There's a pretty good chance that 99 percent of the NFL fans out there never heard of Jeff Tuel before this week, but now he's expected to be starting against a Bill Bellichick defense in Week 1 of the NFL preseason. The Bills have been devastated by injuries with Kevin Kolb suffering yet another concussion and E.J. Manuel getting a surprising knee scope.
Lions vs. Bills preseason 2013: Fantasy football draft preview
The Bills have a lot of work to do in their final preseason game while the Lions are just about set. We break down what to watch and the fantasy implications.
More: For more on the Bills, check out Buffalo Rumblings For more on the Lions, check out Pride of Detroit
Who the heck is Jeff Tuel? Well, Tuel didn’t exactly have a banner year with the Washington State Cougars back in his senior year in 2012. Of his 332 attempts, he completed just 211 of them for 2,087 passing yards with eight scores and eight picks. Just for fun, that would equate to an NFL QB rating of 79.2, which would have ranked 23rd among qualifying quarterbacks.
He has yet to get an NFL regular-season snap, but he hasn’t been too shabby in the preseason. He’s played in all three games, completing 31 of 54 of his passes for 299 yards with two TDs and a pick -- good for a QB rating of 85.3. Those are hardly impressive numbers, but the lack of turnovers is a promising thing with just one lost fumble.
What could the Bills be looking to do with Tuel and their offense? It should be interesting to see how the Bills split up their play calling. It shouldn't be tough to figure out C.J. Spiller is going to be a busy man. Their offensive coordinator, Nathaniel Hackett, said that the team is going to give Spiller the ball "until he throws up," and he just might do that. The Clemson product was tremendous last season, averaging 6.0 yards per carry. Defenses are going to load up the box on him, but he's just so talented in making guys miss that he's still an elite option at back. He should be going off the board in the top five picks of drafts.
The Bills receivers are going to be a bit dicey. Stevie Johnson will get a lot of looks as the team's top option. No other receiver has really stepped up, which leads us to another question.
Are there any other receivers on the Bills worth drafting? Unless you're in a deep league, this news doesn't concern you too much. The leader at this early stage is Robert Woods. He was taken at 41 in the 2013 NFL Draft and can stretch the field. The Bills offense doesn't really suit Woods since they're going to have to run a West Coast-type system. Marquise Goodwin is also in the mix and reportedly has been having a great camp.
Is Reggie Bush becoming a favorite target for Matt Stafford? In the third preseason game, Bush’s number came up a bunch. The gave him a lot of runs and numerous screens. No player had more incompletions than Stafford last year, so having Bush as a safety value could be huge. Bush is a decent player to take around the turn of the second and third rounds of PPR drafts. He could catch 75 balls.
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