Below is each quarterback who played at least eight games. The fantasy scoring used was 1 point per 20 pass yards and four-point touchdowns. Rushing scores were six points and with one point per rushing yard.
HOW OFTEN A QB SCORED AT LEAST 20 FANTASY POINTS
It isn’t too hard to find a quarterback with a good game at least half the time. The drop for Patrick Mahomes was a surprise but he dealt with injury and the Chief’s defense improved. Dak Prescott certainly impressed in numerous categories though he slowed near the end of the season. Lamar Jackson was this year’s Mahomes and there will be another quarterback with a monster season in any year. But this measurement shows so far as weekly contributions go, there is probably not as much variation in the position as it might seem.
Each new crop of wideouts spawns comparisons and contrasts between players. What did they do in 2019? We also know how past rookie classes fared in the NFL, so it’s interesting to see what stats they left behind in college and how predictive that was of their future performances.
Below are different groups of wide receivers and their respective production from college. Can you match the player with his NCAA career? The list of names is alphabetical and the stats array from least to most productive while at school.
Past production is a critical measurement in valuing rookie receivers but by no means the only one. Unlike their future seasons in the NFL, none of the players faced the same teams.
The quality of their quarterback and overall offense, and the defenses that they faced varied greatly and makes a 1:1 comparison between wideouts impossible to rely on. Bottom line – teams that faced the toughest schedules and had the highest success usually spawned the most reliably talented receivers.
Perhaps the toughest one to see coming was Michael Thomas. Ending up on the receiving end of a pass thrown by a Hall of Fame quarterback never hurts.
The matched number and names are in the white text next to “Answer”. Just hit your left mouse button and drag it across that line to see the correct order.
Alabama
Amari Cooper, Jerry Jeudy (R), Julio Jones, Calvin Ridley, Henry Ruggs (R)
PSU Chris Godwin, Allen Robinson OSU Terry McLaurin, Michael Thomas
Answer: 1 McLaurin, 2 Michael Thomas, 3 Godwin, 4 Robinson
Louisiana State
Odell Beckham, D.J. Chark, Justin Jefferson (R), Jarvis Landry
Answer: 1 Chark, 2 Landry, 3 Beckham, 4 Jefferson
Group A
Keenan Allen (CAL), Antonio Brown (Cen. Mich), CeeDee Lamb (R – Oklahoma), Laviska Shenault Jr. (R – Colorado)
Answer: 1 Shenault, 2 Allen, 3 Brown, 4 Lamb
Group B
Davante Adams (Fresno St), Mike Evans (Texas A&M), A.J. Green (Georgia), Jalen Reagor (R – TCU)
Answer: 1 Reagor, 2 Evans, 3 Green, 4 Adams
Top Draft picks for the last three years
Excluding Mike Williams (2017-1.07) and Calvin Ridley (2018 – 1.26) who are already listed above, these are the first four wideouts taken each year. Definitely more than a few whiffs on those early picks. 2020 is expected to be a banner year for wide receivers and the position hasn’t served up many stars from recent years, at least not from those wideouts drafted first.
2019 was better with both Deebo Samuel and A.J. Brown coming to life down the stretch. By the stats below, there weren’t many players that had generated high stats and Corey Davis was the most productive and yet hasn’t remotely lived up to his lofty selection.
2017
1 Corey Davis (1.05), Western Michigan
2 John Ross (1.09), Washington
3 Zay Jones (2.05), East Carolina
4 Curtis Samuel (2.08), Ohio State
2018
1 D.J. Moore (1.24), Maryland
2 Courtland Sutton (2.08), SMU
3 Dante Pettis (2.12), Washington
4 Christian Kirk (2.15), Texas A&M
2019
1 Marquise Brown (1.25), Oklahoma
2 N’Keal Harry (1.32), Arizona State
3 Deebo Samuel (2.04), South Carolina
4 A.J. Brown (2.19), Mississippi
Christmas Week is here, and hopefully Santa already has delivered a championship or two among your fantasy leagues.
But if you fell short, don’t fret. Fantasy titles are harder to come by than many realize. Among other things, it takes a near-ideal combination of right-player, right-week performances and matchups, lineup-decision fortune and a dash of unpredictable randomness to fall your way over a series of weekends.
Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Christmas Week is here, and hopefully Santa already has delivered a championship or two among your fantasy leagues.
But if you fell short, don’t fret. Fantasy titles are harder to come by than many realize. Among other things, it takes a near-ideal combination of right-player, right-week performances and matchups, lineup-decision fortune and a dash of unpredictable randomness to fall your way over a series of weekends.
In actuality, consistently finishing among the highest-scoring teams and/or qualifying for the postseason more often than not in the majority of your leagues are the better measures of true fantasy-football prowess.
As for the 2019 fantasy season itself, with the champions having been crowned in the majority of leagues, it’s time to take stock of the year that was in our final TT&T of the season.
More specifically, we’re selecting a stud, dud and surprise at each of the four major fantasy positions (quarterback, running back, wide receiver and tight end) and examining the impact each had on the current season and beyond. And as you’ll quickly see when we start to get into the numbers, 2019 will go down as one of the most memorable seasons in fantasy history.
First, though, thanks once again to you, loyal Huddle readers and subscribers, for making this all possible. And even if that fantasy championship still proved elusive, may all of your other holiday wishes come true.
Now, time for our 2019 studs, duds and surprises …
Quarterback
STUD:Lamar Jackson, Ravens. No contest doesn’t do the QB competition justice when you have the league leader in touchdown passes (36 through 15 games) and the NFL single-season quarterback rushing yards record-holder (1,206) rolled into one weekly must-see highlight-generating package. Jackson made an impression as a rookie in 2018, leading all QBs in rushing (699 yards) in essentially only seven starts, but there were legit concerns about his passing after he completed 58.2 percent of his throws and finished with only three more TD passes (six) than interceptions (three) while posting an 84.5 passer rating and 46.3 QBR. This season, Jackson has completed 66.1 percent of his passes for six times as many TDs (36) as picks (six) for an elite 113.3 rating and league-leading 81.1 QBR. Speaking of league-leading, Jackson had compiled 63 more fantasy points (462.9 total, Huddle Performance scoring) than the next closest QB (Jameis Winston) through play Sunday and had scored 30 or more points in two-thirds of his 15 games this season, including 39.2 and 34.2, respectively, in Weeks 15 and 16, the final two weeks of the fantasy playoffs in the majority of leagues. Even if Jackson rests in Week 17 with the Ravens already having put the wraps on the AFC’s No. 1 seed, his 2019 season goes down as one of the best quarterback campaigns (fantasy or reality) of all-time.
DUD:Baker Mayfield, Browns. Of the 2019 sophomore QBs, many were banking on Mayfield putting up Jackson-esque numbers as the No. 5 QB drafted, on average, in leagues, but four months later, we find him down at No. 18 at the position with 282.6 points through Sunday. That’s 24.8 points fewer than he totaled in 14 games as a rookie a year ago when he averaged 266.1 passing yards per outing with a rookie-record 27 TD tosses and 14 interceptions. This season, even with the much-ballyhooed addition of WR Odell Beckham Jr. (Spoiler Alert: more on him coming a little later) those figures have slipped to 236.5 yards per contest with 19 TDs and 18 picks. In total, Mayfield has had only two games with 25 or more fantasy points this season – which pales in comparison to the number of in-game Mayfield commercial spots we see on any given Sunday or the number of magazine covers the Browns QB appeared on this summer. It’s time for a personal and organizational reset in Cleveland.
SURPRISE:Ryan Tannehill, Titans. If you didn’t roster Jackson over the second half of the season, one of your next-best options would’ve been Tannehill, who took over starting duties from the benched Marcus Mariota in Week 7 and has averaged 26.7 fantasy points per outing. Only Jackson, at 30.9, is averaging more points per start this season. With 24 total TDs and only six interceptions during that nine-game span, Tannehill has finished with fewer than 20 points only once and has averaged an even more-impressive 29.6 points with nine total TDs during the three weeks of the fantasy playoffs. In Summary, “surprise” might not do Tannehill’s out-of-nowhere season justice.
Running back
STUD:Christian McCaffrey, Panthers. Just take a gander at your fantasy running back point-per-reception season leaderboard coming out of Sunday and witness the insane 150-point cushion C-Mac has over the rest of the field. Even in non-PPR scoring, McCaffrey has totaled 93.9 points than any other fantasy back. Through Sunday, McCaffrey had the second-most rushing yards (1,361) in the league but leads all players in yards from scrimmage (2,294), touchdowns (18) and total touches (387) while pacing all RBs in receptions (a single-season RB-record 109) and receiving yards (933). McCaffrey has finished with at least 24.5 PPR points in a whopping 11 of 15 games. And, sure, there have been a lot of garbage-time numbers down the stretch with the Panthers currently on a seven-game losing skid, but when a player has the stamina to take the weekly punishment required at running back while playing a full 98 percent of a team’s offensive snaps and accounting for 40.9 percent of its total offense and 50 percent of its offensive TDs, McCaffrey’s 2019 has been nothing short of a season for the ages.
DUD:David Johnson, Cardinals. While McCaffrey has had a season for the ages, Johnson, a fellow top-seven drafted running back, has endured one of the most memorable fantasy-dud campaigns in recent memory. Johnson came out of Sunday with totals of 107.5 (standard)/143.5 (PPR) fantasy points and injury – an ankle sprain that cost him all of Weeks 8 and 9 most of Week 7 – only played a small role in the deep disappointment. In six games since returning in Week 10, Johnson has totaled all of 16/22 fantasy points on 23 touches and is shockingly winding up the season on the fantasy waiver wire in most leagues while midseason trade acquisition Kenyan Drake runs wild as the new lead dog in the Arizona backfield. Who could’ve seen this coming in August?
SURPRISE:Austin Ekeler, Chargers. He didn’t wind up winning many of his fantasy teams championships with two of his five worst PPR games (13.1 and 11.9) coming in the final two weeks of the fantasy playoffs, but he played a starring role in getting a number of those fantasy teams to the postseason as he ranks as the No. 3 overall PPR back (295.1 points – 1.3 behind injured and idle No. 2 Dalvin Cook) on the season coming out of Sunday. With fellow Bolts RB Melvin Gordon missing the season’s first four games with an ill-fated holdout, Ekeler got off to a blazing start, totaling 109 points during that span. But the surprising aspect is that Ekeler actually has outperformed Gordon (186.1-162.6 PPR points) on 58 fewer touches (184-126) since the latter’s return and established himself as an RB1 PPR option. With Gordon scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent this offseason, Ekeler figures finally be the true main man in the L.A. backfield come next fall.
Wide receiver
STUD:Michael Thomas, Saints. Nearly as impressive as McCaffrey’s running back lead, Thomas has been by far the top PPR wideout with a 92.8-point lead over the Bucs’ Chris Godwin coming out of Sunday’s action. Thomas has done so by sheer volume and remarkable consistency, reeling in 145 of his league-most 176 targets to establish nothing less than a single-season league receptions record with one game still to play. In getting there, he’s totaled at least 16.4 fantasy points in 14 of 15 games with no fewer than five catches or 48 yards in each outing. And that, as a reminder, was with future Hall-of-Fame QB Drew Brees missing most of six early-season games to injury. With Brees, Thomas has saved his best for last, scoring at least 30.4 points in each of three fantasy postseason weekends (three of his four best games of the season) with 35 total catches for 398 yards and three TDs over that span. If you’ve been keeping track, that’s three positions we’ve covered so far and three standout fantasy seasons for the ages.
DUD:Beckham Jr., Browns. Even after finally snaring his third touchdown catch of the season Sunday, OBJ still ranks 32nd (standard)/26th (PPR) among wide receivers in total fantasy points. Not exactly what fantasy general managers were hoping for last summer when they swooped up Beckham as the sixth wide receiver off the draft board on average. Similar to his under-performing quarterback, OBJ has been embroiled in more useless sideshows (repeated uniform violations, reported trade requests, etc.) than usable fantasy games this season as he’s posted double-digit fantasy points (standard) in only four of 15 outings, and the third-best of them was Sunday’s unremarkable 10.4-point showing (four catches for 44 yards and a TD on six targets). In two words: ugh and yikes.
SURPRISE:DeVante Parker, Dolphins. Your current No. 7 fantasy wideout on the season in standard-scoring leagues is a four-year disappointment who wasn’t even drafted in a number of leagues. Parker, though, has matched his TD catch total (nine) from his first four seasons combined in 2019 while also posting career season highs in receptions (64) and receiving yards (1,065). He’s also saved his best for the most crucial stretch of the fantasy season. Even including a two-catch, 28-yard performance in Week 14 when he was limited to 18 snaps due to a concussion, Parker has been fantasy’s most productive wideout in standard-scoring formats with 67.0 fantasy points since Week 13 with 370 yards and five TDs on 18 catches. In the process, the 2015 first-round pick also snared a new four-year, $40 million extension so he figures to be in the WR1 conversation going forward as long as the Dolphins have a QB near as capable as veteran Ryan Fitzpatrick has been over the second half of this season.
Tight end
STUD:Travis Kelce, Chiefs. Whether it’s been Gronk, Jimmy Graham, Zach Ertz, or currently, George Kittle, Kelce rarely has been the most talked-about fantasy tight end in recent seasons, but here he is again on track to pace the position in fantasy points for the third time in the last four years. And at a position where a good fantasy week often is determined if you score a touchdown or not, Kelce has provided remarkably consistent production – TD or not – tallying at least 9.8 PPR points in each of his 15 games this season and topping the 20-point mark six times, including five times in his last six contests. Kelce only ranks seventh among tight ends in TD catches with five, but came out of Sunday with six more catches and 167 more receiving yards than anyone else at the position.
DUD:O.J. Howard, Buccaneers. Following his impressive but abbreviated 2018 season in which he caught 34 passes for 565 yards and five TDs in 10 games, Howard was the TE4 in ADP this past summer. But with one week remaining in 2019 and the fantasy playoffs over in the majority of leagues, Howard currently ranks as TE27 (standard)/26 (PPR) with 34 catches for 459 yards and one lonely TD in 13 games. Howard did miss two contests due to a hamstring injury, but that’s been far from the main issue as he’s shockingly struggled to find a niche in Bruce Arians’ new offense and has only reached double-digit PPR points three times in 13 outings in 2019. Even the Bucs’ late-season rash of wide receiver injuries still hasn’t returned Howard to fantasy prominence as he’s caught 11-of-19 targets for 165 yards and no scores over the last three weeks. A new team and new offense would be best for the talented tight end, who’s still only 25.
SURPRISE:Darren Waller, Raiders. Perhaps we all should’ve paid more attention to “Hard Knocks” in August when his Raiders teammates were predicting stardom for the journeyman tight end with a troubled past and all of 18 career receptions in three seasons entering 2019. A whopping 84 catches (currently third at the position) and 1,038 yards (second only to Kelce’s 1,205) have followed in 2019 as he’s become far and away Derek Carr’s top target (107 total – 43 more than any other Raider). A relative and somewhat-surprising lack of TDs (three) has kept the 6-6 Waller from a truly-elite fantasy tight end season, but he has scored at least 12.3 PPR points in nine of 15 games this season, including each of the last four. He’ll go down as one of the top waiver-wire finds of the season.
It is said the real NFL season doesn’t begin until after Thanksgiving.
And even if that’s a touch of hyperbole, that statement is at least true for the fantasy season. And, in actuality, with the fantasy postseason beginning in the majority of leagues in Week 14, the real fantasy season begins in Week 12, with the final two weeks of the stretch run deciding a host of playoff berths.
Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports
It is said the real NFL season doesn’t begin until after Thanksgiving.
And even if that’s a touch of hyperbole, that statement is at least true for the fantasy season. And, in actuality, with the fantasy postseason beginning in the majority of leagues in Week 14, the real fantasy season begins in Week 12, with the final two weeks of the stretch run deciding a host of playoff berths.
That in mind, we’re going to look back over the past month – covering the final two weeks of the fantasy regular season and the first two playoff weekends – and highlight some of the unexpected top performers during that pivotal stretch who have helped shape fantasy 2019.
Here goes …
Ryan Tannehill, QB, Titans
Week 12-15 position rank: 3. 105.8 total fantasy points/26.5 per-game average
Tennessee’s new Titan continued his impressive run Sunday, throwing for 279 yards and two touchdowns and rushing for 10 yards and another score in a tough, 24-21 AFC South showdown loss to the visiting Texans. It was Tannehill’s sixth 20-point fantasy outing in eight games since taking over from Marcus Mariota as the team’s starter in Week 7, and only Lamar Jackson and Jameis Winston have totaled more QB fantasy points since.
Mitchell Trubisky, QB, Bears
Week 12-15 position rank: 4. 104.2/26.1
Trubisky and the Chicago offense were a study in dysfunction for the first three quarters of the season, and the QB only had two 20-point fantasy outings in nine games heading into Week 11. But since, he’s posted four straight, including back-to-back three touchdown pass outings in Weeks 13 and 14. But it wasn’t all about Trubisky’s arm. After rushing for a total of only 58 yards and no scores in his first nine contests, he’s rushed for 114 and two TDs over the last four games as he tries to prove to the Bears’ brass that he deserves another year as the team’s starter.
Kyle Allen, QB, Panthers
Week 12-15 position rank: 8. 92.1/23.0
Lost in his 15 interceptions and three lost fumbles since Week 8, Allen has quietly followed the Winston Lite path to fantasy success with nine total touchdowns (to offset eight turnovers) over the last four games. But unlike his division-rival Winston, who’s put up league-winning numbers down the stretch along with his usual bushel of turnovers, Allen merely has played just well enough – particularly while trying to rally late in games – to keep a number of his two-quarterback fantasy teams afloat over the last month with four steady but unspectacular outings between 17.6 and 27.3 points.
Carson Wentz, QB, Eagles
Week 12-15 position rank: 9. 88.8/22.2
Wentz has bounced back nicely from an ugly midseason lull that featured only one 20-point fantasy outing between Weeks 5 and 11. Since then, though, the Philly QB has averaged 22.2 points, with eight TD passes and only one interception over his last three contests. What’s even more impressive is that Wentz has done so during a brutal, injury-filled span that has decimated his supporting cast, particularly a wide receiver corps that has seen its top three Alshon Jeffery, DeSean Jackson and Nelson Agholor miss extended stretches, including each of the last two games.
Austin Ekeler, RB, Chargers
Week 12-15 position rank: 4. 61.1 (point-per-reception scoring)/20.4
It may seem like bad timing here with Ekeler coming off one of his worst fantasy days (13.1 PPR points) of the season in Sunday’s blowout loss to the visiting Vikings, but he was coming off his second-best game of the season (31.3 points) with 213 total yards and a TD on only 12 touches, lifting many of his teams to victory in the opening round of the fantasy playoffs. More importantly, for the longer-term fantasy view, he continues to outperform fellow Bolts back Melvin Gordon, averaging 17.4 points to Gordon’s 14.0 since the latter’s 2019 debut in Week 5, despite logging 52 fewer touches during that span.
Miles Sanders, RB, Eagles
Week 12-15 position rank: 5. 79.2/19.8
The rookie back picked a highly opportune time for his best game of the season, rolling up 35.2 fantasy points Sunday in D.C. with his first 100-yard rushing game (122 and a TD on 19 carries) and reeling in a season-high six catches for 50 additional yards and another score. He also became the Eagles’ first 100-yard rusher since LeGarrette Blount in Week 4 of the 2017 season – a streak of 41 games. And to think, a number of fantasy GMs would’ve rather started fellow Philly RB Boston Scott (13.5 points Sunday), following the latter’s surprise showing (24.8 points) a week ago. With Jordan Howard’s lingering injury absence, though, Sanders is Philly back you want as he’s totaled at least 15 touches in each of the last four games.
Kenyan Drake, RB, Cardinals
Week 12-15 position rank: 7. 56.4/18.8
Sure, 39.6 of Drake’s 56.4 fantasy points over the last month came in one amazing swoop Sunday when he paced the league on the strength of his 146 total yards and four TDs in a beatdown of the Browns, but the lesson from the outing is more about what’s happening in the Arizona backfield overall. While Drake was notching a career in rushing yards, David Johnson touched the ball only three times – all rushing attempts – for six yards while Chase Edmonds didn’t get a touch. It’s increasingly looking like it’s unquestionably Drake’s backfield in Arizona – for the rest of 2019 and entering 2020.
Raheem Mostert, RB, 49ers
Week 12-15 position rank: 8. 74.9/18.7
As the newly crowned lead back of the league’s second most proficient rushing team, Mostert has found his way into the end zone in each of his last four games and has averaged 16 touches and 107.3 yards from scrimmage over his last three contests. There will always be other backs in the mix in a (Kyle) Shanahan offense, but the lead dog in a Shanny attack is always a cherished fantasy asset nonetheless.
A.J. Brown, WR, Titans
Week 12-15 position rank: 1. 90.0/22.5
A full 50.2 percent of the rookie’s total fantasy-point output has come over his last four games as he’s reeled in 20 of 29 targets for a league-most 447 yards and four TDs over that span. It’s taken the Titans until late in the season to finally fully realize what a weapon they have in the 6-1, 225-pound Brown, who was targeted a season-high 13 times in Sunday’s divisional showdown against the Texans – five more than other game this season – and it naturally resulted in a career-high eight receptions as well. Don’t look now, but the Titan(ic) Triplets – Tannehill, RB Derrick Henry and Brown – are as impressive as any in the league right now, especially when it comes to fantasy.
DeVante Parker, WR, Dolphins
Week 12-15 position rank: 8. 78.0/19.5
Only a day after signing a sparkling new four-year, $40 million contract extension, Parker accounted for the Dolphins’ only TDs in a 36-20 road loss to the Giants, catching four of seven targets for a team-high 72 yards. It was the second multi-TD catch outing in three weeks – sandwiched around a concussion-shortened Week 14 matchup against the Jets – and his seventh game with at least 15 fantasy points in his last 11 outings, including the concussion contest. The Dolphins said as much with the new contract, but we’ve finally arrived in Parker-Is-A-True-No. 1-WR territory.
Anthony Miller, WR, Bears
Week 12-15 position rank: 11. 76.7/19.2
Robert Woods and Saints stud Michael Thomas (barring a catch-less Monday night) have are the only wide receivers who have caught more passes since Week 12 than Miller, who’s snared 27 for 377 yards and a pair of TDs. It’s been quite the turnaround for the second-year wideout who entered Week 11 with only one double-digit fantasy-point game but has gone 5-for-5 in that category ever since, including a season-high 26.8 points Sunday with nine catches for 118 yards and a TD on 15 targets. Only Julio Jones (20) and George Kittle (17) were targeted more Sunday.
Breshad Perriman, WR, Buccaneers
Week 12-15 position rank: 14. 69.7/17.4
The Bucs’ top wide receivers (Mike Evans last week, Chris Godwin on Sunday) keep going down with “not-good” hamstring injuries, and Perriman keeps stepping up to fill the void, with four of his 11 targets and eight receptions going for TDs the last two weeks, including a trio on Sunday in Detroit. By comparison, Perriman only had seven career scoring receptions entering the game. A former washout as a 2015 first-round pick in Baltimore, Perriman looks as if he might’ve finally found a home in his third NFL stop, and he’ll likely get a chance to prove as much as the Bucs’ projected No. 1 wideout over the final two games.
Darius Slayton, WR, Giants
Week 12-15 position rank: 18. 64.6/16.2
The rookie fifth-round selection out of Auburn has transitioned from rookie QB Daniel Jones to veteran Eli Manning without as much as a hiccup, recording three TD grabs among his seven receptions over the last two weeks, giving him eight on the season. His scores have come by the pair more often than not as he has a trio of two-touchdown games (Weeks 8, 10 and 14), and the only wide receivers with more TD grabs on the season overall are Kenny Golladay (10), Godwin (nine) and Marvin Jones (nine). Not too shabby at all for an overlooked late-round pick who’s become the Giants’ most productive pass-catcher.
Tyler Higbee, TE, Rams
Week 12-15 position rank: 4. 72.4/18.1
There was another chapter penned Sunday in this true out-of-nowhere story as Higbee caught a career-high 12 passes for 111 yards on 14 targets in a loss at Dallas. This comes on the heels of his first career 100-yard receiving games (107 and 116 yards in Weeks 13 and 14). Higbee’s 354 receiving yards lead all tight ends over the last four weeks, and only Christian McCaffrey, with 35, has more receptions than Higbee’s 31 since Week 12. As for targets, only Zach Ertz has more among tight ends than Higbee’s 39 during that same span. To put things in further perfective, Higbee’s 31 receptions over the last four games are a full 10 more than he had, total, in his first 10 games this season or in any of his first three seasons from 2016-2018.
Jason Witten, TE, Cowboys
Week 12-15 position rank: 7. 42.0/10.5
This 37-year-old future Hall of Famer isn’t washed up yet. In the same game Higbee was stealing the tight end show, Witten had the most impressive catch, a highlight-worthy one-handed 19-yard scoring grab in the opening quarter that kick-started the Cowboys’ 44-21 romp. Witten has been targeted at least five times in six of his last seven games and has caught a TD pass in two of the last three weeks.
Mike Gesicki, TE, Dolphins
Week 12-15 position rank: 8. 41.0/10.3
Sure, we realize this emerging second-year tight end hasn’t been too great of late with five receptions for 53 yards on 13 targets over the last two games, but he’s been targeted at least six times in six of his last seven outings and had his first two career scoring receptions in Weeks 12 and 13. He’s the No. 2 pass-catching option on the league’s second-most pass-heaviest team (66.2 percent of all plays), and you can’t ask much more than that out of a fantasy tight end if you don’t roster any of the few elite options at the position.
EXTRA POINTS
So, of course, the week after it was pointed out here and elsewhere that Julio Jones has steadily underperformed for much of the season and was mired in the longest TD drought of his career (nine games), he comes up with best fantasy outing (38.4 points) in more than two seasons Sunday with 13 catches for 134 yards and two TDs on 20 targets against one of the league’s better defenses. His last TD catch was nothing short of a game-winning grab, coming on the final offensive play of the game and sending reverberations throughout the entire NFC playoff outlook as the Falcons stunned the host 49ers. However, it was only Jones’ third top-10 weekly wide receiver fantasy performance since Week 3.
The Bengals keep losing on their march toward the No. 1 overall draft pick next spring, but that hasn’t stopped RB Joe Mixon from writing one of the most compelling turnaround narratives of the season. On Sunday, despite a seemingly game script-unfriendly 34-13 loss to the Patriots, Mixon churned out the day’s second-best rushing performance (136 yards) on 25 carries and added three receptions for 20 more yards. Since the Bengals returned from their bye in Week 10, only McCaffrey, with 877, has churned out more yards from scrimmage than Mixon’s 745 and no running back is within 13 carries of Mixon’s league-high 130 rushing attempts during that span in which he ranks fourth at the position with 105.5 total fantasy points. Before the bye, Mixon was unstartable in the majority of leagues with only two fantasy outings of 12 points or more and four with 7.4 or fewer in his first eight games. But, over his last six contests, Mixon has scored fewer than 17 points only once.
Speaking of Mixon, he’s one of 10 running backs currently on pace to log 300 touches this season. Six (McCaffrey, Leonard Fournette, Ezekiel Elliott, Chris Carson, NickChubb and Dalvin Cook) are already there, with Derrick Henry, Mixon, Josh Jacobs and Le’Veon Bell on pace to reach the standard over the season’s final two weeks. There were only five, six and six 300-plus touch players, respectively, over the previous three seasons and 2012 was the last season with 10 or more RBs reaching the 300 mark.
Here, in midstream of the fantasy playoffs, we pause this week to examine some of the most disappointing/under-performing players of the 2019 season.
It’s likely you spent a high draft pick on one or two of these dozen players among your leagues, and perhaps they were part of the reason you didn’t qualify for the postseason or were sent packing early, short of the money. If not, count yourself quite fortunate.
Paul Rutherford-USA TODAY Sports
Here, in midstream of the fantasy playoffs, we pause this week to examine some of the most disappointing/under-performing players of the 2019 season.
It’s likely you spent a high draft pick on one or two of these dozen players among your leagues, and perhaps they were part of the reason you didn’t qualify for the postseason or were sent packing early, short of the money. If not, count yourself quite fortunate.
Most of these underachievers are strictly performance-based, but we’ve included an injury-wrecked season or two as well as health and availability remain vital components of the game.
Regardless, here’s our disappointing dozen – focusing on the top of the average-draft-position lists at each position – and an accompanying recommendation whether to panic or be patient with an eye on next season.
Patrick Mahomes
Positional average draft position: 1
Current positional ranking (standard-scoring total fantasy points): 12
Numbers to know: Mahomes missed most of three games due to a knee injury and is still averaging a healthy 24.6 fantasy points per contest, but statistical regression has hit as expected following his historic 2018 MVP campaign and it’s hit the hardest when it’s mattered most in fantasy: late in the season. In Mahomes’ last seven full games, he’s tossed only one touchdown pass five times and finished with fewer than 285 yards four times. He only did that twice and four times, respectively, all of last season when he played a full 16 games.
Outlook: (Most definitely) patience. We knew some regression was coming, and it’s only Year 2 for Mahomes as a starter. The midseason knee issue disrupted the flow of his season and the Chiefs’ lack of a consistent No. 2 wide receiver or running game certainly hasn’t helped. Truthfully, neither has an improved defense which has reduced the need for Mahomes to light up the scoreboard week in and week out. In short, Mahomes has been fine as a QB1 – he’s just not the No. 1 overall QB you drafted him to be in the first two rounds.
Baker Mayfield
Positional average draft position: 4
Current positional ranking: 17
Numbers to know: After throwing a rookie-record 27 TD passes and 14 interceptions in 14 games a season ago, Mayfield has tossed 15 scoring passes with 16 picks in 13 contests so far this season, with only three 300-yard games.
Outlook: Patience. Yes, certainly Mayfield hasn’t found a chemistry with his new cast of weapons – particularly a certain three-initialed wide receiver that we’ll discuss later – but like Mahomes, it’s only Year 2 for Mayfield as a starter, and we’ll see what the offseason brings – perhaps some needed offensive-line help or even a coaching change.
Cam Newton
Positional average draft position: 10
Current positional ranking: 49
Numbers to know: Coming off a shoulder injury that cut his 2018 season short, a preseason foot injury cost Newton all but two messy games (11.8 and 16.6 fantasy points) this season.
Outlook: Panic (or, at least, much uncertainty). There is much upheaval in Panther Nation with the firing of Ron Rivera, the only head coach Cam has known since entering the NFL in 2011, and the QB’s time in Carolina may be up as well. Newton will turn 31 next May 11, and his recent health issues likely will serve to limit some of Newton’s greatest play-making strength, which is that of a dominant, 250-pound running threat.
Saquon Barkley
Positional average draft position: 1
Current positional ranking: 31 (entering the Giants’ Week 14 Monday night game).
Numbers to know: The second-year back did miss three games and was unable to finish another due to a high-ankle sprain suffered in Week 3. But even discarding that contest, he’s only cracked double-digit fantasy points in four of eight contests while scoring three TDs after doing so in each of his 16 games as a rookie while totaling 15 scores to finish as fantasy’s No. 2 overall back.
Outlook: Much patience. Like Mahomes, the leg injury has seemed to throw Barkley’s season for a curve, and things only figure to get better with second-year QB Daniel Jones starting from the get-go in 2020 (with, ideally, a healthier cast of weapons and, hopefully, an improved offensive line), helping the whole offensive flow.
Alvin Kamara
Positional average draft position: 3
Current positional ranking: 19
Numbers to know: Kamara has missed two contests (Weeks 7 and 8) due to injury, but his current eight-game TD drought started well before then in Week 4. And yes, incredibly, that drought includes Sunday’s 94-point shootout with the 49ers in the Big Easy. That leaves Kamara stuck on two total touchdowns and five games with double-digit fantasy points after totaling 18 and 10, respectively, in those categories a season ago.
Outlook: Patience. Even though his 2019 numbers have taken a noticeable tumble, he still passes the eye test as one of the league’s most dangerous weapons out of the backfield. The Saints are still putting up points with the best offenses in the league, making Kamara’s TD drought seem like nothing more than a puzzling one-year anomaly.
David Johnson
Positional average draft position: 7
Current positional ranking: 24
Ugly numbers to know: After totaling at least 12.5 fantasy points in five of his first six games, Johnson suffered an ankle injury in Week 7 and things haven’t been the same since with a lack of snaps and all of 17 total touches during that span. Johnson finally returned to double-digit fantasy scoring for the first time since Week 6 on Sunday, thanks to a receiving TD among his five total touches, but he’s long been benched or released in a number of leagues.
Outlook: Panic. Johnson will only be 28 later this month and should be in the prime of his career, but he has looked like anything but for most of this season. In the meantime, the fit with the Cards’ new offense just hasn’t seemed to be there. A change of scenery might be in the offing – how about a reunion with former coach Bruce Arians in RB-needy Tampa Bay? – but, in any case, look for him to fall to the middle rounds in drafts next summer and hope for some value.
Julio Jones
Positional average draft position: 3
Current positional ranking: 18
Numbers to know: Jones started strong with four TDs and two 100-yard receiving games in his first three contests, but he stunningly hasn’t appeared in the end zone in nine games since with only two more 100-yard outings to boot. So, since Week 4, Jones hasn’t accounted for any of the Falcons’ 25 TDs, including Sunday when an out-of-nowhere rookie wideout by the name of Olamide Zaccheaus outproduced Jones (66 yards on five catches) with one 93-yard scoring reception.
Outlook: Panic (at least when it comes to his automatic WR1 status). Jones has been such a dominant fantasy force in recent seasons, that it’s been tough to curtail the high-end WR1 expectations and projections throughout the industry this season. It’s mainly led, though, to fantasy frustration for Julio owners over the last three months, and we must start adjusting expectations and rankings downward, particularly with Jones turning 31 in February and the weekly nagging injuries seeming to constantly be lingering in the background.
Odell Beckham Jr.
Positional average draft position: 6
Current positional ranking: 32
Numbers to know: Sunday presented a favorable home matchup with the one-win Bengals, but OBJ managed only two catches for 39 scoreless yards on five targets – his 10th game (out of 13) with 8.2 fantasy points or fewer with only two TDs on the season.
Outlook: Yes, panic. We reached that stage a month or so ago, but there also were pre-game reports Sunday about impending sports-hernia surgery and OBJ asking to be traded, short of a full season in Cleveland, and that leaves his future very much up in the air. In reality, though, due to injuries and everything else that comes with OBJ, we haven’t seen a top-18 fantasy season out of him since 2016, and it’s fair to start wondering if Beckham’s best campaigns are already three years behind him and fading fast.
JuJu Smith-Schuster
Positional average draft position: 7
Current positional ranking: 55
Numbers to know: Ready or not, JJSS was thrust into the team’s No. 1 wide receiver role in his second season, and then Ben Roethlisberger’s season-ending elbow injury in Week 2 only further compounded things. That’s help result in only three double-digit fantasy-point games in Smith-Schuster’s first 10 before a concussion and knee injury knocked him out in Week 11. He’s since missed the last three games, further dropping him into the depths of 2019’s disappointments.
Outlook: Patience. Almost instantly with Big Ben’s injury, the Steelers were forced to take on more of defensive persona out of necessity, and the team’s young QBs (Duck Hodges and Mason Rudolph) just aren’t ready to support a bona fide week-in and week-out WR1 – even if Smith-Schuster had remained healthy. Smith-Schuster remains a talent, but his immediate future looks to be more in the WR2 range as best of an exciting young wideout corps.
Brandin Cooks
Positional average draft position: 14
Current positional ranking: 69
Numbers to know: Sure there was a Week 8 concussion that wound up costing him two games after the team’s Week 9 bye, but Cooks had cleared 10 or more fantasy points in only one of seven contests prior to that. Infinitely more puzzling, Cooks has been even more of a non-factor in the Rams’ recent resurgence, with only eight total targets and four catches since returning in Week 12.
Outlook: Panic. Once arguably the lead dog among L.A.’s talented WR trio, Cooks has clearly fallen behind compatriots Cooper Kupp and Robert Woods, and now the Rams’ tight ends are suddenly way more involved in the passing attack as well as the shift has gone to more shorter and intermediate throws rather than deeper shots to Cooks. The Rams will be facing some salary-cap issues soon with all the big contracts they’ve doled out in recent seasons, and it wouldn’t be shocking to see Cooks with a new team – which would be his fourth in seven seasons – in 2020.
A.J. Green
Positional average draft position: 24
Current positional ranking: —
Numbers to know: Zero – as in zero games/snaps/targets – as Green hasn’t even played in as much as a preseason game following an ankle injury sustained early in training camp.
Outlook: (Real) panic. Green’s injury issues go even further back than this summer as a foot injury essentially sidelined him for the second half of the 2018 season. In total, he’s played all of 17 offensive snaps – with one 7-yard reception – in the Bengals’ last 21 games, dating back to late October 2018. He was supposed to miss only four or five contests this season, but Green hasn’t even been able to string together back-to-back practices and should’ve long since been placed on IR as Cincy’s miserable one-win season drones on. Looking ahead, Green will be 32 by the time next season rolls around, and it’s looking increasingly doubtful he ever will be able to consistently produce at his elite WR1 level when he does finally return.
O.J. Howard
Positional average draft position: 4
Current positional ranking: 32
Numbers to know: Howard had a middling 7.3 fantasy points with four catches for 73 yards Sunday, but that marked his second-best outing of the season with his yardage total hitting a season high.
Outlook: (Verging on) panic. As impressive as Howard’s abbreviated 10-game 2018 season was (34 catches for 565 yards and five TDs), he still has three more games missed to injury (eight) than he does double-digit fantasy-point outings (five) during that span. And the fact that he hasn’t found a way to be meaningfully involved in one of the league’s most fantasy-friendly aerial attacks this season is troubling.
Vance McDonald
Positional average draft position: 8
Current positional ranking: 31
Numbers to know: It would stand to reason that Roethlisberger’s injury and the Steelers’ shift to a shorter passing game would’ve played right into McDonald’s hands, but he’s only topped four catches twice and 50 receiving yards three times – and none have come since Week 6. And even with four receiving TDs, McDonald only has cracked double-digit fantasy points twice in 12 games.
Outlook: Panic. This is McDonald’s seventh season, and he’s only finished as a top-20 fantasy tight end once, and that came last year when he came in 12th. There are still occasional flashes and TDs, but perhaps a startable fantasy tight end tease is all McDonald is ever going to be.
EXTRA POINTS
Fresh from the Go Figure Dept. is a sampling of a few notable quarterback fantasy-point totals from the opening weekend of the fantasy postseason in the majority of leagues: Mitchell Trubisky (36.5 points), Drew Lock (28.9) and Kyle Allen (27.1) all came out of Sunday as top-10 performers while Aaron Rodgers (15.3), Russell Wilson (15.1) and Josh Allen (12.2) were all 22nd or worse.
The answer is Raheem Mostert. The question was what 49ers running back did you want to start in Week 14? The telling numbers: Mostert (40 offensive snaps, 12 touches, 109 total yards and two TDs for a total of 24.9 PPR points ), Matt Breida (12 snaps, seven touches, 58 total yards and no TDs for 6.8 PPR points) and Tevin Coleman (11 snaps, three touches, six total yards and no TDs for 0.6 fantasy points).
We’ve discussed some TD droughts above, but two ended Sunday for a pair of wide receivers as Woods and the Chargers’ Mike Williams both hauled in long-overdue scoring passes. Woods entered the week with 98 targets without a TD catch while Williams was at 69 targets.
Titans rookie J. Brown continues to impress, leading all wideouts Sunday with 28.6 fantasy points (33.6 PPR) on five receptions for a career-high 153 yards and two TDs in the 42-21 road rout of the reeling Raiders. One issue though: a full 60.4 percent of Brown’s 115 fantasy points on the season have come in three of his 13 games.
Ad discussed above, the Rams continue to get their tight ends involved by using much more “12” personnel packages (one RB, 2 TEs) than they have in recent seasons. With Tyler Higbee’s6- and 26.7-point totals the last two weeks he and fellow TE Gerald Everett have now combined for five on the season. They had totaled only one between them the previous two full seasons.
With an intriguing Week 13 in the books, it is time to focus on the fantasy playoffs.
Hopefully, you’ve made the tournaments in the majority of your leagues, and if so, you’ve accomplished your most important goal as a fantasy general manager. From here, it’s mainly up to your teams’ stud players – and being on the right side of most of the random swings of fortune that occur weekly – that will determine whether you capture the championship.
Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports
With an intriguing Week 13 in the books, it is time to focus on the fantasy playoffs.
Hopefully, you’ve made the tournaments in the majority of your leagues, and if so, you’ve accomplished your most important goal as a fantasy general manager. From here, it’s mainly up to your teams’ stud players – and being on the right side of most of the random swings of fortune that occur weekly – that will determine whether you capture the championship.
Of course, making the right calls to fill out the final few spots in your lineup also will be crucial, and to aid in that overall endeavor, we’re taking the true temperature of some of fantasy’s hottest (and coldest) players entering the fantasy postseason and assessing whether they’re more trustworthy starter or bench worthy reserve as you lock in your playoff lineups.
Here are 10 players to consider with all fantasy points tabulated utilizing the point-per-reception scoring format in the Huddle Expert 10 league on myfantasyleague.com …
Jimmy Garoppolo
Current run of note: Even while finishing with his second-lowest passing-yardage total of the season Sunday (165 in the 20-17 rainy road loss to the Ravens), the 49ers’ quarterback has totaled the fifth-most fantasy points (107.88) at the position since Week 9 while ranking third among QBs in yards (1,242) and tied for second with 11 touchdown passes.
Postseason recommendation: Despite rushing for 174 yards Sunday, the Niners’ ground game hasn’t been what it was earlier in the season, and Jimmy G. has had to go to the air more of late. With stud tight end George Kittle back in healthier form along with newly-acquired and emerging wideouts, respectively, in Emmanuel Sanders and Deebo Samuel, Garoppolo’s weaponry has never been better than the present and he figures to have to keep airing it out with on-paper shootouts looming against the Saints, Rams and Seahawks as San Fran battles for the NFC’s No. 1 seed down the stretch.
Matt Ryan
Current run of note: After throwing for 15 TD passes and averaging 335.2 aerial yards per outing over his first six games, Ryan has only thrown for five scores while averaging 247 yards per game over his last five contests.
Postseason recommendation: At 3-9, the Falcons are going nowhere as one of the league’s biggest disappointments and unlike Garoppolo, Ryan is receiving less-and-less help from his supporting cast (TE Austin Hooper and WR Julio Jones are banged up and missing games) and offensive line (season-high nine sacks allowed Thursday) as the calendar flips to December. In addition, the Falcons only have one plus-fantasy QB matchup remaining, and that doesn’t come until Week 17 against the Bucs, and who knows who will be playing for Atlanta at that point. Stay away from Ryan unless he’s the best of limited options.
Joe Mixon
Current run of note: Since Week 8, Mixon ranks 12th among running backs with an average of 15.4 fantasy points per game and has totaled at least 16 touches and 70 yards from scrimmage in each of his five contests during that span.
Postseason recommendation: Mixon has authored a nice little second-half turnaround tale after ranking among the fantasy duds early in the season (topping 12 fantasy points only once in his first seven games while averaging 14.1 touches and 50.6 total yards per contest). The one-win Bengals don’t have a favorable remaining schedule outside of a Week 16 game in Miami, but first-year head coach Zac Taylor seems to have re-committed to featuring Mixon, and the RB responded with usable RB2 fantasy figures.
Saquon Barkley
Current run of note: Since totaling 45.3 fantasy points in Weeks 7-8 after returning from a three-game absence due to an ankle injury, the Giants’ second-year back has totaled only 30.6 points over his last three contests, with nearly half of them (14.5) coming in Sunday’s snowy home loss to the Packers.
Postseason recommendation: There’s no doubt Barkley hasn’t been the elite RB1 you drafted early in the first round this summer, currently ranking 13th at the position with an average of 15.5 fantasy points per game, but he’s still averaged a healthy 19.7 touches per contest during this current three-game rough stretch, and it’s hard to imagine the majority of Barkley owners rostering an RB2/flex player with more talent, opportunity and upside than the N.Y. sophomore.
Ronald Jones
Current run of note: Since posting his two highest fantasy-point totals (16.2 and 24.6) in back-to-back games in Weeks 9-10, the Bucs’ running back has been totaled all of 19.9 points in three games since, capped by Sunday’s season-low 0.8-point effort (six carries for eight yards) in a 28-11 road win over the Jaguars.
Postseason recommendation: Despite Bruce Arians’ announced anointment of Jones as the Bucs’ starting back last month, he’s averaged only nine touches over his last three contests and has been outscored by Peyton Barber in two of the last three games, including Sunday when Barber scored twice on his 17 carries for 44 yards while Jones was benched after botching a blitz pick-up. Meanwhile, Dare Ogunbowale continues to serve as Tampa’s main passing-game back, leading the team’s RBs in targets (35) and receptions (27). Jones certainly looks to be best back in the Bucs’ backfield, but it’s not translating into reliable week-to-week fantasy production, leaving Jones far from trustworthy, no matter the matchup.
Jarvis Landry
Current run of note: From the start of Week 9 through play Sunday, Landry has been nothing short of the No. 1 PPR wideout in fantasy with 106.5 total points, reeling in 35-of-54 targets for 415 yards and a league-most five receiving TDs. In Sunday’s loss to the Steelers, Landry drew double-digit targets (11) for the fifth time in his last six games and posted double-figure fantasy points for the sixth straight outing.
Postseason recommendation: It’s starting to look like the Browns traded for Odell Beckham Jr. in the offseason simply to divert defensive attention from Landry, his old LSU teammate. For the season, Landry has outperformed OBJ in every metric from targets (108-103), receptions (65-57) and receiving yards (919-805) to TDs (5-2) and, of course, total fantasy points (187.9-151.3). Landry’s yards-per-reception average is even a tick higher (14.13-14.12) than Beckham’s and is currently running a full two yards higher than his previous season-best of 12.1 in 2016. In short, Landry has gone from summer supporting actor to late-season leading man in the Cleveland passing game and has become a must-start WR1 in all formats.
DeVante Parker
Current run of note: We keep waiting for the red-hot Parker to cool off in South Beach, but Sunday afternoon featured nothing less than a career day in terms of receiving yards (159) and TD receptions (two) on seven catches and 10 targets in a 37-31 shootout win over the visiting Eagles. Since Week 8, Parker has been the No. 3 wide receiver in fantasy with his 126.5 points trailing only the Saints’ Michael Thomas (139.9) and the Lions’ Marvin Jones (131.3). Parker’s 65 targets rank fourth during that span, and he’s caught 40 of them for 625 yards and four TDs. (And, no, we didn’t accidentally grab the 2018 numbers of another Davante, Green Bay’s Adams, by mistake).
Postseason recommendation: The impressive numbers are one thing, but watching Parker continually leaping over Philly DB after Philly DB on Sunday to almost single-handedly propel the Dolphins to the upset win is a testament that the 2015 first-round pick has finally truly arrived in Year 5. For fantasy, he’s gone from a volume-driven garbage-time specialist on a pass-heavy Miami team to a legit every-week WR starter as he teams with the perfect QB in underrated gunslinger Ryan Fitzpatrick. Even better, the schedule continues to be favorable over the next three weeks with the Jets, Giants and Bengals up next for the Dolphins.
Allen Robinson
Current run of note: The Bears’ No. 1 wideout has been on fire of late, putting together back-to-back 20-fantasy-point performances in wins over the Giants and Lions. Robinson has caught 14-of-22 targets for 217 yards and two scores in those contests to rank as the No. 4 wide receiver in fantasy over that span through play Sunday.
Postseason recommendation: Take note again that those showings have come against the Giants and Lions – two of the six most-favorable matchups for opposing wideouts. But the pillow-soft matchups will now disappear for the next three weeks – i.e. the full fantasy postseason in the majority of leagues – as Robinson faces three of the eight toughest defenses for fantasy WRs in the Cowboys, Packers and Chiefs in back-to-back-to-back weeks. And with the likes of Mitchell Trubisky in charge of getting Robinson the ball against a trio of teams fighting for their playoff lives, you’re likely in for trouble if you’re counting on Robinson as one of your top fantasy wideouts entering the playoffs.
Jack Doyle
Current run of note: It didn’t do Indy much good in the end, but tight end enjoyed his best outing of the season across the board Sunday, reeling in 6-of-11 targets for 73 yards and a TD in a loss to the visiting Titans. Doyle led the team in targets and finished with double digits in that category for the first time this season.
Postseason recommendation: It was addition by subtraction for Doyle as QB Jacoby Brissett was simply in the hunt for reliable targets with TE Eric Ebron and WRs T.Y. Hilton and Parris Campbell injured and out. Ebron is on injured reserve and done for the season and who knows when Hilton will be back after his calf injury flared up last week in practice, causing him to miss his fourth game in his last five. In the meantime, Brissett and Colts likely will keep riding Doyle as they claw to get back into the AFC playoff picture and you should too if you’re looking for viable postseason options at tight end.
Ryan Griffin
Current run of note: Since Week 8, Griffin has totaled the third-most fantasy points (76.6) among tight ends, catching 24-of-28 targets for 266 yards and a position-most-tying four scores.
Postseason recommendation: Like most middling fantasy tight ends, Griffin is touchdown-dependent as he’s only posted double-digit fantasy points in one game he’s failed to score in this season. And then there’s the Jets’ fantasy playoff schedule. After a Week 14 home game against the Dolphins, New York tangles with Ravens, Steelers and Bills – with two of the three on the road – and if Sam Darnold and Co. can’t even find their way into the red zone (let alone the end zone) against the likes of the previously winless Bengals as they did Sunday, you can’t have much realistic hope for Griffin going against three AFC playoff contenders with formidable defenses down the stretch. Scrounge up another tight end if you make it past Week 14 with Griffin.
EXTRA POINTS
Patriots RB James White, who had totaled only 12 touches over previous two games, logged a career-high 22, including a career-most 14 rushing attempts for 79 yards, in Sunday night’s loss to the Texans and finished with 37.7 PPR points which led all Week 13 players heading into Monday night.
Fellow New England RB Sony Michel, meanwhile, had a decent-enough start Sunday with 45 rushing yards on 10 carries but was relegated to the sideline almost as soon as the Texans took a double-digit lead midway through the second quarter and watched as White rolled up a career-most 177 total yards and two TDs. Michel also was phased out in the Pats’ Week 9 loss to the Ravens (five touches for 30 yards) and has become a game-flow and TD-dependent back who hasn’t scored since his three-TD outburst in Week 7.
Speaking of disappearing lead backs, the 49ers’ Tevin Coleman logged a season-low six touches (for 15 yards) and played only 10 offensive snaps (18-percent share) while watching Raheem Mostert (74-percent snap share) roll up 154 yards (and a TD) on 22 touches – both career highs – in the hard-fought 20-17 road loss in Baltimore. Coleman has been inefficient and non-productive (122 rushing yards on 49 carries, 112 yards on 12 catches, one total TD) since his 118-total yard, four-TD explosion in Week 8, and with fellow RB Matt Breida also due back this coming week after a three-week injury absence to further muddy the Niners’ backfield, it’s going to be awfully tough to trust having Coleman anywhere in your starting lineup in the fantasy postseason.
Rams WR Robert Woods was targeted on a Week 13- and career-most 19 of Jared Goff’s 43 passing attempts Sunday afternoon in Arizona and caught 13 for a career-high 172 yards. Woods missed Week 11 with an undisclosed personal issue but has easily been the Rams’ best receiver of late, catching 26-of-39 targets for 364 yards over his last three games but oddly still ranks as the league’s most-targeted player (99) without a receiving TD. Woods’ only score this season came on an 8-yard run back in Week 6.
Through Sunday, Titans rookie WR J. Brown ranked third in the league with 11.6 yards per target and has been the team’s most targeted (31) and productive pass-catcher (20 receptions for 353 yards and two TDs) since QB Ryan Tannehill started his impressive run as the Titans’ starter in Week 7, but Brown has only had one game (out of six) with more than 12.2 fantasy points during that stretch. And it wasn’t Sunday when he finished with a pedestrian three catches for 45 yards and no scores on four targets vs. the Colts.
Thanksgiving week is upon us, and in our fantasy football universe, that means the end of the regular season and the fantasy playoffs are nigh.
Jeremy Brevard-USA TODAY Sports
Thanksgiving week is upon us, and in our fantasy football universe, that means the end of the regular season and the fantasy playoffs are nigh.
And with only one more weekend of play – and only two more waiver-claim periods – remaining in the majority of leagues before the postseason kicks off, it’s time to take stock of the fringe starters and streamers at each of the five main fantasy positions (quarterback, running back, wide receiver, tight end and team defense) who are trending in the right directions while also owning favorable postseason slates, according to one of most useful and invaluable resources at your disposal as a Huddle member: the fantasy Strength of Schedule tool.
As a bonus, we’ll point out one potential starter at each of the five positions with a decidedly unfavorable fantasy postseason schedule to be very wary of. (Note: To correlate with the majority of leagues, we’re treating Weeks 14-16 as the fantasy postseason, and we’re utilizing non-point-per-reception Huddle Performance scoring).
QUARTERBACK
Ryan Tannehill (Titans)
Stat to know: Since taking over from Marcus Mariota as Tennessee’s starter in Week 7, Tannehill has been nothing less than fantasy’s third-best QB with 133.9 points and 13 total touchdowns, including three rushing, in five games through Sunday.
Fantasy postseason schedule: at Oakland, vs. Houston, vs. New Orleans. With the Titans owning the easiest fantasy postseason QB schedule, all three of Tennessee’s foes rank in the league’s top half in terms of most points surrendered to opposing quarterbacks, including the Raiders and Texans who are among the six most charitable.
Quick thought: Most were only expecting a slight improvement over Mariota, but Tannehill has gone above and beyond, topping 20 or more fantasy points with multiple TDs in all five of his starts and should be starting until further notice, regardless of matchup.
Baker Mayfield (Browns)
Stat to know: The Cleveland sophomore has passed for multiple TDs in each of his last three games after failing to do so even once in his first eight contests.
Fantasy postseason schedule: vs. Cincinnati, at Arizona, vs. Baltimore. The Ravens’ rapidly improved D will be tough in Week 16, but Mayfield can definitely extend his roll with tasty plus-matchups against the Bengals and Cards in Weeks 14 and 15.
Quick thought: Drafted as a QB1 following a strong second half of his rookie season, Mayfield likely was found on more waiver wires than starting lineups after tossing only seven TD passes and 12 interceptions over his first eight games, but it’s been a seven-to-one ratio since with a rushing TD thrown in. Ride the wave of redemption.
Jameis Winston (Buccaneers)
Stat to know: Winston has thrown for at least 300 yards and a TD in eight of his last nine games, including six straight.
Fantasy postseason schedule: vs. Indianapolis, at Detroit, vs. Houston. If Winston’s impressive numbers weren’t enough, the Bucs own the seventh most-favorable fantasy QB playoff itinerary with no minus-matchups.
Quick thought: Even with Winston continuing to pace the league in interceptions with 20 after tossing six over his last two outings, he’s more than making up for it with the help of two elite wide receivers in Mike Evans and Chris Godwin and hasn’t finished with fewer than 19.5 fantasy points in a game since Week 3.
QB to be wary of: Josh Allen (Bills) – Coming out of Sunday and his third straight 22.5-point-plus game, the second-year Allen ranks sixth among fantasy QBs in terms of total points, but the Bills have famously feasted on one of the league’s easiest schedules so far. However, looking forward, the Bills’ fantasy QB postseason slate ranks as the second-most unfavorable in the league with matchups against the Ravens, Steelers and Patriots awaiting.
RUNNING BACK
Phillip Lindsay (Broncos)
Stat to know: In the two games since the Broncos’ bye in Week 10, Lindsay has been instilled as the team’s clear lead back, logging 32 touches to Royce Freeman’s 13 and out snapping him 78-51.
Fantasy postseason schedule: at Houston, at Kansas City, vs. Detroit. With two very favorable matchups (K.C. and the Lions) and another green-light game (vs. the Texans), it projects as the easiest fantasy RB playoff itinerary in the league.
Quick thought: The Broncos’ offense, as a whole, is among the league’s worst but you can bank on Lindsay to keep running with fearlessness, and he’s gained at least 60 total yards in every game but one this season with five rushing scores.
Sony Michel (Patriots)
Stat to know: Michel has largely underwhelmed this season, but in each of the Pats’ 10 wins this season, he’s totaled at least 12 touches and/or scored a TD, averaging 10.04 fantasy points per contest.
Fantasy postseason schedule: vs. Kansas City, at Cincinnati, vs. Buffalo. The Patriots possess the third-friendliest fantasy playoff running back schedule with K.C. and Cincy both ranking among the five teams allowing the most RB fantasy points per game.
Quick thought: Even though Michel hasn’t scored a TD since Week 7, he remains the team’s clear lead back, accounting for 20 of the team’s 25 running-back rushes in Sunday’s win over Dallas. Similar to last postseason when he averaged a whopping 23.6 rushing attempts per game, the Pats could once again lean heavily on Michel down the stretch with Tom Brady and the passing game currently struggling.
Kareem Hunt (Browns)
Stat to know: Since debuting for Cleveland in Week 10 following the end of his eight-game suspension, Hunt only has 9.9 fewer PPR points than lead back Nick Chubb and ranks second on the team with 15 receptions over those three contests.
Fantasy postseason schedule: vs. Cincinnati, at Arizona, vs. Baltimore. The Browns have the seventh most-favorable fantasy RB playoff schedule.
Quick thought: Of course everyone is still going to be starting Chubb, but don’t overlook Hunt as a RB2/flex play, particularly in PPR leagues.
Running back to be wary of: Bo Scarbrough (Lions) – Scarbrough has rushed for 153 yards and a TD on 32 carries in two games since making his Detroit debut in Week 11, but the Lions own fantasy’s second-toughest fantasy playoff RB slate with matchups against the Vikings, Bucs and Broncos – all of whom rank among the 13 teams surrendering the fewest fantasy points to opposing backs.
WIDE RECEIVER
D.J. Moore (Panthers)
Stat to know: Since Week 9, no player has been targeted more than Carolina’s Moore (45 in four games) and only Saints stud wideout Michael Thomas (31) has caught more passes than Moore’s 30 during that stretch.
Fantasy postseason schedule: at Atlanta, vs. Seattle, at Indianapolis. None of three matchups are daunting in the least, making for the ninth-easiest fantasy WR slate.
Quick thought: Moore is sixth among wideouts in both targets (103) and receptions (68) on the season and has emerged as a must-start WR2 – even with uneven QB Kyle Allen at the helm.
DeVante Parker (Dolphins)
Stat to know: Since Ryan Fitzpatrick was reinstated as Miami’s starting quarterback in Week 6, Parker has totaled the 11th-most fantasy points (PPR) among all wide receivers, reeling in 36-of-59 targets for 494 yards and three TDs.
Fantasy postseason schedule: at N.Y. Jets, at N.Y. Giants, vs. Cincinnati. This trio of opponents comprises the fourth-easiest fantasy wideout playoff schedule.
Quick thought: Parker has averaged 9.2 targets and 5.5 receptions with at least 11.9 PPR points over his last six games as the top target on a team that’s going to have to continue to pass early and often in an attempt to keep up with one of the league’s worst defenses.
Terry McLaurin (Redskins)
Stat to know: The talented rookie was tied for third among all wideouts Sunday with a season-high 12 targets, and his 638 receiving yards on the season are 393 more than any other Washington wide receiver or tight end.
Fantasy postseason schedule: at Green Bay, vs. Philadelphia, vs. N.Y. Giants. It’s the sixth easiest fantasy WR playoff slate, with the Week 15 and 16 matchups against the division-rival Eagles and Giants looking particularly promising.
Quick thought: Fellow rookie (and McLaurin’s Ohio State teammate) Dwayne Haskins is learning on the fly, and with Washington figuring to have to air it out frequently to try to keep up on the scoreboard, McLaurin looks to be a solid WR3/flex option.
Wide receiver to be wary of: Allen Robinson (Bears) – After catching only 11 passes for 107 yards and no TDs over the previous three weeks, Robinson came up big Sunday against the Giants, snaring six passes for a season-high 131 yards and a TD. It’s exactly what any team’s No. 1 wide receiver should do against one of the league’s worst secondaries, but the matchups for Robinson and struggling Chicago QB Mitch Trubisky will be infinitely tougher in the fantasy postseason with the Cowboys, Packers and Chiefs on the docket, making for the third-toughest fantasy wide receiver itinerary.
TIGHT END
Jacob Hollister (Seahawks)
Stat to know: In three games since Week 9, Hollister has caught 14-of-20 targets for 121 yards and three TDs, while averaging 14.7 PPR points per outing – the seventh-best average at the position.
Fantasy postseason schedule: at L.A. Rams, at Carolina, vs. Arizona. This projects to be the second-easiest playoff schedule for tight ends, and playing a TE against the Cardinals is a sure-fire winning fantasy strategy in any game, let alone in fantasy championship week.
Quick thought: Tight end is so thin that matchups don’t matter as much once you latch on to a reliable one, but they certainly can point you in the right direction if you’re deciding between similar options at the position in shallower leagues.
Kyle Rudolph/Irv Smith Jr. (Vikings)
Stat to know: Minnesota had a bye in Week 12, but in the five previous weeks (7 through 11), Rudolph and the rookie Smith both ranked among the top 12 tight ends in terms of total fantasy points (PPR), combining for 40 receptions (20 apiece) for 347 yards and six TDs (five for Rudolph) on 48 targets (24 each).
Fantasy postseason schedule: vs. Detroit, at L.A. Chargers, vs. Green Bay. It’s the sixth-easiest projected schedule for tight ends.
Quick thought: The Minnesota tight ends’ spike in production has coincided directly with the hamstring-injury absence of WR Adam Thielen, who could be returning in Week 13. It’s also coincided with a 4-1 run for the Vikings, who are now tied for the NFC North lead, and it’s worked so well that it’s hard to imagine Minnesota not keeping them involved in the offense.
Tight end to be wary of: Mike Gesicki (Dolphins) – The second-year Miami tight caught his first NFL TD pass Sunday and has posted a 16-169-1 combined stat line on 19 targets over his last four games. However, the third most unfavorable projected fantasy tight end schedule looms in the playoffs, so keep that in mind if you’re weighing Gesicki against similar options at the position.
TEAM DEFENSE
Houston Texans
Stat to know: Coming out of Sunday, the J.J. Watt/Jadeveon Clowney-less Texans rank 26th among fantasy defenses on the season and rank 28th with 23 sacks in 11 games.
Fantasy postseason schedule: vs. Denver, at Tennessee, at Tampa Bay
Quick thought: Unless you have one of the elite fantasy defenses (i.e. Patriots, 49ers and Steelers), it’s all about the matchups, and the Texans possess the second-most favorable fantasy postseason slate, which includes a game against the always-charitable Winston on championship weekend.
Baltimore Ravens
Stat to know: Entering Monday night’s game against the Rams, the Ravens had come away with two or more turnovers in five of their six previous games while allowing an average of 16 points during that stretch. Even more impressive, Baltimore had scored five defensive TDs over their last four games heading into Week 12.
Fantasy postseason schedule: at Buffalo, vs. N.Y. Jets, at Cleveland
Quick thought: The Week 15 home game against the Jets is the only extremely-favorable matchup during the stretch, but it’s not hard to imagine the Bills and Browns and their young QBs pressing and struggling to keep up with Lamar Jackson and the league’s hottest offense in the other two games.
Team D to be wary of: Chicago Bears – Chicago was fantasy’s defense to own in 2018, but as is the annual lesson that’s so tough to learn, one season’s gem is the next season’s most overdrafted and underwhelming fantasy defense as the Bears currently rank 19th overall at the position. And now looms a fantasy-playoff stretch with not one, not two but three negative matchups in the Cowboys, Packers and Chiefs? No, and thanks.
We pore over the rankings each week, size up the matchups and weigh the fantasy-point projections each week as we seek to set the best possible lineups.
Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY Sports
We pore over the rankings each week, size up the matchups and weigh the fantasy-point projections each week as we seek to set the best possible lineups.
Most of the forecasts prove to be more or less spot on, but there are still the overachieving surprises and disappointing duds each week, and these are the unforeseen outliers that wind up deciding the majority of matchups.
We’ve been taking of note players on both sides of the spectrum, and here, in our opinion, are eight of the most over- and underrated fantasy performers – going position-by-position – of 2019.
QUARTERBACK
Overrated – In making his return from a second straight injury-shortened season, Philly’s Carson Wentz was a popular QB1 pick this summer, and his 28.1-point opening-week outing (313 yards, three touchdown passes) appeared to have provided instant validation. But, nine games later, that’s easily proven to be Wentz’s best showing of the season as he’s only topped 24 fantasy points twice since then and comes out of play Sunday ranked 20th at the position with an average of 20 fantasy points per outing. A banged-up wide receivers corps certainly hasn’t made his life any easier, but Wentz has finished with multiple TD passes or 17.5 fantasy points or more only once since Week 4, putting him squarely in QB2 streaming territory.
Underrated – The Buffalo Bills really haven’t had a prolific offense since the Jim Kelly-Thurman Thomas-Andre Reed heydays a quarter-century ago, and after entering Week 11 ranked 25th in the league in scoring with 19.3 points per contest, the 2019 Bills don’t appear to be breaking that mold. Meanwhile, in fantasy, though, second-year QB Josh Allen – who wasn’t among the top 20 quarterbacks drafted in the majority of fantasy leagues this summer – is putting up QB1 numbers. Following his best outing of the season Sunday (256 passing yards, three aerial TDs and 56 yards and a TD on the ground), Allen ranks 10th at the position with an average of 23.6 fantasy points per game. But while Sunday’s showing in South Beach was his first 30-point game of the season, he’s delivered steady fantasy production, finishing with 20 or more points in six of his previous eight contests, with a season “low” of 16.2 in a game he didn’t even finish due to a concussion.
RUNNING BACK
Overrated – It hardly sounds possible that the lead back, who’s averaging 15.1 touches per game, on the run-heaviest (53.2 percent) and second most productive rushing squad (149 yards per game) in the league could be underperforming, but yet we have Tevin Coleman of the 9-1 49ers. Coleman does rank 17th in standard leagues (11.5) in terms of running back fantasy points per contest, but consider that 38.8 percent (35.8) of his 92.3 points on the season came in one game – his 118 total-yard, four-TD performance in Week 8 – and he’s finished with 12.1 points or fewer in six of his other seven contests, including five single-digit outings. Since that monster Week 8, Coleman has consistently been ranked as a solid RB2 but only has delivered a total of 17 fantasy points over those three games, including a meager 77 rushing yards on 33 attempts. And with Matt Breida (when healthy), Raheem Mostert, Jeff Wilson Jr. (when Breida is out), and even fullback Kyle Juszczyk continuing to be regularly involved as well, Coleman is simply a flex flyer at best until we see otherwise.
Underrated – The Rams’ Todd Gurley has been assailed for his usage decrease (16.3 touches per game – down from 21.8 over the previous three seasons and 2.0 receptions per contest – down from 3.7 from 2016-18) in a Rams’ offense that has struggled through most of the season, but , coming out of Sunday, we found Gurley ranked 11th (standard) and 16th (PPR) at his position in terms of fantasy points per game. He’s also tied for sixth among RBs with eight total TDs, having found his way into the end zone in six of nine contests. On Sunday night, Gurley hit season highs in rushing attempts (25), touches (28), total yards (133) and fantasy points (19.3/22.3) in the Rams’ 17-7 win over the Bears, and, believe it or not, has now scored double-digit fantasy points in seven of nine contests this season. Perhaps coach Sean McVay and the playoff-seeking 6-4 Rams have been saving Gurley for the all-important stretch run after he wore down late last season, and if so, Sunday night just may have offered a tantalizing view of things to come.
WIDE RECEIVER
Overrated – Check the top three of the wide receiver rankings, regardless of format, each week and you’re sure to find the Falcons’ Julio Jones listed. But through 11 weeks and 10 games now, Jones has only finished as a top-three wideout once and a top-10 performer only three times. Overall on the season, Jones ranks 13th among wide receivers in standard scoring (11.2 points per game) and 10th in point-per-reception formats (17.1 points), and the main culprit has been Jones’ now-seven-game TD-catch drought after snaring four scoring passes in the first three contests of the season. Jones famously failed to catch a scoring pass in the first seven games of last season, and in his current seven-game scoreless skid, he’s failed to wind up on the receiving end of any of the team’s 12 TD passes since Week 3 while watching teammates such as TE Austin Hooper (four receiving TDs in that span), WR Calvin Ridley (three) and RB Devonta Freeman (three) prosper during that span. Now, you’re likely still starting Jones each week, but expecting week-in and week-out WR1 production – let alone elite WR1 production – is simply unrealistic, especially as long as his latest TD drought continues.
Underrated – Even prior to his monster outing Sunday (season-best 25.7 standard points on nine catches for 137 yards and two TDs), the Bills’ John Brown was plugging along as one of the most overlooked consistent week-to-week fantasy performers. Allen’s speedy top target has finished with at least four catches and 50 receiving yards in all 10 of his games this season, and the only other wideout who can say as much is none other than league receiving leader Michael Thomas of the Saints. That means Brown has finished with at least 9.5 PPR points in every contest and is a rock-solid WR2, ranking 15th at the position with an average of 16.2 PPR points per outing.
TIGHT END
Overrated – Overvalued prospects at fantasy’s thinnest position are few and far between, but Lions rookie T.J. Hockenson is among the closest to qualify. Big things have been expected since his monster 19.1/25.1-point explosion in Week 1. Hockenson caught six of nine targets for 131 yards and a TD that afternoon in Arizona, but he’s caught all of 20 passes for 218 yards and one TD on 37 targets in nine games since while scoring no more than 8.7/11.7 fantasy points in any one contest. And now with backup QB Jeff Driskel at the controls for the foreseeable future, Hockenson is nothing more than a deeper-league streaming dart-throw.
Underrated – Starting in Week 4, with their WRs corps depleted, the Eagles have been one of the league’s most heavy “12” personnel teams. Second-year tight end Dallas Goedert has played at least 58 percent of the offensive snaps in all seven of those contests and has caught 22-of-34 for 241 yards and four TDs, good for 46.1/68.1 fantasy points. During that same seven-game span fellow Philly TE Zach Ertz has totaled 55.1/93.1 fantasy points, but while Ertz is seen as a must-start TE1, Goedert is lucky to appear on the list of prospective streamers most weeks. Don’t be fooled any longer, and realize Philly fields a pair of start-worthy tight ends.
EXTRA POINTS
Injured Lions QB Matthew Stafford ranks sixth among QBs with an average of 25.9 points per outing, and right behind at No. 7 is replacement Driskel at 25.4, establishing him as a solid streamer after only two starts. However, Driskel is averaging 239 passing yards per game and 6.63 yards per attempt to Stafford’s 312.4 and 8.59 figures, respectively, and is averaging 7.4 rushing fantasy points per game to Stafford’s .8 mark – all of which lowers the weekly fantasy ceilings and floors of the Detroit pass catchers.
One wide receiver who continues to produce despite his team’s less-than-ideal QB play is the Broncos’ Courtland Sutton, who notched his second 100-yard outing of the season in Sunday’s loss to the Vikings. A high weekly floor is what stands out for the second-year wideout as Sutton has received at least seven targets in 100 games this season and has had 56 receiving yards in all but one contest. He’s a locked-in WR2.
Another young wide receiver on the rise is 49ers rookie Deebo Samuel who’s been targeted 21 times over the last two games and has reeled in 16 for 246 yards. With TE George Kittle missing both contests and WR Emmanuel Sanders being limited to a combined 60 snaps due to a rib cartilage injury, Samuel has garnered seven more targets, eight more receptions and had 166 more receiving yards than any other San Fran player during that stretch. Samuel suffered a shoulder injury in the second half Sunday but came back in to put the wraps on a season-best 134-yard outing on eight catches and should continue to be involved even with Kittle and Sanders get healthier.
Back to the Motor City, take note that Lions RB Bo Scarbrough – signed to the practice squad two weeks ago and activated for the first time Sunday to face the team (Cowboys) which drafted him in the seventh round last season – logged 14 of the team’s 19 RB rushing attempts and finished with a team-most 55 yards and a TD in the 35-27 loss. Every team’s lead back has a degree of value this late in the season, and it looks like Scarbrough just may have jumped into the driver’s seat for the Kerryon Johnson-less Lions.
Out of nowhere, we suddenly have to beware of the Falcons’ defense. In its last two games, facing the division-rival Panthers and Saints, the Atlanta “D” has registered 11 sacks and four interceptions while not allowing a TD pass in posting a pair of 17-point-plus road wins. During their 1-7 start, the Falcons were torched for 19 touchdown passes while totaling only seven sacks and two interceptions. That makes the Falcons’ D a must-start in Week 12 with Jameis Winston and the Bucs (league-high 18 interceptions thrown and fourth-most 36 sacks surrendered) visiting Atlanta this coming Sunday.
We are on to Week 11, and Thanksgiving – and the fantasy playoffs – are both coming up fast.
No better time than the present to take stock what’s gone down in the fantasy season so far, and we’ll do it today through the lens of 10 surprising statistics.
We are on to Week 11, and Thanksgiving – and the fantasy playoffs – are both coming up fast.
No better time than the present to take stock what’s gone down in the fantasy season so far, and we’ll do it today through the lens of 10 surprising statistics.
Let’s dig right in, starting with …
1. Through play Sunday, Packers’ Aaron Rodgers ranked sixth among fantasy quarterbacks with 220.8 total fantasy points (Huddle Performance scoring) but only has finished among the top 12 QBs in three weeks out of 10 on the season.
And one of those weeks wasn’t Week 10 as Rodgers totaled 12.3 fantasy points in a 24-16 win over the visiting Panthers on the snowy Lambeau Field tundra. That means Rodgers has had his second- and third-worst fantasy weeks of the season the last two games and they’ve come right after a three-week tear in which he averaged 33.7 points while throwing for 1,017 yards and accounting for 11 total touchdowns in Weeks 6-8. The bottom line is that Rodgers’ consistency is far from reliable with as many sub-13-point fantasy games as 30-point plus outings and a full 61.1 percent of his total fantasy points coming in just four of his 10 contests.
2. Since his first start in Week 3 Giants rookie Daniel Jones ranks fourth among all quarterbacks with 190.6 fantasy points.
Jones’ Giants came up short in the crosstown (East Rutherford, N.J.) battle against the Jets on Sunday, but he won the fantasy QB battle outscoring counterpart Sam Darnold 33.4-24.0. Jones’ point total was only topped Sunday by studs Lamar Jackson (35.6) and Patrick Mahomes (34.3) and gave the first-round Duke rookie three games of 33.4 points or more among his eight starts. In his other five starts, though, he hasn’t topped 19.9 points while averaging 16.9. In those three big games, Jones accounted for four TDs in each one with nary an interception. In his other five contests, he has five total TDs and eight interceptions, making Rodgers’ aforementioned swings seem almost normal by comparison. With the right matchup, though, Jones can deliver, making him a prime choice – as we detailed in this space a week ago – if you’re streaming QBs and shooting for elite upside
3. Baker Mayfield came out of Sunday tied for 24th among quarterbacks with nine touchdown passes in as many games played.
As most should remember, Mayfield tossed a rookie single-season record 27 scoring passes in 13 starts a season ago. Those fantasy general managers who selected Mayfield among the first five QBs in fantasy drafts this summer certainly do, but the Browns’ QB only delivered two startable (top 12) weekly QB finishes on the season while throwing three more interceptions (12) than scoring passes. Sunday’s two scoring tosses marked his first multiple-TD-pass game of the season, but it resulted in 20 fantasy points, ranking him 13th among QBs in Week 10 and upping his season average to 17.7 per game (27th overall).
4. Sticking with the confounding and underperforming Browns, wide receiver Jarvis Landry owns more fantasy points in both standard (78.2-70.2) and point-per-reception (123.2-114.2) formats than fellow wideout Odell Beckham Jr. through nine games.
Many thought the Browns would straighten things out during their Week 7 bye, but Landry has outscored OBJ in each of the three games since then, scoring two TDs in back-to-back weeks, while Beckham remains stuck on one scoring grab, which came all the way back when the calendar still said it was summer (Week 2). In hitting a season-high, Beckham was targeted two more times than Landry (12-10) on Sunday and subsequently has two more on the season (79-77), but Landry has one more catch (45-44), 20 more receiving yards (652-632) and one more score – all to the continuing consternation of those who spent a top-two-round draft pick on OBJ this summer.
5. Packers wide receiver Davante Adams has totaled the second-most targets (57) in the league among players who have yet to notch a receiving TD.
Now, sure, Adams was sidelined with a toe injury and has missed four of the Pack’s 10 games, but this is a player who is coming off a three-year span where he ranked only behind Antonio Brown (36) with 35 touchdown grabs in 45 games – averaging .78 TDs per contest and a score every 11.6 targets. By those metrics, Adams should have around five scoring receptions right now but, instead, his lack of TDs has him ranked 31st among wideouts in terms of (standard) fantasy points per game. That said, Adams is a prime buy-low candidate if your league trade deadline has yet to arrive.
6. Chargers wideout Mike Williams is only one target behind Adams with 56 on the list of the league’s most-targeted players without a receiving score.
Yeah, we had Williams pegged for some serious TD regression after last season when 10 of his 66 targets and 43 receptions resulted in TDs – the only player in 2018 with eight or more receiving TDs and fewer than 57 receptions. But zero TDs on 56 targets and 31 receptions, including only catches on 10 red-zone targets to stand the only player with no scores among the 32 who came out of Sunday with nine or more targets inside the red zone? That’s a shocker for a still-imposing 6-foot-4, 220-pound target who has seen 12 of QB Philip Rivers’ 14 touchdown tosses go to RB Austin Ekeler (six), WR Keenan Allen (three) and TE Hunter Henry (three). We’re now expecting a Williams regression to the mean in the other direction.
7. Through Week 10, the Jaguars own the league’s most lopsided passing-to-rushing TD ratio at 14:1.
We don’t know if Gardner Minshew Mania (his 13 TD passes rank third among the league’s rookie/second-year QBs) or the second-year rise of WR D.J. Chark (six TD catches, tied for fourth among all players) are the culprits. But you can’t blame the Jags’ offensive philosophy (13th run-heaviest team at 41.9 percent) or the usage/effectiveness of RB Leonard Fournette who came out of Sunday tied for seventh in the league with 174 carries while his 4.78 yards-per-carry average ranks fifth among backs with at least 150 attempts. Fournette also was tied for seventh with 17 rushing attempts inside the opposition’s 10-yard line, but those carries shockingly have netted only four yards and his (and the team’s) one TD. It’s also why Fournette, who ranks fifth in rushing (831) and third in yards from scrimmage (1,126), ranks 11th among RBs in total standard-scoring fantasy points (118.6).
8. The Texans’ Duke Johnson leads all running backs with an average of 6.78 yards per touch.
That figure ranks 10th overall among all players, and despite averaging 5.31 yards per attempt on 54 rushes and 10.36 yards per catch on 22 receptions, Johnson ranked only 34th among running backs through Sunday with 91.5 total PPR points. Teammate Carlos Hyde is out-touching Johnson by more than a 2:1 ratio with 155 on the season, but the latter is averaging 2.10 more yards per touch and has the same number of TDs (three) while fumbling four fewer times (4-0) on 79 fewer touches. Perhaps Bill O’Brien and the Texans’ offensive brain trust took note of these very numbers during their Week 10 bye, and Johnson will at last start garnering a deservedly larger share of the team’s backfield workload down the stretch.
9. The Chiefs rank among the top four teams in scoring (28.4 points per game) and total offense (404.7 yards per game) but don’t have any running backs ranking among the league’s top 35 in terms of fantasy points per contest.
Yep, gone are the days of Priest Holmes, Larry Johnson, Jamaal Charles, Kareem Hunt and Damien Williams – at least 2018 Week 14 through the postseason Damien Williams – when rostering the lead K.C. running back had fantasy owners in near-automatic league-winning contention. Now we’re in a situation when Williams’ ho-hum 8.9-fantasy-point (standard) day led the way in Week 10 and ranked as the seventh-best fantasy outing by any Chiefs back on the season so far. It also upped Williams’ season average to 7.9 points per contest which ranks 36th among all RBs.
10. Through play Sunday, the Falcons’ Austin Hooper and the Texans’ Darren Fells are tied for the league tight end lead with six scoring receptions apiece.
To put that in proper perspective, that duo has as many total receiving scores this season as Travis Kelce, Evan Engram, Zach Ertz, George Kittle, O.J. Howard, David Njoku, Trey Burton, Ben Watson and Chris Herndon – combined. They also each lead their respective teams in scoring grabs by at least two – and no one needs to be reminded that these are teams, which feature WRs Julio Jones, DeAndre Hopkins, Will Fuller, Calvin Ridley and KennyStills. Hooper entered the season with 10 career TDs in three years and is on pace to match that total this year if his knee injury sustained Sunday in New Orleans doesn’t prove serious. The 6-7 Fells also came into 2019 with 10 career receiving scores – doing so in five seasons – but has definitely taken his game up a notch or three with QB Deshaun Watson distributing the rock in MVP-esque fashion.
EXTRA POINTS
Drew Brees and Jameis Winston each threw for at least 287 yards Sunday but combined for only one total TD on 106 total dropbacks at home against two of the worst passing defenses in the visiting Falcons and Cardinals. Go figure, on a day that featured plenty of duds from highly ranked players.
Since taking the reins in Tennessee in Week 7, the Titans’ Ryan Tannehill ranks third among QBs with 88.58 total fantasy points while rolling up 1,096 yards of total offense and accounting for nine total TDs and four turnovers.
It was too late for many of the fantasy GMs who drafted him this summer, but the Bucs’ Howard had 14.7 PPR points Sunday as he recorded his first TD catch of the season in the 30-27 shootout win over the Cardinals. In Tampa’s first eight games, including two Howard missed with a hamstring injury, he had totaled 30.6 fantasy points.
In making his 2019 debut with the Browns on Sunday after serving an eight-game personal-conduct suspension, Hunt had 11 touches, including seen receptions on nine targets, for 74 scoreless yards in a 19-16 win over the Bills. Starter Nick Chubb, meanwhile, had 21 yards on 22 touches, including two catches for five yards on four targets. Chubb played 57 of the team’s 70 offensive snaps (81 percent) while Hunt played 38 (54 percent), but it was the latter who finished with more fantasy points (14.7-14.1 in PPR formats.
If Raiders pass-catchers Tyrell Williams and Darren Waller seem like they’ve cooled off in recent weeks after hot starts, it’s because they have. After catching a TD pass in each of the first five games with his new team, Williams has been kept out the end zone the last two contests while catching 6-of-9 targets for 73 yards. Waller, meanwhile, was averaged 16.3 PPR points over his first seven games, reeling in 46-of-58 targets for 496 yards and three TDs but has totaled only 14.2 over his last two outings, catching 5-of-7 targets for 92 scoreless yards. Stay the course, though, as Williams and Waller remain the Raiders’ top aerial targets.
Ravens CB Marcus Peters leads all defensive players with three TDs and is one of five players – the Steelers’ Minkah Fitzpatrick, the Jets’ Jamal Adams, the Raiders’ Erik Harris and the Ravens’ Marlon Humphrey – with multiple non-offensive TDs through play Sunday. By comparison, OBJ, Fournette, Howard, Brandin Cooks, J. Moore, Adrian Peterson, Robert Woods and Dede Westbrook have each scored one TD apiece while Adams, Mike Williams, Ty Johnson, Dion Lewis, Jalen Richard, Giovani Bernard and Mark Walton are among the contingent still seeking their first foray into the end zone in 2019.
As much hype as the Patriots’ fantasy defense/special teams has received, the Steelers have closed the gap in recent weeks after putting forth another dominant game Sunday against the visiting Rams behind continued outstanding play from Defensive Player of the Year candidates T.J. Watt (9.5 sacks, four forced fumbles) and Fitzpatrick (tied for the league lead with five interceptions). Through Sunday, only the Panthers (with 36), had more sacks on the season than the Steelers’ 33, only the Pats (27) had more total takeaways than the Pittsburgh’s 26 and only the Ravens (five), Pats (four) and Jets (four) owned more defensive TDs than the Steelers’ three. Favorable matchups await the Pittsburgh D down the stretch as well, with games against the Browns (twice), Bengals, Bills and Jets among the team’s final seven contests. Swoop up the Steelers D/ST ASAP if they’re available on your league waiver wire.
