📝 News & Notes

Quick note before we dive in: I built something for you guys who are looking to get better at best ball, to get some reps in without draining the wallet: https://on-the-clock.replit.app. Go check it out, play for free, send me feedback.

I built a very simplified version of this in Excel a few years back to help me with better testing out strategies with the current ADP. Figured it’d be something the community would enjoy.

Now, onto the news. I know you all have been fiending for some NFL news and while it’s bare, I’ve scavenged around to see what I can give you.

Alvin Kamara: On Terron Armstead's podcast Monday he put the Etienne beef narrative to bed: "I couldn't be happier" while explicitly invoking the Mark Ingram comp as the bar he and Etienne are shooting for. The reality check: 30 years old, coming off a career-worst 657 scrimmage yards in 11 games, and the Saints already restructured the deal to make a post-June 1 release/trade clean and easy if they wanted. My guess is we see Kamara in a complementary role for the Saints but one that will hurt Etienne’s pass catching and overall upside.

Patrick Mahomes: He's on track to join OTAs starting May 26, his first real on-field work since the ACL/LCL surgery. The team is still publicly committed to Week 1 though I’m baking in risk of him missing a couple games. At the least, I believe it when they say they’re going to take a more run-heavy approach at least to start the year.

Browns QB battle: Watson reportedly emerged from last week's voluntary minicamp with an edge over Shedeur Sanders, with Monken targeting a decision by the June 9-11 minicamp. Honestly, the QB itself doesn't matter for fantasy as none of them are draftable and the differences in their impact to the offense is minimal.

Cam Skattebo: Cleared for voluntary work, expected fully cleared for camp. Before the Week 8 ankle, he averaged 16 carries / 4.7 targets / 96 yards with 6 TDs across his six full games. Harbaugh wants to run, they’ve upgraded the offensive line, and they didn’t draft an RB this year, despite that looking like a strong probability.

Austin Ekeler: Received full medical clearance and intends to continue his playing career in 2026. Still unsigned. Highly unlikely it’s someone I’ll be drafting this year but he could be a thorn in the fantasy value of some starters wherever he ends up.

Malik Nabers: Schoen's quote is the whole story: "Malik is trending to hopefully be ready for training camp." That's "we don't know" dressed up as optimism. I still don’t think the market has caught up to the impact of this injury and am not drafting him at his current ADP. Will reassess when he drops to the 3rd.

George Kittle: Shanahan said he's aiming to be ready for the 49ers' Week 1 game against the Rams. "Aiming" is doing a lot of work in that sentence. Achilles recoveries rarely cooperate cleanly for guys his age. I’m still high on Kittle for this year but expectations for the first half of the season need to be managed.

David Njoku: Visited the Chargers Monday. Haven’t yet heard anything one way or the other but I still believe Njoku has juice left in him and will play a major role on an offense this year.

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