Anthony Richardson's stats weren't pretty. A handful of short tosses he made also weren't pretty. But the offense he ran and a couple of his longer throws were pretty.
It's enough for me to keep calling Richardson a pretty good Fantasy sleeper candidate.
First, the bad: a handful of off-target throws including two to Michael Pittman. Do you realize how high you have to throw a ball to not let Pittman have a chance at making a leaping catch?! That happened once; the other Pittman did go to the top shelf for it, but it would have been for a larger gain had it been accurate.
And then there's the interception that you probably saw. It wasn't a great play by Richardson, but it was a worse play for McKenzie, who didn't run a good out route and ultimately put Richardson in a spot to either take a sack, throw the ball away or try to play hero. Richardson chose poorly and threw to where McKenzie was supposed to be, but instead a Bills defender was there for the INT.
Now the good: Over 26 snaps, the Colts rookie quarterback effectively ran a system similar to that at Florida. Plenty of RPOs, plenty of short throws with options for deeper passes sprinkled in. He even instinctively ran the ball once and stepped out of a tackle for a 5-yard gain. All that familiarity will help him as he adapts.
And two of his longer throws were fantastic. On back-to-back attempts, Richardson first threw a pass just over a linebacker and right on to tight end Kylen Granson for a 20-yard gain. He then attempted a beautiful bomb toward the front right corner of the end zone for second-year receiver Alec Pierce. Pierce couldn't come up with the catch; if he had, it may have been a touchdown and then everyone in home leagues would go bonkers for Richardson.
I'm still on board taking him around 100th overall, which is higher than his Average Draft Position (ADP), but I did move Deshaun Watson ahead of him and I already had Tua Tagovailoa ahead of him. The gist is that if Richardson can run for a slew of yards this year then he can create some serious spike weeks. You'll want that in your Fantasy lineup, just not necessarily in Week 1.
Will Russ ever cook again?!
If Russell Wilson is going to bounce-back this season to help reclaim his spot as a top 10 Fantasy quarterback, he needs to bounce back from his preseason game against the Cardinals first. And he needs his offensive line to do the same.
On five of 10 dropbacks over the Broncos' first three drives, Wilson was pressured and failed to make a play each time. Denver played with four of its five projected starting offensive linemen against an Arizona squad that has one of the least fearsome pass rush groups on paper.
The bad O-line was part of the reason for Wilson's terrible 2022 debut in Denver -- he would rush throws he should not have rushed, he missed open receivers because he got rid of the ball too quickly and he didn't make nearly as many magical improvisational plays because he didn't have the time he once did.
To be fair, when Wilson did have protection, he made some good plays. A great and patient read & rip to Jerry Jeudy on a short dig was accurate on his second drive, and he had back-to-back darts to Jeudy on his final drive (against Cardinals backups) resulting first in a drop by Jeudy, then a touchdown (despite pressure) to Jeudy on the next play.
Another week of this from the Broncos starting offense could potentially sag everyone's Fantasy values in the offense. But Sean Payton isn't an offensive whiz for nothing -- if he knows his offensive line is a problem (which I'm sure he does) then he will either scheme around it or plug in players until a combination works. He always fielded a quality line in New Orleans and will do the same in Denver.
It's simply a matter of whether he can solve this problem in a couple of weeks (better linemen, maybe a tight end blocking more), a couple of months (the light comes on eventually for his players in practice) or next season (he drafts some big men).
Wilson's ADP currently sits at 109.4 on CBS Sports and 137.3 on FantasyPros. Both are too early, especially at CBS as he's getting drafted on average ahead of Richardson, Daniel Jones and Geno Smith.
You'll Love this sleeper
New Packers quarterback Jordan Love followed up a good week of joint practices with the Bengals with a good showing in the game. It sure felt like the Packers wanted to throw a lot with their starting offense -- Love handed off twice over 12 plays. Though he didn't complete a lot of deep throws, he did try one and nearly had Christian Watson for what would have been at least a 38-yard gain if not for a masterful pass breakup by Bengals safety Dax Hill.
The good news is that Love was not inaccurate, save for one too-wide throw to rookie tight end Luke Musgrave. The bad news is that he was late on a couple of passes that he did complete but not quite for the gains he could have had (the Watson bomb is an example). The good news to that? Love should have the chance to improve his timing in short order.
Love's mobility flashed and his group of targets also put plenty out there to like. I think this Packers offense could surprise a lot of people this year, and having a projected easy schedule definitely helps.
Love isn't a bad final-round pick in the event he gets off to a good start and becomes either a tradable option or a potential starter.
Fantasy quick hits
- I referenced earlier that I moved Deshaun Watson up in my rankings. Find out why.
- I really liked what I saw from the Saints offense piloted by Derek Carr. The veteran looked good and hit four different targets on his lone drive. One of his incompletions was a drop by Chris Olave and the other was an end-zone fade to Michael Thomas that got knocked away. No one is excited to draft Carr, but the receiving corps he has available to him right now in New Orleans might be the best he's ever had, and he played with Davante Adams and Darren Waller last year and Amari Cooper and Michael Crabtree back in Oakland. He's an attractive No. 2 QB.
- Steelers quarterback Kenny Pickett's only incompletion was a throwaway at the feet of Jaylen Warren when he was pressured by the Bucs defense. He was otherwise accurate and made a great read and throw on the score to George Pickens. I wouldn't mind taking the chance on him as my No. 2 QB in a two-QB league.
- If we assume Baker Mayfield stinks then we could be making the same mistake we made with Geno Smith last year. Mayfield had a couple of tight-window throws against the Steelers and was only incomplete once. He only threw deep once, a completion for 20 yards, so I wish I could see him do more, but I'm even more impressed by Mayfield because he played without Chris Godwin and Mike Evans. Maybe Mayfield isn't a low-end No. 3 Fantasy QB after all.
- A miscommunication with Laviska Shenault and an embarrassingly high throw to D.J. Chark marred what was otherwise a solid first game for Panthers rookie Bryce Young. He had good timing with Adam Thielen and Chark on his first two throws, both short in nature. Moreover, Young took some serious hits in the game and popped right up each time.
- Hey, Raiders! Give us more of Aidan O'Connell with the first-team offense! Against the 49ers I thought he was composed and accurate. If he turns out to be better than expected, there probably isn't that much of a drop-off for this offense when Jimmy Garoppolo inevitably misses some time. Kind of makes you feel a little bit better about Davante Adams. Maybe. Sort of. For now. Anyway, you should sneak O'Connell onto two-QB and Dynasty league rosters for at least the next week.