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5 Things We Learned in Preseason Week 2

5 Things We Learned in Preseason Week 2
Ronnie Hillman

Could a change in scenery be in store for Ronnie Hillman?

R.C. Fischer discusses “Five Fantasy Things “They” Are Not Telling You From Preseason.”

This piece is part of our article program that features quality content from experts exclusively at FantasyPros. For more insight from R.C. head to Fantasy Football Metrics.

After each week of preseason games, I’ll be discussing things that I believe the football media is shaping the wrong way or has totally overlooked. Here’s my take after watching all the Week 2 preseason contests.

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5) DeVante Parker…M.I.A.
Kenny Stills had a nice Week 2 with three catches for 71 yards and two TDs. One could write that off as a ‘who cares’ guy having a moment in the preseason. It’s not like we’re all rushing out after Redskins’ WR Rashad Ross after his two-TD performance in Week 2…so why care about Stills’ nice week? Stills has disappeared from fantasy radars for the most part.

What I am seeing – Stills is playing with aggression and enthusiasm this preseason…and Ryan Tannehill was looking for him in this game. The person Tannehill could not seem to care less about was DeVante Parker. Tannehill seeks Jarvis Landry right away, and he was working nicely with Stills immediately this week, but he barely looked at Parker early on…for the second week in a row. I don’t blame him. I hardly notice Parker is actually in the game…going back to last year. He’s barely making a presence known in games — not in a way a first-round pick would be expected to. Parker is passive before and after the catch. There is no ‘it’ factor when Tannehill does go his way.

Parker is many a fantasy analyst’s ‘guy’ for a breakout 2016. The consensus No. 33 ranked wide receiver among the experts on FantasyPros. I don’t think so. He’s not being treated with any first-round pick urgency, excitement, or aura by his team/quarterback. Tajae Sharpe has more respect from his team than does Parker.

4) LeSean McCoy…Wide Receiver
LeSean McCoy ran the ball five times for zero yards in Week 2 of the preseason – not great. Easy to look past for the week, because we all know what McCoy can do. However, did you notice that he caught four passes for 58 yards and 1 TD on four targets this week? We all know that McCoy is a nice receiver out of the backfield, so that’s not breaking news. But how McCoy was catching his passes might be of more interest.

McCoy was drifting out of the backfield on short routes, and catching some passes three-plus yards downfield, not just taking swings and screens behind the line of scrimmage. His TD catch was off a David Johnson-type deeper route past the linebackers. On an early red zone trip in their Week 2 game, McCoy raced up out of the backfield, sliced up the middle, faked like he might do his short sit route, but then sped downfield into a space in the end zone – and caught a pass for a 13-yard TD. McCoy looked more wide receiver-like than running back-like in the pass game in Week 2.

McCoy played 12 games last season. He averaged 2.2 catches on 3.5 targets a game in his first six games. Over his final six games, he bumped up to averaging 3.1 catches on 4.8 targets per game. McCoy had four grabs on four targets in his limited time in this week’s preseason contest. What if McCoy, by nature of the poor O-line play in Buffalo, and/or an offensive strategy shift, sees a bump to five-to-seven targets with four-to-five grabs per game this season? I’ll take some of that in PPR.

3) Arian Foster rust, what about Jay Ajayi…and Isaiah Pead?
Yes, Arian Foster looked like the Tin Man, pre-oil application, on his two carries in preseason Week 2 – it was not visually appealing. However, did anyone notice the developing bust that is Jay Ajayi?

Eight carries for 27 yards (3.4 ypc) and NO receptions on three targets so far this preseason. After his first two decent games last season, Ajayi finished out with 38 carries for 98 yards rushing over his final seven games…2.6 yards per carry. He averaged 3.8 yards per carry for his entire rookie season. Nothing Ajayi has done as a pro has been all that wonderful.

Ajayi was nothing special last season, and he’s not showing any better this preseason. If Foster is possibly toast, and Ajayi’s a pending bust…then what does Miami do? Suddenly, talk up Isaiah Pead, which is the sure sign of the running back apocalypse in Miami.

2) Robert Griffin III…’the old RG3′
There’s plenty of optimism around Robert Griffin III this year – new team, hopes he returns to his old ways, etc. By ‘old ways,’ fantasy GMs are craving the runner-passer of yesteryear…a player that existed, what seems like a very long time ago. A myth, a legend.

In preseason Week 2, Griffin ran the ball three times. Two of them were RG3 ‘classic.’ He purposefully pump faked a pass, doing it so well the cameraman turned downfield looking for the ball, while RG3 pulled the ball down a raced (and slid) for a nice gain. Later, RG3 ran a play from shotgun, did a read option handoff with the running back, but pulled the ball out last second, and as 11 defenders were sucked in by the fake, RG3 took off running unfettered the opposite way for a nice gain.

I saw for the first time in years, in this game, RG3 with a swagger, confidence and a smile. He’s starting to throw the ball downfield more, and now run it as well. I’m not officially proclaiming, “The old RG3 is HERE!” I am saying, I saw a sign of some possibility of it happening, going forward, in this game.

Griffin could be a bargain tracking as the consensus No. 26 ranked quarterback for fantasy, among FantasyPros’ experts.

1) Everybody Hates Ronnie Hillman
I get it. The football media wants Hillman vanquished. I don’t know why, but they do. They write of him as if he is incompetent. C.J. Anderson blew up in the fantasy analyst’s face last year, and Hillman came in and was the Broncos’ best runner…again, for the second time in two years. Hillman went from backup to savior in 2014 as well, for a few games (it was Hillman who rose to a budding star status in 2014, but got hurt a few games into his uprising, which opened the door for the hot finish for Anderson that season). Somehow being very good and productive has Hillman written off by many football analysts, while C.J. Anderson is totally excused for being a giant flop in 2015.

As a hedge of their bets, a lot of football media’s ‘love’ is also being poured into rookie Devontae Booker as another Hillman nemesis. Everything Anderson and Booker do this preseason is written of as ‘fantastic.’ While, Hillman is not written about at all, unless it’s discussing ‘roster bubbles,’ or him falling behind Booker on the depth chart/in touches in camp.

Hillman led the Broncos in rushing yards (863) and TDs (7) last season. He was a No. 67 overall pick in the 2012 draft. It’s not like he came from out of nowhere. Booker was pick No. 136 in the 2016 NFL Draft. Fine, you want Hillman gone, he’s probably gone.

However…

What if Hillman is traded to one of two great places of running back need – Washington or Miami? I think a move to Washington might be in the offing, via trade, in the next two weeks. What we’ve seen in Miami the past two weeks might begin a conversation there as well. If so, Hillman might be a screaming bargain as the current No. 68 ranked fantasy running back for 2016 on FantasyPros.


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