5 things you need to know for Sunday

Good morning, football fans. Here are five pieces of news from Saturday you need to know to start off your day:

Jacksonville Jaguars rookie RB Leonard Fournette was listed as the co-starter on the first unofficial depth chart of training camp, alongside J. Yeldon and Chris Ivory. The Jaguars selected Fournette with the fourth overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft, so he is expected to carry the majority of the workload during the season.

Fournette only played 298 offensive snaps for LSU in 2016, missing the majority of the season with a chronic ankle injury. In 2015, Fournette produced the best season PFF has seen by a runner in three years of college grading. His overall PFF grade of 96.3 is the highest grade PFF has recorded by a running back.

In that season, his elusive rating of 108.6 ranked third among running backs with at least 204 touches. He forced 95 total missed tackles (85 running, 10 receiving) on 319 touches (elusive rating uses missed tackle rate and yards gained after contact to measure a runner’s success beyond the point of being helped by his blockers).

Los Angeles Chargers cornerback Jason Verrett tore his ACL in 2016 just four games into the season. On Friday, he was activated from the PUP list.

A former first-round pick out of TCU, Verrett got off to an impressive start to his career, earning grades of 84.9 and 89.9 (second among CBs) in 2014 and 2015, respectively. Verrett has been a sound tackler in his time in the NFL. In 2015, he ranked second among CBs with a tackling efficiency of 39.0. Verrett also has showcased his versatility by splitting time between the right (51.6 percent) and left sides (33.6 percent) in 2015.

Allowing a career catch rate of just 57.0, Verrett and teammate Casey Hayward (88.4 2016 overall grade) could be among the league’s top CB duos.

Troy Renck of the Denver Channel says that Trevor Siemian has a slight lead in the Denver Broncos quarterback competition.

Siemian struggled last season, as his overall grade of 56.2 ranked 30th out of 34 qualified QBs, and he was 23rd out of 29 quarterbacks in adjusted completion percentage at 70.5.

He showed a bit of promise throwing the deep ball, as he was second behind Derek Carr in the AFC West in passer rating on deep throws at 84.2. Paxton Lynch, who is one of the quarterbacks Siemian is competing with, was 1-14 on deep passes last season, including an interception and a passer rating of 9.8.

Vic Tafur of the San Francisco Chronicle reported that Oakland Raiders running back DeAndre Washington has been “getting all second-team RB reps” ahead of Jalen Richard. Washington and Richard are competing for touches in the Raiders backfield behind starter Marshawn Lynch.

In 2016 as rookies, Washington and Richard split the work behind starter Latavius Murray, with Washington getting 256 snaps and Richard playing 250. Richard was the better of the two with a PFF grade of 77.2 that ranked 19th of 61 qualifying running backs, to Washington's 72.3 grade that ranked 35th.

Last year Richard forced 28 missed tackles in 117 touches, and his 3.59 yards after contact per attempt was second among all running backs with at least 100 total touches. Washington forced only 10 missed tackles in 108 touches, but was fifth in yards after contact per attempt at 3.26.

On Saturday, Minnesota Vikings NT Linval Joseph agreed to terms on a four-year contract extension worth $50 million with $31.5 million guaranteed. His 85.4 overall grade in 2016 ranked 14th among defensive interior players.

Drafted by the New York Giants in 2010, Joseph has quietly been a consistent force – especially against the run – throughout his career. He joined Minnesota in 2014 and his top season came in 2015 (90.1 overall grade).

Where Joseph has improved considerably is his pass-rushing over the past two seasons. In those two years, he’s collected 60 total pressures, an impressive number for a nose tackle where his main role is to stuff the run.

2015 showcased both dominance in run defense (90.3 run-defense grade – ranked fourth among DI) and pass rush (82.1 pass-rush grade – ranked 14th). Joseph’s 10.6 run-stop percentage in 2015 tied for sixth among NT/DTs.