🏈 Dear football gods
What’s wrong with Elijah Moore, please let us survive this week, and the TOTW.
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Good morning. You know what’s better than waking up to a fresh edition of the Morning Huddle? Waking up to successful waiver claims. If that’s you - congrats, you’ll need them…
We’re onto week 7, where everyone who’s anyone is either injured or on bye.
Team of the Week
QB: Josh Allen - Finished QB1 with 27+ despite leaving points on the table, going 2/5 in the red zone. His weekly upside & floor is second to none.
RB: Derrick Henry - No surprise here, just another 34+ performance from the 👑 , who has been the overall RB1 in 50% of weeks this season. And he’s built like a tank (only missing 2 games over his 5 year NFL career), making Henry more valuable than other top RBs. The craziest part? He usually improves as the season wears on:
Scott Barrett @ScottBarrettDFB
Derrick Henry (2016-2019) Before Thanksgiving 🦃 - PPR/G: 9.8 - YPG: 50.9 - YPC: 4.36 After Thanksgiving 🦃 - PPR/G: 16.0 - YPG: 92.1 - YPC: 5.37WR: CeeDee Lamb - Finally, we saw the monster game owners (and Cowboys fans like myself) were praying for. After scoring 31+, all buy-low windows slammed shut.
TE: Noah Fant - Though most of his production came in garbage time, Fant lead all TEs with 20+. This could be the perfect opportunity to sell high with Jeudy nearing return.
DST: Los Angeles Rams: This was somewhat expected as the Giants have Jason Garrett as OC and were missing Saquon Barkley, Kenny Golladay, and Kadarius Toney. The Giants take on the Panthers this week (a D/ST worth grabbing).
Evan Silva Thread of the Week
The fantasy legend is back again dropping gems. Be sure to check out Evan’s top 150 rankings, which are too valuable to be free (paywalled). Luckily, we have the below, and you can listen to his team-by-team podcast for free.
Player Profile: What’s happened to Elijah Moore
To say Elijah Moore entered the NFL season with high hopes is an understatement. The offseason drumbeat was loud for the Ole Miss product - who averaged 149 receiving yards per game during his last college season:
Per Scott Barrett’s model, Moore ranked as the 8th-best WR Prospect since 2015, just behind Justin Jefferson and Jerry Jeudy.
Jets beat reporter: “The more Gang Green uses Elijah Moore the better, because through five days of training camp, Moore has been unstoppable.”
A.J. Brown to Elijah Moore: “I couldn't do none of the shit you do. I never told you this but you way better than me bro.”
Jets Coach Robert Saleh in August: "Old soul" Elijah Moore is "already ahead of the game" in Jets offense.
But then this happened:
There are a few reasons why:
No preseason action due to a quadriceps injury.
Suffered a concussion in Week 4 that could easily have lingered 2-3 weeks.
Moore is playing out of position on the outside; he should be in the slot.
Asked if Moore is struggling with coverage on the outside, where his size (5-foot-10) could be considered a disadvantage, coach Saleh acknowledged that's "a good discussion."
While Moore currently ranks WR133 on the season, things are looking up. After their bye week, the Jets realized they need to get Elijah the ball Moore (Sorry). Coach Saleh:
“We’re gonna get our best players on the field and Elijah, obviously, is one of them. We just got to find creative ways to get him on the football field and get him in a position to make a play.”
Zach Wilson also made a point in saying: “I know he is a dominant player. I need to get him the ball more.”
Best case? The Jets move Moore into the slot, instead of Jamison Crowder. Then Crowder is traded as Saleh isn’t afraid to move on from Gase-carryovers (See Darnold, Sam) - plus Crowder is in the final year of his contract. A slot position plays into Moore’s strengths - short throws with room for creativity (think A.J. Brown) and could lead to massive volume.
While you can’t start him, go acquire Elijah Moore in every single league you’re in. He’s basically free & could see a Kadarius Toney-like breakout performance after a week off to recover from injuries, especially if Moore is moved into the slot.
🚨 Need more convincing? Another rookie who suffered from offseason injuries: Odell Beckham Jr., who didn’t truly break out until Week 8
Beckham missed most of the offseason during his rookie year because of hamstring issues, which lingered to the point that he missed training camp, the preseason and the first month of the regular season.
Beckham Jr. finished as PFF’s highest-graded rookie WR (ever), had the best yards per route run season by a rookie WR (ever), and the 5th most receiving yards by a rookie WR (ever).
So yeah, it’s too early to lose faith in Elijah Moore. Crazier things have happened.
Quick Slants
Kadarius Toney will miss Week 7, making Sterling Shepard a borderline must-start off-target share alone, as Shepard saw 14 targets in Week 6.
I remember people telling me not to hype up Darrell Henderson because he was going to split carries with Sony Michel. Henderson is currently RB9 in points per game and gets Detroit, Houston, and Tennesse in his next 3.
Keep buying Najee Harris, who is only behind LaDainian Tomlinson (634) and Edgerrin James (633) in total yards from scrimmage for a rookie RB (632).
Jake Ciely is right when he says Urban Meyer loves JAX WR Jamal Agnew, who has seen 13 targets over the past two games since Chark went on the IR. Agnew is worth a look if he’s available in your league. I found the Cordarrelle Patterson comparison fitting.
Twitter Beef Update of the Day
Looks like DK did his homework on Shannon Sharpe and made nice.
See you tomorrow, thanks for joining me this morning - Get after it today.
Also - we’re on Twitter: give us a follow @MorningHuddleUp.
- Eddie
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Do you think there's any point in picking up Kenny Golladay as a playoff sleeper, or is his offense too competitive?
Love the GIF at the end. And, thanks for sharing your Twitter. Hope to see even more content there.