5 things you need to know for Sunday

Hello football fans! Here are the five things you need to know from Saturday to start your day:

1. Tennessee Titans QB Marcus Mariota appears to be healing up nicely from his Week 16 leg injury. According to reports, Mariota has been “doing everything” for the past two weeks as the Titans move toward training camp. Mariota showed signed of improvement from his rookie 2015 season to his second year, though his passer rating under pressure dipped a bit. He’ll have a new swath of weapons at his disposal in 2017 to help him take the next step.
2. Second year Rams WR Michael Thomas might not make the team’s final roster, according to ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez. Thomas looked like a safe bet for the roster at first, but he received a four-game suspension from the NFL for a reported violation of the league’s policy on performance-enhancing substances, and with the team having added so many young receivers the last two seasons, there might not be space for Thomas, despite his impressive numbers in college.
3. After bouncing around the league recently, WR Griff Whalen has his newest landing spot, signing with the Baltimore Ravens. Whalen played with the Colts from 2012 to 2015, then played for the Chargers and Patriots in 2016 and also spent some time on the Dolphins roster. Whalen had some productive years in Indianapolis but played only 131 snaps in 2016.
4. The injury to CB Tavon Young threw some of the Ravens’ plans off, but the team appears set to have second-year player Maurice Canady ready to fill the slot role that had been Young’s, according to reports. Canady, a 2016 sixth-round draft pick, didn’t see any playing time on defense as a rookie, but did play some special teams early in the season. He was a productive slot weapon in 2015 in college at Virginia.
5. Drafting near the first-/second-round turn of your fantasy draft this year? You might be faced with a quandary of running backs. PFF Fantasy’s Michael Moore put that sort of quagmire to the test, pitting Atlanta’s Devonta Freeman against Chicago’s Jordan Howard to see which player makes the most sense for a first-round pick. After two productive fantasy years in a row, is Freeman’s spot on the Falcons safer for fantasy production than Howard’s first full season as the Bears starter?