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Who will emerge as Rams’ No. 3 receiver? Will Puka Nacua be extended anytime soon?

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LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Rams are through training camp and one preseason game. They are about three weeks from boarding a plane to Melbourne, Australia, to kick off a season with Super Bowl aspirations against the San Francisco 49ers.

Some parts of the roster are coming into clearer focus, while other questions are beginning to emerge. And readers came with plenty of questions on the No. 3 wide receiver role, the speed on offense, Puka Nacua’s contract situation and more.

Questions have been edited for length and clarity.

Who’s your guess for WR3 after training camp? Is it gonna be by committee or one of the tight ends? — Heartsynapse

Has Konata Mumpfield shown any improvement in the offseason? Between him, Jordan Whittington and CJ Daniels, is there a race for WR3? Or does someone clearly lead? — Jaime D.

I continue to believe the No. 3 receiver role will be a committee approach. That’s a reality of the players they have, but also of the situation they created. If the Rams wanted something more, I think they would have gone after a higher-octane receiver either in free agency, trades or the draft.

Last year’s experience with Tutu Atwell becoming a non-factor on a $10 million deal was a lesson in how quickly that role can disappear, especially with the shift to three-tight end sets, and they realize that many decorated receivers won’t gladly sign up for that kind of reduced role.

Matthew Stafford on how Sean McVay has helped him manipulate NFL defenses

Robert Mays

I see a couple of clear hierarchies along the way: Mumpfield is the backup on the perimeter if Davante Adams were to get injured, and Whittington is the backup in an inside-outside role if Nacua were to get hurt. When they’re both healthy, I think we’ll see specialized roles that play out as a committee. Whittington and Xavier Smith offer some yards-after-catch ability in different ways, and will be active on game days because of their special teams roles, provided Smith wins the punt return job.

The tight ends should be a committee in their own right, with increased use of three-tight end sets now that it’s a full-season approach rather than a midseason shift. But I believe Terrance Ferguson will emerge from that group as the player worthy of an every-week, game-planned role. The best version of this offense will have Ferguson leading the tight ends in catches and yards, and finishing third on the team in both categories behind Adams and Nacua.

Is the lack of a deep threat, field-stretching, speed-burner receiver a significant shortcoming? — Steve E.

In many offenses, I would say it is, as I’m a big believer that perimeter speed works to lighten boxes and provides the ultimate payoff in the best play-action moments. But last year’s Rams showed they can lead the league in scoring despite not having that true speed element in their pass-catching tree.

It’s a worthy conversation this year regarding potential regression, because that often comes for units that finish No. 1. It could become a bigger need if Adams, who turns 34 in December, were to miss more time or show any decline. The Rams are big on evolving to avoid complacency, and I’ve noticed such a focus on the pieces they have adding an extra speed element to their games: Nacua has slimmed down noticeably this offseason, Blake Corum and Kyren Williams have turned up the offseason workouts to build speed, and Ferguson also trimmed some body fat.

They know they can’t count on every play design and, in particular, the three-tight end approach to catch the league as off-guard as they did last year. And the playoffs reinforced the need for more explosive plays.

Without a prototypical outside burner, the hope is that the explosion comes more often in the middle of the field, with Ferguson stretching the seams against heavier personnel and Williams and Corum working the “stiff ankle” approaches they’ve spent the offseason building to break more chunk runs.

This offense probably doesn’t have a player who will take it 70 yards on a single play very often, but they want to own the 15-plus-yard plays while remaining an elite red zone team with the presence of play action out of three-tight end sets and with how unguardable Adams is in short areas as the single receiver on the field.

Were there any players or aspects of the team that concerned you during camp? — Chauncey Telese

The starting offense and defense continue to look stacked, and we’ll see on special teams, but I continue to have one concern with the roster that has only grown through camp: offensive line depth.

The Rams have lost arguably their two best backup linemen to injuries. Justin Dedich has yet to suit up after suffering a cut on his hand in early July, and he was the team’s top interior backup. Third-round rookie Keagen Trost suffered a hamstring injury in Saturday’s preseason opener that is expected to keep him out for a few weeks, potentially threatening the start of the season, and he was the team’s backup right tackle.

That leaves David Quessenberry as the remaining tackle depth option while Trost is out. Though he has 30 career starts, the most recent came in 2023, and he’ll turn 36 later this month. Beaux Limmer is the top interior backup option right now.

The Rams are waiting to hear whether left tackle Alaric Jackson will face a second suspension under the league’s personal conduct policy. He missed one game last season in Atlanta, and edge pressure wrecked that game and brought a rare three-interception performance for Matthew Stafford.

Offensive lines are important to every team, and few feel they have great depth. But it’s worth monitoring for the Rams, with a 38-year-old pocket quarterback with a degenerative back issue. The heavy play-action nature of the offense does help the line in pass protection, but it also asks Stafford to turn his back to the defense on a given snap, so the protection will need to hold up to protect what matters more than anything to this team: protecting No. 9.

Would you say it’s a matter of time before the Rams give Puka Nacua a contract extension? — Seth D.

I think it’s a matter of time until Nacua lands a monstrous extension. I’m not quite at the point of predicting that will come from the Rams, but I know that’s definitely everyone’s hope.

What’s important here is understanding that Nacua’s place on an extension will naturally go beyond just re-signing a great player at a random position. As a superstar wide receiver, he is trending to be the face of the team he signs with, and that would be especially true in Los Angeles, given that Stafford and Adams likely won’t be here for much, or potentially any, of that new extension.

When you add in the need for Nacua to be the go-to offensive force for a very inexperienced quarterback in Ty Simpson when that time comes, it becomes a conversation about more than just the otherworldly play he offers. Especially in a Sean McVay culture that believes the biggest contracts and investments create a message of what they want younger players to become in order to chase the same types of rewards.

The Rams believe in Nacua as a person, and they are encouraged by some of the steps he’s taken this offseason, including a stint at a holistic care facility, tough conversations with family members and sessions with the team therapist.

As of now, this is still all part of a progression rather than an end point. And until his civil situation is resolved surrounding his biting incident with a woman on New Year’s Eve and any potential discipline that could come from the NFL as a result of it, they just see more steps to unfold than what has transpired so far.

It’s an interesting situation because the cost on Nacua is likely to rise from here, given how the salary cap and superstar receiver market rises each year. The Rams know if they don’t pay Nacua, another team will, regardless of off-the-field concerns.

Each of the past two offseasons has featured a $40 million average annual deal at the position, first with Ja’Marr Chase at $40.3 million annually last year and then with Jaxon Smith-Njigba at $42.2 million annually this offseason. The Rams likely could have matched Smith-Njigba’s deal for Nacua this spring, given that the two had nearly identical seasons last year.

But for such a massive investment, it’s worth it to them to become that much more certain that it’s the right move for their future and their culture. That’s still the hope for everyone, but it’s going to take an ongoing pattern that includes handling the pressures of games in-season in such a pressure-packed year.

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Malik Willis, fantasy football ‘scam’ artist; plus Jeremiyah Love, Breece Hall injuries

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6 minutes ago

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August 18, 2026

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Malik Willis has a chance to be one of the greatest fantasy scams in recent memory — perhaps on the level of Blake Bortles in 2015, or Daunte Culpepper in 2002.

To be fair, Willis also has a chance to emerge as a legitimate breakout star and one of the season’s most compelling stories. But failing that, he can be an incredible grift.

Almost everything we know about the current version of Willis as a passer is drawn from 89 attempts over the past two seasons in Green Bay. It’s a very small yet very encouraging sample. Willis completed 70 of his 89 passes (78.7%) with the Packers, averaging an outrageous 10.9 yards per attempt with six scores and zero picks. He was nearly flawless on deep attempts, completing 13 of 15 for 556 yards and two touchdowns. As a starter under Matt LaFleur, he went 2-1.

Again: Fantastic sample, although it was basically only three games worth of throwing.

Willis handled one series in Miami’s preseason opener against Washington over the weekend, and it went as well as anyone could have possibly hoped. He directed a 93-yard touchdown drive, completing 4-of-5 attempts. Every pass was on time and on target. His only incompletion was a well-thrown sideline ball to rookie Caleb Douglas, who failed to keep his feet inbounds. Douglas made up for the mistake soon after:

We can’t get too carried away with a single productive drive against a second-string defense, of course, but it’s another data point in favor of Willis. He looks the part.

However, reviews of the Dolphins’ performance in last week’s joint practice with the Commanders were universally horrendous — particularly from reporters covering Washington. Good luck finding any league observer who believes Miami will be anything but bad this season. Willis, for all his promising traits, is still working with a receiver room full of castoffs and mid-draft rookies. It’s a challenging environment.

But as most of you already know, Willis offers more than one path to fantasy success. In six career NFL starts, he’s averaged 44.8 rushing yards per game and reached the end zone four times. He’s both an opportunistic runner and a vicious threat on designed rush attempts. It’s clear Miami intends to lean into his dual-threat talents.

And this, obviously, is where he has so much potential as a fantasy scam. Even if Miami’s passing offense never achieves consistency or competence, Willis has the rushing juice necessary to finish the season as a starting-quality fantasy option.

Let’s just consider a hypothetical season in which Willis maintains his per-game rushing average and remains healthy, but almost everything goes wrong for Miami’s passing attack. Here’s a dreadful set of potential stats, not far from a worst-case scenario: 3,150 pass yards, 19 touchdowns, 15 interceptions, 765 rushing yards, six rushing touchdowns, two lost fumbles.

A quarterback can definitely deliver such stats within the context of a three-win season. We’re talking about 185 passing yards and one passing score per game. Cam Ward finished with more passing yards last year. Fifteen interceptions might lead the league. Just a lousy individual season.

Those numbers above would also get Willis to 280.5 fantasy points, which would have made him the overall QB12 in 2025. Give him a couple hundred additional passing yards with just another touchdown or three, and suddenly we’re looking at a top-8 positional finish. If he protects the football reasonably well while rushing for 40+ yards per game, a top-five finish is in play.

So, yeah, an all-time scam season is a very real possibility. In fact, it might be the most realistic outcome for Willis. He’s absolutely buried in terms of ADP and consensus rank at the moment (QB21), making him a screaming draft value and an ideal Superflex option.

Breece Hall’s groin has seen better days

Just when Hall was beginning to look like one of the safer running back options in fantasy, he suffered a groin strain in camp. Head coach Aaron Glenn later downplayed the injury (in classic Jets fashion), but he added that he did not yet have the training staff’s evaluation. So we wait.

Braelon Allen appears to be the next man up in New York’s backfield, and he’s coming off an impressive performance in the preseason opener (4/44/1). Isaiah Davis has been sidelined by a knee issue, clearing a path for Allen. Neither backup can match Hall’s all-purpose ability, so let’s not make any silly drops just yet.

Jeremiyah Love’s ankle sprain has crept higher

Love enjoyed an excellent preseason debut that lasted entirely too long (14 touches!) and produced multiple highlights, like this gem right here:

You were probably already aware that he emerged from the game with an ankle issue. On Sunday, we learned it was in fact a high-ankle sprain, an injury that will erase whatever plans the team had for him over the remainder of his preseason. Love’s status for opening week is not yet in doubt, so please don’t bail on the hyper-talented rookie. He showed us more than enough in a single exhibition game. The injury should be sufficient to halt his rise up fantasy draft boards and perhaps allow him to settle at a reasonable price.

Jordyn Tyson expected to miss two months with hamstring injury

Not much positivity in the Monday news feed, unfortunately. Tyson has a complicated injury history that includes multiple hamstring strains, and his most recent issue will reportedly sideline him for two months. It’s a brutal blow for the New Orleans passing game; Tyson was thriving in camp, already an indispensable weapon. We should probably elevate Juwan Johnson and Devaughn Vele on this news, but it’s never really helpful to anyone when an offense becomes less dynamic and dangerous. Alas.

Tyson tumbles to the fringes of draft-worthiness in fantasy leagues of standard size. If you play in a format with limited IR spots, this is not a problem you need to take on. Within the rookie receiver class, he should now fall well below Carnell Tate, KC Concepcion and De’Zhaun Stribling, to name just three. Consider Tyson to be a member of the Denzel Boston-Makai Lemon-Caleb Douglas-Ja’Kobi Lane tier.

And speaking of Lane …

Ja’Kobi Lane’s hype train has no brakes

Please enjoy this soothing video of Lane one-handing a series of soft throws:

Life is surely much easier as a receiver when you have 10.5-inch hands like Lane. This gentleman has exploded in camp like a supernova, and it carried over to his first preseason game, as he caught three passes on as many targets for 38 yards and one spike. Adam Schefter is tweeting his highlights, so you know he’s truly arrived.

For now, Lane remains a late-round lottery ticket, but his rise is ongoing. He might reach the Stribling Zone before the calendar flips to September.

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Red Sox heat up, halt their skid with resounding win over Diamondbacks

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21 minutes ago

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August 18, 2026

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BOSTON — A historic 32-5 stretch this summer gave the Boston Red Sox a bit of a buffer in the American League wild-card standings when the inevitable cooldown came. That icy stretch arrived last week as the Red Sox lost seven of nine games entering Monday.

But a return to Fenway Park against the Arizona Diamondbacks proved just what the Red Sox needed. Every member of the starting lineup drove in a run in a resounding 11-1 victory to ease the anxiety of their August swoon.

“It’s no secret over the last week or so that we were grinding offensively and we weren’t today,” interim manager Chad Tracy said. “So it was great to see. Up and down the lineup, contributions everywhere, hard-hit balls. Really, really good offensive output by the entire group.”

The Red Sox scored a run in every inning from the second through the seventh and matched their run total from their three previous games combined. Perhaps more impressive, they did not strike out a single time. It marked the first time since 2010 the team recorded zero strikeouts in a game.

Monday’s win showed signs of another upward swing to halt what’s been an ugly skid.

Caleb Durbin offered the initial spark for the offense in the second inning when he walked, advanced on a wild pitch and stole third before scoring on an Eli White single to get things started. Nick Sogard’s RBI double made it 2-0. The next inning, Willson Contreras doubled and was driven in by Durbin, and in the third, Ceddanne Rafaela doubled to score Sogard making it 4-0. The offense was rolling.

Rafaela finished the night 3-for-5 with three doubles, pushing his American League-leading total to 32. The center fielder had been in a rough patch at the plate over the last week, but put together solid at-bats in the series opener.

“Much better today,” Tracy said of Rafaela. “He’s doing some work on top of and all over the swing-decision piece of it. He swung good pitches today and hit them really, really hard, so it was really good to see.”

Contreras popped his 25th homer of the season in the fifth inning, a solo shot off the top of the Green Monster. It marked a career-high for the first baseman, who’s been banged up in recent weeks. Contreras rarely takes days off but asked for a day off Sunday with his leg bothering him. The rest did him well as he knows how important he is to the lineup.

“I’m just trying to stay healthy, I don’t want the soreness to become an injury so I felt like my body needed a rest last night,” Contreras said. “I learned throughout my career to listen to my body.”

Mickey Gasper (30) and Willson Contreras celebrate a Red Sox run in a home game against Arizona.

Willson Contreras (right) was back in the lineup and doing damage Monday night. (Brian Fluharty / Getty Images)

Newcomer Adley Rutschman started to find his groove, too. The catcher had gone just 1-for-17 in five games since coming off the injured list with an abbreviated rehab stint as he worked to return as soon as possible for his new club. On Monday, he went 2-for-5 with a double and reached base a third time when a ball dropped in front of Diamondbacks right fielder Corbin Carroll in his first game at Fenway as a member of the Red Sox.

“It was really cool, just going out there before the game,” Rutschman said of Fenway. “Being in the other bullpen and having fans actually cheering for you when you’re in the bullpen. It’s just a different feeling. But just across the board, feeling the energy was really cool.”

By the eighth inning, the Diamondbacks had second baseman Ian Vargas on the mound in the blowout.

Meanwhile, Red Sox pitchers, led by opener Alec Gamboa and followed by bulk reliever Brayan Bello, did their part.

Gamboa recorded the first four outs before turning the ball over to Bello in his newfound relief role. Entering the day, Bello had posted an 0.75 ERA in 48 relief innings this season and added to that mark on Monday, allowing one run on three hits and walk over 4 2/3 innings to keep Arizona in check.

“I feel happy and proud to be able to help the team win every time they give me the ball and I’m able to perform and give my team a chance to win,” Bello said through an interpreter.

Bello’s importance to the pitching staff continues to grow. The Red Sox were able to push back their starters because of the Gamboa-Bello tandem.

“It’s been great,” Tracy said. “I think it’s obviously well-documented how the beginning of the year went for him, the frustrations that he believes he’s a starter. We still think that. But he’s in a really good place as far as accepting the role and knowing that he’s not only accepting the role, but he’s going out there and helping us win in that role, and that’s a good place for him to be.”

As the Red Sox continue to push through the dog days of the season, reinforcements are on the horizon. Shortstop Trevor Story, who’s been out since May following surgery for a sports hernia, began a rehab assignment over the weekend for Triple A Worcester. He’s set to play seven-to-nine innings at shortstop the next two days for Worcester on the road and will be re-evaluated on Thursday. Story said there’s a chance he could be activated by this weekend, and while Tracy left open the possibility, the manager said the goal is for Story to play shortstop when he returns and the team won’t rush the process.

“It’s possible (he’s activated Friday), but to be perfectly honest with you, we haven’t discussed that yet,” Tracy said of the timeline. “Let’s get through (the next few days), see how do his legs feel? How is this thing responding? How does this swing feel? And then we’ll go from there.”

Meanwhile, outfielder Roman Anthony is set to begin a rehab assignment with Double-A Portland on Tuesday and play left field. Anthony, who has been out since May with a torn ligament in his right hand, began ramping up swinging two weeks ago and has made steady progress. Infielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa (forearm stress reaction) is also set to begin a rehab assignment with Worcester on Wednesday and scheduled to play second base.

Tracy admitted the difficulty of integrating the injured players back into the mix with the inevitable need to option some players who’ve played key roles this summer. But he also noted the upside of strengthening the club with healthy bodies at point in the year, when no team is fully healthy.

“It’s difficult, for sure, that being said, you have some impactful players that can do some serious damage when they’re right,” Tracy said. “You can’t run away from the fact that if you get these guys right, how much they can help.

“Having players back healthy matters because there could still be (more injuries) that happen, whether it’s the end of August or in September,” he added.

If the Red Sox season goes where they hope it will, they’ll need every player on the roster to get there.

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Premier League clubs to face fines for failing to comply with new cybersecurity rules

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28 minutes ago

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August 18, 2026

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Premier League clubs face fines of up to £100,000 ($135,280; €116,872), if they fail to comply with mandatory cybersecurity rules, which are being introduced for the first time this season.

The league’s disciplinary procedures allow the Premier League board to impose punishment through summary jurisdiction if requirements are not met, although points deductions will not be pursued, according to sources briefed on the situation, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

Among the areas covered by the new measures are backups, incident response, risk management and security assurance, with later phases requiring further testing of clubs’ ability to recover from cyber incidents.

The cybersecurity section does not contain a bespoke sanctions regime. Under the Premier League’s general disciplinary rules, its board can issue a reprimand, impose a fine of up to £100,000 through its summary jurisdiction or refer an alleged breach to an independent commission.

This marks a significant tightening of the league’s approach to cybersecurity. Clubs had previously been provided with an implementation roadmap for a security baseline that was described in 2024 as non-prescriptive, but the 2026-27 rules introduce formal requirements and deadlines that clubs must meet.

The measures were approved by Premier League clubs at the league’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) in June following consultation over the previous two seasons. They are being introduced proactively to protect against future cybersecurity incidents rather than in response to a breach.

The standards will be introduced across three phases, with clubs required to comply with the first set of measures by April 30, 2027. Further requirements come into force in April 2028 and April 2029.

Clubs must submit an interim assessment of their compliance by January 10 each season, followed by a final assessment with supporting evidence by April 30.

Where a club is not compliant at the interim stage, it must provide the Premier League with a detailed plan within 28 days setting out how it intends to meet the relevant requirements.

The Premier League can request additional information and evidence to assess a club’s progress, while dispensations from individual requirements can be granted in exceptional circumstances.

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