Kenyan Drake in boot, Amari Cooper irritated & more Fantasy hot-takes
Week 2 of the preseason is just around the corner! There are eight games in the next two days, with eight more coming the weekend. Follow me on Twitter @mattkdelima
Drake leaves practice Tuesday, now in walking boot
NEWS: Miami Dolphins RB Kenyan Drake was injured on Tuesday and left practice early. Now he is in a walking boot. More details have yet to emerge.
ANALYSIS: Kalen Ballage is the name to watch. Drake has been good, but never great in his pro career. Meanwhile, Ballage has tremendous and explosive play-making ability. We just don't know if he can handle a full workload. All camp reports suggest that Ballage may see at least an even split of carries with Drake. This feels like a position battle that is unlikely to be resolved by Week 1 and Miami will opt for a hot-hand approach. Also keep an eye on backup RB Mark Walton. Ballage has gone from relative unknown to Dynasty commodity to rising redraft sleeper. His Advanced ADP from FullTime Fantasy is 107.7. His draft range extends from pick 87 to 129. Yet Drake's ADP has slipped. He was mostly recently drafted in a high-stakes FFWC league at pick No. 95. Out of the last ten high-stakes drafts, this was lowest draft position by nearly 20 spots That puts him right up there with other RB sleepers like Damien Harris, Devin Singletary and Ronald Jones.
Cooper dealing with plantar fascia irritation
NEWS: Dallas Cowboys WR Amari Cooper has been out from practice this week due to a heel injury, more specifically, irritation to his plantar fascia.
ANALYSIS: A quick Google search tells me this is less serious version of plantar fasciitis. And if you don't know what that means, it is a tender soreness and pain in the heel. A ligament in that part of the foot becomes swollen and painful.
I'm always VERY wary of any foot injury. You can play through a lot of injuries but if you can't plant hard and cut on the football field, you can transform from an elite athlete to the sweaty guy at your local YMCA posting up in the paint with a completely soaked shirt. Nobody wants to guard that guy.
The coaching staff is suggesting this isn't that serious and Cooper should be good to go by Week 1. I take them at their word but you have to be aware of the small risk to start the season and maybe even consider trading for Cooper if he starts slow this season. He's going to eat in this offense once he's 100%.
Quick Fantasy Hot-Takes
Case Keenum is front-runner to start the season for Redskins: I believe it and he's probably the better QB right now. However, who will be the better QB between him and Dwayne Haskins in Week 8? You should already know that Washington didn't draft the rookie to play second fiddle to Case Friggin Keenum.
Andrew Luck doesn't have bone issue in calf, may be a high-ankle injury: You know at first I thought it was going to be Antonio Brown's parade of bad headlines that was going to be the most annoying news of the preseason. Well Luck's daily injury update news isn't far behind Brown and assuming Brown can take a week off from being a diva, this Luck calf/ankle thing is rapidly picking up steam. Also how incompetent is this Colts' medical staff. Andrew Luck has a net worth of a small island country and this team, after months of first being injured, still isn't even sure of his injury. Unacceptable!
Golden Tate loses suspension appeal: Tate will be suspended for four games, despite self-reporting his violation. I'll be fading this offense for everyone not named Saquon Barkley. Tate will probably be a high-end WR3 for fantasy owners once healthy.
Damien Harris has minor hand/wrist injury: Harris, as reported recently, wasn't seeing much practice time with the first-teamers. However, this injury should make us feel a little better. First, the former Alabama back was performing well during OTAs. Then the Patriots pulled back his practice time and I was ready to write the guy off. However, this news sheds some light on why he's practicing less with the starters. The take-away yesterday was something was amiss and now we know it's not a big problem! I do still think New England's backfield is way overcrowded so there's risk in all of them not named Sony Michel. Michel's risk has more to do with potential injury because of his knee issues.
