NFC Training Camp Notes 8-12: Roberts Woods & More
Here are your training NFC Camp Notes from Sunday 8-12. Training Camp is almost finished so enjoy while you can.
CAROLINA PANTHERS
Panthers.com – Max Henson
The wide receivers gave us a few highlights right at the start. Devin Funchess went over top of rookie cornerback Donte Jackson for an eye-popping catch in one-on-ones. Rookie wideout DJ Moore then introduced newly-signed cornerback Alex Carter to camp by completely turning him around with an explosive juke off the line, which led to an easy pitch and catch.
With cornerback Captain Munnerlyn running his mouth in an effort to fire up the defense, wide receiver Torrey Smith responded with one of the catches of camp on the first play of 7-on-7. Quarterback Cam Newton tossed a deep ball down the right sideline and Smith reached out with his right hand for the highlight-reel grab. Cornerback Kevon Seymour – back in action after missing the previous practice to witness the birth of his second child – had tight coverage but it didn’t matter.
Quarterback Garrett Gilbert answered back for the offense, engineering a touchdown drive during the second-team’s two-minute drill. Gilbert completed pretty passes to tight end Ian Thomas and wide receiver Damiere Byrd to set up first-and-goal from the 8-yard line. That’s when he connected with Moore on a slant for the score.
Quarterback Taylor Heinicke lofted a pass to running back Kenjon Barner, who fought off linebacker Chris Frey for the catch in the corner of the end zone.
CharlotteObserver.com - Jourdan Rodrigue, Joseph Person AND Brendan Marks
Tight end Ian Thomas, again, had some nice plays, demonstrating, again, his potential.
Running back C.J. Anderson caught a tough leading pass out of the backfield, then faked out Thomas Davis.
The Garrett Gilbert to Mose Frazier connection, which worked for a touchdown Thursday, is strong. Gilbert threw a 25-yard bullet to Frazier for a touchdown in coverage on Sunday, with a nice toe drag by Frazier to keep it in bounds.
Panthers ran a sweep with DJ Moore, an interesting play to tuck away.
Moore had a touchdown catch against Jackson, who looked good in coverage Sunday, that play excluded.
Dak Prescott with perfect deep ball on out and up to Lance Lenoir on Anthony Brown but the receiver drops the TD.
Bloggingtheboys.com – One Cool Customer
There seemed to be a lot deep balls from Dak Prescott as he repeatedly hit receivers downfield. Interestingly, none of the balls were back shoulder fades and all saw the receiver running through the route, as taught by new receivers’ coach Sanjay Lal.
Dak Prescott focused on the deep ball in one on one drills. For the most part his throws were accurate and he gave his receivers a chance to make plays. He and Terrance Williams hooked up of a touchdown on a long ball over CB Anthony Brown. He would have had a second one to Lance Lenoir, but the receiver could not hang on to the pass in the end zone after a double move. Prescott completed 10 of 16 passes in seven on seven and team drills, bringing his camp total to 97 of 139 (70%).
A little more on Prescott’s accuracy. It’s not just about completing a pass, it’s about giving the pass catcher a chance to make a play. He threw a check down to tight end Dalton Schultz and hit him in the right shoulder, dictating to the tight end the defender was to his left and how to turn up field. Solid play.
The Cowboys have been lining up Tavon Austin in several spots and even throwing him deep balls: "I love it. It’s all about getting the ball in space for me. That’s all I really want, get the ball in space and have a little fun and show what God blessed me with."
GREEN BAY PACKERS
Wearegreenbay.com – Eric Boynton
Injury Report: LT David Bakhtiari (ankle), WR Randall Cobb (ankle), TE Jimmy Graham (knee), RT Bryan Bulaga (knee), RB Aaron Jones (hamstring), DT Mike Daniels (thigh), DL Muhammad Wilkerson (groin), CB Kevin King (shoulder), CB Jaire Alexander (groin), S Josh Jones (concussion) and FB Joe Kerridge (shoulder) all returned to practice on Sunday.
RB Devante Mays (hamstring), LB Nick Perry (ankle), S Jermaine Whitehead (back), and WR Trevor Davis (hamstring) were held out of practice on Sunday.
Quarterback Aaron Rodgers took the first team reps in both team periods against the number one defense. Rodgers was taking scout team reps ahead of last week's preseason game, and did not play against the Titans.
Practice ended with a pair of deep balls from Tim Boyle to Jake Kumerow, and DeShone Kizer to Davante Adams in the pass under pressure period.
Michael Cohen @Michael_Cohen13
Jake Kumerow with a spectacular one-handed catch on a deep pass from Tim Boyle. There was defensive pass interference on the play, too. Very impressive. #Packers
LOS ANGELES RAMS
TurfShowTimes.com – 3k
Things have gotten a little more interesting though. TE Gerald Everett had his arm in a sling dealing with a shoulder injury that McVay confirmed will keep him out “another week or so at least.” WR Josh Reynolds has ankle injury from Thursday’s preseason opener against the Baltimore Ravens that will require some time.
A few standouts today: - Robert Woods caught a deep pass deep down the sideline over Marcus Peters - Woods also caught a short pass in space and took it about 20 yards for a TD - Pharoh Cooper made several nice catches, including a TD - Ramik Wilson had nice goal line break up.
TheRams.com – Myles Simmons
Wideout Brandin Cooks got things started with a nice catch in the middle of the end zone against cornerback Troy Hill.
Wide receiver Mike Thomas couldn’t quite pull down a fade on his first rep, but was able to snag a comeback route in the front right corner of the end zone for his second.
Receiver Cooper Kupp used a nice move to shake off slot corner Nickell Robey-Coleman. Kupp went to the outside to make a reception, as Robey-Coleman bit on the inside move.
Quarterback Sean Mannion connected with wideout Pharoh Cooper in the back of the end zone on the right.
During a red zone 7-on-7 period, Mannion connected with Thomas on a pass at about the three-yard line. The ball placement allowed Thomas to lower his shoulder and get past a defender into the end zone.
On another ones-vs-ones compete drill, the offense won with a one-play drive. Jared Goff connected with wide receiver Robert Woods, who was wide open on the right side, for about a 20-yard touchdown pass.
On a later 11-on-11 play, Goff connected with Brown on a pass over the middle that ended up as a touchdown. Brown was lined up wide to start the play, giving the fourth-year back out of Texas an opportunity to show his versatility.
MINNESOTA VIKINGS
Twincities.com – Chris Tomasson
Rookie RB Roc Thomas did get his name noticed plenty for his performance in a 42-28 win at Denver. The undrafted running back has ended up on plenty of highlight reels after catching three passes for 102 yards and two touchdowns and carrying eight times for 29 yards.
Thomas is battling Mack Brown and Mike Boone, another undrafted rookie, to make the 53-man roster as the third back behind Dalvin Cook and Latavius Murray. He wasted no time in showing his stuff after checking in late in the first quarter.
Thomas caught a 13-yard touchdown pass from Trevor Siemian with 1:36 left in the quarter. Then he took a screen pass from Siemian and sprinted 78 yards to the end zone with 4:59 left in the first half.
NEW ORLEANS SAINTS
TheAdvocate.com – Nick Underhill
DE Marcus Davenport (muscle pull), WR Cameron Meredith, TE Michael Hoomanawanui, WR Tommylee Lewis and DL Mitchell Loewen did not practice.
So, this is probably a good time to remind you that wide receiver Michael Thomas is having a strong training camp. The wide receiver makes excellent plays every single day. His submission on Sunday was a diving, toe-tapping catch on the sidelines with Ken Crawley in coverage. Thomas looks poised to have a big season.
Austin Carr is showing up after having a somewhat quiet first couple weeks of training camp. The wide receiver has made several plays the past two days and is working with the first-team offense. He has been used primarily in the slot. It’s not clear what the path to the roster would be for Carr, especially since his special-teams value is lower than others, but it must be remembered the Saints kept him around all last season despite not having a role for him most weeks.
Wide receiver and return man Brandon Tate had another highlight on Sunday when he caught a touchdown pass from Savage.
Ted Ginn quickly with one of the highlights of the day by making a one-handed, back-shoulder catch with cornerback Justin Hardee in coverage.
NEW YORK GIANTS
APNews.com – Tom Canavan
RB Robert Martin of Rutgers might be one of the biggest surprises in the New York Giants’ training camp. Less than three weeks into camp, Martin has opened some eyes. He has continually broken some big runs during the practices. He did it again on Thursday night in the second half of the preseason opener against the Cleveland Browns, picking up 39 yards on five carries with a long run of 19 yards.
Davis Webb, still clearly the No. 2 QB, had a much better day, aside from sailed throw + red-zone INT. Hit several big plays to OBJ and Sterling Shepard when working with first-team offense. The pass to Shepard was almost exact route he missed in the game.
EliteSportsNY.com – Jason Leach
As far as practice was concerned, the Giants offense unveiled a new wrinkle in their red zone offense as Eli Manning handed the ball to tight end Evan Engram out of a shotgun formation. It’s becoming more and more apparent that the Giants intend to get the ball in Engram’s hands often this season.
Later in the red-zone session, wide receiver Cody Latimer made a spectacular leaping catch for a touchdown in the left corner of the end zone with Janoris Jenkins in tight coverage.
NJ.com – Matt Lombardo
After a consistently dominant spring, and fast start to training camp, it has been a struggle for QB Davis Webb to stack good plays on top of good plays, and solid practices on top of one another in recent weeks.
Sunday morning, following a trend of overthrows against the Browns, Webb saw time with the first-team offense in Manning's absence and very early on sailed a pass about three feet over a wide open Hunter Sharp's head in the flat during an 11-on-11 period.
However, Webb later came back and had one of the finer throws of the day when he hit Sterling Shepard shortly after he broke open behind the defense deep down the sideline for a long catch.
Webb's struggles continued when he threw a screen pass along the line of scrimmage right into the arms of defensive lineman Kerry Wynn who raced downfield for a touchdown.
On the bright side, Webb did find Wayne Gallman for a touchdown during red-zone work.
QB Kyle Lauletta saw some extended time with the second-team offense for the first time this summer, and made some nice throws, as he did against the Browns.
While arm-strength continues to be a knock on Lauletta, the bigger concern might be his ability to control the deep-ball.
On one of this first passing attempts of Sunday's practice, Kalif Raymond had cornerback Grant Haley beaten by about a step and a half 60 yards downfield, but Lauletta sailed a pass several feet out of Raymond's reach.
It will be interesting to see how much playing time Lauletta gets against the Lions and how the quarterback reps are divvied up with the second-team offense on Friday night.
Alonzo Russell made the catch of the day late in Sunday's practice.
Isolated one-on-one against Cornerback Grant Haley, Russell leveraged his 6-foot-4 frame to make a leaping catch over the 5-foot-9 undrafted rookie free agent. Haley had perfect position in coverage, but there was nothing he could do as Russell came down with a highlight-reel worthy reception.
Roster Move: #Eagles have signed QB Christian Hackenberg and waived/injured C Ian Park.
Delcotimes.com – Bob Grotz
Zach Ertz owned the first-team defense in the 11-on-11 red zone drills, catching three scoring passes. … Mike Wallace opened practice by sprinting past Jalen Mills and Malcolm Jenkins to haul in a Nick Foles bomb. … Running back Matt Jones returned to practice. Nelson Agholor, Corey Clement and Markus Wheaton didn’t practice, while Sidney Jones (ankle) and Dallas Goedert were limited. ... The Eagles waived-injured tight end Adam Zaruba.
Play of the day: In 11-on-11, red zone, Foles whistled a scoring pass to the left side of the end zone to Ertz, who made a rolling catch behind Jenkins.
With Wendell Smallwood and rookie big back Josh Adams of Notre Dame tearing it up in the preseason opener, Donnell Pumphrey (lower body injury) lost ground in the running back competition. “It’s hard for young players, quite honestly in this league, to make rosters,” Pederson said. “But (Pumphrey has) flashed. He’s done some nice things. We need to make sure he’s healthy again before we put him back out on the field and see where he’s at.”
PhillyVoice.com – Jimmy Kemski
Mike Wallace has turned it up of late. As we mentioned yesterday, Wallace had a big play on a deep post past Mills to open practice. Today, he skied over Mills on a "bang eight" route to make a catch for roughly a 20-yard gain. He is clearly going to be an upgrade over Torrey Smith.
After his big play against the Steelers in the first preseason game, Shelton Gibson is beginning to pull away from his receiver competition and is looking like a lock to make the roster. He had several nice plays today, most notably when he shook off a hold by Rasul Douglas in the red zone and got open for a touchdown reception anyway. He also toasted Bausby deep, but Nate Sudfeld overthrew him.
SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS
NFL.com – Herbie Teope
The San Francisco 49ers will have to wait to discover the full extent of running back Jerick McKinnon's injury.
McKinnon is scheduled to undergo an MRI on his right knee, the team announced Sunday.
The 5-foot-9, 205-pound McKinnon suffered the injury during practice and was observed grabbing the back of his right knee, according to Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area. Maiocco added McKinnon watched the remainder of practice after being checked out by medical personnel.
49ers.com – Joe Fann
McKinnon and Raheem Mostert each had a long run during practice.
Jimmy Garoppolo's best throw of the day was a deep ball down the left sideline to Aldrick Robinson. The 40-yard completion set up a Robbie Gould field goal during a move-the-ball period.
Trent Taylor made his debut in team drills. He and Garoppolo connected on one deep crossing route in which Taylor made a nice full-extension grab. They were unable to connect on a few other shots downfield.
Beathard engineered an impressive touchdown drive during the final move-the-ball period. He found Aaron Burbridge, Richie James and Dante Pettis for big gains. A short touchdown pass to Ross Dwelley capped the drive.
ESPN.com – Nick Wagoner
San Francisco 49ers running back Jerick McKinnon underwent an MRI on Sunday that revealed a strained calf muscle, according to a team spokesman.
McKinnon suffered the injury about halfway through Sunday's training-camp practice in Santa Clara, California, when he came up grabbing at his right knee. He limped to the side to receive attention from the medical staff and sat out the rest of the session.
Carroll on the first offensive line's performance against Colts: "It just felt better.'' Says Russell Wilson moved more to make receivers open and not because he had to to escape rush.
SeattleTimes.com – Mike Vorel
Quarterback Russell Wilson certainly didn’t show any rust in the no-pads practice session, at one point launching a 75-yard touchdown pass to streaking fourth-year wide receiver Tyler Lockett. He also delivered a liner along the sideline to wide receiver Brandon Marshall, who pulled it in with just his left hand in front of cornerback Tre Flowers.
Wide receiver David Moore — who took a nasty shot late in Thursday’s preseason game but cleared all concussion tests — made several impressive catches on Sunday, the most notable being a high pass he snared with strong hands over cornerback Jeremy Boykins. Boykins later answered with an acrobatic interception going out of bounds on a pass from backup quarterback Austin Davis.
The following players sat out Sunday’s practice: wide receivers Doug Baldwin (knee) and Amara Darboh (hip flexor), running back C.J. Prosise (hip), cornerbacks Byron Maxwell (hip/groin), Neiko Thorpe (wrist) and Trovon Reed (unspecified), defensive back Mike Tyson (ribs), safeties Maurice Alexander (hip flexor) and T.J. Mutcherson (unspecified), linebackers D.J. Alexander (unspecified) and Josh Forrest (unspecified), tight ends Ed Dickson (quad) and Clayton Wilson (unspecified), defensive tackle Joey Ivie (unspecified) and offensive linemen J.R. Sweezy (ankle), Isaiah Battle (knee) and Jamarco Jones (ankle).
FieldGulls.com – Mookie Alexander
It sounds like TE Ed Dickson (quad strain) won’t be back any time soon, leaving the door open for Will Dissly, Nick Vannett, and Tyrone Swoopes to shine some more.
TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS
ThePewterPlank.com – Ryan Doyle
2017 was a rough year for DeSean Jackson. With Jameis Winston and Ryan Fitzpatrick unable to connect with him on shots down the field, he was largely ineffective in his first season in red and pewter.
Throughout training camp, it’s become commonplace to see highlights of Jackson speeding down the field for six points.
To see Jackson return to practice motivated and connecting with both quarterbacks so often has been shocking. Amidst a receiving corps loaded with talent, Jackson remains the game-breaking player the Bucs offense needs.
Although the Buccaneers have a stacked tight end group, Alan Cross will be on the 53-man roster. He may be at the bottom of the depth chart but his versatility as a special teams player, pass catcher and run blocker will get him on the roster.
WASHINGTON REDSKINS
Redskins.com - Jake Kring-Schreifels
After an extended special teams unit with the punt teams, the Redskins offense and defense split fields and some 9-on-7 drills took place, in which the Redskins running backs got some work against the Jets linebackers and defensive linemen. After a couple of clogged holes to start, Samaje Perine got into the second level and opened things up, and the rest of the group, including Rob Kelley and Kapri Bibbs, started to have its way around the edge.
With new defensive players to work against in preparation for Thursday’s preseason game, the Redskins seemed to have a few more gadget plays in their pocket, throwing more screens and read-options to confuse the Jets. Trey Quinn got in on the action taking a swing pass for about 10 yards from Colt McCoy while Chris Thompson got back into the screen game on a bootleg from Alex Smith. The starting quarterback pulled off some trickery keeping the ball on a play-action and running up the sideline untouched.
Lost in the chaos was wide receiver Josh Doctson back to practicing, and he looked good in the limited reps he had during team drills. The Redskins offense looked sharp throughout practice and Smith wasn’t afraid to try some deep passes to Maurice Harris and Jamison Crowder, who caught a touchdown before the horn blew to end practice. Byron Marshall also got in on some of the action during 7-on-7 drills catching a slant route over the seams and bursting up the middle of the field.
If you have any comments or questions feel free to reach out to me on Twitter @Fantasytaz
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