Rookie Standouts
Cam Skattebo
After a record-setting 2024 season at Arizona State, Skattebo is making waves at Giants camp. He’s breaking off chunk plays and, according to beat writers, earning more reps:
Giants Training Camp Day 5 thoughts
•Cam Skattebo starting to emerge & get more opportunities
•Evan Neal looked solid overall but pretty hard to judge against Giants lackluster DT room. At least has cleared that bar. He gets good push on double teams
•Mostly run plays so not…— Bobby Skinner (@BobbySkinner_) July 28, 2025
Skattebo’s production profile rivaled 6th overall pick Ashton Jeanty, and Mike Braude has already discussed why he needs to be taken very seriously as a rookie. A few highlights:
- One of two FBS RBs to have 1,600+ rush yards and 600+ receiving yards in a season. The other? Christian McCaffrey
- 6th among all players regardless of position in receiving YAC
- 0.42 missed tackles forced per touch (97th percentile)
- Incumbent Tyrone Tracy: 38th/41 in attempts/broken tackle and yards after contact/attempt, below-average pass-block grade, and receiving yards over expectation
Throw in the fact that Russell Wilson had the 4th-highest checkdown rate in the NFL last year, and we could easily be looking at a weekly RB2 from the get-go. Besides running for chunk gains, he’s showing off his special receiving abilities as well:
Giants Cam Skattebo with TERRIBLE sideline awareness to drop the team’s 11o11 game winner 😳
Safe to say the Giants shouldn’t throw to him anymore 🙂↕️ pic.twitter.com/PjyuLFTaED
— j 🦈 (@JoelBleedsGreen) July 27, 2025
Unfortunately, Skattebo has been held out of recent practices due to a hamstring injury. However, the MRI showed “optimistic” results. He’ll still be sidelined for a little while, but it appears he’ll be back with more than enough time to get ready for Week 1.
Brashard Smith
The Chiefs may have found their new Jerick McKinnon in Brashard Smith.
Brashard Smith is out wide with the first-team offense in the redzone. That seems to be how he’ll be utilized early on as a rookie.
— Nick Roesch (@Nicolas_Roesch) July 27, 2025
This is significant. In 2022, Jerick McKinnon scored 9 touchdowns on 71 targets on his way to an RB20 finish despite only carrying the ball 72 times. Even more notably, all but one of those touchdowns were in the red-zone, and all but two from inside the 10-yard line.
Brashard Smith already looks like the best receiving option out of their backfield. A converted wide receiver, he exploded for 1,657 yards from scrimmage and 18 scores last year at SMU, including 39 receptions.
Despite being converted from wide receiver only a season ago, he showed bell-cow ability with 235 carries as well. If he locks down that McKinnon role, he has legitimate RB2 upside—making him a must-draft late-round flier.
Elijah Arroyo
Despite having almost no receiving options behind Jaxon Smith-Njigba and the declining 32-year-old Cooper Kupp, the Seahawks released Noah Fant. That’s a big vote of confidence in second-rounder Elijah Arroyo—another athletic (87th percentile speed score) and catch-first tight end:
“Arroyo was in the slot, outside and inline as a tight end all over formations in the first practice of training camp.”
Find out more on Arroyo: https://t.co/2OmGTdVLoe https://t.co/y7EgR1WkdH
— 32BeatWriters (@32BeatWriters) July 24, 2025
With rookie tight ends performing better than ever, Arroyo is someone to keep an eye on in an ambiguous target distribution. Seattle’s defense is unlikely to be better than league-average, and Arroyo posted an insane 20% touchdown rate as a junior at Miami.
Harold Fannin
Similar to Seattle and Arroyo, the Browns desperately need another receiving option behind Jerry Jeudy and David Njoku:
Typically, rookie tight ends don’t make much of an impact in their first season due to the learning curve of the position from college to the NFL.
Harold Fannin Jr. doesn’t seem like a typical rookie tight end. pic.twitter.com/g0aZ2q2ao2
— The Dawgs – A Cleveland Browns Podcast (@thedawgspodcast) July 28, 2025
An early 3rd-round pick, Fannin’s collegiate production was off the charts. As a tight end, he led all of college football in both receptions (117) and receiving yards (1,555).
Worried about him posting these numbers against inferior competition playing for Bowling Green? Don’t be: he actually performed better against Power 5 schools.
| Opponent | Rec (Per Game) | Yds (Per Game) | Y/R (Per Game) | TDs (Per Game |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Penn St. & Texas A&M | 9.5 | 141 | 14.8 | 1 |
| Non-Power 5 Schools | 8.9 | 128.5 | 14.4 | 0.7 |
Superstars Gonna Superstar
Malik Nabers
Despite playing with QBs who ranked 27th (Daniel Jones), 48th (Tommy DeVito), and 50th (Drew Lock) in PFF passing grades, Nabers finished as the overall WR6. The volume is not in question: he led the NFL with 11.3 targets per game, a full target ahead of 2nd place (Ja’Marr Chase). That looks like it will continue this year:
Malik Nabers was targeted on seven on Russell Wilson’s 15 passes in team periods. Marvin Harrison’s record of 205 targets in the 2002 season is going to be in jeopardy.
— Dan Duggan (@DDuggan21) July 23, 2025
Nabers being the extreme focal point on offense is also evidenced by his having a say in offseason personnel decisions. The only thing holding him back from an overall WR1 season is his chronic toe injury, which did not limit him at all last year.
Brock Bowers
You probably don’t need convincing, but Bowers looks set for back-to-back TE1 seasons:
Geno Smith on Brock Bowers:
“I can’t give him the ball enough. I feel bad every time I don’t throw him the ball. So I’m just trying to make sure that I’m maximizing his ability, his talent, because that’s going to help our team.”
Fantasy owners take note 📝 https://t.co/q6D3Jlo2wK
— Jesse Merrick – Silver & Black Sports Network (@JesseSBSN) July 26, 2025
The only meaningful target competition added was RB Ashton Jeanty, and the much-improved QB play (Geno Smith) is going to make this offense light-years more effective than the recent ineptitude of Aidan O’Connell/Gardner Minshew/Desmond Ridder.
In addition to being more efficient, there are likely to run more plays under new OC Chip Kelly:
Here’s where Chip Kelly’s 4 NFL offenses ranked in pace (seconds per play):
1st
1st
1st
1st— Jared Smola (@SmolaDS) June 4, 2025
Somehow currently going in the late-2nd round of early Apex drafts, he’s an absolute steal anytime in the 2nd. No one would argue spending a mid-1st on him either.
Post-Hype Players To Watch
Kyle Pitts
Trust me, we’re also sick of trying to hype up Kyle Pitts. The annual “Lucy pulling the football away from Charlie Brown“, drafters have finally gotten sick of spending a premium pick on him. That’s a good thing: you can still take a shot on the small chance he lives up to the hype with almost no cost for the first time in his career.
| Year | ADP |
|---|---|
| 2021 | 47 (TE4) |
| 2022 | 32.8 (TE3) |
| 2023 | 62.3 (TE6) |
| 2024 | 64.2 (TE7) |
| 2025 | 148 (TE16) |
This is an ascending offense that will be operating at one of the fastest paces in the league. Even with Kirk Cousins slowing down, the Falcons finished 4th in neutral pace. They also showed a hint of elite scoring ability, finishing 6th in points per game (32.0) in Penix’s starts despite going run-heavy.
Penix, completely unprompted, hinted that Pitts’ already notable involvement so far in training camp may extend into the regular season:
“See we got KP the ball? Gonna be a lot of that.”
👀👀
Falcons QB Michael Penix Jr, unprompted, started his training camp press conference making sure everyone noticed how they got Kyle Pitts involved at practice. pic.twitter.com/EmSpadl8oQ— Justin Felder (@Justin_FOX5) July 24, 2025
He’s also been working with the wide receivers instead of the tight ends. With no WR3 to speak of and Darnell Mooney questionable for Week 1, the door is open for Pitts to have a meaningful role on what is probably the best offense he’s ever been on.
He wouldn’t be the first tight-end drafted in the top-10 who was a late bloomer in the NFL. Eric Ebron broke out in his 5th season to the tune of 66/750/13 line en route to a TE4 finish. Pitts also favorably compares to another delayed breakout:
Kyle Pitts and Vernon Davis through the first four years of their career
Target Share:
Pitts > DavisYards per Team Pass Attempt:
Pitts > DavisTarget Rate:
Pitts > DavisYards per Route Run:
Pitts > Davis pic.twitter.com/F3PS6H9Sq2— DynastyIM (@dynasty_im) June 29, 2025
Keon Coleman
There’s no doubt that the 33rd overall pick in the 2024 NFL draft had a rough rookie year. But after de facto WR1 Khalil Shakir (who is now week-to-week with a high ankle sprain), his competition is average journeymen Elijah Moore and Josh Palmer as well as 2nd-year disappointment Dalton Kincaid. He looks to have taken a leap as a sophomore in the eyes of their OC:
Joe Brady on Keon Coleman’s training camp performance: “I love what I’ve seen.” #Bills #BillsMafia pic.twitter.com/RFkv05mLNd
— alex brasky (@alexbrasky) July 29, 2025
He’s been creating separation and catching deep balls, earning praise from Josh Allen among others.
On a team that is projected to score the most points this season, taking the “mystery box” in Coleman is enticing to those not afraid of taking a risk.
