Dose: Unicorn Caged
Welcome to The Dose! It's a lot like Talk Soup without being anything like Talk Soup. Is that still on the air? Well, that mystery may never be solved, so let's move on to some training camp news. Bourbonnais was all a twitter with news that Martellus Bennett was suspended and fined after slamming rookie cornerback Kyle Fuller to the ground in practice Monday. According to the Chicago Tribune's Bears beat reporter Brad Biggs, Bennett has been dogging it in practice and after his Monday incident he wasn’t remorseful and said if they wanted to fine him that he had enough money. He also went on a little Allen Iversonesque rant, while referencing Iverson to make it as meta as possible. "It's practice. Practice is practice," Bennett said. "I know I sound like Allen Iverson right now, but at the end of the day it's practice. In practice, (stuff) happens. You learn from it, that's why you practice. You learn from things that happen in practice."
It looks like this was the last straw for Marc Trestman and company. The suspension is for an indefinite amount of time, but I’d assume that if he gets with the program it wouldn’t be for long. With Marquess Wilson out for at least half of the season Bennett should see plenty of work and if you are drafting early, he might be had for pennies on the dollar right now.
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Adrian Peterson looks like he won’t play much, if at all this preseason. With Norv Turner running the offense it sounds like All Day will get the LaDainian Tomlinson treatment and it makes complete sense. He doesn’t need the games and the Vikings need to spend more time looking at and working on their passing game anyway.
With Montee Ball recovering from an appendectomy Ronnie Hillman got most of the first team reps in practice Tuesday. Hillman came to camp ready to compete and it has shown. He’s not as physical a runner as Ball or C.J. Anderson, but he’s winning the competition with Anderson at the moment and that’s enough for me to grab him late in drafts.
Many were worried after Julio Jones hurt his foot for a second time last season, as they should have been, but so far so good as he hasn’t had any setbacks in camp. He is being eased back, but has practiced fully every time they’ve let him and looked 100%. Looking at his stats through the first five games last season sure makes a fake footballer drool and as long as that foot holds up he’s going to put up big numbers again.
The Fort-Worth Star Telegram reports that Cowboys quarterbacks coach Wade Wilson believes Tony Romo is having trouble on his deep passes due to lingering issues with his back surgery. He doesn't seem to be alarmed by this and thinks all will be right as he gets back into the swing of things. I am a little alarmed since I feel like this could be one of Romo's best statistical seasons with Linehan calling plays. It's worth keeping an eye on, but this is the Cowboys quarterback, so everyone will be keeping an eye directly on number nine.
The Steelers initial depth chart shows Markus Wheaton as the #2 receiver. This of course was what we’ve all figured was the case, but it gives us a chance to say that Wheaton has a lot of upside as the WR2. There were a lot of receptions, yards and touchdowns that went away with Emmanuel Sanders and Jerricho Cotchery and all reports out of Steelers camp have been positive for the burner Wheaton.
Santonio Holmes is drawing some interest from the Bears and Browns. His injuries and attitude have kept interest in him extremely low, but it looks like he’ll end up with a team to start the season. He’s still just 30, but it’s impossible to know where he is physically. He’ll need to hook up with a team and prove himself before we can look at him in even the deepest of leagues.
The oft-injured Miles Austin hasn’t been injured yet in Browns camp and is listed at the top of the wide receiver depth chart. Browns receivers not named Josh Gordon are going to have trouble getting the targets they need to be of value and Austin’s hamstrings are made of peanut brittle.
Speaking of Gordon, beat reporter Mark Kay Cabot believes an eight game suspension is the best-case scenario and a long shot at that. The scenarios are either Gordon wins outright and doesn’t miss a game, he loses and is out for the season, or they come to a settlement and he gets around eight games to think about what he’s done. But the full season is still the most likely.
Many, including myself, are looking for a bounce back season from Mike Wallace, but training camp reports haven’t been all that promising. Beat reporter Barry Jackson wrote, “The Tannehill/Wallace success rate on deep balls, so far in camp, is comparable to their awful 6 for 36 accuracy on balls that were in the air for 20-plus yards last season.” That doesn’t sound too encouraging, but Wallace hasn’t practiced all that much with a hamstring injury, so it may be a little early to call this one.
Riley Cooper has a foot injury and has been sidelined for over a week now. It doesn’t sound like anything to be overly concerned with, but that and lingering soreness for Jeremy Maclin has allowed Jordan Matthews more time with the ones and he’s looked very good by all accounts.
Roy Helu looks like he’ll remain the third down back according to The Washington Post, which makes sense due to him being good at football. We could see more of him than usual in Gruden’s offense and he makes for a nice handcuff/late round flier, especially in PPR leagues.
