Job Battles: August 3 Update

The Job Battles series will publish only once a week going forward rather than the previous schedule of three times per week, but make sure to check the prior write ups to get to the bottom of the histories up to this point.

Detroit RBs, Washington RBs, and Philadelphia WRs
Indianapolis RBs, San Francisco RBs, and San Francisco WRs
Kansas City RBs, Washington WRs, and Atlanta WRs
Tampa Bay RBs, New England WRs, and Las Vegas WRs
Rams TEs, Pittsburgh RBs, and Atlanta RBs
Denver WRs, Tennessee TEs, and Philadelphia RBs
Buffalo RBs, Minnesota RBs, Detroit WRs
Kansas City WRs
Rams RBs
Miami RBs, Cleveland WRs
Jacksonville WRs, Seattle TEs

This article will brush up on pertinent developments over the last week, sometimes quoting material from the articles listed above.

Kansas City Running Backs

Clyde Edwards-Helaire was always favored to win out over Damien Williams, but no such competition will even occur now that Williams has opted out of the 2020 season. Edwards-Helaire's price tag understandably jumped in response, but there are still Chiefs running backs aside from CEH who are capable of earning snaps and touches. Familiar Andy Reid back Spencer Ware remains a free agent among other qualified candidates, too, so it's possible that this depth chart might see its personnel reshuffled even before roster cutdowns.

Even if Damien gets hurt, though, Edwards-Helaire isn't guaranteed to run away with the backfield. Darrel Williams appears to have earned Reid's trust and admiration as well, so he is a threat to steal some snaps in that scenario. As a fullback tweener, Darrel isn't a realistic candidate to take more than a rotational role, however. DeAndre Washington is a speedy back with a polished passing down skill set, so he probably has more upside than Darrel. Washington received a cold free agency market but produced well for the Raiders last year, playing ahead of Jalen Richard while totaling 387 yards (3.6 YPC) and three touchdowns on the ground, drawing 41 targets, catching 36 for 292 yards (87.8 percent catch rate, 7.1 YPT).
 

Washington ... generally appears more qualified than 2019 preseason hype darling Darwin Thompson. As players with similar traits to Edwards-Helaire, it's possible that Washington and Thompson are fighting over one final roster spot. Washington (5-8, 204) posted a 4.49-second 40 with a 34.5-inch vertical and 118-inch broad jump at the combine out of Texas Tech in 2016, while Thompson (5-8, 200) was credited with a 4.53-second 40, 39-inch vertical and 126-inch broad jump at the Utah State pro day (no combine invitation). Despite a great deal of training camp hype, Thompson looked overwhelmed as a rookie, running for 128 yards (3.5 YPC) and catching nine of 10 targets for 43 yards. According to OverTheCap.com, the Chiefs would stand to save slightly more in cap space if they cut Thompson ($620,580) than Washington ($587,500), though Thompson's sixth-round contract offers more controllable service time than Washington does on a one-year deal.

Tampa Bay Running Backs

LeSean McCoy agreed to a one-year, $1 million deal with the Buccaneers, causing a renewed headache for those who invested in Ronald Jones or Ke'Shawn Vaughn. Ostensibly signed as a reliable veteran, McCoy could still lose to one or both of the younger Buccaneers backs, because he wasn't actually reliable in Kansas City last year, fumbling and struggling in blitz pickup.

Tampa might have pursued McCoy in part because Vaughn landed on the COVID reserve list heading into training camp, which casts an indefinite uncertainty over his practice availability. Fellow rookie Raymond Calais, the seventh-round pick out of Lafayette, also landed on the COVID list.

Green Bay Wide Receivers

Davante Adams is of course unchallenged in Green Bay and Allen Lazard was fairly promising last year in his second NFL season, but the Packers still had a use for Devin Funchess as a potential WR2 before he opted out of the 2020 season. Funchess' departure makes Lazard the heavy favorite for the WR2 role as a result, though he could have won the role even with Funchess around.

It's the Green Bay wide receiver depth that Funchess' absence hits the hardest. Marquez Valdes-Scantling was the team's first audition as the WR2 last year, but he flopped and eventually gave way to Lazard due to inefficient production (8.1 YPT but 48.1 percent catch rate). Despite his struggles to this point, MVS is still easily the fastest Green Bay wide receiver (4.37 40) even at 6-4, 206. The fact that he's turning 26 in October means his skill set development is probably maxed out, though, which doesn't bode well for projecting growth.

If MVS can't suffice as Green Bay's WR3, then the somewhat forgotten Equanimeous St. Brown might do the trick. It was only four years ago that St. Brown was considered one of the top prospects in all of college football, at which point he was ranked far ahead of both Lazard and Valdes-Scantling. A high-ankle sprain last year landed St. Brown on IR, though, depriving him of the chance to follow up what was a fairly promising 2018 rookie season (21 receptions for 328 yards on 36 targets and 358 snaps). St. Brown is a tad skinny at 6-5, 214, but his 4.48 speed and standout catch radius imply standout upside relative to Lazard and especially MVS. St. Brown was very productive at Notre Dame, producing 58 receptions for 961 yards and nine touchdowns on 93 targets in his age-20 season. That's a 62.4 percent catch rate at 10.3 yards per target in an offense that completed 57.7 percent of its passes at just 7.9 yards per attempt.

Jake Kumerow is still hanging around, too, but the 28-year-old former fringe prospect was only able to draw 32 targets on his last 471 snaps, meaning he likely can't get open reliably enough to play many snaps.

Philadelphia Wide Receivers

Marquise Goodwin opted out of the 2020 season, depriving the NFL of one of its fastest players and the Eagles of one of their most prized pieces of wide receiver depth. Goodwin's rare speed provided helpful insurance behind the increasingly brittle DeSean Jackson, but now the only backup speed options are the rookie Day 3 pick duo of John Hightower (fifth round, Boise State) and Quez Watkins (sixth round, Southern Mississippi).

First-round pick Jalen Reagor can burn up the track himself, but the Eagles are planning to feature him as an actual target at receiver, whereas Goodwin, Hightower, and Watkins are more likely to function as downfield speed decoys. Goodwin's absence does perhaps clear the runway a bit more for Reagor, a top prospect who could very well be up to the task despite its suddenly heightened difficulty.

Detroit Wide Receivers

Kenny Golladay and Marvin Jones are both excellent and unchallenged, while slot specialist Danny Amendola has a fair amount of job security in his own right. Geronimo Allison opted out of the 2020 season, however, which raises the number of projected reps for players like Marvin Hall and especially rookie fifth-round pick Quintez Cephus, who was probably competing with Allison to serve as Amendola's primary backup. With Allison gone and Hall an outside, downfield specialist, Cephus could be the next man up if Amendola should miss time.

For more on Cephus:

If Amendola misses time or plays poorly, though, then rookie fifth-round pick Quintez Cephus will likely receive consideration for snaps. Cephus (6-1, 202) was highly productive at Wisconsin but is likely a below average athlete, running a 4.73 40 at the combine and a 4.62 at the Wisconsin pro day – largely the same time given Wisconsin's fast track. Cephus might have just enough functional athleticism to get by anyway, and if he can it might lie more in his 38.5-inch vertical (84th percentile according to Mockdraftable) and 124-inch broad jump (74th percentile).
 

Cephus was consistently an above-baseline producer at Wisconsin otherwise, catching 76.9 percent of his targets at 12.9 YPT with six touchdowns as a true sophomore (age ~19.5) as the Badgers completed 64.6 percent of their passes at 9.1 YPA and 15 touchdowns in his nine active games before a leg injury ended his season. As a senior in 2019 (~21.5) he caught 59 of 94 targets for 901 yards and seven touchdowns (62.8 percent catch rate, 9.6 YPT) as Wisconsin completed 70.1 percent of its attempts at 8.0 YPA with 18 touchdowns. Cephus' senior season included a combined 10 catches for 179 yards on 19 targets in two games against Ohio State – a 52.6 percent catch rate at 9.4 YPT against a defense that allowed a 50.9 percent completion rate at 5.6 YPA. Former Buckeye and new teammate Jeff Okudah, selected third overall, called Cephus the best receiver he faced in college.

Washington Wide Receivers

Kelvin Harmon suffered a torn ACL and will miss the upcoming season, but Washington signed a potential replacement Monday in Dontrelle Inman, a journeyman outside receiver but one who is fairly respected for his fundamental abilities. Inman's addition lowers the pressure on rookie fourth-round pick Antonio Gandy-Golden, who may well still defeat Inman in a competition but also might be a tad raw after playing at Liberty in college. With Inman, Gandy-Golden, and Terry McLaurin focusing outside, it should leave Steven Sims freer to play slot snaps when applicable.