What to Watch in Week 2 of NFL Preseason: Russell Wilson, Trey Lance and More

A pair of struggling quarterbacks with very different expectations lead what could be a revealing weekend slate.

Welcome to Week 2 of the NFL preseason. Last week, we were treated to a host of rookie quarterback debuts, some of which were consequential. Anthony Richardson played well enough to earn the starting job outright. Bryce Young took some big hits and impressed in the process with his decision-making. C.J. Stroud looked like a quarterback taking his first NFL snaps.

While we could make precious few sweeping conclusions, I feel like the truncated nature of NFL training camps and practice time in general allows these games to be something of a guide. Just a guide. Teams are not revealing plans or secrets, but they are making meaningful decisions based, somewhat, on what happens during these games. So, too, can we.

Here’s what we’re looking for in Week 2.

1. I received a bit of vitriol for live-tweeting (live-Xing?) my disdain for how ill-prepared the Broncos looked, and I understand the fan in Denver who feels like that’s selectively poor treatment. There were other teams that looked bad in Week 1, so why aren’t we freaking out there? While there were comical blunders during Broncos games at times last year, where does it rank to have kept Russell Wilson in until the Cardinals—the Cardinals—took some of their starters out, allowing him to throw a touchdown against a backup safety who stumbled amid his attempt to set his feet? I’m just saying. Coming in and talking tough about a culture change, and then clearly setting up your flailing quarterback against lesser competition is as transparent a maneuver as one could possibly imagine. So, you bet we’ll be watching the Broncos this week against the 49ers on Saturday night. Wilson is still struggling to get rid of the football. He is still, without the full-throttle athleticism to backward-twirl his way out of every sack, rolling into defenders and getting balls knocked down. If there was some easy switch the last coach in Denver wasn’t flipping, wouldn’t we have seen it by now? Russell Wilson needs a good weekend. Period.

Wilson’s first three drives against the Cardinals last week resulted in just 55 yards before the Broncos finally broke through for a touchdown against a defense composed partially of Arizona’s backups :: Joe Camporeale/USA TODAY Sports

2. We didn’t touch on Trey Lance a week ago, but he looks so much like a player who just needs more time (more time, perhaps, than his current employer is willing to give). His rookie preseason debut back in 2021 feels like another century ago. But I do remember how confident he was in his footwork, and how it seemed like the only thing slowing him down was gravity. Remember this throw? Lance was second-guessing nearly every drop-back against the Raiders this past weekend. Some of his most dangerous throws ended up being logged as completions in the stat book. At this point, I still don’t think there is enough of a market for Lance to drum up something that would motivate the 49ers to trade. Still, a high-profile injury, especially somewhere else on the Shanahan tree, would make the weeks leading up to the season opener worth paying attention to. I still don’t think the 49ers, who have been so close these past few years only to confront the realities of their quarterback injury history, have any interest in weakening their depth chart. I do think San Francisco needs to meet Lance where he’s at. Right now, it looks as though his progression scanning is taking too long, which makes the built-in outlet throws impossible to complete by the time he’s making his way through the play.

3. It’s funny how similarly we can view the Dolphins and the Jets right now as two teams that are incredibly talented but will struggle to piece together a formidable offensive line throughout the season as attrition builds. The Jets, at least you can argue, have a better one through five in terms of average talent, while the Dolphins are anchored to the success and health of two players—and few of their players have not peaked or are close to peaking. Put another way, I think we could be pleasantly surprised by how the Dolphins mold as a unit, but I don’t think we’re going to be blown away by their sudden dominance. Their performance against the Falcons last week wasn’t a disaster, and the big sack taken by quarterback Mike White, who started over Tua Tagovailoa, was the result of a sweeping bootleg play that yielded no open receivers and a lost tight end trying to decide between a few free rushers to block (narrator: turns out, he picked none of the free rushers). More concerning to me were the times when I saw the Dolphins’ jet sweep game completely blown up in the backfield. There was a nice first down run from last year’s fourth-round draft pick, Erik Ezukanma, but that doesn’t tell the whole story: He broke a handful of tackles in the backfield and was pinned miles in the backfield. If the Dolphins struggle to get that east-west action during the season, they’re hosed. This is a long way of saying I’ll be watching that unit this weekend to see whether they find some degree of consistency.

4. I’ll be excited to get another look at Jacksonville’s defense, which, we can remember, had two really good games at the beginning of the season before vacillating wildly, especially against the run. When you spend serious draft capital on an edge player who should be your top run defender and an off-ball linebacker, one would hope they grow together to anchor something that can properly support a talented offense (which will, at times, try too hard and reach too far and turn the ball over as Trevor Lawrence did on his opening drive last week). I saw the Jaguars lob a safety blitz at Cooper Rush last week after getting knocked around early in the drive, which kept them from an inauspicious start to the year (even though Rush is kind of a fringe NFL starter who won some ball games last year). With that unit in particular, I feel like we’re all wondering what it will look like. Jacksonville did blitz more often than a lot of other teams last year. Do they lean more in that direction? Or, do their top players step up and anchor something different?

5. Speaking of a sample size, I’m pretty excited to see this Rams’ defense again. This is a unit figuring it out personnel-wise, but their first two series saw them bring it against a handful of Chargers starters. Tre Tomlinson was active early. Michael Hoecht, who started six games last year, was taking the brunt of a full-head-of-steam Zion Johnson pull and Christian Rozeboom was disrupting in both the pass and the run game. While it ended up being logged as a drop, how much did we love the effort on the part of 5'9" cornerback Tomlinson marking 6'4” rookie wideout Quentin Johnston? Some of the Rams’ early success was thanks to a pair of Johnston drops, which I’m imagining we won’t see again. Still, if this Rams’ defense can find some cohesion and establish some of their young players early, the NFC West tightens all the more.

Tomlinson, a sixth-round pick out of TCU who was named to the All–Big 12 first team three times in college, showed no fear while taking on bigger players in his first NFL action :: Jayne Kamin-Oncea/USA TODAY Sports

6. I saw a few folks hoping to make a Jaxon Smith-Njigba–Odell Beckham Jr. comparison after his attempted one-handed grab against the Vikings last week, but what about another receiver who immediately comes to mind: Cooper Kupp? The Seahawks’ first few drives felt as if they were pinched from the Rams’ condensed-formation playbook, and Njigba caught his first professional pass coming off a jet motion in the backfield—a route we’ve seen Kupp run hundreds of times. Beyond that, Njigba was a factor in the blocking game, which is another Kupp hallmark and something worth noting the deeper we get into the preseason. He certainly looks willing to throw his weight into a defender. And if Seattle can establish him as a down-by-down blocker, plus incorporate that after-catch burst (which looked like vintage Beckham), watch out folks.

7. We still don’t know exactly when Joe Burrow is coming back, so I do think spending time watching the Bengals’ backup quarterbacks is a valuable exercise. The team’s director of personnel, Duke Tobin, told the preseason broadcast that he would like “one of them to reach out and grab [the job].” I would suggest watching Jake Browning’s second drive against the Packers last week. After his patchwork offensive line was absolutely shredded by a handful of Packers starters on the opening drive, Browning had to hit some pretty difficult timing throws as a means of survival. Offensive depth, generally speaking, in Cincinnati has piqued my interest. Do they have any second-wave offensive linemen capable of adding anything other than replacement-level snaps if one of their starters goes down? Can Chase Brown, who carried the ball seven times for 12 yards against Green Bay but looked dangerously close to popping a big run several times, take snaps away from Joe Mixon? What about Chris Evans, whom Tobin said specifically they were watching to gauge his pass protection ability? A lot of these are not Joe Burrow questions specifically, but they are tangentially. Third-down pass protecting. Backup offensive lineman who could be protecting his tender calf. The Bengals’ preseason is where it’s at. Eminently watchable.

8. I didn’t want to put too much Bryce Young/Anthony Richardson/C.J. Stroud stuff here, but I do think it’s worth reiterating how hard Young got hit against the Jets last week. The Jets are going to be among the best and deepest pass rushes Carolina will face this preseason and potentially all year. That said, I don’t think Young could have gotten rid of his passes much sooner last week, and the Panthers certainly don’t want these shots to accumulate over the course of the season. I would like to see Young emerge with a clean uniform, and also with some kind of idea as to what his unique spin on the offense will be. Could Carolina incorporate some pace stuff early and allow him to move the ball with less of a huddle? Will they try to establish more of a screen game?