Colts at Bills
Game Info
Kickoff: Thursday, August 8th, 2019
Location: New Era Field, Orchard Park, New York
Betting Odds: BUF -2 via Oddsshark
Watch On: CBS
Buffalo Bills
Muddy Backfield
At a glance this offseason it appeared that the Buffalo Bills were attempting to sign as many mediocre RBs as possible. It began with the man that refuses to go away, Frank Gore, then it was former Jaguars RB, T.J. Yeldon, and they finally capped it off by drafting Devin Singletary in the third round. To make matters worse the Bills have kept around LeSean McCoy, who is coming off the worst season of his career. Things have not been made any clearer through one week of training camp. All four have gotten a chance with the first-team offense and have received some sort of praise from the team. Throughout the preseason there is a real shot for one of them to emerge as the lead rusher.
Robert Foster’s Value
The Bills fielded arguably the worst WR group in the NFL last year, led by the undrafted Alabama product, Robert Foster. After the season Foster looked like a strong candidate to lead the team in targets but as the offseason progressed that is looking less and less likely. The Bills signed Cole Beasley and John Brown early in the offseason and both have performed well in camp. On Tuesday, the Bills first depth chart was released and it placed Brown, Beasley and Zay Jones as the three starters with Foster as the WR4. Foster has dealt with a foot injury for a large chunk of this offseason and is just starting to ramp up his activity level. He will need to perform well this preseason to move up the depth chart and become fantasy relevant.
Josh Allen Fantasy Starter
Josh Allen showed his potential as a fantasy asset to end the 2018 season. With new receivers and a full offseason to get healthy the likelihood of Josh Allen improving on his rookie season is very high. For Thursday we should be looking at how the offense will be run in 2019. The best-case scenario for fantasy players is that the Bills cater their offense completely to Allen’s strengths, which is his deep passing and running the football. They appear to be focusing on the deep passing after pairing Robert Foster with John Brown. Both will help stretch the field and give Allen plenty of deep target options. Designed runs for Allen would tremendously help his fantasy value. He is a tremendous athlete and giving him a running floor would put him in the conversation as a fantasy starter.
Indianapolis Colts
Andrew Luck Hurt Again
Unfortunately, we are forced to spend another offseason with an injured Andrew Luck. After what appeared to be a minor calf injury for Luck early in the offseason has kept him off the field. Luck attempted to return last week but subsequently reaggravated the injury. With the news of a re-aggravation, we are unlikely to see Luck at all this preseason. This is a big problem in terms of chemistry for the new guys in this offense, such as Parris Campbell and Devin Funchess. The injury to Luck does not seem like it should keep him off the field for any of the regular seasons but luckily for fantasy fans, Jacoby Brisset has proven to be a semi-competent back-up if worse comes to worst. We will see plenty of Brisset this Thursday as he will be starting for the Colts against the Bills.
Rough Start For The Rookie
Andrew Luck wasn’t the only Colts player to catch the injury bug. Rookie Parris Campbell injured his hamstring last week during practice and has not participated in practice since. Practice time for young WRs is essential to their immediate success in the NFL. Campbell is missing out on valuable practice time that will help him be ready for the regular season. In his absence, it will give the other WRs on the roster a chance to stand out to the coaching staff. One player to look out for this week, who has been a coach favorite, is second-year WR Deon Cain. After his season was derailed before it even began last year, Cain is back and attempting to carve out a role as one of Andrew Luck’s receivers.
Battle To Be The Backup
The Colts coaching staff have made it very clear that the backup role to Marlon Mack is wide open. Spencer Ware was brought in to compete with Jordan Wilkins but he recently injured his knee. The Colts also signed D’Onta Foreman immediately after he was released by the Texans. Thursday will be the true start to the competition and each game after will be an audition. Whoever can prevail as the main backup to Marlon Mack will be a player to keep an eye on because of their value as a handcuff. The Colts boast one of the strongest offensive lines in the league and have a highly potent offense. Whoever steps into their starting RB role will garner immediate attention from all those in the fantasy community.
-Matthew Perri