Tag: Brandin Cooks fantasy football

Fantasy Football: Top utilization stats to know from Week 10

Recapping the most important fantasy football player utilization data from Week 10 play.

NFL Week 10 action was extremely entertaining as a pure fan of the game, but fantasy footballers had to make do with three of the best offenses in the game being on their bye weeks, which helped depress some of the overall numbers, including utilization data.

Injuries — and the return from them — this time of the year tend to be the most likely way to catapult a player into relevance for gaming, and this week was no different. We also get an update from some split backfields that have been in flux and developing target shares.

Fantasy football preview: Houston Texans wide receivers

What should fantasy owners expect from the Houston receiving corps?

There were times last season that the Houston Texans scarcely resembled a professional football team, lowlighted by an eight-game losing streak during which they were outscored 237-91 (that’s a whopping 11.4 points per game). Then-rookie quarterback Davis Mills took his lumps filling in for an injured Tyrod Taylor, now on the New York Giants, but those hard lessons may have paid off as Mills played fairly well over the final five weeks and will enter 2022 as the starter.

While it’s too early to call the passing game rejuvenated, it at least has the potential to generate some respectable fantasy football producers, particularly if Mills continues to show improvement. With that in mind, let’s look at the top of Houston’s wide receiver depth chart.

Brandin Cooks

Wherever he goes and from whomever he catches balls, Cooks delivers. To that end, the well-traveled wideout posted a 90-1,037-6 line serving as the primary target for Mills and Taylor. It was the sixth 1,000-yard effort in eight NFL seasons, and his second in a row since joining the Texans. There was some belief that Houston would trade Cooks as part of their rebuild, but the team handed him a lucrative, two-year extension instead with the expectation he’d be their No. 1 receiver.

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Improvement from Mills and better talent around him should prevent defenses from focusing too much of their attention on Cooks, who at 29 should still be in his prime. He may not be the flashiest receiver, and it’s easy to forget he’s out there when he’s languishing in Houston, but it’s hard to find fault in Cooks’ long-term durability and consistency.

John Metchie III

Had he not torn his ACL during the SEC Championship Game in December, Metchie likely would’ve been drafted in the first round. Instead, he fell to the Texans with the 44th overall selection. While the injury is the big news, let’s start with the scouting report. At 5-foot-11, 187 pounds, Metchie isn’t a big target, nor is he someone who is going to take the top off coverage. The Alabama product is more a possession receiver with refined route-running skills, good hands, and some elusiveness after the catch.

The rookie will likely slide into the No. 2 role whenever he’s healthy, but just six months clear of his injury it’s too early to nail down when that’ll be. For his part, Metchie has stated he’ll be ready to practice in July when training camp opens, but the team hasn’t put a timetable on it. Given the status of the Texans as a non-contender it’d be surprising (and short-sighted) to rush Metchie back on the field. As such, his rehab could certainly linger into the regular season.

Nico Collins

A third-round pick in last year’s draft, Collins (33-446-1) finished second on the club in receptions, receiving yards, and yards per catch (13.5) as a rookie. Compared to Cooks and Metchie, Collins (6-foot-4, 215 pounds) is a giant, and he has enough speed to get deep down the field.

While his physical credentials are impressive, Collins still has work to do with consistently catching the ball. His youth and upside should give him a clear advantage over retreads like Chris Conley and Phillip Dorsett to serve as one of the top-three wideouts for Houston this year.

Fantasy football outlook

If you’re looking for a steady producer to plug into your lineup as a low-end WR2 or really strong WR3, Cooks is your man. He’s never had a true monster season, but he’s finished with between 1,025 and 1,225 yards in six of his last seven years.

Metchie will be a desirable get in dynasty formats, but those in single-year leagues should view him as a late-round curiosity with modest upside.

Collins is interesting based on how different his body type is, which could make him a popular red-zone target, but he probably tops out as watch-list fodder.

Fantasy football team previews: AFC South

Plenty of turnover in the division will make things interesting in fantasy.

The 2022 fantasy football draft season is starting to heat up now that we’ve gone through the height of free agency and all of the chosen rookies have been assigned to their professional home cities.

The landscape has changed a great deal for many franchises after a whirlwind offseason, and our divisional preview series will help you stay on top of all of the changes to date.

AFC divisional previews

East | North | South | West

NFC divisional previews

East | North | South | West

Fantasy Football Market Report: Week 18

Trending in the right and wrong directions to close out the 2021 season.

The 2021 season has been one of the most frustrating in the history of fantasy football. COVID-19 had an impact last season in terms of forcing games to be shifted from one week to another and messing with lineups, but the NFL made it clear prior to the start of this season that, while there could be flexibility within a week to switch games (Tuesday Night Football was a thing again this year), if you had an outbreak, it would be on the individual organizations to play. This time around, the show must go on.

The balance of power shifted completely as outbreaks hit teams. Quarterbacks who had never started before made starts. Entire position rooms went down – it’s hard to win you start your third left tackle or fifth defensive end or cornerback.

Hopefully, by the beginning of the 2022 season, this global nightmare will finally be behind us, but a lot of fantasy owners have seen their seasons come to an abrupt end due to COVID. For those who weren’t able to dodge the loss of key players at key time, just know you weren’t alone.

Here is the Week 18 Fantasy Market Report:

Fantasy Football Risers

RB Elijah Mitchell, San Francisco 49ers

Mitchell isn’t a surprise riser – he’s posted five 100-yard rushing games – but in his last four games has become a workhorse like no other back in the league. In those four games, he has 97 carries for 399 yards and has scored three touchdowns. If the 49ers get into the playoffs, which is a distinct possibility, if they’re able to control the ground game like they have with Mitchell, the 49ers will be a hard out in the postseason.

TE Mark Andrews, Baltimore Ravens

There is always discussion about who will fill out the Tight End Mount Rushmore along with Travis Kelce, George Kittle and Darren Waller – the accepted Big 3. Andrews has always been in consideration to be the fourth guy, but he has really stepped it up, especially in the last month. He has 99 catches for 1,276 yards and nine touchdowns, including five 100-yard games, but in the last month he may have cemented his spot. In his last four games, he has caught 35 passes for 465 yards and three touchdowns – planting his Mount Rushmore flag for next season.

WR Cyril Grayson, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

A guy who didn’t play college football, he only has 10 receptions, but has gained 212 yards, including a 62-yard catch and touchdown receptions of 33 and 50 yards. With Chris Godwin out due to injury and Antonio Brown gone altogether, somebody has to step up, and Grayson may well be that speed option by default. Tom Brady has a history of turning receivers into fantasy darlings, and Grayson could be the next in a long line of them.

RB Austin Ekeler, Los Angeles Chargers

Ekeler is a guy who is in fantasy lineups almost every week because he’s a poor man’s Alvin Kamara – or at least he was. He has just one 100-yard rushing game and hasn’t hit 70 receiving yards in a game, but it’s the body of work that matters here. He has scored 18 touchdowns (11 rushing, seven receiving), has a touchdown in each of his last six games and, over that six-game span, he has scored nine TDs. If you had Ekeler and didn’t win a fantasy championship, it wasn’t his fault. He gave you what you needed to be successful.

WR Brandin Cooks, Houston Texans

Cooks has become a very poor man’s Davante Adams. Everyone knows the ball is coming his way, but he didn’t have Aaron Rodgers throwing it to him. He has 130 targets (next highest on the Texans is 53). He has 87 receptions (next highest is 30). He has 1,011 yards (next highest is 379). He has six TD receptions (next highest is three). When most would give up on him, over his last three games, he has 22 receptions for 269 yards and three touchdowns – stepping up for those who showed faith.

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Fantasy Football Fallers

QB Matt Ryan, Atlanta Falcons

His fantasy contribution as a rusher is negligible. What you get from him is passing yards and garbage-time touchdowns. That hasn’t happened this year, and it has gotten worse as time has gone by. The Falcons didn’t get in the QB run at the start of the draft and were willing to ride it out with Ryan – known for 300-yard games is losses. In his last eight games, he not only doesn’t have a single 300-yard passing game, Ryan has been under 200 in five of them, hasn’t thrown more than one touchdown in any game, and has no touchdown passes in four contests. Those are the kind of stat lines you get from COVID replacements, not a guy who is a borderline Hall of Fame candidate.

RB Ezekiel Elliott, Dallas Cowboys

He has been on this list before, but it has been because the expectations of a player of Elliott’s stature are pronounced. Unlike other running back disappointments, he has played in every game and never got benched in fantasy lineups. Scoring 12 touchdowns is great, but it has come with a price for a top-five pick. He has caught 46 passes, but they have gone for just 284 yards. He has 25 or fewer receiving yards in 13 games. What makes it an issue is that, in his last 10 games, his high for rushing yards is 52. Still in the heavy-lifting portion of his contract, this hasn’t been acceptable for some time. His stock for next year has a floor for the first time.

QB Carson Wentz, Indianapolis Colts

Fantasy football doesn’t care if you win or lose. Guys like Matt Ryan and Matthew Stafford have become fantasy gods by having a brutal defense that provides fluffed numbers late in games (the Roethlisberger Effect). Wentz has a reputation for being capable of posting solid numbers. In his first nine games, he threw two or more touchdowns in seven of them and found his way into a lot of fantasy lineups. In his last seven games, he has one or no TDs and has thrown for 180 or fewer yards in five of them. Those who bought in during the first half of the season have been forced to rethink their position. While his team has been successful, he has stunk out loud from the fantasy perspective.

WR D.J. Moore, Carolina Panthers

When the season started, it seemed like a lot of the same with Moore. Through his first four games, Moore caught 30 passes for 398 yards and three touchdowns. That was when things were good. In 12 games, he has caught 56 passes for 672 yards and one touchdown. As bad as things have been, even those averages are above his last three games – 14 catches for 132 yards and no touchdowns. Moore was brought onto fantasy rosters with the knowledge that he was going to have issues at quarterback. But, he has had that before and thrived. This time around? Not so much.

QB Trevor Lawrence, Jacksonville Jaguars

Lawrence came in with the can’t-miss franchise tag of a “can’t miss” prospect – the best since Andrew Luck, many postulated. In his first game, he threw for 332 yards and three touchdowns and the expectations suddenly went off the hook. In the 15 games since, he has thrown just seven touchdowns (with 14 interceptions) and has thrown for fewer than 230 yards in 11 of them. In his last 11 games, he has accounted for just four touchdowns. It’s not his fault that the Jaguars are extremely limited talent-wise, but four touchdowns in 11 games is something you expect from a marginal tight end, not the No. 1 overall pick.

Fantasy Football Market Report: Week 4

Which direction are some of your fantasy players trending?

It’s never too early to be a step ahead of the rest of the owners in your fantasy football leagues. We’re heading into Week 4, which is the penultimate week before fantasy teams start crumbling and having their bench strength tested.

Thanks to an 18-week, 17-game schedule, bye weeks start in Week 6 and extend all the way to Week 14 – a record nine weeks with anywhere between two and six teams sidelined.

While some fantasy owners made a point to keep an eye on the bye weeks on the night of their auction or draft — in most cases, that was a month and a half ago. A lot of has changed on rosters since.

The NFL is going to get rid of 10 teams for a week in Weeks 6 and 7 – the Falcons, Saints, 49ers and Jets in Week 6 and Bills, Cowboys, Chargers, Vikings, Steelers and Jaguars in Week 7. It’s an annual grind, but one not all owners in a fantasy league are aware of at this point.

You have two tasks as you head into Week 4, accomplished by quietly tipping away from the herd unnoticed. First is make sure you haven’t morphed into a roster that can get killed during a week or two of bye week season. Wins are hard enough to come by. You don’t give them away.

Second is to look at other teams that have owners who are too heavily invested in the 10 teams that are opening up the bye week period. Now is the time to see if you can swing a deal to “help them out” of their predicament.

A lot of times better positioning yourself comes with advanced scouting. Nobody else is talking about bye weeks now. By the time Week 4 is over, it’s going to be all the chatter heading into Week 5, because once Week 6 comes, there won’t be a week without byes until the weekend before Christmas.

Do your homework while others are oblivious.

Here is the Week 4 Fantasy Football Market Report:

Fantasy Football Risers

WR Ja’Marr Chase, Cincinnati Bengals

Chase was a controversial franchise pick when OT Penei Sewell was on the board to be a decade-long anchor for Chase’s former college QB, Joe Burrow. However, through three games, he is making it impossible not to start him in fantasy lineups. He isn’t running the route trees of Tyler Boyd or Tee Higgins but is averaging 20 yards per receptions and has four touchdown catches – including on passes of 34, 42 and 50 yards. He is kind of a one-trick pony, but it’s a great trick. He can only get better as more routes are designed to make him the first option instead of the streaking deep threat. If you don’t have him, make a trade to get him. If you have him, the return offers may be crazy.

Kirk Cousins, QB, Minnesota Vikings

I’ve never been a fan of Cousins. He has tended to choke on the biggest stages at critical times of games and seasons. Every year, it’s difficult to endorse him as a full-time fantasy starter, but he has become a more polished field general. This season, he has thrown for 918 yards with eight touchdowns and a passer rating of 118.3. If you want a consistent option, Cousins is your guy. He has gone 17 straight games with a passer rating of 90.0 or above – only one player in NFL history under the passer rating standard has done that. That would be Peyton Manning (23). Name every great QB in the history of the game and, aside from Peyton, nobody other than Cousins can make that claim.

WR Brandin Cooks, Houston Texans

The Texans are a hot mess, but they are forcing the ball to Cooks – their only viable offensive weapon. Everyone has suffered without Deshaun Watson in Houston’s offense. Cooks dominating the team’s target share (35.6 percent) is on par with that of Green Bay Packers WR Davante Adams (35.8) over the first three weeks of the season. The Texans have thrown 90 passes – 32 to Cooks. They have completed 58 – 23 of them to Cooks. Nobody has more than nine targets or six receptions. It’s difficult to endorse anyone from the Texans. Given these numbers, some defenses may make it a mission to bracket him, but his value at the moment is as high as it may ever be.

QB Sam Darnold, Carolina Panthers

I will be the first to admit that I’ve never been a “Darnold guy.” I thought he was overhyped coming into the draft and the Jets’ willingness to cut bait with him lent to that argument. However, in his first three games in Carolina, he has accounted for two touchdowns in each outing (three passing and three rushing), topping 300 passing yards twice and reaching 279 in the other. While he’s not getting a hearty endorsement, with bye week season coming up, it’s nice to have a replacement – even if just for a week – who has shown consistency in scoring points.

WR Cooper Kupp, Los Angeles Rams

Typically we don’t put players who are obvious weekly fantasy starters, unless they’re playing so light’s out for your team, someone might come to you with a crazy trade offer to include him. Kupp is having that kind of start with Matthew Stafford. Through three games, Kupp has been targeted 33 times, caught 25 passes for 367 yards and scored five touchdowns. Robert Woods, on the other hand, has numbers of 19-11-124-1 through three games. Kupp has three more receptions than the next two Rams combined and has almost 100 more receiving yards than the next two teammates combined. It’s hard to imagine many fantasy owners with Kupp aren’t 3-0, because this is rarely seen dominance, especially with a new quarterback.

Fantasy Football Fallers

New England Patriots tight ends

Through three games, if a fantasy receiver had 20 catches for 184 yards and no touchdowns, he would be no great shakes. Unfortunately, those are the combined numbers of Hunter Henry and Jonnu Smith (10-109-0 for Henry, 10-74-0 for Smith). Then there is the matter of their contracts (three years, $37.4 million for Henry, four years, $50 million for Smith). You kind of get the idea the front office thought Cam Newton was going to the be the QB when free agency opened. While both were likely brought onto fantasy rosters to be regular starters, they’re killing owners who have them.

WR Stefon Diggs, Buffalo Bills

Diggs was the league leader in targets, receptions and yards in the league last year. This season, he has 19 receptions for 191 yards – never hitting 70 in any game – and one touchdown. He’s second on the team in receptions, third in receiving yards, and third in touchdowns on his own team, much less the league. With Josh Allen at the wheel, the big days will come along. But, for now, if fantasy owners have options, it won’t take long before they start looking elsewhere, if they have viable options and Diggs has an unfavorable matchup.

RB Jonathan Taylor, Indianapolis Colts

Taylor was an investment in most leagues to be RB1 and a cornerstone player. Granted, his first three games were against Seattle, the Rams and Tennessee – all playoff teams last year – but still, the numbers are pretty brutal. He hasn’t hit 65 rushing yards in a game, his number of carries has dropped in each contest (17-15-10), he has just eight receptions (six in Week 1 and two since), and he hasn’t scored a touchdown. For a Colts team that hasn’t won yet and has its season swirling like a toilet bowl, those forced to keep riding Taylor can’t wait for the Texans and Jags to show up.

TE Kyle Pitts, Atlanta Falcons

The fourth overall pick was expected to be an impact player right out of the gate. While he has flashed the ability to be a downfield threat, the reality is that he is fourth on the team in receptions – behind retread Cordarrelle Patterson for receptions, yards and touchdowns. In three games, he has caught just 11 passes for 139 yards and no TDs – with 35 or fewer yards in two of them. He’s going to be an immense talent, but, for now, he’s an anchor tied to a fantasy owner’s leg, and the Falcons don’t have the look of an offensive juggernaut anytime soon.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers running backs

Both Leonard Fournette and Ronald Jones were viewed not necessarily as starters, because they were slated to split time. But few could have expected how little they would have to split up. Fournette is the lead dog by default but has just 24 carries for 92 yards. Jones has just 15 carries for 52 yards. The only rushing touchdowns the Bucs have are from Tom Brady and Chris Godwin. Brady has thrown the ball almost six times as often as Fournette and Jones have run the ball. At this point, both are too poisonous to play, unless you’re forced into it.

Warming up to these 3 fantasy football draft picks

Taking a second look at a trio of fantasy football picks.

Over the past few months, several fantasy football draft choices haven’t exactly resonated with me, but I am finding myself warming up to them for varying reasons.

One key attribute successful fantasy football gamers exhibit over the course of the long haul is flexibility in their perception of players. Two years ago, I entered the early draft season not all that high on Patrick Mahomes, but more investigation led me to flip a 180 and include him in my sleepers list. We all saw how his season turned out. That wasn’t written to pat myself on the back but rather to illustrate how it’s so easy to get caught up in positive and negative perceptions of situations and/or players themselves. We all need our own occasional reality check.

In 2020, the fear of COVID-19 infecting a player (or several) on a team at any given moment means drafters must be more willing than ever to consider flexibility as one of our chief tools in the box. Being able to pivot in a moment’s notice now is critical beyond our wildest imagination in relation to this time last year.

QB Teddy Bridgewater, Carolina Panthers: Don’t get me wrong, he’s a game manager by nature. It was on full display in all but one of his games with the 2019 New Orleans Saints and that impressive cast of weapons. But that was last year, and we never really saw a full year of a seasoned veteran version of him prior to joining the Saints.

At any rate, Carolina has a lousy defense, and this team underwent a regime change to a first-time NFL head coach and rookie playcaller combo. The weaponry is three-deep at wideout with players who can start for just about every team in the league, and the offensive line has seen a slight improvement over the offseason. Christian McCaffrey is the best the game has to offer out of the backfield, as well. Increased volume is good and bad. There will be bumps, but Bridgewater officially has my attention as a backup to an elite starter and in best-ball leagues because of the opportunity to sling it more than ever.

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WR Brandin Cooks, Houston Texans: The well-traveled wideout and I have experienced a mixed history in recent years. A few months ago, skepticism overshadowed my overall views of him. Last year, he was a major disappointment, largely due to fighting injuries. The entire Los Angeles Rams offense was embattled in an uphill fight in 2019. Houston’s offense desperately needs someone to step up to replace DeAndre Hopkins, and Deshaun Watson is an upgrade in many ways over Jared Goff.

Working in Cooks’ favor during this funky offseason, he has excelled immediately everywhere he has played. In the four seasons (three different teams) before 2019, Cooks was good for at least 65 receptions, 1,082 yards and five scores. He averaged at least 15 PPR points per game in three of those four campaigns. In other words, Cooks has earned the benefit of the doubt, and I’m loving the value in drafting him near his WR31 spot in the ADP charts.

WR Emmanuel Sanders, New Orleans Saints: My gut reaction was gamers would overvalue the veteran once Sanders signed in free agency. It was shaping up to be the case early on, but the script has flipped. He’s going, on average, as the 39th receiver in PPR, checking in as a marked value in Round 9. Sanders is a Michael Thomas injury away from being the top dog in an exceptional fantasy passing factory, and even with Thomas staying healthy, there are plenty of paths to success more often than not.

Sanders overcame a torn Achilles tendon in 2018 and actually increased his yards-per-reception average in 2019 to its highest figure since 2015. He, too, picked up the offense in San Francisco in a hurry following a midseason trade. After suffering through suspect QB play in recent years, connecting on passes from Drew Brees makes Sanders more intriguing in best-ball leagues and as a weekly matchup play, predominantly due to there being so many mouths to feed in this system.