If you have followed Trey Lance during training camp you might think he’s a bust or a future superstar depending on the day.
Lance threw this absolutely beautiful 76 yard touchdown to Danny Gray during his preseason start showing his upside.
Then on Sunday he went 4 of 15 in a light practice with several misfires. His accuracy and consistency has been an issue.
The next practice Lance went 11 of 14 and was “accurate at the sideline” according to Matt Barrows of the Athletic.
There’s a wide range of outcomes for Lance. I’m optimistic that he will bring a spark to the 49ers’ offense, which Jimmy Garoppolo couldn’t deliver, but it could be a bumpy ride.
Wilson suffered an injury scare during his first preseason game, but ultimately it was determined he just has a bone bruise and a meniscus tear which should sideline him two to four weeks. He’s planning on having surgery today and, depending on how that goes, it will determine how much time he misses.
This might actually be a good thing for some Jets skill position players, such as Elijah Moore.
Here are Elijah Moore’s splits with and without Wilson at quarterback last year:
With (seven games):
Without (four games):
Moore turned into an elite wide receiver when Wilson was off the field last season, so this could be a boost for Jets pass-catchers if Wilson misses time.
Shakir had a beautiful preseason debut ending with five receptions for 92 yards.
He was a good prospect coming out of Boise State and somehow fell all the way to the 5th round in the NFL Draft. Day three wide receivers are unlikely to have success in the NFL, but he has an interesting profile and is in a positive situation.
With Isaiah McKenzie and Jamison Crowder signed to modest contracts, it’s easy to talk ourselves into Shakir as a legitimate option in the slot for the Bills as early as this season with the potential to be the starter heading into next year.
Here are some fun quotes about Shakir from his team.
Case Keenum said he “has a bright future”.
I wrote about Pacheco last week because he was getting tons of hype from the staff and beat writers. I was taking a cautious “see it before I believe it” approach and wanted to see how he was utilized in preseason rotations.
All questions were answered when Pacheco came in as the second running back in the game ahead of Ronald Jones and Jerick McKinnon. Pacheco snuck in three snaps with Patrick Mahomes and even made this nice play.
It looks like the hype is warranted and Pacheco will have a role in this offense.
I am buying all the news on Pacheco right now.
The Jets had nine plays with the first team starters in their preseason game and Michael Carter saw seven of those while Breece Hall only saw two.
Carter could start the season as the starter for the Jets despite the fact that Breece Hall is likely the better running back.
It’s important to note that second round rookie running backs generally start in a committee before taking over the backfield.
Carter is no slouch. As a rookie, the fourth round draft pick rushed for 639 yards and caught 36 passes for 325 yards.
Hall profiles to be a workhorse and I believe he will turn into one of the premier running backs in the NFL, but Carter should still carve a role out.
A good example for how this rotation might play out could be similar to how Jonathan Taylor was used as a rookie alongside Nyheim Hines. Taylor only saw three games as a rookie with a snap share over 60%.
It’s good to keep expectations in line for Breece Hall as a rookie even if he has an extremely bright future.
Carter might also be good enough to warrant legit playing time alongside Breece Hall throughout the season.
The Eagles might be a very fun team to watch this season and that could be thanks to the play-calling by Nick Sirianni.
We saw an interesting development in the first drive with the first team offense as the Eagles called a passing play on all eight offensive snaps.
Hurts then finished with a perfect stat line of:
There were two penalties on the drive, but both were called passing plays.
With AJ Brown, DeVonta Smith and Dallas Goedert, this Eagles passing attack has a chance to surprise people if they skew more pass heavy.
From weeks one through five last year, Hurts averaged 36.4 passing attempts per game, but only saw 25 attempts per game during the other 10 starts in the season.
It seems more likely that the Eagles are going to be closer to the early season split we saw last year and lean pass heavy considering the moves they made in the offseason.
This is extremely exciting news for all players in this offense, especially Brown who has a chance to have a career season.