Tag: Fantasy Football Market Report

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.

Fantasy Football Market Report: Week 9

Looking at the fantasy football players who are moving up and down the market.

As we have hit the NFL Trade deadline, we’ve reached a similar point in fantasy football leagues. The art of the trade is often lost because of the immediate gratification the next low-rent savior provides on the waiver wire. But, this can be a time to take advantage of the weaker owners in your league.

There are owners who are struggling that could be willing to do a 2-for-1 or 3-for-1 trade at the deadline because they’re basically 2-5 or 1-6 and need to run the table to even make the playoffs. What matters is where you sit with your roster.

If you have a deep roster that you can live with parting with one elite player and one or two guys who aren’t regular starters for you (but would be for a desperate owner), you may be throwing the perceived lifeline to give them some hope while you add the one blue-chipper you are away from heading down the stretch with a Murderer’s Row of talent.

On the flip side, if you have a roster in need of more quality depth, a 2-for-1 or 3-for-1 trade to amass players that could be valuable to you, offering up your prized possession may be required to harvest multiple starters to fill roster holes.

Never say never when it comes to a trade. You make the proposals. Take it or leave it. If you get what you’re asking for, it could be the catalyst that propels you forward in this unprecedented 2020 season.

Here is the Week 9 Fantasy Market Report:

Fantasy Football Risers

Gus Edwards, RB, Ravens

When Mark Ingram went down, it was thought that J.K. Dobbins would take over the ground game to fill the void. It may end up being Dobbins’ job, but, in the two games without Ingram, Edwards has 30 carries (more than Dobbins in both games) and has two touchdowns. He doesn’t get a lot of respect from fantasy owners in general, but does for those who’ve had to play him the last two weeks as a plug-in or in previous relief stints over his unheralded career.

Philip Rivers, QB, Colts

Last month, he was on the Fallers list – for good reason. He was stuck on one TD pass a game forever and only had four TDs through his first five games with his new offense. But, in the last two weeks, he has thrown for 633 yards and six touchdowns (three in both games) and has spread the ball around to multiple receivers with confidence he didn’t have to throw into coverage. Granted, it was against Cincinnati and Detroit, but it was a sign that the defense doesn’t have to necessarily carry the team to victory. Rivers is going to be a guy that ends up in somebody’s lineup because, at long last in Indy, he’s starting to earn that respect.

Phillip Lindsay, RB, Broncos

Lindsay was down for three games heading into Denver’s bye week and, as luck would have it, Melvin Gordon was inactive when he came back. Lindsey was the only show and made the most of it, rushing 23 times for 101 yards. Gordon came back the next week, but Lindsay has been running like a man possessed. In the last three games, he has rushed 38 times for 263 yards and a touchdown – averaging a sparkling 6.9 yards a carry. You get a bigger time share if you keep doing that, much less at a time when Gordon is averaging less than four yards a carry since coming back.

Robert Woods, WR, Rams

There aren’t many Rams that are must-starts on a weekly basis, but Woods is as close as anyone. He has scored four receiving touchdowns in eight games and topped 100 yards in one of the games he didn’t. But, what makes him a weapon is that he has rushed 16 times for 108 yards and two more touchdowns. He’s a threat in the red zone as a runner and receiver and, while he doesn’t always put up big numbers, he puts them up enough to warrant being in lineups many more weeks than not.

James Conner, RB, Steelers

When he had an awful Week 1 against the Giants that got him benched briefly, it lit a fire under Conner. In the six games he has played since, he has rushed 104 times for 489 yards and five touchdowns. He has just one game without a touchdown and no games in which he didn’t have 15 or more carries. At a time of backfield diversity and several players having roles in many offenses, Conner not only has carved out his role, his carry-share has grown as the season has gone on.

Fantasy Football Fallers

John Brown, WR, Bills

The word at the start of the season was that Brown and Stefon Diggs were going to be a dynamic duo that brings the big play to Buffalo’s offense. In the first two games of the season, Brown did his part, catching 10 passes for 152 yards and two TDs. But, over the last six games, he has missed two of them and, in the four he has played, he has caught a total of five passes for 63 yards and no touchdowns. You can’t keep a guy in your lineup with numbers like that.

Joshua Kelley, RB, Chargers

Even before Austin Ekeler went down, there was a camp of people that had proclaimed Kelley to future of the Chargers run game – the next Melvin Gordon. In the three weeks since Ekeler has been down, not only has Justin Jackson had more rushing production than Kelley (37-172 for Jackson, 30-90 for Kelley), he has been much better as a receiver (13-119 for Jackson, 7-26 for Kelley). Kelley’s star is fizzling as the second fiddle in a non-productive duet.

Jimmy Graham, TE, Bears

It’s sad when a majestic lion gets old and hangs on trying to rule the pack when it’s clear he’s past his prime. Graham has enough red zone looks to keep you interested, but, the fact remains that, eight games into his season, he has more than 34 receiving yards in one game. His forte used to be creating speed mismatches. Now he’s getting lit up at the knees by linebackers and safeties. I hate to be “that guy,” but from I’ve seen the last few weeks, he won’t make it to the end of the season with the shots he’s taking to live up to his legacy.

A.J. Green, WR, Bengals

Green has had a great career, but, with a rookie quarterback who has to make decisions on the fly, Green is No. 3 in the offense in a big way because of target ratio. Tyler Boyd has been targeted 68 times, catching 54 of them for 584 yards and three touchdowns. Tee Higgins has been targeted 52 times, catching 33 passes for 488 yards and three touchdowns. Green has been targeted 63 times, catching 31 passes for 316 yards and no TDs. At this point, there is no purpose to design a game plan that features Green because the trio of the future doesn’t include him.

Jerick McKinnon, RB, 49ers

His is a tragic, but lucrative, story. The Robin to Adrian Peterson’s Batman in Minnesota, one of the first big moves the new front office regime made was to make McKinnon one of the top five paid running backs in the league. The first two years rendered nothing. The first injury to Raheem Mostert opened the door for McKinnon to reclaim his career and he scored three touchdowns in the 2½ games he replaced Mostert. Raheem returned. Raheem went down again. In the two games since, McKinnon has six carries for minus-2 yards. Can’t play him.

Fantasy Football Market Report: Week 6

Looking at the fantasy football options who are quickly gaining and losing value for your fantasy football team.

It would appear the NFL doesn’t have a real plan to prepare for potential positive tests to COVID-19. The league office literally shifted the balance of power in the AFC when it pushed back the Titans-Steelers game to Week 7. The reason? Pittsburgh, who had no positive COVID tests, were supposed to have a Bye in Week 8 – perhaps an acknowledgment that the both the Steelers and Ravens deserve a Bye week after their semiannual blood bath. But, when the time came to pull the plug on the game – they had a three-game fix. Pittsburgh? You just had your Bye week despite practicing and preparing for four days. Oh yeah…and you get to play Tennessee in Week 7 and the Ravens get a Bye heading into your first meeting of the year.

How is that fair? In a COVID world, fair isn’t a buzz phrase.

Switch No. 2 came over the weekend when the Denver-New England game had to be rescheduled. That move required juggling eight different games, nine teams and multiple Bye week changes (of which the Broncos and Patriots informed they had worked through).

It would seem the fact of the matter is that, without a bubble to protect teams, this won’t be the last of the postponements.

Fantasy owners may end up without some of their top stars during the season and into the fantasy playoffs in a season likely to be pushed into the mythical Week 18 (or 19) that may be coming just to get a full regular season done.

Do I mind Tuesday or Wednesday night games? I love it! I’d be happy with a couple staggered-time NFL games every day of the week. But there are only going to be so many more schedule-juggling opportunities available once teams have their scheduled bye week and the opportunity goes away.

2020 has been one of the craziest years on record for many disparate reasons. The NFL was putting up a front that The Shield could rise above a pandemic. It’s looking like that is getting closer to impossible and the result may end up seeing fantasy football teams ruined by non-injury related changes to the 2020 schedule.

Here is the Week 6 Fantasy Market Report:

Fantasy Football Risers

Derek Carr, QB, Las Vegas Raiders

Over the last four games, few have been as effective a fantasy quarterback in the league as Carr. He has thrown for 1,200 yards and 10 touchdowns – never less than 261 yards and never less than two TDs in any of them. He still isn’t being viewed as a big-time fantasy QB, but given that Carr has done what he’s done against the Saints, Patriots, Bills and Chiefs, he’s making a statement people are starting to hear – whether by force or choice.

Todd Gurley, RB, Atlanta Falcons

He was available in some leagues to be a very late RB2 or even RB3 for an aggressive owner looking to stockpile. That came despite Gurley being the ultimate fantasy scoring machine on the ground when he was on the field. He has stayed healthy for the Falcons and, while he isn’t the 20-carry a game workhorse he was with the Rams, he is averaging 16 carries a game, 4.7 yards a carry and has scored five touchdowns, including four in the last three. He’s making himself almost impossible to bench.

Robert Tonyan, TE, Green Bay Packers

As the Packers return from their Bye week, it’s difficult to ignore what the alleged third-string tight end is doing in Green Bay. While Jace Sternberger and Marcedes Lewis are the bigger names, in the last three games, Tonyan has caught 12 passes for 173 yards and five touchdowns – at least one in each game and all in the red zone. Even when Davante Adams is back and dominating, Aaron Rodgers will have an eye on Tonyan if he needs a touchdown.

Andy Dalton, QB, Dallas Cowboys

It’s sad when one man’s tragedy is another man’s opportunity. But, with Dak Prescott gone for the year, Dalton is inheriting a fantasy God spot. A great running back to keep defenses honest and three electric wide receivers that can do a lot of damage deep downfield. He couldn’t have asked for a better position to be in, although nobody wanted him to be in it.

Rodrigo Blankenship, PK, Indianapolis Colts

While I rarely endorse kickers as fantasy studs, what every owner is looking for in a kicker is seven or more points every week. Kickers can often be the difference between winning and losing a tight game and, if your kicker can produce double digits with any regularity, you have a quiet weapon in your arsenal. In five career games with the Colts, Hot Rod’s point totals are 8-14-10-13-11. No other kicker in the league can brag up that sort of consistency.

Fantasy Football Fallers

Philip Rivers, QB, Indianapolis Colts

If your kicker is a riser, especially one without a field goal of more than 44 yards, your offense is dying in scoring position. That is the Rivers’ led Colts offense. At a time of record-setting scoring, Rivers has four touchdown passes in five games (one in four games and none in the other) and, over his last four games, is averaging just 216 yards. The Colts have playoff potential, but not because of Old Man Rivers.

Brandin Cooks, WR, Houston Texans

What? Why is Cooks on this list? Fantasy football is played week to week, game to game – not by overall point totals. In the season opener, he was in a lot of lineups and caught just two passes for 20 yards, while Will Fuller was dominant. He was benched by most for Week 2 and caught five passes for 95 yards. He was back in lineups and put together one game with three catches for 23 yards and the next with no catches. Back on most fantasy benches, he caught eight passes for 161 yards and a TD Sunday. He’s putting up big days, just rarely in your starting lineup.

Malcolm Brown, RB, Los Angeles Rams

One of the surprises of Week 1 when he was dominant on the ground (18-79-2), not only has he lost his featured back spot to Darrell Henderson, in Sunday’s game, he had fewer carries than both Henderson and Cam Akers. After a big Week 1, he hasn’t had more than 11 carries in any game, 38 or less in each of the last three and no touchdowns since Week 1. He’s back to being borderline waiver wire fodder.

Evan Engram, TE, New York Giants

He was expected to be the Giants secret weapon this season – loaded with talent and downfield ability. However, through five games, he has posted more than 35 receiving yards just once and his only touchdown came on a run. He was drafted to be an every-week fantasy starter and likely still is in TE-mandatory leagues. But, he has brought next to nothing in too many weeks to ignore.

Jordan Howard, RB, Miami Dolphins

After showing a lot of toughness and prowess in Chicago and Philadelphia, Howard came to Miami with the chance to be the primary back and provide a power element to Miami’s offense. In his first three games, he scored a touchdown in each, but, through four games, he had just 14 yards on 18 carries. It was enough that he was a healthy scratch last weekend. You don’t hit bottom as a fantasy player much more than that.

Fantasy Football Market Report: Week 5

One month into the NFL and fantasy football season, some players are moving up the charts quickly while others are near rock bottom.

We are in a transition season in the NFL. Whether it was COVID-19 that kept teams from building up to the regular season or simply the tipping point of games being predominantly high-scoring, what has happened through four weeks in the 2020 NFL is startling and unprecedented.

Teams are routinely scoring 30 points or more – at a record-setting pace.

To put it in perspective, in the previous five seasons – four of those consisting of 63 games because of the start of bye season and one with 64 – there was a consistency to how many teams would have a high-scoring game of 30+ points. From 2015-19, through four weeks of the season, the numbers of teams who scored 30 or more in a game was a near-flat line (30-32-28-33-28). That’s crazy consistent.

Heading into Monday’s Atlanta-Green Bay game, there had been 62 games played. In those games, 51 teams scored 30 or more points in a game. Green Bay became the 52nd when they dropped 30 points on Atlanta.

In the previous five years, it tended to be only one team that scored 30+. Of the 151 teams that scored 30 or more, they won 85 percent of the games (128-23).

Last year, if you scored 30 in Weeks 1-4, you had a winning percentage of more than 89 percent (25-3). This year? Teams scoring 30 or more points won 39 games, but 12 who also scored 30 have lost. That’s an average of three games a week in which both teams hit that lofty number and they combined to have a winning percentage of 76.5 percent.

Is it a sign of the times? Is it a sign of no training camp or preseason that has given offenses the clear edge to move the ball? All fantasy players know is that points are up and they like it that way…unless the bomb drops on them.

Here is the Week 5 Fantasy Market Report:

Fantasy Football Risers

Dak Prescott, QB, Dallas Cowboys

There’s a strange simpatico fantasy owners have with Dallas quarterbacks. Guys didn’t love Tony Romo, but drafted him every year because they wished for Dallas to fall behind by double digits early and it was game-on for garbage points trying to come back.

Over the last three weeks, Prescott has thrown for an ungodly 1,424 yards with eight touchdown passes and three TD runs. His pass-yardage total has been 450, 472 and 502. Who cares if his team sucks. He’s taking fantasy owners to the pay window all by himself.

Kareem Hunt, RB, Cleveland Browns

Sometimes Dame Fortune smiles on a guy. In 2017, I was in three leagues. The only player I had in all of them was Hunt. He was incredible. His career took a major backward step, but, as the clear No. 2 guy in Cleveland – he hasn’t had more than 17 touches in a game – he has managed to rush for 275 yards and has scored five touchdowns in his last three games.

With Nick Chubb down for a month or more, Hunt has every chance to relive his eye-popping rookie season.

Tom Brady, QB, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

The word, as it has been every time Brady has struggled in the first couple of games, was that he was washed up. He’s hit the wall. In his first two games with the Bucs, he didn’t hit 240 yards, had as many interceptions (3) as touchdowns and had a passer rating under 80.0.

In the last two games? 666 passing yards (make what you want out of that) with eight touchdowns, one pick and a passer rating over 116.0. Seems like the Brady we remember…again.

D.K. Metcalf, WR, Seattle Seahawks

If consistency is what you’re looking for, look no further. In four games, he has caught four passes in each. That would be reason for benching in a lot of leagues. But, he has yardage totals of 95, 92, 110 and 106. He has averaged 23 yards a catch or better in every game (25.2 overall) and has scored a touchdown in three of four games.

Metcalf is going to be a superstar and won’t be had as reasonably as he has been his first two season on fantasy draft day. Russ is going to get him paid – whether with Seattle or somewhere else.

Antonio Gibson, RB, Washington Football Team

This is a sneaky play designed for being an option when bye weeks hit. He hasn’t rushed for more than 55 yards in any game, but his carry-share has been going up significantly. He has scored a rushing touchdown in each of the last three games and his competition in the Washington backfield is quickly disappearing, while his is stock is going up.

Nobody with other viable options will start Gibson, but he could be nice to have on your roster as a throw-in on a trade to stash in case COVID times get desperate.

Fantasy Football Fallers

Josh Jacobs, RB, Oakland Raiders

Jacobs was selected on fantasy rosters to be that owner’s No. 1 running back. When he rushed for three touchdowns in Week 1, he was locked into lineups regardless of what followed. Since then, his rushing attempts have dropped (27-16-15), his yardage has dropped (88-71-48), he is little more than a check-down receiver and he hasn’t scored a touchdown. You can’t bench him because of his role in the Vegas offense. You may want to. You just can’t.

DeSean Jackson, WR, Philadelphia Eagles

Jackson is a polarizing player. By any measure, he should have Julian Edelman-style reception numbers, yet he has never been able to be anything more than a one-trick pony. And, in his second run in Philadelphia, he’s been cashing checks and showing nothing. A quarter of the way through the season, he has 10 catches for 121 yards, no touchdowns and is nursing an injury. If you have him on your roster, cut him or trade him immediately. He’s taking up space that could be better utilized by someone else.

Evan Engram, TE, New York Giants

In leagues in which tight ends are mandatory, there have been a lot of big days posted along the way. Not by Engram. He is the Giants leading receiver in terms of targets (30) and catches (17), but he’s Marcedes Lewis 2.0.

For all his athleticism and talent, he averaged 7.7 yards a catch with only one of more than 12 yards and has no touchdowns. Those in TE-required leagues likely aren’t benching him, but they’re getting beat in their weekly position battles by their opponents because Engram is giving them scraps.

David Montgomery, RB, Chicago Bears

Montgomery was one of those guys in draft rankings that was expected to become an elite fantasy back. You shook the Magic 8-Ball. “All Signs Point to Yes.”

The Bears have been playing light’s out defense, which typically gets a running back a lot of play. But, through four games, Montgomery has just 53 carries for 218 yards and no touchdowns – and 24-72-0 rushing numbers over the last two – and his only touchdown was on a check-down pass that broke wide open. He was drafted to be an NFL RB1, but hasn’t showed it.

Irv Smith, TE, Minnesota Vikings

When Minnesota drafted Smith last year, the thought was that he would take over the role Kyle Rudolph has as one of the most potent Red Zone tight ends in the league. Instead, through four games, Smith has been healthy, but targeted just six times, catching two passes for 14 yards and no touchdowns. He’s rendered himself unplayable and, at this point, most people who took a flyer on him have bailed.

Fantasy Football Market Report: Week 4

In the Fantasy Football Market Report, we look at the top players gaining momentum and a number of blue-chippers quickly losing it.

As if 2020 hasn’t been bizarre enough, three weeks into the season, we’re witnessing things the NFL has never seen in terms of passing yardage. Blame the pandemic for the lack of training camp and a preseason, but offenses are routinely shredding defenses in the early stages of the season and it doesn’t matter if they’re winning or losing.

There was a time when 4,000 passing yards was viewed as the gold standard. You needed to play all 16 games and average 250 yards a game or more. It wasn’t impossible, but not that many quarterbacks met that lofty standard. That has changed the last couple of years. In 2017, just eight made it to that benchmark. In 2018, there were 12. Last season, there were 11.

Heading into Monday night’s game, there are 18 quarterbacks (not including Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson) that are on pace to throw for 4,000 yards and, barring injury, you can expect one of both of them to approach those numbers, which could push to number to 20.

Ben Roethlisberger, Drew Brees and Tom Brady are no strangers to the 4,000-yard club, but, in 2020, they rank 16, 17 and 18.

If things stay at their current pace, Derek Carr, Gardner Minshew, Ryan Tannehill, Joe Burrow, Jared Goff and Teddy Bridgewater will be in “the Club.”

But, in what may be the strangest twist of all, Dak Prescott and Josh Allen find themselves in truly rarified air. Through three weeks, Prescott is on pace to throw 763 passes for 6,336 yards. More impressive is Allen, who is on pace to throw for 5,536 yards and 53 touchdowns.

A strong start doesn’t mean a strong finish to the season, but we’re seeing passing numbers the likes of which the NFL has never seen before and it shows no signs of slowing.

Here is the Week 4 Fantasy Market Report:

Fantasy Football Risers

James Robinson, RB, Jacksonville Jaguars

Only owners who were in desperate need for RBs on their roster snapped up Robinson when the Jaguars cut Leonard Fournette. But, he’s making it more difficult all the time not to start him. Few running backs have cornered the market on carries like Robinson. He has 43 carries for 210 yards and three touchdowns through three games.

The Jags No. 2 rusher is QB Gardner Minshew (12 carries, 60 yards) and No. 3 is versatile wide receiver Laviska Shenault (eight carries, 48 yards). The only other running back with any carries is Chris Thompson (four carries, 10 yards). Robinson isn’t a sexy pick, but few backs can claim a carry-share like him.

Justin Jefferson, WR Minnesota Vikings

Much like his predecessor Stefon Diggs, Jefferson needed time to work his way into the Minnesota offense. In Week 1, he was on the field for 69 percent of snaps. In Week 2, that number dropped to 54 percent. In those two weeks, he was targeted just six times, catching five for 70 yards. He got his first opportunity to be a primary weapon in Week 3.

He was in on 78 percent of snaps and caught seven passes for 175 yards, including a 71-yard touchdown. One game does not make a season, but Jefferson has put himself on the map in a big way, especially for a team that appears to need to score 35 points to win.

James Conner, RB, Pittsburgh Steelers

Those who saw Conner on the sideline in Week 1 looking on as Benny Snell rolled up 113 yards (while Conner had just six carries for nine yards), it looked as if there may be a changing of the guard in Pittsburgh. No so fast, my friend.

Over the last two weeks, Conner has re-established his dominance. While Snell has taken his place in the back seat (10 carries, 16 yards), Conner has posted back-to-back 100-yard rushing games, carrying 34 times for 215 yards (a 6.3 yard average) and two touchdowns. He was drafted to be a high RB2 in most leagues and is back to posting RB1 numbers like 2018.

Allen Lazard, WR, Green Bay Packers

Everyone has waited for someone other than Davante Adams to step up and be the No. 2 guy since Randall Cobb was shown the door. Have they found their guy in Lazard? Through three games, he has averaged 19.5 yards per reception (13-254), has at least one catch of 25 or more yards in each game, has scored two touchdowns from the 5-yard line in (the Super Red Zone) and, in the one game Adams has missed, he caught six passes for 146 yards and a TD in a road win against the Saints.

He’s making a strong case that Aaron Rodgers has a No. 2 guy to go to when Adams returns.

Myles Gaskin, RB, Miami Dolphins

He hasn’t been “crazy productive” for the Dolphins, but when you look at potential, you look at competition. The Dolphins signed bruising Jordan Howard as a free agent and traded for Matt Breida.

Howard has three belly-flop touchdowns, which hurts Gaskin’s value a little, but he has just 12 yards on 16 carries. Breida has 15 carries for 63 yards.

Gaskin not only leads the team with 38 carries for 152 yards, but he is also Miami’s leading receiver with 15 receptions. He hasn’t set the world on fire yet, but that sort of a touch concentration – featured back and leading receptor – is a rarity and, with bye weeks coming, his value only increases as a potential spot starter.

Fantasy Football Fallers

Joe Mixon, RB, Cincinnati Bengals

Mixon is one of the few players consistently drafted as a RB1 that would get benched during the season. He’s streaky. Few running backs were as hot as Mixon the second half of last season, but it took a lot of patience (and bad weeks) for owners to see any production. He didn’t score a rushing touchdown until the 10th week of the season and many owners had long since given up in frustration.

Here we are in 2020. He was in the RB1 discussion in most leagues again and, through three games, has 52 carries for just 164 yards, has caught seven passes for 58 yards and has no TDs. He’s the only rushing show in town (Giovani Bernard has two carries), but the production just isn’t there to keep starting him every week unless you have to.

Rob Gronkowski, TE, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Part of what made Gronk great in New England was that he was Tom Brady’s best passing option near the goal line. A year away from the game, many expected to see that magic rekindled in Tampa Bay for both. Not only has Gronk given fantasy owners almost nothing – eight catches, 59 yards, no touchdowns and a long reception of 10 yards – in that same span, Mike Evans has three touchdowns from the 2-yard line in (one of two yards and two from the 1-yard line).

Those who snapped up Gronk on draft day remember the Gronk of old. This may just be the old Gronk.

D’Andre Swift, RB, Detroit Lions

Remember when all the buzz in Detroit was that their long running back drought post-Barry Sanders was going to end with the arrival of Swift?

Veteran Adrian Peterson leads the team with 43 carries for 209 yards.

Kerryon Johnson is second with 18 carries for 62 yards and a touchdown.

Through three games, Swift has just eight carries for 20 yards and a TD – fewer rushing yards than glacial QB Matthew Stafford (7-24). We’re still early in the season, but Swift hasn’t ascended to No. 2 on the depth chart, much less No. 1. Is he being punished for dropping a game-winning TD in Week 1? It sure looks like it.

Carson Wentz, QB, Philadelphia Eagles

Typically, if you see Washington and Cincinnati on your schedule in two of the first three games of the season, you expect huge numbers. Wentz hasn’t produced that. He has twice as many interceptions (6) as touchdown passes (3) and his passing yardage totals have dropped each week (270, 242, 225).

Wentz was a player taken in fantasy leagues to be a starter more weeks than not. Now he’s a liability if you have to start him and don’t have another viable option (which you should at this point).

Sony Michel, RB, New England Patriots

If you have Michel, you should know better than to depend on a Patriots running back. Sure, he had a touchdown in Week 1 and 117 rushing yards on Sunday, but he has yet to have more than 10 carries a game and doesn’t bring much as a receiver – much less when James White returns to the team.

You’re getting what you get with Michel. You roll the dice when you have to and hope for production, but don’t go into any game confident you will see it.