Fantasy Football NFL Preseason Takeaways: D’Andre Swift, Dameon Pierce, De’Von Achane

We’re two-thirds of the way through the 2023 NFL Preseason. Well, almost. The Ravens and Commanders hadn’t taken the field on Monday night before the publication of this article, so thoughts on that game will not be included here.

But there are some noteworthy takeaways from the other 15 preseason games that took place over the last few days. Let’s take a position-by-position look at some of the more interesting ones for fantasy purposes. And here’s a deeper look at running backs.

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Preseason Week 2 Takeaways

Here are a few fantasy takeaways from the second week of exhibition games:

Running Backs

An Eagles RB update. D’Andre Swift didn’t play — a good sign for his current and future investors. Kenneth Gainwell started, then Boston Scott came in, and then we saw Rashaad Penny, who played only two drives but had a nice 16-yard run. There’s been some speculation that Trey Sermon could conceivably beat out Penny for a roster spot, but that seems unlikely. Sermon had a 33-yard TD run, but any goodwill generated by that play may have been negated by the fumble he coughed up.

Bijan Robinson looked good. Well, duh. I suppose it’s somewhat noteworthy that he came in off the bench while Tyler Allgeier got the start, but that was probably just a case of veteran deference in the preseason. The smart money has Bijan starting over Allgeier in Week 1.

Dameon Pierce took every snap with the Texans’ starters on the first two drives and either had a carry or ran a route on all 14 of his snaps. Don’t worry about Devin Singletary cutting into his work.

Dolphins rookie De’Von Achane sustained a shoulder injury, but there’s optimism that it’s not severe. More concerning is Achane’s place on the Miami depth chart, where he appears to be the RB5 at the moment. There’s no question he’ll make the team, but it might be a while before he earns enough playing time to be fantasy-relevant. Achane did, however, show off his burst and agility on a nice 20-yard run in the Dolphins’ 28-3 win over the Texans.