🏈 RIP to another RB

Elijah Moore returns, Travis Etienne goes down, and D’Andre Swift update.

Good morning. It’s a hot day in the North - nothing better than summer weather. Except, of course, the fall. When fantasy football starts. Don’t forget, the NFL kicks off Sept 9 at 8:30 EST with the Cowboys taking on the Buccaneers.

A relatively quiet day, but let’s get into it:

Why Travis, whyyyyy

What fantasy owners never want to hear: Jaguars placed RB Travis Etienne on injured reserve with a Lisfranc injury, ending his season. What could have been. After Cam Akers, Etienne is the highest drafted RB to go down for the season.

So what now?

There’s Laviska Shenault:

Wolf of Roto Street @RotoStreetWolf

Sneaky biggest 📈 from Travis Etienne injury is likely Laviska Shenault, who now has 0 competition for Meyers' invaluable joker role. In NCAA, Percy Harvin = 24.1 FPPG Curtis Samuel = 25.2 due to crazy usage broken down by the great @ScottBarrettDFB 👇

Scott Barrett @ScottBarrettDFB

Urb had Harvin at Florida where he was officially listed at RB Percy Harvin (2007-2008) - 1424 rushing yards vs. 1502 receiving yards - 25.7% of non-QB runs - Leading Receiver + 22.0 reception share (next-closest = 16.6%) + 23.7% yardage share (next-closest = 19.0%) - 24.1 FPG

And James Robinson vaults into the Top 20 RBs:

Mike Clay @MikeClayNFL

Updated Jaguars RB projections with Travis Etienne out for the season. The full 65-page NFL PDF is also updated: bit.ly/3cWC4tY #ClayProjections

But what about Etienne? It doesn’t look good:

Edwin Porras, DPT @FBInjuryDoc

Long term outlook on ETN: There’s a 21% production dip year 1 after Lisfranc surgery. That makes him volatile in year 2. This is close to worst case scenario for a rookie RB.

Saints update

Adam Trautman is "going to see a specialist to get an exact timeline, but initial belief is that it is a minor injury,” per Nick Underhill. After being carted off last night, this is the best case scenario. Trautman remains a risky TE2, especially considering the amount of time he spent blocking during the preseason - and don’t forget our boy Juwan Johnson.

Jameis Winston is reportedly the leader in the clubhouse" to be New Orleans' starting quarterback. What that means, I couldn’t tell you. Sean Payton declined to name the Saints starting QB, and it appears that the Taysom Hill/Jameis Winston battle will continue into the regular season.

This could be concerning

Jon Helmkamp @JonHelmkamp

Tweet of the Day

This is one of the most important draft day podcasts of the year. Can’t speak highly enough of the FF Hustle - the amount of work they put into their draft plan is mind-bogging… and it’s free:

The Fantasy Football Hustle @FFHustle

Watch our 2021 "Draft Plan Show" with @dwainmcfarland and @DrakeFantasy going round-by-round through your #FantasyFootball draft. Powered by @PFF_Fantasy youtu.be/FWD1E0Rth7Q

Quick hits

• Elijah Moore, my number one priority target in drafts this off-season, is back dominating Jets practices. Draft him everywhere you can.

• Jakobi Meyers, the Pats slot WR, is still a massive value. From 2007-19, New England’s slot WR finished Top 8 in receptions 9 times. 75% of the time!

• Lions head coach Dan Campbell said he's concerned about RB D'Andre Swift's availability for Week 1 against the 49ers. But don’t forget, Week 1 is still almost a month away… buy low.

Our good friends of Reddit

Great post by ziti_mcgeedy:

“Reaches” that will be values by the end of the season:

Round 1: Najee Harris

Round 2: Darren Waller

Round 3: Darrell Henderson

Round 4: Tyler Lockett

Round 5: Jerry Jeudy

Round 6: Russell Wilson

Round 7: Corey Davis

Round 8: Darnell Mooney

Round 9: Tyler Higbee

Round 10-12: Jakobi Meyers, Terrace Marshall, Trey Lance, Justin Fields, Zach Wilson

Who’s missing from this list?

Thanks for joining us this morning - it was a quick one, giving you plenty of time to make some trade offers for Elijah Moore!