Preseason Blog: Players to Watch and Week 2 Winner
NFL training camps and preseason games are well under way and we are quickly approaching the 53-man roster deadline of September 2.
The weeks leading up to the start of the regular season often go unappreciated and ignored by many, yet, in reality, many questions and concerns are answered here.
Today continues a four-week series that will address some notable topics of the preseason ranging from position battles to trades and everything in between.
This week’s segment will focus on quarterback progress, trades, players to watch, and of course, my winner from week 2.
Last week I spent a good amount of time watching the beginning of quarterback battles in camp. I was hopeful for some, and disappointed in others. This week, at least two battles are officially, publically over: Trevor Siemian in Denver and Tom Savage in Houston. I say publically because there are some organizations in which a battle is still declared, but anything other than the obvious choice would be downright silly.
But speaking of silly, let’s focus on the Cleveland Browns for a minute. This is one of those situations where a team has a relatively big name quarterback (regardless of Osweiler’s skill level, his name is well known) yet, also drafted a quarterback. This is also a situation where that rookie might take over the starting job during Week 1 of the regular season. The kicker of this whole thing, is that 1) Osweiler is sitting game 3 against the Buccaneers and 2) there is still the looming possibility of a trade. Nothing against Brock, but this just seems to be the year of rookie quarterbacks.
Another team struggling with the veteran-rookie dilemma is the Bears, whom seem poised to start Mike Glennon, especially after a $45 million contract with $18.5 million guaranteed. However, things might not be as clear cut as they appear. Glennon has admitted to feeling the tension of this relatively non-existent battle. And let’s remember back to his Tampa Bay days, Glennon lost the starting job to rookie Jameis Winston after the Buccaneers selected him 1st overall in the 2015 draft. All of this has been a dreaded case of “Déjà vu” for the 27 year old quarterback.
These just proves that the 2017 rookie quarterback has come to play:
Keeping true to the rookie bandwagon are Dallas Cowboys fans. In reality, the only time anyone should ever care about who the backup quarterback is, is when the starter gets hurt or suspended; but there is seemingly a new, irrelevant battle going on in Dallas. Nearly this exact time last year, the Cowboys found themselves without their backup quarterback and unknowingly about to lose Tony Romo in week 3 of the preseason. It was injury after injury that paved the way for Dak Prescott to take charge. This year, there is no denying Prescott’s reign in Dallas, yet, there seems to be some issue deciding who will sit on the bench behind him. Kellen Moore has fully returned from his 2016 injury that cost him the starting job last year and should be a shoo-in for the backup job. However, he seems to be facing some unexpected opposition from Cooper Rush. So far, the undrafted rookie out of Central Michigan has a 68.4 completion percentage and 4 touchdowns with no interceptions through 3 games. Around the NFL writer, Kevin Patra, discusses this battle further, here.
A battle that is nearly too sad to talk about is Blake Bortles getting benched for Chad Henne to start. The tweet below sums up all you need to know:
But enough about quarterbacks for now. A major event that I failed to discuss last week was the trade between the Buffalo Bills, the Los Angeles Rams, and the Philadelphia Eagles on August 11. Around the NFL writer, Marc Sessler has the details here. The biggest thing to note here is that the Bills dumped their biggest offensive weapon not sitting in the backfield and second-year quarterback, Jared Goff received a phenomenal receiver (when healthy) in Watkins.
There are three individuals that I intend to keep my eye on entering this third week of preseason play. The first is Christian McCaffrey. This kid has looked extremely solid in his play so far. He has shown a dynamic ability to makes plays running and catching the ball out of the backfield. My only hang-up here is that he currently sits behind Jonathan Stewart in the pecking order. Regardless, big things to come for this kid.
The next individual that has shown some life is Leonard Fournette. Now, I’ll have to admit he is slowly slipping off my radar simply because of the drama unfolding with Jacksonville’s quarterback issues. If the Jags can figure out what they’re doing throwing the ball, I believe Fournette will have a solid season, especially if he can stay 100% healthy.
My last player to watch is Los Angeles Rams’ receiver Cooper Kupp. This kid seems ready to take the NFL by storm and, in my opinion, win offensive rookie of the year recognition. He has been explosive in the preseason this far, getting separation and consistently providing an open option. Teammates Trumaine Johnson and Sammy Watkins have high praise for this rookie wideout too.
I am almost tempted to name Kupp my week two winner with his 6 receptions for 70 yards and a score. However, my real winner this week is a team I have been really excited about as of late: the Tennessee Titans. Now, before you roll your eyes and skip the rest of this, I am not just picking winners based on points scored. It is honestly a complete coincidence that the Seahawks last week put up the top score, and the Titans followed suit this week, but on to my reasons. Like I said, the Titans have been on my radar for a good while now, and I was legitimately disappointed when starting quarterback, Marcus Mariota, went down with a broken right fibula last December. They have a solid team with a lot of talent that seems to go unnoticed and unappreciated.
And hey, big things are happening in the city of Tennessee right now and Charles Davis said it best (concerning the Volunteers) at the end of his interview on the Rich Eisen Show: “I think they can be a little bit of a surprise. But someone there told me the other day, ‘the biggest thing is to keep the confidence of the fans because we are on a good track, but maybe we’re not a championship team yet.’” Be on the lookout for Mariota and company to make a splash this season and, bold prediction alert, win the AFC South.
