Over the past week, some player news has been worth noting for fantasy teams. The goal is to sift through the buzz information and listen to the tidbits that possibly lead to some late draft fliers. After this week in the preseason, any relevant player expected to start in Week 1 shouldn’t be on the field in their last game in August.
TE Darren Waller, Las Vegas Raiders
After missing time in early August with an unknown injury, Waller returned to practice last week. Unfortunately, he missed more time over the previous few days, inviting concern that Waller may not be ready for Week 1. In the early draft season in the high-stakes market, he ranks fifth at tight end with a fifth-round average draft position.
Fantasy take: His resume over his last 43 games is pretty impressive (252 catches for 3,006 yards and 14 touchdowns on 356 targets), but Waller does have risk after missing six games and 2021 and sitting much of the preseason this summer. The Raiders have two viable options at wideout already poised to steal some of his chances. In the next update in the projections, Hunter Renfrow will get a bump at the expense of Waller. I would only draft him at a discount unless there is a clean report about his health.
RB Ameer Abdullah, Las Vegas Raiders
A new coaching staff in Las Vegas led to Kenyan Drake getting cut this week. His opening on the roster points to Abdullah assuming the third-down pass-catching role in their offense, something James White excelled at in his time in New England under Josh McDaniels. Even with that premise, Abdullah has struggled to find a viable role in the NFL over the past four seasons (787 combined yards with four touchdowns and 64 catches on 147 touches).
Fantasy take: I’ve seen NFFC Hall of Famers Mike Santos and Kurt Kuekes add Abdullah in multiple drafts as their RB4 over the previous week. They are looking for a cheat RB2 after building a solid foundation at wide receiver. Josh Jacobs remains the lead runner for Las Vegas, and he will catch some passes and be a factor at the goal line. The wild card runner in this offense is Zamir White. He doesn’t have a pass-catching profile on his college resume (17/132 over 37 games), meaning he projects better as a handcuff to Jacobs while offering change-of-pace value on early downs.
