Eight Hall of Fame game fantasy football takeaways

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The preseason can be a trap for some misinformation. The annual inaugural contest of the preseason, the game, is well-known for its tendency to provide fantasy misnomers. Some observers went a little crazy after seeing 2014 rookie running back, bruise the backup defense in last year's Mark Reynolds Jersey iteration. Williams rumbled along to average 3.3 yards-per-carry in the regular season. Buffalo receiver , a former second round pick, caught a nice touchdown. He went on to finish as the WR48 in fantasy leagues.All this to say, while there is plenty of important information to scour from the game, let's remember to temper our expectations. We'll be looking for clues from the results of this game; we won't be uncovering any fantasy revelations. 1.*None of the ' offensive centerpieces took part in this game.* was on the shelf with an elbow injury, while , and were given the night off. Even did not play in the game. Without seeing any of the pieces from what could be one of the NFL's best offenses, there's no major change to the fantasy outlook. We'll be watching in future exhibitions games to see if Wheaton brings some of Ben's optimism to the field, or if Bryant is indeed .2.*The did allow some of their first teamers a chance to take the field, with the obvious exception of .* looked locked-in right away, completing five of his six pa ses in his only series. This sort of hyper-efficient play is exactly what we're projecting for the Minnesota quarterback this season, and it will keep us interested in this offense. He and mi sed each other on one pa s, which brought back all-too-familiar unpleasant memories of the veteran receiver's time in Miami. caught one pa s, but it was a mere screen near the line of scrimmage.3.* stood out on his two catches, both of which were away from his body in traffic.* Rudolph looked spry after an injury-riddled 2014 campaign. He bounced off several would-be tacklers on those two receptions. In a tight end-friendly offense and a clear quarterback upgrade from years past, there's some bounce back potential for Rudolph this season. Of course, he must stay healthy for that to occur. Do note that his backup, rookie had the best receiving line of the game (4-51-1 TD).4.*With sitting out, we were treated to a dystopian Bryce Harper Jersey hypothetical of what this offense would look like in the event of an injury to No. 28.* flashed some excellent natural ability in the open field with a 13-yard reception on the first play. He impre sed us last year with a quick transition from college option quarterback to NFL running back as a rookie. McKinnon is a longshot to have standalone value, but he's one of the highest upside handcuffs in the league. Provided you're into that sort of thing. Of course, the also made sure to sprinkle in a little action with the second team offense. An often-used punchline in fantasy circles, Asiata looked good in his chances, taking six carries for 30 yards. On multiple occasions, the big man made multiple defenders mi s. We like McKinnon's long-term outlook and potential, but this will remain a committee situation if a Peterson injury ever sends the fantasy world into a post-apocalyptic panic. 5.* ran exclusively with the second-team offense, and caught one pa s for six yards.* His route technique still looked rough at times, albeit in limited looks. Patterson is firmly behind Johnson, Wallace and (two catches for 14 yards) in the pecking order, and is not likely to bounce-back from . has earned rave reviews from camp, and took a punt return one yard shy of a score. If he pa ses up Patterson, all three of us left in his corner will have to pack it in.6.*With all the starters out, was the ' most notable offensive player.* He played most of the first half, and certainly had some nice moments. Archer averaged six yards per carry, and caught six pa ses. While the diminutive second-year player made plays in space, he pretty Javy Guerra Jersey consistently went down on first contact. He also fumbled. Maybe Archer plays a pa sing game role when is on suspension, but he is not a fantasy factor. {"adConfig":{"preroll":{"ciuSzs":"300x60,1x1","descriptionUrl":" ","frequency":2,"iu":"/4595/nfl.com/news/article","partner":"","players": "dri-archer" ,"s1":"news","s2":"eight-hall-of-fame-game-fantasy-football-takeaways-0ap3000000508347","s3":"","s4":"article","teams": "PIT","MIN" ,"test":"","url":" ","vid":""}},"analytics":{"reportSuite":"cbsnfl","pageDetail":"eight-hall-of-fame-game-fantasy-football-takeaways-0ap3000000508347","siteName":"nfl.com","siteSection":"news","siteSubsection":"news"},"autoplay":false,"clubs":false,"playlist": {"audio":false,"description":"Pittsburgh Steelers running back Dri Archer runs behind his blockers and weaves around for a gain of 15 yards.\n","duration":0,"gameday":false,"id":"6fdef09b-1905-4d18-87c3-6e95300a594d","entityId":"6fdef09b-1905-4d18-87c3-6e95300a594d","slug":"pittsburgh- Blank Jersey steelers-running-back-dri-archer-runs-to-the-right-for-15-yard-268492","title":"Pittsburgh Steelers running back Dri Archer runs to the right for 15 yards","posterImage":" ","imageSrc":" ","campaignId":"","category":"","mcpID":"268492","videoSource":"nfl.com","tags": {"title":"Pittsburgh Steelers at Minnesota Vikings (2015-PRE-0)","slug":"pittsburgh-steelers-at-minnesota-vikings-2015-pre-0","gameId":"10012015-0809-5169-e918-95e0852fc4f6"},{"title":"Dri Archer","slug":"dri-archer","personId":"32004152-4342-5790-eb07-e3abf1efc087"},{"title":"Pittsburgh Steelers","slug":"pittsburgh-steelers","teamId":"10403900-8251-6892-d81c-4348525c2d47"},{"title":"Minnesota Vikings","slug":"minnesota-vikings","teamId":"10403000-5851-f9d5-da45-78365a05b6b0"},{"title":"Pittsburgh Steelers","slug":"pittsburgh-steelers-vc"},{"title":"Migrated","slug":"migrated"} } ,"playlistVideoIndex":0,"playerType":"video","productId":"LEAGUE","loop":false,"live":false,"defaultMuted":false} 7.*The defense definitely looks faster.* On the first drive, leveled to force a fourth down. Minnesota went for it on the following play, and last year's top pick, , burst through the line to stuff McKinnon. Encouraging signs, but this team has some work yet to do in the secondary. It was not encouraging to see this year's first rounder, Bud Dupree, playing deep into the fourth quarter and making little impact.8.*Backup quarterback stock watch.* played the full game, as hinted by Mike Tomlin, but continued his touchdown-free preseason career. Jones did play a little better Austin Voth Jersey than in years past, and did have three receivers (rookies , and ) mishandle pa ses in the end zone on a second quarter series. Neither nor did much to put heat on (did not play) to be Bridegwater's primary backup. Matt Harmon is an a sociate fantasy writer/editor for NFL.com, and the creator of , who you can follow on Twitter __. He's looking forward to the preseason main course, after the appetizer of last night's game.