Throughout the preseason, we heavily emphasize identifying potential impact players throughout the season that others may not recognize as they aren't necessarily "stars". In our 'Preseason Players to Watch' series, we highlight potentially noteworthy players in each night's game(s) that may be impactful for fantasy football, both in the 2024 season and beyond.
Here are our top players to watch for in tonight's preseason action:
Michael Penix Jr. (QB - Atlanta Falcons) - at MIA, 7:00 PM
It came as a massive surprise to everyone that the Falcons drafted a then-23-now-24-year-old QB with the 8th overall pick just a month after signing free agent Kirk Cousins to a 4-year, $180M contract, but that's the reality we live in.
Kirk Cousins may be the Falcons' QB of the present, but Michael Penix is their QB of the future and we will reportedly "get a good look" at Penix as he's expected to get a bulk of the snaps tonight in his preseason debut.
It'll be worth a watch to see how he fits into the offense in the emergency scenario of a Cousins injury in 2024 (as it's unlikely Penix will see action otherwise) but more importantly for his dynasty outlook.
Justin Fields (QB - Pittsburgh Steelers) - vs HOU, 7:00 PM on NFL Network
While Russell Wilson has been sidelined for most of the start of training camp, Fields has taken full advantage and with such a strong camp, has turned the Steelers' QB situation into "very much a competition" according to HC Mike Tomlin.
Wilson won't get action in the preseason opener, but Fields is expected to start and get a 'couple of series' of work against a Texans defense that has already gotten some preseason action last week.
It's yet to be seen if the QB 'competition' between Fields and Wilson is truly a competition or rather coachspeak, but regardless we should get a better idea based on Fields' play (and how much he plays). I personally am stashing Fields with the final pick of most of my drafts as he still has the potential to be the Week 1 starter (or at the very least, potentially take over as the starter midseason) and with that, bring tremendous fantasy upside due to his rushing abilities.
Justice Hill (RB - Baltimore Ravens) - vs PHI, 7:00 PM
We won't be seeing the big guns for Baltimore (Jackson, Henry, Andrews) this week, or potentially at all this preseason, but we likely will see a bit of action for Hill and the backups.
Earlier this week reports surfaced that Hill would reportedly see an expanded role and potentially eat into Derrick Henry's workload, and that narrative aligns with HC John Harbaugh's comments on Hill being anticipated to "play a lot" and that he has "become a starting running back in the National Football League" last week.
It's yet to be seen if Hill will truly see an expanded role to the point that it will impact Derrick Henry or if this is just preseason hype, but we could get a hint about it based on how much (if at all) Hill plays throughout the preseason.
I'm keeping an eye out for him and how he performs to see how involved he is, especially in the receiving game, to make note if he's worth a late-round flier or if he's purely a stash for injury insurance on Derrick Henry.