There are things we can learn from grinding every single little detail of preseason action. I’ve done this for years, and on the whole, it’s very helpful to nitpick these things. I’ll do my best to cut through the noise, and also provide more context than just looking at the snap rates with the first team. Alignment, assignments and performance all matter as we project forward. Join us on YouTube as we debate these things each week.

I had my full team-by-team takeaways from Week 1 of the preseason here. Now it’s time to examine what Week 2 revealed after watching the All 22. You can jump to my Thursday and Friday takeaways but I’d suggest reading through the entire story so you don’t miss any developments, beginning with the weekend’s biggest story. Before we dive into the preseason action, we need to start with something that happened on the practice field Sunday.

Ashton Jeanty avoids worst-case scenario

The initial reports from Jeanty’s injury on Sunday made it seem like his season was potentially over. The team stopped the music at practice, they took a knee for prayer and then Jeanty was unable to put any weight on his ankle as the training staff removed him from the field. For 5.5 hours while in limbo, thousands of fantasy drafts had Jeanty, and promising insurance back Mike Washington Jr. (more on him later), ranging from Round 2 to Round 10 picks. Wild times.

But Jeanty dodged the worst based on the follow-up reporting from the national insiders. A “sprained ankle” is what is being reported, which is typically 2-10 weeks depending on the severity. Based on the practice reaction, it could be on the month plus timeline, but this situation is a great reminder that we’re in a “Who knows?” world when it comes to injury status in camp. We’re 20 days away from the Raiders’ Week 1 game, so this still could be an IR stint (out four games) if there’s a small fracture like Omarion Hampton‘s ankle sprain from last year or if he needs tightrope surgery for a high-ankle sprain.

It’s also possible he’s just ready shortly after the season kicks off. Jeanty was a fade for me in late Round 1 (obviously not for anything injury related at the time), so I’ll probably remain lower on him after this. He’s currently my RB18 and 36th overall player, amongst the Travis Etienne Jr., Javonte Williams, Kyren Williams and Josh Jacobs tier. 

Washington should’ve been drafted in all 12-team leagues after watching his athleticism translate in preseason action. He’s also had a positive training camp, per various reports. He wasn’t loved by the spreadsheet community as a late breakout with mediocre volume, but his athleticism is on par with Adrian Peterson, he caught 28 passes in his final season and was a consensus late Round 3 to early Round 4 prospect. There were intriguing parts to his tape, especially in a run-first offense that wants to hit some perimeter runs. Washington is up to RB37, just behind Blake Corum, both Panthers RBs, Rico Dowdle and Keaton Mitchell. That group has contingent upside with more flex-able baseline work during the bye weeks. Washington easily could be an RB2/3 for a month to open the season depending Jeanty’s timeline, however, so if you want front-loaded production or take the chance that Jeanty is out more than a month, then I get it.