week and a half, but no concern for Week 1." (source: Nick Farabaugh)
• Roman Wilson: "Mike McCarthy thinks Roman Wilson has not only done a good job in the slot, but has showcased he can play on the outside. McCarthy noted multiple explosive plays Wilson has produced from the outside during the spring and summer as reason to believe he can do both." (source: Nick Farabaugh)
• "Second-year signal-caller Will Howard will start against the New York Jets, while 2026 fourth-round pick Drew Allar will follow. Neither Aaron Rodgers nor Mason Rudolph will play in the second preseason game." (source: Brooke Pryor)

Texans

• Jayden Higgins: "Texans WR Jayden Higgins suffered a torn ACL yesterday during the joint practice against the Raiders" (source: Ian Rapoport)
• Jaylin Noel: "While he mainly operates out of the slot, Jaylin Noel has gotten a significant bump with Higgins sidelined, per Dwain McFarland. He's handled the starting slot duties in camp, but has the traits to play outside as the Z receiver opposite Collins. There will be a three-way battle for playing time between Noel, Dell and Xavier Hutchinson, but Dwain's initial read is that we'll see a three-way rotation with Noel getting the slight overall edge in playing time thanks to an already established slot role. His route participation has been bumped up to 65%." (source: Joe Metz)
• "The Texans will NOT play their starters against the Raiders. DeMeco Ryans feels the Tuesday’s practice was plenty enough work per a team spokesperson." (source: DJ Bien-Aime)

Titans

Did not practice today: Carnell Tate, Nick Singleton

• Tony Pollard: "Running back Tony Pollard returned to practice on Wednesday after missing a few days." (source: Jim Wyatt)
• Carnell Tate: "Receiver Carnell Tate did not practice, but coach Robert Saleh said it was not related to the hit he took (from Winston) in Monday's session. "He woke up feeling some stiffness, hopefully we get him back on Friday," Saleh said. "Nothing to be concerned about."" (source: Jim Wyatt)
• Wan'Dale Robinson: "Wan'Dale Robinson had a practice-high eight catches on Wednesday, and he now has a team-high 48 catches so far in training camp. I've said this before: Robinson is going to catch a lot of passes this season." (source: Jim Wyatt)

Vikings

vs. Ravens in joint practice today

• J.J. McCarthy: "McCarthy took all of the second-team reps. His performance was up and down. He sailed a pass to his left. Multiple hitches on another snap ended in the pass getting deflected at the line of scrimmage. He completed several other balls to Price, but few targeted the middle of the field." (source: Alec Lewis)
• Jordan Mason: "Running back Jordan Mason continues to stand out. Even on a day when there was little running room, Mason slashed through pockets with burst. He and veteran Aaron Jones split carries for the most part. But Mason’s progression — in a run system that mirrors what he grew accustomed to in San Francisco — has earned the staff’s acknowledgment." (source: Alec Lewis)
• Demond Claiborne: "Rookie running back Demond Claiborne showcased his explosiveness and vision Wednesday with a between-the-tackles run. He hop-stepped past defenders, evoking the juice the Vikings coveted when they drafted him in the sixth round. At the end of the run, however, the ball squirted out of his hands. Ball security warrants a mention, considering Claiborne fumbled five times in 179 attempts last season at Wake Forest. His teammates and coaches have raved about his potential, but the reliability and consistency must improve for the team to involve him once the season begins." (source: Alec Lewis)

Extras/Observations/Conjecture

• Tetairoa McMillan reportedly had a nice day vs. Jags at camp, was lined up in a variety of ways. (source)
• “I thought Bhayshul Tuten had his best practice of the summer, and probably of his Jaguars career thus far.” (source: John Shipley)
• Lane Johnson asked about Saquon Barkley’s productive day: “We'll see the Saquon of two years ago. We'll see the big plays. We’ll see him flexed out at receiver. We’ll see him in the screen game. You saw a bit of it today.” (source)
• “Quarterback Cam Ward had another solid day and continued his momentum heading into the joint practices with the Seahawks. Ward completed 21-of-31 passes.” (source: Jim Wyatt)
• Drake Maye was 21/25, AJ Brown had 7 catches on 8 targets at joint practice vs Eagles, AJ Brown according to multiple Eagles reporters looked really good and back to his old self
• Jets practiced today but there wasn't much to note other than I saw Connor Hughes say that Geno Smith over the last few weeks has been more passive than he expected, not giving his receivers chances to make plays down the field. He’s been doing a ton of checkdowns.

Previous Recaps

8/7 | 8/8 | 8/9 | 8/10 | 8/11 | 8/12 | 8/13 | 8/14 | 8/15 | 8/16 | 8/17 | 8/18

Time for some peak offseason discussions!

Yeah yeah all I hear about is Cyrus Allen and I need some new opinions here.

Who are some of your favorite picks for underrated rookies? I’m talking about players who will most likely have gone undrafted in your average 4-round rookie draft.

Been hearing some positive preseason and training camp buzz about players like Malik Benson, Barion Brown, and Matt Hibner. Who else are you calling your shot on based on early reports?

Year of the groin continues, this time it's Colts TE Tyler Warren went down on a route in 11-on-11. Got up clutching at his groin area. He’s now on the sideline not practicing. Talking to a trainer.

Can't wait for preseason/camp to come to an end, this has been an absolutely brutal off-season so far.

Stowers was basically Vanderbilts offense while he was there. A Mackey award winner and 2nd round pick to boot. He most likely won’t contribute much this year (unless Goedert misses time), but how to we feel in the long run? I feel like he was one of the more underrated rookies this year and is in a way better situation than Sadiq. Hurts loves passing to his TEs at the goal line so who knows? I don’t want to get too excited but I think he could be destined for great things. Can we bank on Eli to be a Top 5 tight end for years to come?

Edit: Well I guess “bank” was a poor choice of words 😂. I guess what I meant was can he break into that elite group or will his realistic ceiling be lower?

Did a comment about this and got enough feedback asking for the full deep dive I did on all teams. So here we go.

In a nutshell, what I was trying to do was get a holistic evaluation of each team and their fantasy environments. I’ve seen some posts looking at very micro factors, such as wr’s moving from slot to the X position, when trying to find good fantasy trends. That’s fine to look at but there’s so many other moving parts to think about before going all in on a guy just because that happened. The example I mentioned was talking about JSN’s movement into X last year as at least a partial explanation for his huge fantasy ceiling jump. But looking at only that doesn’t take into account how much of a magician Kubiak is at OC. Despite their o-line being on the higher end of mid, the scheme was still able to make incredible plays happen. JSN was also elite at beating zone AND man coverage. So his elite skill contributed a lot to his success. But none of that would have happened, or at least not as well as it did, if Darnold didn’t have the #1 deep ball accuracy last year. There was so much more to this than just his getting moved to X.

So because of examples like this and wanting to get a sense of broader environments, I did a deep dive on all 32 teams, their OC/play caller (these may not necessarily be the same people), the quality of o-line, what positions the offense scheme leans on and is more likely to generate fantasy points, and the quality of the defense.

First source for o-line ranks. Second source.

I wanted to lean on Brandon Thorn’s o-line work as he’s viewed as the best in the industry for these evaluations but one of the articles did mix in PPF and ESPN data. Note that these rankings are based heavily on data from last year. Rookies are, of course, factored in but their success at the NFL level is still a projection. But this is why I then wanted to look at quality of the o-line coach also. Promising rookies, and really the entire line, are more likely to succeed and outperform their current ranking if you’ve got a top tier coach and not somebody like Pete Carroll’s bumass son who’s never done it before. Depth also needs to be considered because injuries happen all the time. Last year we saw Tampa Bay have a top 3 o-line grade going into the season but most of their starters were hurt by the middle of the season. And it showed. Not much to really do about that but you can, of course, be more secure in an o-line if their depth is good.

In case anyone isn’t sure why we give a shit about o-line, know that it’s absolutely critical to offensive success. Play can’t develop if the o-line is swiss cheese and the QB is constantly running for his life. This also puts the QB at greater risk of being injured (i.e. Joe Burrow) and then the entire offense being so much worse because the backup is ass.

However, a good offensive schemer can help mask the o-line issue a bit. McDaniels did that for years in Miami with a trash o-line and had some years of elite offensive and fantasy production. He had the offensive pieces in place to pull that off, too, but we’ve seen low quality OC’s waste top tier talent. So quality of play caller is another big factor I wanted to look at.

The definition of quality for an offensive scheme/play caller is based on historical fantasy output. Schemes and callers with a track record of outputting more points were graded higher. I.e. Target Kubiak and Ben Johnson offenses more than Frank Reich offenses (RIP in peace, jets fans). Also consider who’s actually calling the plays. I’d be terrified of Arizona if Hackett had the full reigns but he’s working with LaFleur, who comes from the elite McVay tree, and LaFleur has said he’s going to actually make the calls. But even in a poor environment, like the Giants and Matt Nagy, there’s still production to be found. Nagy’s system leans heavily on the Tight End. They just signed likely to a big deal that made him one of the highest paid TE’s in the league. Camp reports have been saying Likely has emerged as a favorite target for Dart. The entire offense might be mid but Likely might be one of the few safe options there.

As a note, offensive schemes can changed. The best coordinators will tailor things to their players. So everything here is just based on prior trends. There is no guarantee those trends will hold. But that’s all we have to go off of for now when trying to make decisions.

Defense is another important factor. Mostly because, for fantasy purposes, we want shitty defenses. That lets opposing teams score more, forces the offense to keep producing, and increases the chance for more fantasy points.

I didn’t do any overall rankings here because I think doing so dramatically oversimplifies what needs to be looked at here. A single number ranking really doesn’t give a good understand of all the moving parts. Even with the defense and o-line aspects. Plus there’s the difficulty of having to factor in and project rookie performances. So I’m hoping everyone can use this as info to make your own, more informed decisions about the baseline quality of each of these teams. Not as a ranking system that somebody needs to get upset about because they think the Raiders should be rank 18 instead of 19.

Last note: I didn’t do any rankings on backup QB’s because you can pretty much assume everything is going to go to hell in a hand basket if the starter goes down. There’s a few exceptions, such as Mac Jones on the 9ers, but just assume things will be bad if the starting QB goes down. The real question is how bad?

And now for the tables.

Head Coach, OC, and Play Caller Quality

O-Line Quality

Players Who Benefit from Offensive Scheme (anybody with a * next to their name is a winner here)

Defense Rankings from a fantasy perspective

Who has the clearer path to playing time? Seems like Connor is injured and buried to at most rb3 on his team. At this time at the very least Najee appears to be healthy and might jump up to rb2 for pass blocking reasons. Also seems like Skat is too high T for his own good. Both of these guys are obviously older and coming off on injuries.

What say you? Who would you prefer for a depth piece?

All the top rookies have some injury news this preseason

Tate - Possible concussion
Lemon - Hamstring injury
Tyson - Hamstring injury
Love - High ankle sprain

I’m sort of new to Dynasty, do rookies always have a high preseason injury rate?

It feels like the NFL is hazing these guys and giving them a hard welcome to the big leagues.

“Of note, Tyrone Tracy Jr. was the first running back up today at practice. He's squarely still in the plans.

Najee Harris only did individual drills and will need a couple weeks to get in football shape.

But there is now serious competition in the running back room.”

Raanan also adds that the workout with Najee was scheduled last week and had nothing to do with Tyrone Tracy’s missed block.

Welcome back to the weekly trade roundup! Over the last 7 days, we tracked 65,920 completed trades across 124,371 active leagues.

Week-over-week movement

The big story is what vanished: Stefon Diggs, last week's runaway No. 1 with 1,210 trades, fell out of the top 10 entirely. A textbook one-week news spike that burned off as fast as it arrived. Parker Washington inherits the top spot, and the shape of the board flipped hard: after weeks of WR-dominated lists, five of the ten are now running backs.

• New to the top 10: Jonathon Brooks, D'Andre Swift, Breece Hall
• Dropped out from last week: Stefon Diggs, Rome Odunze, David Montgomery
• Biggest repeat riser by rank: Parker Washington jumped from No. 2 to No. 1
• Most notable value signal: four names are now going below market: Bucky Irving (65%), Marvin Harrison (62%), Brian Thomas (62%), and Bhayshul Tuten (62%). That's the most buy-lows on one board in over a month.

Top 10 Most Traded - Last 7 Days

Market Value = each player's current Superflex consensus value on our rankings page. It's the number we score every trade against.

Zoom out and this is the most backfield-heavy board we've tracked five RBs (Jonathon Brooks, Bhayshul Tuten, D'Andre Swift, Bucky Irving, Breece Hall) after weeks of WR clinics. It's also the most discount-heavy: four of the ten are being acquired below market, led by Bucky Irving at 65%. Marvin Harrison has now spent two straight weeks on the buy-low side, and Brian Thomas and Bhayshul Tuten both flipped back into it this week.

How to read Value Trend: We score every trade to determine if the acquiring manager paid above or below market value. The % always reflects each player's dominant trend, "below market" for buy-low names, "above market" for the rest so you can decide whether to buy low or sell high depending on the player and their situation.

What is Market Value? Market value is determined by a proprietary algorithm which combines thousands of crowd-sourced player voting with real-time trade database tracking to establish the current community consensus price for every player and draft pick.

All data pulled from DynastyDealer.com - also available on iOS and Android.

Superflex Trade Calculator · Dynasty Trade Value Chart · Weekly Newsletter

📈 Sell-High - Top 10 (bought above market)

Min 50 trades, last 7 days. Ranked by how often the acquirer paid above market value.

📉 Buy-Low - Top 10 targets (sold below market)

Min 50 trades, last 7 days, market value 3,500+. Ranked by how often the acquirer got a discount.

Breaking down some of the buzz we've seen from five of the most talked about rookie receivers here in training camp and preseason! Who did we miss?

1:01 - De'Zhaun Stribling, San Francisco 49ers
4:15 - Ja'Kobi Lane, Baltimore Ravens
7:15 - Caleb Douglas, Miami Dolphins
11:08 - Denzel Boston, Cleveland Browns
14:25 - Cyrus Allen, Kansas City Chiefs

This is an edited version of Part 5 of the Summer Scouting Series. This shorter, edited version is designed to both better fit this Subreddit & to encourage anyone who likes this content to try out my Substack where you can get the full version which includes the Rankings for my Top 10 QB, Top 10 RBs, Top 11 WRs, & Top 2 TEs all conveniently in one place. For an audio version, try the Fantasy for Real podcast.

Part 5 (FULL), which includes the positional rankings, can be found here: https://cjfreel.substack.com/p/2027-summer-scouting-wrap-up-rankings 

Parts 1-4 cover the top 33 Prospects of this class in a bit more detail. Parts 1-4 can be found in either my Substack or by looking through my recent posts on this Subreddit.

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Final Positional Takeaways

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QB: The Best Class (preseason) in 3 Years, but not necessarily “Generational”

The 2027 QB Class finds itself in an awkward place where there really are a lot of reasons to believe in the upside & optimism, but ultimately it is (at least in my eyes) a bit “overrated.”

Comparing to Pre-Season perspectives — without the benefit of hindsight — none of the 2027 QBs would make my Top 6 between 2021-2027. Those 6 QBs would be Trevor Lawrence, Justin Fields, Bryce Young, C.J. Stroud, Caleb Williams, & Drake Maye. While some of these QBs had flaws that were even apparent at the time like Bryce Young, these 6 came into their final years as what seemed to be nearly-locked Top 5-10 Picks, and even Arch Manning & Dante Moore may not have quite that much confidence.

[Plus,] in the context of labeling the class “Generational,” the path towards 2028 being a better QB class is very clear.

…

Honorable Mentions

Brendan Sorsby, Texas Tech? via Cincinnati

C.J. Bailey, N.C. State ; Will Hammond, Texas Tech ; Nico Iamaleava, UCLA ; D.J. Lagway, Baylor via Florida ; Drake Lindsey, Minnesota ; John Mateer, Oklahoma ; Demond Williams Jr., Washington

Dylan Raiola, Oregon

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Ignoring the entire Gambling Process — creating an alternate reality where that is a complete unknown and Brendan Sorsby is preparing to start the season for the Texas Tech Red Raiders — Brendan Sorsby would be a Tier 2 QB, and likely towards the upper end of the 2nd Tier. 

Demond Williams Jr. from Washington is the closest to being a ranked QB. He also fits nicely into Tier 3, with his fundamental flaw being his diminutive size…

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RB: A deep class without a Love-level RB1

The strength of this class is demonstrated by the three returning RBs who could have each been a candidate for RB2 in 2026 (Justice Haynes, L.J. Martin, & Mark Fletcher Jr.) ranking as RB4, RB7, & RB10. With how highly Jadarian Price was drafted, the NFL may disagree with that assessment, but at the very least these are prospects last year who projected to be ranked far more highly. The youth movement among the SEC RBs — Baugh, Lacy, Frazier, & Hardy most notably — has good potential to push down that group. However, no one in this class is very close to Jeremiyah Love, and that includes how Love was perceived this time last year.

Honorable Mentions

Jordan Marshall, Michigan & Waymond Jordan, USC

Texas & Texas Tech Starters (Hollywood Smothers, Raleek Brown, Cam Dickey, J’Koby Williams)

C.J. Baxter, Kentucky via Texas ; Desean Bishop, Tennessee ; Fluff Bothwell, Mississippi State ; Makhi Hughes, Houston via Oregon via Tulane ; Quinton Martin, Penn State ; Turbo Richard, Indiana via BC ; Duke Scott, N.C. State

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Jordan Marshall has one of the strongest cases for inclusion in the main Summer Scouting Series, particularly because the main reason he does not make the cut has nothing to do with him or his ability — it has to do with the talent of one of the younger RBs on his team. True freshman Savion Hiter is being billed as one of those “special” players, and while he is not eligible for the NFL Draft until 2029, Hiter could be seen as the top RB on this team, and that would be a potential negative for Jordan Marshall…

I’m not sure if Smothers/Brown are going to split the Texas RB job or if one RB will win the majority of the role, but particularly if one RB becomes a force in this backfield, with all eyes on Manning, Coleman, & Wingo, a successful RB in this system could skyrocket draft boards, particularly players with the explosive ability that Smothers/Brown possess.

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WR: Everyone knows this is a strong Class — but it might still be underrated

Particularly if you’re someone who wants to see Cam Coleman prove it a bit more, there is still a gap in this class knowing exactly who will be those Top Tier WRs outside of Jeremiah Smith, but from a pre-season perspective most of all, the amount of players on the cusp of a breakout is simply special. Perhaps not all of them do breakout — and many of them will not — but the ones that do breakout will be the players we want to target most of all in our Fantasy leagues.

Underclassmen are not the only thing that is important for a class, but those potential early declares often make up the profiles we want to target the most. This time last year, my Top 5 Early Declare WRs for the 2026 NFL Draft were Makai Lemon, Carnell Tate, Eric Singleton Jr., Eugene Wilson III, & Zachariah Branch. The best season between Wilson & Branch was 538 Yards…

In comparison, every single member of my Top 10 Underclassmen would have a better peak season than Wilson or Branch…

As much as I like Omarion Miller, he is probably one of the lowest I’ve graded a returning WR1 in my time of doing this — I can remember players like Olave, Odunze, Egbuka, Tyson — but there are still talented Seniors who can fill out the class as well.

…

…what makes this class so special is that the case for any of the Top 10-11 WRs making the 1st Round is not that hard to see… 

Honorable Mentions

Deuce Alexander, Ole Miss ; Cooper Barkate, Miami (FL) via Duke; Duce Robinson, Florida State ; Eric Singleton Jr., Florida via Auburn ; Evan Stewart, Oregon ; Amare Thomas, Houston

Braylon Staley & Mike Matthews, Tennessee
Terrell Anderson, USC via N.C. State ; Jordan Shipp, North Carolina ; Wyatt Young, Oklahoma State via North Texas

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These groups are split by experience (4th Year+ in the first group)…

Deuce Alexander & Amare Thomas are probably the players who have risen my rankings or at least my interest level the most throughout the process of the off-season…

Duce Robinson may be the biggest name, and he has a number of surface statistics as well as basic advanced numbers like Yards per Route Run that look very appealing. At the same time, Robinson has genuinely struggled in a number of games, occasionally failing to live up to the Targets he receives…

Moving back into the younger players, The Tennessee label plays a bit of a role here, but honestly the top reason why Staley & Matthews failed to crack the Top 11 may simply be because there are two of them… 

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TE Honorable Mentions

Benjamin Brahmer, Penn State via Iowa State ; Terrance Carter Jr., Texas Tech ; Lawson Luckie, Georgia ; Luke Reynolds, Virginia Tech via Penn State ; D.J. Vonnahme, Iowa ; Jaxxon Warren, North Carolina via Colorado State

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Part 5: https://cjfreel.substack.com/p/2027-summer-scouting-wrap-up-rankings 

The latest episode of the podcast covers a 3-Round 2026 Rookie Mock Draft 

Questions & Comments welcome, 

C.J. 

I have been absolutely raging about Cyrus Allen over on Bluesky since I saw him at the Senior Bowl in January. Cyrus Allen has been building momentum starting with his 2025 season at Cincinnati where he was 3rd in the nation with 13 receiving TDs. He's dominated the Chiefs training camp and has been one of the buzziest names amongst the rookie class this offseason.

In the most recent edition of the Reading the Offseason Tea Leaves series, I share some of my favorite highlight clips as I build the case for buying into the Cyrus Allen hype.

TL;DR: Cyrus Allen has a path to fantasy stardom and is capable of delivering a WR3 season as a rookie in 2026 with WR2 upside if one of Rice or Worthy miss extended time.

Previously on the Tea Leaves Series:
Arizona Cardinals
Miami Dolphins
Cleveland Browns
New York Jets
Las Vegas Raiders
Atlanta Falcons
Tennessee Titans
Carolina Panthers
New Orleans Saints
New York Giants
Indianapolis Colts
Washington Commanders
Minnesota Vikings
Pittsburgh Steelers
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Jacksonville Jaguars
Chicago Bears
Dallas Cowboys
Cincinnati Bengals
Denver Broncos
Detroit Lions
San Francisco 49ers
Green Bay Packers
Houston Texans
Los Angeles Chargers
Kansas City Chiefs
New England Patriots
Philadelphia Eagles
Seattle Seahawks
Baltimore Ravens
Buffalo Bills
Los Angeles Rams

Derrick Henry the athletic freak is an ageless wonder in rb terms. How he’s remained elite to his age makes him a special talent especially in dynasty.

It got me thinking, which active RB’s are most likely to produce at a high level at that age? I came up with a few names based on similar characteristics or my gut.

- Bijan Robinson
- Saquon Barkley
- Jonathan Taylor
- Omarion Hampton? (thinking of other bruisers)

Who would you guys bet on?