When the NFL had a four-week preseason, the fourth week’s games were almost completely irrelevant, with most teams refusing to play their starters. Now that the league has gone to a three-week exhibition season, the preseason finales are more of a mixed bag. Some teams didn’t play their offensive starters at all. But some teams treated Week 3 as a dress rehearsal, giving their offensive starters substantial playing time. We fantasy managers didn’t get an enormous volume of actionable information, but we got some — especially at the RB position.
Here’s a position-by-position look at some noteworthy fantasy tidbits from the third and final week of the preseason. And below is a deeper look at the RB position.
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Running Backs
Jaguars rookie Tank Bigsby played 9-of-25 snaps while Trevor Larence was on the field for the Jaguars in their preseason game against the Dolphins on Saturday. Bigsby seems destined to put a dent in the fantasy value of incumbent Jags RB Travis Etienne.
The Steelers have talked about giving more work to backup RB Jaylen Warren this season, and Warren’s preseason usage suggests that might be true. In Pittsburgh’s final preseason game, on the 11 snaps that starting QB Kenny Pickett played, Najee Harris was in the backfield for seven, and Warren was in for four.
A knee injury kept Damien Harris out of the Bills’ first two preseason games, but he played in the third and had a 2-yard touchdown run to cap the Bills’ opening drive against the Bears. James Cook‘s ADP has been helium-filled throughout August, but perhaps Cook will lose some of his steam if investors are concerned that Harris might serve as the Bills’ primary goal-line back. It’s a valid concern, since Harris is 23 pounds heavier than Cook and had 15 TD runs for the Patriots in 2021.
Deon Jackson was the Colts’ starting running back for their last preseason game. That suggests Jackson will be the Week 1 starter if the Colts trade Jonathan Taylor this week, if Taylor starts the season on the PUP list, or if Taylor holds out into the regular season.
In the spring, rookie Zach Evans seemed like a potentially valuable handcuff to starting Rams RB Cam Akers. Perhaps it was foolhardy to have such high hopes for a late-sixth-round draft pick — particularly one whose lead-RB role at Ole Miss was usurped by a true freshman (Quinshon Judkins) last fall. Now, it appears Evans might not make the Rams’ final roster. As noted by PFF’s Nathan Jahnke, the Rams have held Akers and Kyren Williams out of all three of their preseason games, and Ronnie Rivers has consistently played ahead of Evans throughout the preseason. Evans may be battling Royce Freeman for the team’s final RB spot.
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