Fantasy Football: Thursday Night Roundup

After six long months, football is finally back baby! Yes it might only be preseason but hey, it’s something. With six games on the Thursday night slate, let’s get you caught up on anything and everything fantasy football noteworthy.

Denver Broncos WR Demaryius Thomas finished with two receptions, 43 yards and one touchdown — a 32-yard strike from QB Mark Sanchez. As Thomas showed so often last year, he doesn’t need a great QB to put up solid numbers.
Washington Redskins QB Kirk Cousins went 5/5 for 39 yards. Nothing too crazy here, but Cousins looks pretty comfortable. Just as he did towards the end of the 2015 season, when the former Michigan State University standout emerged as one of the top fantasy football QBs.
Philadelphia Eagles RB Ryan Mathews finished with two rushes, 15 yards, and one touchdown. Matthews looked good on limited snaps but talent was never the real concern. The real question is, can he stay healthy?
Carolina Panthers WR Devin Funchess caught a 10-yard touchdown pass. A breakout season is very possible for Funchess in year two. At the same time, that could hinder the 2016 stat line of WR Kelvin Benjamin‘s, who missed all of last season with an injury and stands to emerge as Cam Newton’s primary receiver this year.
New Orleans Saints RB Mark Ingram finished with a pair of one-yard touchdown runs. He’s primed to pickup where he left off in 2015 before being shutdown after Week 13 with an injury.

New Orleans Saints rookie WR Michael Thomas finished with four receptions for 67 yards, hauling in an impressive diving catch in the second quarter. If he comes on sooner rather than later, he could take opportunities away from WR Willie Snead.
Patriots RB LeGarrette Blount finished with 9 carries, 20 yards and a score. He didn’t look great, but the fact that he appears 100 percent healthy after sustaining a season-ending hip injury last season is important.

Jacksonville Jaguars QB Blake Bortles finished 6/7 with 105 yards. He’s already showing last year’s gaudy stats weren’t a fluke.
Jacksonville Jaguars WR Allen Robinson finished with 3 receptions for 80 yards. Just like Bortles, he’s poised to repeat as a top fantasy player at his respective position.
Jacksonville Jaguars RB Chris Ivory finished with seven touches, 30 yards, and one touchdown. He had a one-yard TD run and that’s worth noting because he’s clearly the team’s goal-line RB. In an offense that looks like it should be explosive, he has real value at his 7th-8th round ADP.

New England Patriots RB Tyler Gaffney finished with 9 carries, 64 yards, and a touchdown — a 44-yard scamper in the third quarter — to go along with a pair of receptions for seven yards. In a backfield where LeGarrette Blount and Dion Lewis are coming back from injuries, Gaffney is a name to monitor should there are any setbacks. As Bill Belichick has shown, he doesn’t care who you are; if you can help the team win, he’ll play you.
Baltimore Ravens RB Terrance West finished with 10 touches, 32 yards, and a pair of touchdowns. Rookie RB Kenneth Dixon, meanwhile, tallied nine carries for 44 yards. In a Ravens backfield where nobody is a runaway starter, this is a situation to monitor.
Denver Broncos tight end Virgil Green finished with 3 receptions for 26 yards. All of his catches came on the Broncos first drive of the game. Throughout his career, Mark Sanchez has always relied on his tight end (Dustin Keller and Zach Ertz), so if they can show consistent chemistry, he’s a name worth monitoring in deeper leagues.

Patriots rookie WR Malcolm Mitchell dislocated his elbow (it was gross) and he should miss some time. However, New England Patriots beat reporter Jeff Howe is saying Mitchell may only miss four weeks. That would be great news for the Pats — not only because the injury appeared to be season-ending, but also because New England’s wide-receiver corps has been prone to injuries of late. Mitchell has been impressive in training camp, and might well emerge as an X-factor in the Patriots offense.

Eagles guard Brandon Brooks left the game with a bicep injury. While it didn’t appear to be serious, the Eagles offensive-line has already been downgraded by the recent and probable 10-game suspension of RT Lane Johnson. Losing another starter on that O-line could devastate the Eagles. Oh, and Josh Andrews, another Eagles guard, left the game with an ankle injury. Uh oh…

Bear Goggles On

Bears RB Ka’Deem Carey left the game with a possible concussion. If he misses a lot of time, RB Jacquizz Rodgers could separate himself from rookie RB Jordan Howard and see more touches in a backfield that has to step up for the Bears to be a threat in the NFC North.

Falcons WR Aldrick Robinson had three receptions for 118 yards. Beset case scenario for Robinson entering Week 1 would be him being fourth in the pecking order behind Julio Jones, Devanta Freeman, and Mohamed Sanu. Even that’s not a guarantee. Still, you gotta start somewhere.
Broncos WR Cody Latimer finished with seven receptions for 82 yards. This should help him make the team but not a fantasy impact.

Redskins UDFA RB Rob Kelley finished with seven carries, 40 yards and a touchdown. The Redskins RB situation is full of young and unproven guys. Kelley certainly has an uphill battle ahead of him, but he sure helped himself on Thursday.

Patriots QB Jimmy Garoppolo looked okay on Thursday — nothing horrible, but nothing that screamed “Quarterback of the future!” either. He played without a lot of the Pats’ usual weapons, however, so Week 3’s preseason game, where a majority of the starters are expected to play, will be an important game to watch.
The Chicago Bears QBs combined for seven sacks taken. The Broncos have a lot of dominating players and depth on the defensive side, but this is still concerning. Jay Cutler could (once again) be in for a long season behind a shaky offensive line with no quality depth.
The Philadelphia Eagles No.1 CB is Leodis McKelvin. As he showed Thursday, that’s not something Eagles fans want to brag about. This secondary might be an area you want to pick-on in DFS.
Tampa Bay’s second-round rookie kicker Roberto Aguayo (I still can’t believe they drafted a kicker in the second-round) missed the first kick of his NFL career. It was a 32-yard extra point.