• Packers running backs coach Ben Sirman said that rookie fourth-round pick Jamaal Williams will head into training camp as the backup to starter Ty Montgomery, but the context around the statement all but concedes the distinction was made mostly by default.
"The biggest thing is just competition, competition," Sirmans said. "With so many different guys, somebody is going to have to rise to the top and step up and be ready to play."
I expect the headlines to generate a more pro-Williams narrative than what Sirmans' broader statements merit, but I'll want very little to do with Williams even if he becomes a trendy handcuff. I don't expect Williams to offer anything more than negligible fantasy utility, because I don't think he can hold on to a reliable role on this Packers team.
Of course, I am biased on this question. I didn't think Williams was worth a fourth-round pick. I didn't think he was better than fifth-round pick Aaron Jones, and for the theoretical role Williams would serve as a between-the-tackles runner behind the slashing Montgomery, I don't even think he's as good as seventh-round pick Devante Mays.
Williams' ostensible utility is a power element, but at 6-feet, 212 pounds he doesn't have the build of a powerful NFL runner. Jones (5-foot-9, 208 pounds) actually has better body density, and offers it with better athleticism and pass-catching ability.
If the Packers really want a power specialist, then Mays (5-foot-11, 230 pounds) would make the most
• Packers running backs coach Ben Sirman said that rookie fourth-round pick Jamaal Williams will head into training camp as the backup to starter Ty Montgomery, but the context around the statement all but concedes the distinction was made mostly by default.
"The biggest thing is just competition, competition," Sirmans said. "With so many different guys, somebody is going to have to rise to the top and step up and be ready to play."
I expect the headlines to generate a more pro-Williams narrative than what Sirmans' broader statements merit, but I'll want very little to do with Williams even if he becomes a trendy handcuff. I don't expect Williams to offer anything more than negligible fantasy utility, because I don't think he can hold on to a reliable role on this Packers team.
Of course, I am biased on this question. I didn't think Williams was worth a fourth-round pick. I didn't think he was better than fifth-round pick Aaron Jones, and for the theoretical role Williams would serve as a between-the-tackles runner behind the slashing Montgomery, I don't even think he's as good as seventh-round pick Devante Mays.
Williams' ostensible utility is a power element, but at 6-feet, 212 pounds he doesn't have the build of a powerful NFL runner. Jones (5-foot-9, 208 pounds) actually has better body density, and offers it with better athleticism and pass-catching ability.
If the Packers really want a power specialist, then Mays (5-foot-11, 230 pounds) would make the most sense for it. Not only is he much bigger than Williams, but he also might be the better athlete of the two. Whereas Williams ran a 4.53-second 40 and posted a 33-inch vertical at 212 pounds at his pro day, Mays ran a 4.53 40 while posting a 40.5-inch vertical and 129-inch broad jump. Williams had a better agility score (11.38 versus 11.96) and is a better pass catcher than Mays, but again – Jones greatly exceeds Williams' quickness and receiving skills at a similar build. Whatever function in which Williams is more useful than Mays is one where Jones is more useful than Williams.
Williams should see some amount of favoritism in this competition since he was the first of the three drafted, but I'm just not convinced he'll hold on to the job even if it's handed to him.
• Speaking of Green Bay backups, I find Geronimo Allison's one-game suspension more interesting than you might guess.
Allison was a pleasant surprise for the Packers last year, emerging as an undrafted rookie to post 12 receptions for 202 yards and two touchdowns on 22 targets (9.2 YPA). That made him the favorite to establish himself as the Packers' No. 4 wideout – a distinction that at least should provide occasional GPP utility in DFS, but can turn a player into a mainstream commodity if one of the Packers' three lead wideouts should get hurt.
But Allison's suspension, even if for one game, gives the chance for someone else to make some noise for the WR4 role. Jeff Janis appears incapable of seizing it, which would seemingly leave rookies DeAngelo Yancey (fifth round, Purdue) and Malachi Dupre (seventh round, LSU) as the top candidates. I'm higher on Yancey, but both players possess better prospect profiles than Allison did, and by a significant margin.
Dupre (6-foot-2, 196 pounds) is a lanky former five-star recruit who possesses elite leaping ability (39.5-inch vertical, 135-inch broad jump) but modest speed for his build (4.52 40) and an imbalanced skill set. I think he'll be an interesting jumpball target, but it'd surprise me if he turned into more than that.
Yancey, on the other hand, checks in at a much better built frame of 6-foot-2, 220 pounds, granting his own 4.5 speed greater utility than Dupre's. Playing on a Purdue offense that averaged just 6.4 YPA, Yancey averaged 9.4 YPT while totaling 951 yards and 10 touchdowns. No one else on the team scored more than four receiving touchdowns. Yancey's skill set is limited – he can only run a few routes effectively and only on the sideline – but the Green Bay offense has been looking for a big deep threat on the outside, and that's the strongest part of Yancey's skill set.
•I'm not ready to draft him in any format yet, but the optimist talk around Cleveland tight end Seth DeValve has me a little intrigued. The second-year tight end out of Princeton was a fourth-round pick last year, and he has the workout metrics to project as a viable pass-catching option in the NFL.
The somewhat surprising release of Gary Barnidge was generally assumed to clear the way for first-round pick David Njoku to emerge as the team's starting tight end, but perhaps cutting Barnidge was part of the plan all along. After all, rookie tight ends rarely make impacts in the box score, and Njoku just turned 21 on July 10.
DeValve (6-foot-3, 244 pounds) is highly unlikely to hold off Njoku in the long term, but in the meantime there may be some snaps available. With a 4.68-second 40, 40-inch vertical, and 125-inch broad jump, DeValve's showing in training camp and preseason are worth monitoring.
• The prognosis on Mike Williams' recovery from a herniated disc took a potential turn for the worse Wednesday, with ESPN's Adam Schefter reporting the rookie seventh overall pick might need a season-ending back surgery to repair the issue. NFL Network's Ian Rapoport has since contradicted that report, saying a team source said that surgery is currently "off the table," but at this point it at least seems safe to say that Williams will not be ready for the start of training camp.
I think it'd be a mistake to increase Keenan Allen's projections on the basis of this news. Indeed, I think Allen was already going too early in drafts – his recent ADP of 42.52 in PPR drafts on MyFantasyLeague.com is high by about two rounds for me. Or at least, I don't think the distance between Allen and Tyrell Williams should be more than two rounds.
I will use this news to start drafting Tyrell as soon as the seventh or eight rounds, however, like I did before the Chargers took Mike in the draft's first round. I don't see the argument for Allen being better than Tyrell in the first place – for a 6-foot-4, 204-pound wideout with nearly elite workout metrics to post a 69/1,059/7 line at 8.9 YPT as a 24-year-old implies major fantasy upside. Allen has far inferior athleticism, and the fact that he has just eight touchdowns and a 7.2 YPT over his last 23 games has me wondering if his skill set is worse than people assume, too.
