For months and months now, there has been one question: when does NFL training camp start? Well, guess what? By the end of today, every NFL team will have reported for training camp!

Yes, all rookies and every veteran will be in camp and ready for action. Well, except for some of the folks holding out for contracts, like CeeDee Lamb, Jordan Love, Alvin Kamara and Haason Reddick. But, for everyone else, it’s time to get to work.

And what we’re going to do over the next week – dig into some of the most important NFL training camp battles in 2024. The ones that will decide not only the future of these franchises, but the shape of your fantasy football rankings and fantasy ADP. 

We’ll break down the battles and tell you who we’d draft in fantasy football if we were drafting today. So, why not start with the most important position in all of football? The quarterbacks.

 

 

 

Las Vegas Raiders - Gardner Minshew vs. Aidan O’Connell

This is a spicy one, folks. Because the winner doesn’t just inherit a mess – they get to throw the ball to superstar Davante Adams, trusted target Jakobi Meyers and arguably the best receiving tight end prospect in decades, Brock Bowers. And reports so far have been that it will be an open competition. 

Head coach Antonio Pierce has made it clear that he’s in no rush. He said that both QBs have had good and bad days, so they won’t make a call until it “becomes obvious” that one of them is the “best player to help the Raiders win games”. That naturally doesn’t give us any info. We have, however, gleaned from comments made by him and by Davante Adams on the Netflix show Receiver that Aidan O’Connell finished with the job last year, so it’s up to Gardner Minshew to unseat him. 

They did give Gardner Minshew a $25 million dollar deal with $15 million guaranteed. For fantasy football purposes, this one seems pretty simple. We’ve seen Gardner Minshew and what he has to offer. He’s not particularly mobile, but he is a “replacement-level” NFL QB that can run an offense. That offers a decent floor but not much in terms of ceiling both for him and the weapons. 

The young Aidan O’Connell is the wildcard. The floor on unknown commodities is always low, but the ceiling is also higher given the room he has to develop.

Pittsburgh Steelers - Russell Wilson vs. Justin Fields

It’s easy to forget that this Steelers team was a playoff team last year. In fact, Mike Tomlin has never had a losing season as head coach. So, the leash will be short when it comes to losing games because Tomlin isn’t about to start losing now.

From the very start, Mike Tomlin has said that Russell Wilson is in the “pole position” and that the plan is for him to be the starter. And there have been no reports to indicate otherwise. In fact, we even heard that Justin Fields has struggled in early offseason workouts. So, we expect Wilson to be the starter. It’s yet to be seen if Justin Fields will contribute some wildcat plays, but Tomlin doesn’t feel like much of a gimmick coach. There’s even been talk of Fields playing some special teams, though Fields dismissed those ideas.

For fantasy, Russell Wilson is clearly the better passer and would almost certainly be better for the weapons around him. He distributes the ball better and doesn’t vulture rushing touchdowns the way a mobile QB does. However, the ceiling for the QB themselves in fantasy football is obviously higher for a guy like Fields, who is capable of running for 100+ yards in any given game. 

 

 

 

Denver Broncos - Bo Nix vs. Zach Wilson vs. Jarrett Stidham

The Broncos plan to split reps in training camp between all three quarterbacks to start. But head coach Sean Payton has said that that won’t be the plan long term. Unless someone is clearly above the rest, it will probably develop into a two-way battle before the final decision is made.

The Broncos with Sean Payton and Joe Lombardi like a “death by a thousand cuts” approach with short, decisive passes. That takes a lot of the thinking out of the quarterback’s hands and puts an emphasis on quickness and accuracy. In fact, going all the way back to 2014, Joe Lombardi’s offenses have ALWAYS been top five in passes to the RB.

Jarrett Stidham has been touted as a smart player, but this style of play leans more into the games of Zach Wilson and Bo Nix. Wilson is still a young enough prospect that he could potentially have a Geno Smith or Baker Mayfield type resurgence, but those are the exceptions to what we typically see. 

For fantasy football and NFL fans in general, I think the consensus is that folks want to see what the young first round pick can do. But that’s not always what is best for the team or the player. None of them are particularly mobile, so there’s not a huge advantage in fantasy football with any one vs. the others.

  • Fantasy Football Draft Pick: Bo Nix

Washington Commanders - Marcus Mariota vs. Jayden Daniels

The Washington Commanders have a rare fresh start this year that goes all the way up to ownership. Yes, the Dan Snyder nightmare is over, and they’ll start with a clean slate. And what better way to do that than with the top signal caller?

The Commanders traded Sam Howell to the Seattle Seahawks so there would be no incumbent and there would be no mistake – a new QB will be taking over. The presumption is that it will be the No. 2 overall pick in the NFL Draft in Jayden Daniels, but it has yet to be announced. Marcus Mariota has told us that he “checked his ego a long time ago” and is ready to either start or mentor a young player, but our guess is that Daniels will take over somewhere along the way.

For fantasy football, this one carries big implications given the mobile nature of Jayden Daniels. He had a college season where he ran 186 times and, as we pointed out in a recent article on Kyler Murray, quarterbacks that play the whole season and run at least 90 times are virtually locked in as QB1s in fantasy. Assuming Jayden Daniels is willing to run in Kliff Kingsbury’s offense the way Kyler Murray did, he could be startable in fantasy leagues right from the jump.

 

 

 

New England Patriots - Jacoby Brissett vs. Drake Maye

This one might not be as clear cut as the Jayden Daniels discussion. Because Jacoby Brissett isn’t quite an “outsider” that is just showing up out of the blue. He’s played for offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt before with the Cleveland Browns. So, he knows the scheme, which not only makes him a good mentor, but it could mean they want him to get the season started and show everyone how the operation works. 

If that is the case, we could see upwards of five games out of Brissett. They’ll likely want Brissett to show the young rookie what gameday preparation looks like for the away game against the Bengals and the home game against the Seahawks. And then, the schedule does not make it particularly easy to throw in a rookie QB. 

Are you going to make his first start against Aaron Rodgers and the division rival Jets on the road on Thursday night? The next two games are against Miami and Houston. Then the following game is in London against the Jaguars. If Maye doesn’t start right from the rip, it might take a while to see the young rookie. If he does start right from the jump, however, he actually could have intriguing fantasy upside.

We just talked about Jayden Daniels having a college season with 186 rush attempts – Maye has his own with 184. He’s more of a Josh Allen or Sam Howell style bruiser than he is a finesse runner like Daniels, but that’s more than enough to put up fantasy points, especially if he’s punching in touchdowns. Unfortunately, this offense might not be in many of those goal line situations unless it turns out they hit big on some of these young pass catchers. 

New York Giants - Daniel Jones vs. Drew Lock

Daniel Jones suffered a serious injury last year but, before that, he did play in six games. In five of those games, he failed to throw a touchdown pass. That’s following three straight years where he’s failed to throw more than 15. His play, along with the injury, has opened up the door for competition. And the Giants brought in Drew Lock, which was a smart move in my opinion because, if one of them is clearly better, you might have your guy, but if Jones can’t beat out a journeyman like Lock, maybe you learn that NEITHER is the future. 

And that’s valuable information. There are some mixed signals here, as reported by CBS’ Shanna McCarriston, because the Giants suggest that Daniel Jones is the starter, but Drew Lock seems to think otherwise. He reportedly told the Seahawks he was leaving because the Giants sold him on a chance to compete for the starting job. And, after the way he performed in spot starts last year against the 49ers and Eagles, I think he deserves it.

For fantasy football, it’s a little complicated. A healthy Daniel Jones would have higher upside due to his rushing ability. But Jones will be coming off a torn ACL which at the very least, often limits lateral movement in the year following the injury. Given the lack of weapons in general for this team, Drew Lock probably wouldn’t have much upside in general, so I think you’re better off avoiding either. But Jones is probably still the pick.

 

Edit: as camp rolls on we'll do our best to update these. So far through camp Daniel Jones has apparently struggled big time. There have already been calls for Drew Lock to get a legitimate shot. Considering the only upside for Jones is his rushing upside and he's coming off a torn ACL, we're probably not drafting either. But Drew Lock might be the better option for those weapons. We are pivotting to Lock.

https://x.com/MatthewBerryTMR/status/1818363451783406010

 

 

 

Minnesota Vikings - Sam Darnold vs. J.J. McCarthy

The Vikings will reportedly take an old-school approach on this one with the veteran Sam Darnold getting the first team reps in camp. Coach Kevin O’Connell has already said that Sam Darnold was the number one quarterback. So, that’s likely how we proceed here unless J.J. McCarthy wows players in camp. 

For fantasy football, neither is a big runner but they do inherit incredible weapons. That is, assuming T.J. Hockenson comes back healthy, and Jordan Addison isn’t suspended following his recent DUI. But Justin Jefferson is one of, if not the, best wide receiver in the league, so him alone is a reason to buy admission. Whoever is throwing the ball in this offense could certainly have some spike weeks. 

2024 NFL Training Camp Battles: Fantasy Football