CeeDee Lamb's triumph and notable cutdown day moves

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For those who don’t know, every Tuesday newsletter is all about fantasy football, the glue that holds my circle of friends together.

Notes on cutdown day
CeeDee Lamb’s Payday
Detailed insight into the 2024 draft kit
Stories from rookie receivers

Reduction date: Important names on the rise

Under current NFL rules, teams can keep 90 players on their roster until 4 p.m. ET today; after that, they must reduce the number to 53 players.

That means about 1,200 players will be released, and many of them will never get another NFL contract. As Dan Duggan pointed out, only 24 of those 1,200 players were signed by another team last year.

Notable developments so far this week:

Invoices RB Frank Gore Jr. was PFF’s highest-graded rookie RB this preseason, but he is expected to be released and placed on the practice squad.
The Broncos plan to part ways with WR Tim Patrick and RB Samaje Perine. For Perine, a return to Cincinnati is a possibility.
The Chiefs reunited with WR JuJu Smith-Schuster after he was released from New England. Kansas City also acquired LB Cam Thomas from the Cardinals for a seventh-round pick.
The Dolphins released QB Mike White, the Jets’ former star, saving $3.5 million in salary cap space. Skylar Thompson, a seventh-round pick from Kansas State in 2022, will back up Tua Tagovailoa.
The Lions released WR Donovan Peoples-Jones, who they acquired from Cleveland last season. He will likely end up on a team in need of a WR.
The packer traded their 2025 seventh-round pick to the Titans for third-year QB Malik Willis. Jordan Love gets a new replacement.

To stay up to date today, follow The athlete‘s live feed.

What Dianna hears: Lamar and Rodgers fail, Lamb gets paid

Guest appearances in the new episode of the “Scoop City” podcast The athleteMike Sando, who unveiled his annual QB Tiers exercise on Monday, a ranking of NFL quarterbacks based on the votes of 50 coaches and executives. Chase Daniel and I immediately jumped on Aaron Rodgers and Lamar Jackson, who both landed in Tier 2. Why not Tier 1?

Sando: The first month, I cast maybe 30 (ballots). Lamar was pretty solid in Tier 1 at that point. I thought he was going to make it because the only thing holding him back before was that people felt he hadn’t shown the consistency as a passer that he did last year. But as I talked to everybody, it kind of evened out. He missed it by three or four votes.

Daniel: If they had beaten Patrick Mahomes in the AFC Championship game last year, it sounds to me like he would have been in Tier 1.

Sandy: Oh, I think he would have sailed. I think if he had even had a shootout game, you know, it was just like that, Lamar was 37 of 54 for 387 and three touchdowns. But you know what? Mahomes caught him at the end…

While Jackson cannot break into the top tier, Rodgers has fallen out of that league for the first time in the QB tier’s 11-year history.

Sandy: I find it hard to believe there isn’t a certain general Rodgers fatigue out there. I felt like that was a little low on respect for him, given how long he’s been doing this at an elite level.

Another note: The wide receiver contract situation has cleared up with the CeeDee Lamb deal in Dallas. Lamb is now the second-highest paid receiver in the league after signing a four-year, $136 million contract extension with $100 million guaranteed. I expect Cincinnati’s Ja’Marr Chase to demand more money than Lamb — and more than Minnesota’s Justin Jefferson, too.

Back to you, Jacob.

Design Kit Dive: Four players in sight

The athleteThe team at has been working tirelessly to prepare their 2024 fantasy football draft kit, which now includes at least 88 items (yes, I counted them). Here are four recent ones that changed my mind about a player:

Bigger names:

There is a reason why the 49ers wanted WR Amari Cooper in any Brandon Aiyuk trade, as Cooper is one of the NFL’s best route runners and has a career-high 1,250 receiving yards. He has been a top-20 receiver the past two years, but is typically drafted after 30 others this year. (Gary Davenport’s “My Guys” list)

RB Zamir White started the Raiders’ final four games of last season, amassing the NFL’s third-most rushing yards, 99.3 per game. Vegas went 3-1 and scored more points than it had in the previous seven weeks combined, which should convince head coach Antonio Pierce to trust White, who spent the summer riding horses. Expect about 250 runs. (Jake Ciely’s breakthrough fantasy football running back.)

Tips for later rounds:

“If I had to choose between JK Dobbins and Gus Edwards “In a draft scenario, I’d pick Dobbins. He’s been explosive in camp (and) could be the kind of late-round pick or waiver-wire add that wins a division,” wrote Chargers reporter Daniel Popper. Dobbins is currently drafted a few rounds after Edwards. (A burning fantasy question for every NFL team.)

Invoices RB Ray Davis “would seamlessly step in as an equal replacement if (starter) James Cook were to be out, and he has the talent to disrupt Cook’s weekly touches regardless of injury,” wrote Theo Gremminger, adding that Davis fits perfectly into Joe Brady’s RB-friendly offense and is already in first-team action. (Fantasy football team insider tips.)

When do rookie receivers reach their peak?

Michael Salfino answered an important question in his recent article: “Do rookie receivers peak during the fantasy football playoffs?”

When he looked at the game statistics of the 41 receivers drafted in the first two rounds since 2020, he came across a surprising result: The rookies studied averaged “9.86 points per game in the 10 games and 9.52 points per game in games 11-17.”

Yes, there are exceptions – like Rashee Rice last season – but rookie receivers were fewer productive later in the season. Surprising. The full article has more.

All about the NFL

The Cowboys will host free agent RB Dalvin Cook. According to this video, Cook seems ready for a comeback season.

The NFLPA has rejected the revised emergency third quarterback rule and will return to the three-start limit to select a “bona fide quarterback” from the practice squad.

Most clicked yesterday: Sandos Tiers, of course.

The bounce 🏀 | The winding ⚾ | Full time ⚽ | Prime tires 🏁 | Until Saturday 🏈

(Photo: Alex Grimm / Getty Images)