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USATSI

The past few weeks have seen an awful lot of hype around Jaguars running back Tank Bigsby. The team's third-round pick in this year's NFL Draft, Bigsby has been garnering first-team reps during his first training camp, with his share of highlight-reel plays that have led some Fantasy analysts to wonder whether he might be forcing Travis Etienne into a committee already.

Based on the team's first preseason game Saturday, at least, that isn't even close to being the case. Bigsby did get to play with the starting offense, something few other third-round rookies could say in their preseason debuts, but it ended up being just one snap out of 13 with Trevor Lawrence on the field; JaMycal Hasty played a two snaps in obvious passing situations, while Etienne was out there for 10 of 13 snaps, including a team-high four routes run, per ProFootballFocus.com

Bigsby's lone snap with the starters came on a third-and-1 situation, the only short-yardage the first-team offense faced, because playing more often once the second-team came in. He rushed for 52 yards on nine carries and generally looked pretty good, but, at least in his first taste of exhibition action, there wasn't much reason to think Bigsby is a real threat for Etienne's role as the clear lead RB in Jacksonville.

The one positive sign was the situation in which Bigsby got that snap with the starters. Etienne was tremendous as a big-play runner, but among 19 players with at least 20 carries with 1 yard to the first down last season, only five got the first down less often than Etienne did. Bigsby is a bruising, physical runner, and it looks like if he's going to have an immediate role, it might be as a short-yardage specialist. The hope would be that he can grow from there – maybe by pushing Hasty for passing down's work at first. If he can lock up a higher share of those high-value touches than your typical backup, that could give Bigsby standalone value, in addition to what could be a significant ceiling if Etienne gets hurt.

But, at least right now, this is Etienne's backfield. That should have been the assumption going in, but this confirmed it. Bigsby is a terrific upside bet in the second half of your drafts, but he should still be kept outside of the top-100 in drafts right now.

We're dealing with small sample sizes during a week of the preseason where many teams didn't even bother playing their starters, so I'm not making many aggressive moves in my rankings based on what we've seen yet. Still, here are some other players who have the arrow pointing down after this week: 

Kendre Miller, RB, Saints

The especially bad news for Miller came after the game, as Saints coach Dennis Allen told reporters that Miller had suffered a sprained knee during Sunday's preseason game against the Chiefs. Miller will have an MRI taken on the knee, but Allen acknowledged that it is believed to be an injury to the same knee Miller had surgery on after injuring it during the college football playoff. Hopefully it ends up being a relatively minor issue, but given the injury here, it feels ominous. Miller got into Sunday's game relatively early, logging a first-quarter snap, though he didn't play with the starters – Alvin Kamara and Jamaal Williams handled all 12 snaps with Derek Carr, with Kamara playing 10 of them. Kamara is suspended for the first three games of the regular season, so there was an opportunity for Miller to carve out an early role, even if he was third on the depth chart at this point. We don't have any more details on the severity of the injury at this point, but it certainly doesn't help his chances of unlocking a significant role early. Don't be surprised if the Saints revisit the idea of signing Kareem Hunt. 

De'Von Achane, RB, Dolphins

Even with Raheem Mostert and Jeff Wilson getting the night off, Achane didn't play at all with the first-team offense. Myles Gaskin and Salvon Ahmed split reps in the first quarter, and Achane didn't really do much until the second half of the game, when it was all backups on both sides. It's Achane's first NFL game after being a third-round pick, so there's not really much surprising about him being relatively buried on the depth chart – Tyler Allgeier had similar usage in the Falcons first preseason game a year ago, but it didn't take him long to emerge as one of the team's top options. I would be pretty surprised if Gaskin and Ahmed were playing ahead of Achane by Week 1 – Achane racking up 41 yards on four catches probably helped his case too – but it's just a bit of a reality check that Achane isn't challenging for a starting spot just yet. 

Patriots backup RBs

With the starters sitting out, the Patriots went through three different backs with the first-team offense. And none of Kevin Harris, J.J. Taylor, or Pierre Strong showed much to suggest they deserve a significant role – that trio combined for 35 yards on 20 carries with five catches for 23 yards. . The Patriots have been linked to several veteran running backs in free agency recently, and I would not be at all surprised if they brought in a Leonard Fournette type to complement Rhamondre Stevenson, who looks like the clear lead back right now. I have questions about how the Patriots offense will utilize him, but right now it doesn't seem like there is really much standing in his way. 

Christian Kirk, WR, Jaguars

It's too early to panic much, but Kirk played just seven of 13 snaps with Trevor Lawrence in the game Saturday. That's because it was Zay Jones, not Kirk, who was in the game alongside Calvin Ridley in two-receiver sets, with Kirk playing exclusively out of the slot. That could just be the Jaguars trying something out in a game that didn't matter, but if Kirk is coming off the field regularly, that certainly wouldn't be a great thing. The Jaguars had two or fewer WRs on the field for 380 snaps last season, 126 of which were pass plays. That means the vast majority of their pass snaps came with three or more (522, total), but after Kirk played 94% of the team's passing snaps last season, that would still be a downgrade. I haven't been too aggressive about drafting Kirk this season, so maybe this will help push his price down enough to make him a WR4 target for me. 

Pat Freiermuth, TE, Steelers

When Darnell Washington slipped to the 93rd pick for the Steelers, we didn't really think it was going to impact Freiermuth much, but the team's first preseason game has me rethinking that just a bit. Freiermuth played five of 10 snaps with Kenny Pickett and the first-team offense, the same number as Washington. Of course, all five of Freiermuth's came in passing situations, while Washington blocked on three, so it's not like Washington is coming for Freiermuth's job. But Washington got on the field ahead of Freiermuth on three of eight snaps when the Steelers were in 11 personnel, per PFF, and while that could be chalked up as just giving the young guy an early opportunity, Freiermuth probably can't afford to be sacrificing even a few snaps per game. There's breakout potential here for Freiermuth if this offense takes a step forward, but Washington's presence could complicate that. 

Greg Dulcich, TE, Broncos

Dulcich also has some breakout potential in an offense we hope will take a step forward, but his first game under new coach Sean Payton was not promising. Of 20 snaps Russell Wilson played with the first-team offense, Dulcich was on the field for just 10 of them, while Adam Trautman got the start and played 15 snaps. Trautman has experience with Paytong going back to their time in New Orleans, and Dulcich may just need some time to develop that level of trust with Payton, but it's not a great sign that he was related to two-TE situations and third downs. I don't think many took it seriously when the Broncos listed Trautman as the starting TE on their first depth chart, but it looks like a real thing here.