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USA Today Sports Media Group

Sport

Doug Farrar

The most compelling training camp battles of 2019

One of the most interesting dramas in any NFL season is the training camp battle between two players for the same roster spot, or overall position of importance. You’re trying to fill a team need, and you’ve got a teammate with similar skills breathing down your neck, wanting the same thing. It makes for dynamic competition, and here are the most compelling training camp battles of the 2019 season.

Buffalo Bills: Cody Ford vs. Ty Nsekhe

The Bills did a ton in free agency and the draft to try and ascend in the AFC East and make their second playoff game in the new millennium. Chief among those moves were the acquisition of ex-Redskins swing tackle Ty Nsekhe, and the second-round selection of Oklahoma lineman Cody Ford. Nsekhe has the edge as far as experience is concerned, but anyone who’s seen Ford’s strength and amazing athleticism understands that it’s only a matter of time before he takes that spot for a good long time.

Green Bay Packers: Marquez Valdes-Scantling vs. Equanimeous St. Brown

This battle for Green Bay’s receiver spots behind Davante Adams and perhaps Geronimo Allison might not be the NFL’s most compelling, but it’s certainly the best-named. And if Aaron Rodgers is to thrive in Matt LaFleur’s offense, at least one of these guys is going to have to step up to a next level. Back-to-back late-round picks in the 2018 draft, both Valdes-Scantling and St. Brown showed flashes of potential in their rookie campaigns. “MVS” was a regular deep target and saw more opportunities in the slot, while “ESB” (we gotta get these guys some nicknames) started to ramp things up late in the season.

Houston Texans: Julie’n Davenport vs. Matt Kalil

If you’re an offensive line aficionado, this is less a training camp battle and more a demolition derby between two battered Yugos. Kalil has been trying to find his game for years as injuries diminish his effectiveness, and Davenport may have been the NFL’s least effective left tackle in 2018, with 12 sacks and a league-leading 67 total pressures allowed, as well as a league-leading 16 penalties, per Pro Football Focus. Kalil missed the 2018 season for the Panthers with knee issues, but he allowed 46 pressures and had 10 penalties in 2017. The only thing keeping first-round pick Tytus Howard from taking this job as soon as possible is a lack of experience at the NFL level, and Deshaun Watson had better get used to running for his life again.

Indianapolis Colts: Chester Rogers vs. Parris Campbell

The position of secondary receiver in the Colts’ offense is semi-prime real estate, even with Frank Reich’s preferred two-tight end concepts. T.Y. Hilton is the obvious alpha, but there’s room to move up behind him. The Colts signed Devin Funchess in March as an ostensible second guy who can at least move the chains, and last season, Rogers was the main slot guy who caught a ton of screens and returned punts to decent effect. But when the Colts took Campbell out of Ohio State with the last of their three second-round picks, that may have had Rogers’ ears burning. Campbell thrived despite a limited route role with the Buckeyes, and if he can expand his route palette to match his athleticism, he could add an electric aspect to this offense Rogers would find tough to match.

Reich has said nice things about Rogers at times through the 2019 preseason, but there’s this…

Frank Reich on Parris Campbell’s best practice so far: “You see those? The two plays he made in the end zone today weren’t gadget, hybrid, slot-receiver type plays, they were legit, NFL, I’m gonna be a stud receiver plays.”

— Zak Keefer (@zkeefer) July 28, 2019

Miami Dolphins: Ryan Fitzpatrick vs. Josh Rosen

After years of trying to make Ryan Tannehill happen, the Dolphins are now betwixt and between at the position. Fitzpatrick is the wily veteran who will undoubtedly look better in the short term as the team adjusts to Chad O’Shea’s offense, while 2018 Cardinals first-round pick Rosen—cast aside by Arizona after one disastrous season brought about mostly by horrible coaching—has the raw and definable talent to become what Tannehill never was over time. Look for Fitzpatrick to get the early reps, with Rosen’s skill set defining his ascent as time goes on.

New Orleans Saints: Nick Easton vs. Erik McCoy

Last season, including the playoffs, Max Unger played all 1,152 snaps for the Saints, allowing four sacks, three quarterback hits, and 11 quarterback hurries, and adding his typically strong run-blocking. Unger’s surprise retirement in March put the Saints in the lurch regarding what has been one of the league’s best-developed offensive lines. Now, it’s up to former Vikings interior lineman Nick Easton, who hasn’t allowed a sack in 1,159 career snaps, but missed the 2018 season while recovering from a neck procedure, to beat out 2019 second-round pick Erik McCoy out of Texas A&M. McCoy probably has the edge here when it comes to pure talent, and his college tape shows a power-based blocker who needs work in pass protection, but is also a highly experienced run blocker in space, and can run a quick passing game.

Pittsburgh Steelers: James Washington vs. Diontae Johnson

While JuJu Smith-Schuster has the talent to replace Antonio Brown in a lot of ways in Pittsburgh’s multi-faceted passing game, it’s hard to imagine offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner erasing his new No. 1 guy as one of the league’s best slot receivers. This, of course, magnifies the situational need for the kind of outside receiver who can match up against top cornerbacks as Brown did so well. Johnson, the Steelers’ third-round pick, certainly fits the profile as an undersized speed guy out of the MAC who can make big plays happen all over the field. Washington has the speed for big plays, but in Pittsburgh’s offense last season, he did more on short and intermediate stuff, both outside and from the slot.

Seattle Seahawks: David Moore vs. Jaron Brown

Doug Baldwin’s retirement robbed the Seahawks of their best receiver just as Russell Wilson became the NFL’s richest quarterback. Now, with near-perfect target Tyler Lockett moving up a notch and second-round rookie D.K. Metcalf lighting things up in practice with his athleticism, there’s still a need for a receiver who can at least approximate Baldwin’s otherworldly route-running and field awareness. Moore did a bit of that for the Seahawks, primarily as an outside guy with some speed, and he’s challenged by Jaron Brown, the veteran who caught a career-high 31 passes for 477 yards and four touchdowns for the Cardinals in 2017. Brown caught just 14 passes for 166 yards for Seattle in 2018, but five of those receptions were touchdowns.

Tennessee Titans: A.J. Brown vs. Taywan Taylor

Corey Davis had a bit of a breakout year in his second season with the Titans, but Mike Vrabel’s team needs more receiver depth like few others in the league. 2017 third-round pick Taywan Taylor had a bump in production last year as well, catching 37 passes for 466 yards and a touchdown. But when a running back (Dion Lewis) is your second-leading receiver, the need is obvious. Signing former Bucs slot guy Adam Humphries helps a bit, but Humphries isn’t going to create explosive plays. The sleeper in this group, as he was at Ole Miss behind D.K. Metcalf, is second-round pick A.J. Brown, who actually outperformed Metcalf statistically, and had an 85-catch season for the Rebels in 2018. It’s Brown who may have the well-rounded skill set to get this receiver group over the top.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Vernon Hargreaves III vs. Sean Murphy-Bunting

To call Tampa Bay’s 2018 secondary a disaster is to insult disasters. The Bucs’ defense allowed a 72.5% opponent completion rate, and a 110.9 opponent passer rating last season. Only the 2015 Saints were historically worse. Cornerback Vernon Hargreaves III was a part of the problem in his absence, as he was able to play in just one game last season due to a shoulder injury. The 2016 first-round pick has played just 1,593 snaps in his three-year career, and he hasn’t been overwhelmingly great when on the field. The Bucs selected three cornerbacks in the 2019 draft, and Central Michigan’s Sean Murphy-Bunting is the most interesting of that group. He fits the physical profile of a big press cornerback, and he allowed just 17 completions on 37 targets for 210 yards, no touchdowns, two interceptions, and an opponent passer rating of 41.5. If Hargreaves is going to turn his career around, now would be the time to do it.

Washington Redskins: Case Keenum vs. Dwayne Haskins

The Redskins may not have expected Dwayne Haskins to fall to them with the 15^th overall pick—after all, you’d think a guy who threw 50 touchdown passes in a season for Ohio State would get top 10 consideration. But with Alex Smith’s football future very much in doubt, and a quarterback room filled with the likes of Case Keenum, Colt McCoy, and Josh Woodrum, something had to be done. Head coach Jay Gruden has a long history of preferring quarterbacks with low ceilings who will follow his program to the letter, which gives Keenum the edge, as he has the highest of the low ceilings. Haskins is the quarterback of the future, to be sure, but he’ll have to work out his issues when throwing on the run and under pressure before he’ll make presentable starts at the NFL level.

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