🏈 Sick of Kirk Cousins
Josh Allen, Deebo Samuel, the Dolphins skill players, and DEEP dives for the fantasy playoffs.
Good morning. Good news: Darius Leonard was named NFLPA Community MVP for hosting two Thanksgiving giveaways.
Leonard provided for over 170 families suffering from homelessness. Thanks to this MVP, the NFLPA donated $10K to the charity of his choice. Great stuff Darius!
Playoffs?
The best/worst playoff schedules (Weeks 15-17), with the value of points per game for each by @ScottBarrettDFB:
Time for the weekly position by position review.
Quarterbacks
After a week of not cracking the top 10, Josh Allen was QB1 with 4 TD’s against the Saints. He is QB1 this season and should be more dominant (if his receivers could get some YAC).
After having his name entered in MVP conversations, Kirk Cousins returned to reality (he still is Kirk Cousins, after all) which included trying to take a snap from his guard. Justin Jefferson has had enough of Captain Kirk.
Mac Jones is running away with OROY and had PFF’s highest passer rating of Week 12. Was he the best pick in the 2021 draft?
Aaron Rogers picked apart the Rams D for 307 yards, 2 passing TDs and a rushing TD. His fractured toe is a non-issue (just gross to look at). Rodgers has the 5th easiest playoff schedule (worth 1+ points per game).
Lamar Jackson looked rough Sunday, tossing 4 picks. Since week 6 he has thrown 9 INTs to 7 TDs. He only has 2 rushing TDs this season, with both in Week 2.
Running Backs
Uncle Lenny Fournette continues to impress with 4 TD’s on 131 total yards. He is now RB6 on the year - ahead of studs like Aaron Jones, Dalvin Cook and Ezekiel Elliot.
Speaking of league winners, Elijah Mitchell ran all over the Vikings D for 133 yards and a TD. He is 4th in the NFL in rush yards per game and now has 4 games with over 100 yards.
We spoke about Myles Gaskin last week and he continued to be a workhorse seeing 18 touches with 2 TDs. He has 15+ touches in 6 straight games.
Joe Mixon had more rushing yards after contact than any other RB had actual rushing yards. Two straight games with 30+ touches.
Antonio Gibson had his best game of the season - a career high 36 touches with 146 total yards. He finally got involved in the pass game, with 7 receptions, and may continue to see increased usage after McKissic was carted off the field.
Here is a depressing image of the top 24 RB’s by ADP and where they are right now.
Wide Receivers
Jaylen Waddle is PFF’s highest graded rookie WR, 7th in the NFL in targets and 5th in catches. He finished with 137 yards and a TD as the WR1. His TD celly was just as awesome as his TD.
The LA Rams had 3 WR’s in the top 15 with Van Jefferson finishing 9th, OBJ 10TH and Cooper Kupp 13th. With OBJ suffering a hip pointer, Van Jefferson has WR2 upside.
Deebo Samuel made history as the first WR with 1000 yards, 5 receiving TD’s and 5 rushing TD’s. Despite suffering an injury to his groin, it is considered minor and he may only miss a week or two. 49ers have the easiest WR schedule for fantasy playoffs.
Darnell Mooney showed why he is a must start with Allen Robinson out, posting back to back games with 100+ yards. Since Week 8, Mooney is WR10.
Jalen Reagor stinks you know it. Don’t believe us? here is video evidence. Here is a list of WR’s he was drafted ahead of.
Tight Ends
Rob Gronkowski had a “vintage” Gronk day with 123 receiving yards, the most he’s had in over 3 years. He seems to enjoy being labelled as vintage.
Dawson Knox finished with 2 TD’s and is quietly leading all tight ends in TD’s. Bills trust him in the endzone giving him TE1 upside every week.
TJ Hockenson had his first TD since week 2 but only saw 3 targets. You’d think Jared Goof would target the best receiving option on the offense.
D/ST
Gary Davenport provides the D/ST breakdown for Week 13. One of the teams I found interesting: Miami Dolphins.
The Dolphins aren't especially impressive statistically, but they have made big plays when they had to—as evidenced by their eighth-place ranking in fantasy points on the year. The Giants may have won last week, but this is still a team that ranks 24th in total offense, 26th in scoring offense and that has given up the 10th-most fantasy points per game to defenses this season.
I agree with Gary, any D/ST against Daniel Jones I start.
Deep Dive Playoff Edition
Austin Walter
With Michael Carter on the IR, Austin Walker operated as the 3rd down back (and still got 9 carries) - which he turned into 38 yards and a TD. He got more touches than Ty Johnson and had 6 red-zone carries, making him an intriguing option going forward. With only Johnson and Tevin Coleman to beat, he has a chance to continue to see work with Carter out. While hard to trust right now, his workload could increase if he continues this productivity. He had a emotional postgame interview when speaking about his first career TD.
Laquon Treadwell
With Jamal Agnew, DJ Chark and Dan Arnold on IR, Treadwell took advantage of the opportunity leading the team in targets (8) and receiving yards, with 53. While he was listed as the WR3, he saw 86% of the snaps, behind only Marvin Jones. While the Jags offense stinks, his high usage in the offense makes him a startable option if you’re team is like mine and decimated from injury.
Anthony Mcfarland
While he only saw 3 touches yesterday with 19% snap count, he is the #1 handcuff to workhorse back Najee Harris. If we’ve learned anything from RBs this year, it’s to always prepare for the worst. While Kalen Ballage could also be involved, anyone who saw him in Miami knows he’s not a real threat. Mike Tomlin is also known for preferring one back to see a majority of the work, making Anthony a valuable stash option.
Quick Slants
Zeke owners should be happy to hear that he is expected to see a “serious load” of snaps against the Saints. For Cowboys fans (like myself), not great news.
Cam Heyward thankfully shut down Chase Claypool’s brilliant idea that playing music at practice would help them get back on track. Glad to see someone over there is focused.
Ian Hartitz provided an insightful graph of RB ranks in missed tackled forced + yards after contact. Read if you need a reminder that the Browns RBs and Jonathan Taylor are really good.
Sean Payton has yet to declare a QB for Thursday’s game against the Cowboys. Neither Hill or Siemein is a great option, though Hill’s rushing ability gives him top-10 upside.
Tweet of the Day
I think we all agree with Madi on this one.
Have a great day!! We’ll be back Friday morning (got some great feedback from yesterdays survey, which we will use to improve the newsletter).
- Eddie