Fantasy News

Ameer Abdullah is "highly motivated" according to the team's official website.

DetroitLions.com's Tim Twentyman writes that the team has had only seven games with a 100-yard rusher since Matthew Stafford was drafted in 2009. To put that into perspective, Bears running back Jordan Howard had seven games with 100 yards as a rookie last season. The Lions are going to rely on Abdullah to step up and help bring more balance to the offense as the team's lead back this season. A healthy Abdullah could turn out to be a great asset this season and is currently going in the eight round of fantasy drafts.

Via: DetroitLions.com 7/14/17 - 09:55 AM ET

The Bills run game won't be much different this season.

Under new offensive coordinator Rick Dennison, the Bills will use a lot of zone blocking schemes, which they did last season. LeSean McCoy said he's watching tape of former All-Pro running back Arian Foster, who Dennison coached in Houston. Dennison says he's blending some of the things the team used so successfully over the past couple of seasons with some of his own concepts. Earlier in the offseason, McCoy already said he expected to catch more passes. He's going to get a lot of touches as a workhorse and there is little doubt he will be a superb RB1 if he remains healthy this season.

Via: BuffaloBills.com 7/14/17 - 09:46 AM ET

Teddy Bridgewater posts pictures of him working out without a knee brace.

Bridgewater had been working out with a knee brace, and this should be another big step towards being declared 100%. The young quarterback is probably pushing to get cleared by the team for training camp so he can compete for the starting job, but the Vikings are likely to be very careful. While everyone should be rooting for Teddy B to get healthy and be the same player he was before the injury, Sam Bradford—who played great last season and has gotten a full offseason with the team—will almost certainly be the starter for Minnesota this season.

Via: Minneapolis Star-Tribune 7/13/17 - 01:59 PM ET

Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis talks up rookie running back Joe Mixon.

Lewis was on SiriusXM NFL Radio and said his rookie back from Oklahoma is "off the chart talent wise," and he needs to avoid off the field issues. Considered a top ten talent by many, Mixon slipped to the second round of the draft because he hit a woman when he was a freshman in college. Cincinnati decided to give the young man a chance in the NFL. On the field, there is no question about Mixon's superb ability—he's in the mold of a David Johnson type that is big, athletic, and has excellent receiving ability. With his head coach saying how talented he is, it might be hard to keep Mixon off the field even with Jeremy Hill and Giovani Bernard already in the backfield. He has a lot of upside if he can become the lead back for the Bengals as a rookie.

Via: SiriusXM NFL 7/13/17 - 01:21 PM ET

Vikings running backs coach Kennedy Polamalu says Latavius Murray is good at "finding the end zone."

Polamalu spoke with the the team's official website and talked about the running back group heading into the season. He talked highly of Jerrick McKinnon and Dalvin Cook—saying Cook has been as good as everyone else has said so far—but it's also notable that he said Murray is good at scoring. The former Raider had 12 touchdowns last season with Oakland, showing he can punch it in when the team gets inside the five. We'll have to see during training camp and the preseason, but it appears this will be a RBBC with Murray, Cook, and McKinnon all getting work, but Murray might be the team's primary goal line back.

Via: Vikings.com 7/13/17 - 10:01 AM ET

Rookie receiver Josh Malone is drawing great reviews from the Bengals.

The fourth-round pick Malone is a big and athletic receiver that has 4.40 speed and was a great target for Joshua Dobbs at Tennessee last season. Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis said Malone was someone they identified as underrated and wanted to get him in the draft, and receivers coach James Urban said Malone has been what they expected and "has some real ability." Malone says he's been following veterans A.J. Green and Brandon Lafell around, trying to learn from them. Malone is unlikely to make a big fantasy impact this season, but he's someone to watch. The Bengals are a very deep team at multiple positions.

Via: Bengals.com 7/13/17 - 10:09 AM ET

Bruce Arians again talks of huge workload for David Johnson.

The Cardinals head coach was on "PFT Live" and said he doesn't think 30 touches is too much for his star running back "when you’re talking about 10 receptions, 20 carries." Arians also said that Johnson would not be smashing the ball up the middle on all 20 carries (they'll get him in space on tosses, etc.). So Arians isn't too concerned about Johnson's workload. The head coach also said he thinks Johnson should've had 1,000 rushing yards and 1,000 receiving yards last season if it wasn't for a couple of messed up routes early in the season. DJ should be looking at 25-30 touches per game and is a clear top three pick in all fantasy drafts this season.

Via: ProFootballTalk 7/12/17 - 05:42 PM ET