The fantasy football postseason is upon us in the majority of leagues, and team managers will be eager to keep riding — or seeking to avoid — the hottest hands.
So, with momentum in mind, we’re highlighting the currently active player performance streaks of note in this week’s TT&T and breaking down what they mean for the fantasy playoffs. Streak data, it must be mentioned, comes courtesy of the Stathead database maintained by the informative folks at ProFootballReference.com
Here goes, kicking off with …
Consecutive games with multiple TD passes
6: Kirk Cousins, Vikings
4: Justin Herbert, Chargers
3: Aaron Rodgers, Packers; Matthew Stafford, Rams; Russell Wilson, Seahawks
2: Tom Brady, Buccaneers; Jimmy Garoppolo, 49ers; Ben Roethlisberger, Steelers;
Quick takeaways:
- That only five quarterbacks own current streaks of three or more games with multiple TD tosses shows how much volatility there is, even at fantasy’s most consistent position on a week-to-week basis.
- Cousins, the No. 1 QB on this list, continues to fly under the fantasy radar for the most part. He’s sixth at the position with 301.4 total fantasy points (Huddle Performance scoring) and has had at least 19.9 fantasy points in all six contests during his current TD-pass streak and in 10 of 13 games overall this season.
- Basically written off early in the season, Jimmy G and Big Ben now are very much a part of the QB2/fill-in starter conversation, and both have fantasy playoff schedules (Weeks 15-17) ranked among the four most favorable at the position, according to The Huddle’s handy Strength of Schedule tool.
Consecutive games with 275-plus passing yards
4: Herbert, Chargers; Rodgers, Packers
3: Stafford, Rams
2: Brady, Buccaneers; Joe Burrow, Bengals; Garoppolo, 49ers
Quick takeaways:
- During his four-game span, from Week 11-14, Herbert paced all quarterbacks with 1,277 aerial yards, 11 TD tosses and 112.18 total fantasy points. On the season, the Bolts’ second-year QB has climbed up to third at this position in total fantasy points (349.9) and TDs (30) and fourth in passing yards (3,822). He also ranks a surprising ninth among quarterbacks with 268 rushing yards and has tallied a pair of rushing TDs.
- Burrow hit the 300-yard passing mark only twice in his first 11 games this season, but now has done it in back-to-back weeks with 300 and 348, respectively, in shootout-esque losses to the Chargers and 49ers.
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Consecutive games with a rushing/receiving TD
10: Jonathan Taylor, Colts
7: James Conner, Cardinals
6: Cam Newton, Panthers, Patriots
5: Austin Ekeler, Chargers; Alvin Kamara, Saints
4: Deebo Samuel, 49ers
3: Leonard Fournette, Buccaneers; Javonte Williams, Broncos
Quick takeaways:
- Remember way back when Taylor hadn’t found his way into the end zone? Amazingly, that was the situation as we entered Week 4, but in the 10 games since, all the second-year Indy back has done is total 18 TDs — which leads Conner and Ekeler by two on the season as a whole.
- As you can see, Newton’s touchdown streak dates back to his final two games with the Patriots, which included a receiving TD in Week 17 of 2020 — his final game in New England. But, as also must be noted with Cam circa 2021, he has as many rushing/receiving scores (six) as he does passing TDs during this six-game span, including a 4-to-3 rushing-to-passing edge in four games this season with Carolina.
Consecutive games with 15-plus touches
47: Derrick Henry, Titans
10: Taylor, Colts
7: Dalvin Cook, Vikings; Myles Gaskin, Dolphins; Kamara, Saints
5: Fournette, Buccaneers
4: A.J. Dillon, Packers; Devonta Freeman, Ravens
Quick takeaways:
- Henry’s eye-popping streak, which began in Week 14 of the 2018 season, is the fourth-longest such streak since the 1970 merger, trailing only runs by LaDainian Tomlinson (72 games from 2003-08), Walter Payton (69 games from 1977-81) and Marcus Allen (1983-86). Henry, who has been out since suffering a Halloween foot injury in the Week 8 overtime win over the Colts, could return before the regular season is over, but it’ll likely be too late to matter in deciding most league championships.
- Some might be surprised to see Gaskin included here, but he ranks 11th in the league with 199 total touches in 13 games this season and has averaged 19.4 during his current seven-game, 15-touch streak which began in Week 7. Gaskin did test positive for COVID-19 during Miami’s Week 14 bye, and will need to be cleared this week if he’s to play next Sunday against the Jets.
Consecutive games with 100-plus scrimmage yards (RBs)
5: Cook, Vikings
2: Conner, Cardinals; Kamara, Saints; Najee Harris, Steelers
Quick takeaways:
- Yikes, this list is even shorter than we thought it would be, and consider that Cook had a week off (Week 13) during his streak due to a shoulder injury and that Kamara had four games off (Weeks 10-13) in between his two games as he dealt with a knee injury.
- Of course it should be noted that the Colts’ Taylor — the league leader with 1,684 yards from scrimmage — was only three yards in Week 12 away from a current 10-game streak of 100-plus-yard outings. Taylor is averaging 129.5 scrimmage yards per contest and has a whopping 414 more yards than the next closest running back (Harris) on the season.
- Kamara’s 27 rushing attempts Sunday against the Jets marked a career high, while his 31 total touches matched a personal best and marked only the third time in 76 career contests he’s logged as many as 30 in a game.
Consecutive games with 100-plus scrimmage yards (WRs + TEs)
3: Davante Adams, Packers; Tee Higgins, Bengals; Hunter Renfrow, Raiders
2: Chris Godwin, Buccaneers; George Kittle, 49ers; Cooper Kupp, Rams
Quick takeaways:
- While rookie teammate Ja’Marr Chase has received most of the fantasy fanfare, ranking seventh among wideouts with 225.6 total fantasy points (PPR scoring) on the season, Higgins has paced all league wideouts with 366 yards over the last three weeks and ranks only behind Kupp (76.8), Renfrow (71.5) and the Vikings’ Justin Jefferson with 68.6 total fantasy points over that span. Chase, meanwhile, has totaled 168 receiving yards and 42.4 fantasy points over those three games.
- Prior to his current three-game century-mark run, Renfrow had only topped 100 receiving yards in two of his previous 39 career games. And those came in back-to-back contests (Weeks 16 and 17) of his rookie season in 2019.
- Although he’s missed three of the 49ers’ 13 games, Kittle ranks third among league tight ends with 170.1 total PPR points. A full 43.3 percent (73.7) of those points have come over the last two weeks as Kittle has caught 22-of-27 targets for 332 yards and three TDs against the Seahawks and Bengals. Kittle is now averaging a position-most 17.0 fantasy points per game, and the Ravens’ Mark Andrews (15.7), the Bucs’ Rob Gronkowski (15.5) and the Chiefs’ Travis Kelce (15.1) are the only other tight ends averaging more than 13 fantasy points per outing.
Consecutive games with seven-plus receptions
9: Cooper Kupp, Rams
4: Adams, Packers
3: Antonio Brown, Buccaneers; Renfrow, Raiders; Jaylen Waddle, Dolphins
2: Godwin, Buccaneers; Jefferson, Vikings; Kittle, 49ers; CeeDee Lamb, Cowboys; Amon-Ra St. Brown, Lions
Quick takeaways:
- Kupp, who entered Week 14 as the only player in league history with 100 or more catches and double-digit receiving TDs in the first 12 games of the season, went ahead and tacked on a career-high 13 receptions for 123 yards and a TD in Monday night’s win over the Cardinals. Kupp has had double-digit targets and at least seven catches in 12 of his 13 games this season and is easily on track to win the receiving “triple crown” as he’s currently pacing the league in receptions (113), receiving yards (1,489) and TD catches (12) on a league-most 151 targets.
- Renfrow, who had 105 total receptions on 148 targets over his first two seasons, is tied for fifth in the league with 86 catches but is 16th with 106 targets. That’s a model of efficiency with Renfrow’s 81.1 percent catch rate trailing only Cardinals rookie Rondale Moore’s among wideouts with at least 50 targets.
- Brown, the Motor City rookie, has reeled in 18-of-24 targets for 159 yards and a TD over the last two weeks for a total of 40.1 fantasy points after averaging 4.7 targets, 3.5 receptions, 32.0 receiving yards and 6.7 fantasy points over his first 11 games.
Consecutive games with 15-plus PPR points
10: Taylor, Colts
9: Kupp, Rams
6: Keenan Allen, Chargers
5: Conner, Cardinals; Kamara, Saints
4: Ekeler, Chargers; Diontae Johnson, Steelers
Quick takeaways:
- Allen, who is expected to return Thursday in Week 15 after missing Sunday’s game against the Giants due to a positive COVID-19 test, has put up double-digit fantasy points in all 12 of his games this season with high-water marks of 22.4 in Weeks 9 and 13. For the year, he’s had at least 14.8 fantasy points in all but a three-game stretch from Week 4-6.
- Cards RB Chase Edmonds is due back soon from ankle injury sustained early in the team’s Week 9 game against the 49ers, but Arizona isn’t in too much of a rush with Conner having totaled at least 15.4 fantasy points in every outing during that five-game stretch starting in Week 9. Even more impressive, Conner averaged 25.8 fantasy points per game during that span, which trailed only Taylor’s 31.6 average among running backs. For the season, Conner ranks sixth at the position with 221.4 total PPR points (17.0 per game).