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Walsh’s Wingmen: NFL Preseason Player Picks for DraftKings and FanDuel – Wednesday/Thursday, August 9-10

 

Follow me on Twitter: @14AdotWalsh

 


 

It should be noted that Weeks 1 and 4 of the preseason are the toughest games to predict playing time. In Week 1, the opening day starters will typically play the first series, but we have seen some coaching staffs run their guys out there for a little longer to develop some timing and positive habits. The key here is to score touchdowns because there aren’t too many of them in the first preseason game. I feel like these guys below will all have the best opportunity to do so…

 


 

QUARTERBACKS:

Jimmy Garoppolo, Jacoby Brissett (New England Patriots – QB)
These two are in a unique position compared to the rest of the QBs on the slate, having flawless coaching and in-game experience during the regular season. There have been reports of Garoppolo being in a funk during training camp, but as the Patriot faithful will tell you, he’s just simply not a practice player…good enough for me. I’m sure he’ll be fine against the Jags.

Brandon Doughty (Miami Dolphins – QB)
This might be my favorite/sneakiest play of the entire slate. Doughty was a stud at Western Kentucky (what up, NCAAF DFS!) and now has a year of living the NFL life under his belt. I would expect him to play most of this game since #1 QBs hardly play in the preseason opener and the Dolphins already know what they have with Matt Moore. In the two games that Doughty played a significant amount during last year’s preseason, he went a combined 15-for-21 with 164 yards (0 TD, 0 INT.) #NarrativeAlert: Doughty had to give up his #6 yesterday when Jay Cutler came to town. Added motivation?


 

RUNNING BACKS:

Buck Allen (Baltimore Ravens – RB)
Lots of positives coming out of Ravens camp for Allen, even though he’ll likely be the #3 RB on the depth chart… if he even gets a spot at all. However, we are just talking about tonight’s outlook, and it does help that Kenneth Dixon (season-ending injury) is out of the picture. That, along with having significant NFL regular season experience, should give Allen a ton of work and optimism tonight.

Rex Burkhead (New England Patriots – RB)
When Gio Bernard went down with a season-ending injury, Burkhead stepped up in a big way for the Bengals.  The Patriots saw what he was doing, and whisked him away with hopes that he can be one of their many gadgets this season. Burkhead isn’t near the top of the depth chart, so look for the Patriots to get him some touches and finally see what they have in game action.

Alvin Kamara (New Orleans Saints – RB)
Saints head coach Sean Payton said Kamara had similarities to Marshall Faulk. Well, that’s great and all, but Kamara should see a ton of work tonight while Mark Ingram and Adrian Peterson get a handful of touches to shake the rust off.

Wendell Smallwood, Donnel Pumphrey (Philadelphia Eagles – RB)
Smallwood was an excellent college player and showed flashes of elite talent in his rookie campaign. Pumphrey is coming off one of the best collegiate careers that any RB ever played. Should be a fun day for the Eagles to watch these guys do their thing.

Tyler Ervin (Houston Texans – RB)
It’s been reported that Ervin has taken a noticeable step going forward, and he should see a good amount of the snaps against the Panthers bench players. The Texans’ system has always been a friendly one for running backs.


 

WIDE RECEIVERS:

Devin Funchess (Carolina Panthers – WR)
I do wonder how much he’ll be used in this game, but there is a lot of talk around Panthers camp about Funchess taking the next step in his NFL career. The Panthers used him a lot in the red zone last season, and it is certainly possible for one of his limited touches (from an experienced QB) tonight to be in paydirt.

Laquon Treadwell, Michael Floyd (Minnesota Vikings – WR)
After a promising career at Ole Miss, Treadwell failed to break out in his rookie season. The Vikings put him on notice by signing Floyd and now the two of them could have a feast against the Bills second-string secondary. Floyd, especially, is very intriguing here. He’ll start the regular season with a four-game suspension, so look for the Vikings to get him plenty of work during the preseason. Mike Zimmer has said that Floyd, “Has looked pretty DANG good.” – a ringing endorsement if I’ve ever seen one!

Nelson Agholor (Philadelphia Eagles – WR)
There has been talk that Agholor is finally “putting it together” … I like him as a WR, but the production hasn’t been there thus far in his career. For tonight, that’s OK. He’ll likely have more opportunities than anyone else to make an impact on offense.

Brandon Coleman (New Orleans Saints – WR)
Reports have surfaced of him coming out strong at the start of training camp, and Coleman is certainly the most talented of the Saints WRs that will get significant snaps tonight.

Zay Jones, Rod Streater (Buffalo Bills – WR)
There really isn’t a ton to be excited about with the Bills WR depth chart, but Jones and Streater should get plenty of opportunities to show their new team what they can do.

Brian Quick, Ryan Grant (Washington Redskins – WR)
A couple of recent injuries to Redskins receivers should give these guys an extended workload.

Rashard Higgins, Ricardo Louis (Cleveland Browns – WR)
Both receivers are coming into their second season after impressive collegiate careers. I feel like both guys will get plenty of snaps and they’ll likely have a competent QB throwing to them one way or the other. Say what you want about the Browns QBs, but with the exception of DeShone Kizer, all of them have NFL regular season experience…and that’ll do just fine for the preseason.

Quincy Adeboyejo (Baltimore Ravens – WR)
Ravens WR depth chart isn’t necessarily settled, mainly because this guy keeps making some noise in training camp.

Leonte Carroo, Jordan Westerkamp, Jakeem Grant (Miami Dolphins – WR)
The Dolphins have a plethora of former standout collegiate wideouts, so I can see a couple of these guys putting up some points with Doughty who I mentioned earlier. For whatever it’s worth, Jakeem Grant was trending on Twitter yesterday. Just saying…


 

TIGHT ENDS:

AJ Derby (Denver Broncos – TE)
Tight ends are usually a shitty (or inexperienced) QB’s favorite target. Luckily for Derby, the Broncos have a ton of guys that fall into that category and will have a ton of snaps all to himself due to the Broncos lack of depth there right now.

Trey Burton (Philadelphia Eagles – TE)
We actually saw a couple decent games from Burton last season and he should have plenty of mismatches tonight against second and third-teamers.

Richard Rodgers, Lance Kendricks (Green Bay Packers – TE)
They won’t be catching too many passes from Aaron Rodgers, but both of these tight ends (not at the top of the depth chart) have plenty of regular season snaps in the NFL.


 

DEFENSES:

Carolina Panthers
The Texans offense didn’t automatically get better with Brock Osweiler leaving town and they’ll have some struggles at the start. It’s been reported that Tom Savage is clearly beating Deshaun Watson for the starting QB job, so that means that we’ll probably see a lot of the rookie going through somewhat of a learning curve tonight.

Denver Broncos
This should be fun…a full three hours-worth of teeing off on the hapless Bears.

Washington Redskins
Ryan Mallet of the Ravens threw a ton of picks on the opening day of training camp, big surprise. The Redskins defense is much improved and will have every opportunity to create some turnovers against the team who had the most passing attempts in the NFL last season…and the QB who attempted those passes won’t be on the field.


 

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