Samulski's Weekly Contenders and Pretenders: Preseason Edition

Welcome to Contenders and Pretenders! I'm your host, Eric Samulski, and this is our first edition of a new weekly awards segment where we shine a light on the best performances, the disappointing performances, and the most misleading performances in the week of NFL action.

Some awards will carry over every week while others will emerge from the ether based on the mood of the host or the mercurial winds of pop culture trends. While you will find plenty of actionable fantasy football information here, you're not likely to get many references to stats like rush yards over expectation or targets per route run. Those are all valuable and have their place, but that place is not here. This is the place where we give out awards, talk some trash, and have some fun.

If you have people you believe are deserving of awards or want to suggest awards for the next week, feel free to reach out to me on Twitter (@SamskiNYC). This first edition will focus on the entire preseason, so it may have a few more awards than we'll have on a regular weekly basis.

But without further ado, let's hand out some hardware that doesn't exist and people wouldn't really want if it did!

Summer Star Award: Darren Waller , TE New York Giants

Is this award biased because I live in New York and consume lots of New York media? Absolutely not.

Waller was a big time addition for the Giants this offseason. He looked primed to emerge as one of the best tight ends in football, but the last two years with the Raiders were tough on him, and the production simply wasn't there. Well, if preseason practice reports and brief snippets of game action are to be believed, Waller will be the feature option for Daniel Jones in the Giants offense .

Now, I know it's trendy to hate on Daniel Jones because he was drafted higher than he should have been, went to Duke, and trips over his own feet, but that hate is misguided at this point. Is Daniel Jones a top tier quarterback? No, but he's still a good one. He proved that last year by leading a Giants offense with Richie James Jr. and Darius Slayton as his top wide receivers. He has a good enough arm, can use his mobility to open passing lanes, and seems to trust Waller implicitly already. Plus, Brian Daboll is one of the most creative offensive coaches in the league.

All of that has led to Waller starring this offseason, and I fully expect it to carry over into the regular season.

Barbie/Oppenheimer Summer Showdown Award: Brock Purdy , Sam Darnold , Trey Lance , QB San Francisco 49ers

There was no bigger competition this summer than when Barbie and Oppenheimer went head-to-head to try and remind people that a movie theater was a location that you could go to in order to watch a film in a place where you have to pay for popcorn and you have to perfectly time your bathroom breaks so that you don't miss anything or annoy the people around you.

There were a couple of similarly heated position battles in NFL preseason, but none was likely more impactful than the one for the starting quarterback job in San Francisco. Honorable mention goes to Baker Mayfield and Kyle Trask battling for the Bucs starting quarterback job, but that kind of felt like a battle nobody wanted to win.

Many people were looking for reasons to dismiss Brock Purdy because he was drafted too late (honestly, why do we care when a player was drafted if we've already seen them perform at the NFL level?). Trey Lance remained the riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma, but he had many people in his corner as the former third overall pick. Then there was the former second overall pick Sam Darnold , who was trying to resurrect his career under the tutelage of Kyle Shanahan .

At the end of the day, it was Purdy who won the competition, Trey Lance was traded to Dallas, and we will still not learn to dismiss draft status when placing expectations on players.

Taylor Swift Summer Hype Beast: De’Von Achane , RB Miami Dolphins

In truth, the only person who has matched Taylor Swift in terms of words said/typed about them this summer is Aaron Rodgers . NFL TV shows missed no opportunity to discuss anything about Rodgers whether it was his rapport with Garrett Wilson , his defense of Nathaniel Hackett , his views on modern medicine, or the way he wears his hair. By early August, Rodgers could have easily stolen Taylor's line, "It's me, hi, I'm the problem; it's me."

However, now that I've also contributed to the endless discussion of Rodgers, we'll actually give the hype award to Dolphins rookie running back De’Von Achane . It seemed like no matter who you follow on Twitter or what show you watch on TV, people were telling you to draft Achane.

On one hand, it's no surprise. Last year, he rushed for 1,102 yards on 196 attempts (5.62 ypc) and had a 12.3% target share for Texas A&M. He also shares a backfield with boring veterans Raheem Mostert and Jeff Wilson Jr., so people were more than happy to assume Achane would win the backfield job. However, it could be foolish to bet on that happening quickly, especially with Mike McDaniel coming from a 49ers system that rotated its running backs and with Mostert actually producing well in Miami's offense last year.

With Jonathan Taylor not being traded to Miami yesterday, the Achane hype will likely be re-born and continue on perhaps as long as the Era tour does.

Breakout Performer: Sam Howell , QB Washington Commanders

There were a few people headed for this spot, but I gave it to Howell because his former coach, Ron Rivera , admitted he didn’t know how good Howell was and that he should have played him earlier. Which is just amazing because Rivera presumably watched Howell in practice every day and didn't realize until he was not coaching and saw him play on TV that he was good.

It boggles the mind.

Howell had a poor final year at North Carolina, which crushed his perception in some circles, but he's flashed a decent amount of raw talent and is now playing in a system led by Eric Bieniemy , which is a dream for most quarterbacks. Bieniemy isn't going to turn Howell into Patrick Mahomes , but there are enough weapons in this Commanders offense that they could be a good fantasy unit, and that's exactly why Howell has begun to skyrocket up draft boards.

The "Blacklist" Award for Most Confusing Player/Situation: Kenneth Gainwell and, more generally, the Eagles running backs

Did you know Kenneth Gainwell was the starting running back for the Eagles? No, wait, he's their third running back. No, hold up, he's just the pass-catching back. No, sorry, none of us know anything, just like those middle seasons of The Blacklist when they started inserting in flashbacks to Soviet Russia. Wait, what? When did the show change?

If I had to guess, I would say D’Andre Swift remains the "lead" back in Philadelphia, but with him and Gainwell and Rashaad Penny , it's very likely to be a confusing muddled mess and the Eagles will win games by a lot and not care that any of us are mad that it doesn't help our fake teams.

Rookie of the Summer: Dalton Kincaid , TE Buffalo Bills and Luke Musgrave , TE Green Bay Packers

Let's split this award between two intriguing rookie tight ends.

When the Bills drafted Kincaid, they said he was essentially a slot receiver. Some Bills beat writers compared his usage to how Cole Beasley fit into the offense, which upset Cole Beasley . Yet, nobody seemed to hear the Bills, and people were shocked when Kincaid lined up in the slot a lot in preseason. He's a natural pass catcher who is going to be used a lot over the middle of the field, which is an incredibly valuable role in the Bills' offense. Sometimes we just need to listen when teams tell us what they're doing.

Luke Musgrave also impressed, as you can tell by that ADP image above. He's an athletic rookie who is capable of moving in the way a man his size should not be. We love using tight ends with young quarterbacks because they can often act as a safety blanket, so Musgrave can be Jordan Love's Little Blankey.

Least Satisfying Replacement: Baker Mayfield , QB Tampa Bay Bucs

We can call this the Henry Caville memorial award. Yes, Henry Caville is still alive, but his time spent playing Geralt in "The Witcher" is over. The British star is leaving the show after season 3 allegedly over disputes regarding how faithful the show should be to the book. Liam Hemsworth will be taking his place and while having a Hemsworth is never a bad thing, even if it's Liam, Caville was the perfect person to play Geralt, and the show will very likely be worse off without him (even though this season was pretty suspect anyway).

Similarly, Baker Mayfield replacing Tom Brady is equally as disappointing. Yes, Mayfield has some charisma and his State Farm commercials are actually pretty entertaining, but on the field he has never lived up to expectations as a former number one overall pick. With him at the helm in Tampa, it's a pretty clear downgrade for Chris Godwin and Mike Evans among others.

The player who it could benefit is Rachaad White since he operated as a true three-down back in the preseason and Baker Mayfield has historically loved to throw to his running backs.

Rodney Dangerfield "Can't Get No Respect" Award: Diontae Johnson, WR Pittsburgh Steelers

For those of you too young to remember, this award is fondly named after the comedian Rodney Dangerfield, who was most famous for being in "Caddyshack" and also for a schtick in which he bemoaned that he couldn't get any respect from the day he was born. So while there are more than a few analysts out there who will tell you to draft Diontae Johnson , it still feels like the larger fantasy football community keeps finding reasons to disrespect Johnson.

"He drops too many passes."
"He doesn't score touchdowns."
"His offense isn't good."
"George Pickens is better."

At some point, it begins to feel like a narrative has been written about Johnson, and we refuse to unwrite it. The dude had a 29% target share in the preseason when Kenny Pickett played. Last season, he was fourth in the NFL in target rate and seventh in air yard percentage. He also scored zero touchdowns. None. Nil. That can't possibly be duplicated for a player this talented, and with Kenny Pickett taking steps forward, Johnson should be in for a solid season.

Remember Me? Forgotten Man Award: Brandin Cooks , WR Dallas Cowboys

Brandin Cooks plays for the Cowboys now. Did you know that? Did you know that before August? Did you also know Brandin Cooks is only 29 years old?

While Diontae Johnson can't seem to get any respect, I think people have simply forgotten that Brandin Cooks exists. He played just 13 games last season and seemed to actively resist getting on the field at the end of the year. He had just 699 yards and three touchdowns, but he had gone for over 1,000 yards with at least five touchdowns in six of seven seasons prior to last year. He is now locked into the number two wide receiver gig in Dallas alongside CeeDee Lamb and seems primed to make us remember him fairly quickly.

Or by the end of the year he'll be on his sixth team in the last eight years.

David Blane Illusion Award: Tank Bigsby , RB Jacksonville Jaguars

Stats are great. Except when they're not. Bigsby was third in the NFL this preseason with 159 Rushing Yards and many people were suggesting Jacksonville was using a committee in their backfield; however, that just doesn't appear to be the case. No, Travis Etienne will not get 90% of the carries, but really no running back does anymore. With the first team offense on the field, Etienne appears likely to get around 70% of the carries, which leaves a little for Bigsby but we also saw JaMychal Hasty get work last year as well.

Etienne has flaws as a running back, and I know Bigsby was a third round pick, but we should not be using his preseason numbers to suggest he is going to take meaningful snaps away from Etienne because there is no indication that that's the case.