Following a full slate of preseason games over the past few days, NFL teams began to get back on the practice field to put in the work.
Here’s what you need to know from camps across the league:
What our NFL Nation reporters saw today
New York Jets: With Zach Wilson heading to arthroscopic knee surgery Tuesday in Los Angeles, Joe Flacco took the reins on offense and delivered a strong practice. Unofficially, he completed 16 of 20 passes in 11-on-11 periods, including a perfect third-down period. That is exactly what you want out of your QB2 — a savvy vet who doesn’t disrupt the flow on offense. There’s a chance Flacco will have to start the season opener against his former team, the Ravens. Wilson is expected to miss 2-4 weeks, pending his scope. The players feel comfortable with Flacco, center Connor McGovern said. “He’s a Super Bowl MVP. You can’t not have confidence in a guy like that.” — Rich Cimini
Baltimore Ravens: Lamar Jackson had a solid day throwing the ball Sunday, but he misconnected on a couple of deep throws to his wide receivers. Rashod Bateman had Jackson’s 40-yard pass bounce off his extended hands after getting behind the defense, and Devin Duvernay couldn’t get to an overthrown Jackson pass. Throwing the ball deep has been a point of emphasis in this camp for Jackson, who ranked 25th with a 32.1% completion rate (17-of-53) on passes that traveled at least 20 yards in the air last season. Jackson’s favorite deep-ball target was Marquise “Hollywood” Brown, who was traded to Arizona this offseason. Bateman and Duvernay have to step up in this area. — Jamison Hensley
Green Bay Packers: Christian Watson initially thought that even though he started training camp on the physically unable to perform list following summer knee surgery, he could still work on his hands by catching balls off the JUGS machine. He found out on the first day of training camp that he was wrong.
“I got yelled at from across the entire field, telling me to get off the JUGS,” Watson recalled on Sunday. So Watson then asked if he could resume the activity if he put on a helmet. “And they were like, ‘Yeah.’ But then my helmet was gone,” he said.
PUP rules prevent players from doing any football activity (including wearing a helmet), and the Packers prevent players from catching off the JUGS machine without a helmet. The rookie receiver got his helmet back on Sunday, when he was activated off PUP, and caught some passes from Aaron Rodgers during individual drills. He has not been cleared for 11-on-11 yet, but now he can finally work on getting his hands in catching shape. The second-round pick came in with a reputation for the occasional dropped pass.
“I mean, it’s really just catching as many balls as I can,” Watson said. “To get back on the JUGS is really big for me.” — Rob Demovsky
Cleveland Browns: Jacoby Brissett, for the first time, got the bulk of the reps with the first team in practice, as Deshaun Watson is facing a suspension of at least the first six games. Brissett was sharp in his first foray with the starters. During a 7-on-7 red zone session from the 12-yard line, he connected on TD passes to a diving Anthony Schwartz, Daylen Baldwin and tight end David Njoku, who turned around and tossed the football to the fans. Watson still got a few reps with the starters, and tossed a laser to Njoku for a touchdown. Coach Kevin Stefanski said Brissett would get the most of the work with the first team moving forward, including in the joint practices with the Philadelphia Eagles later this week. — Jake Trotter
San Francisco 49ers: The Niners had their shortest and lightest practice of camp less than 48 hours removed from the preseason opener. After playing just 11 snaps Friday, QB Trey Lance took every rep during team drills Sunday. The results were again a mixed bag but with no pads on, it’s hard to take much from it. Lance had a couple of touchdown throws (one to George Kittle and another to Brandon Aiyuk) and…
Read More: NFL training camp updates 2022