“The Bachelor but with coaches courting Andrew Luck.”
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Welcome back! We’re approaching the midpoint of the season, so I wanted to take a minute to say thank you. The support and encouragement you guys send my way on a regular basis makes this a ton of fun. I also appreciate all of you who’ve helped me spread the word by sharing it with friends or league mates who you don’t mind sharing your sources with because they suck at fantasy football. So thank you, and good luck this week!
Also, a reminder that after the email goes out I post these on /r/fantasyfootball and /r/DynastyFF if you’d like to join the conversation.
News & Notes:
Tampa Bay has signed Antonio Brown on Friday to a 1-year deal. Tampa desperately needed WR help. Arians: If Antonio Brown 'Bitches' About Touches 'We're Going to Have a Problem'
Cam Newton was benched this weekend and replaced by Jarrett Stidham. Patriots head coach Bill Belichick said Cam Newton is still "absolutely" the team's starter. Cam Newton on his benching: 'It's going to be a permanent change' if I don't improve.
Panthers coach Matt Rhule said Mike Davis will "still play" when Christian McCaffrey (ankle) returns from injury.
Some good news from Ron Rivera that we all love to see.
Rumors swirled this weekend that the Saints might consider trading Michael Thomas. Saints HC Sean Payton quickly seemed to shoot this notion down.
After Tua Tagovailoa was named the starting QB for the Dolphins, Ryan Fitzpatrick said he was “shocked” and “heartbroken.” Our hearts are broken for you too, Fitz.
Articles, Insights, Analysis, Hype:
“There are three players with 10+ targets in three straight games this season: Keenan Allen, Allen Robinson and... [PHI WR] Travis Fulgham. Fulgham now has 21 catches for 310 yards and 2 TD in that stretch. What a find for Philly.”
“Amongst 21 year old rookie WRs through their first 6 games in their career here is where some rookies rank 1. Justin Jefferson 5. CeeDee Lamb 11. Tee Higgins Every single other WR in the top 12 had multiple seasons with 215+ PPR points in their career. Chase history.”
Whew lawd Tyler Lockett: “Tyler Lockett’s Sunday night blowup was the 30th best FF performance of all-time & 14th best by a wide receiver.” - Tyler Lockett had more fantasy points this weekend than TY Hilton has all season.
Chart demonstrating why Jimmy Graham + TJ Hockenson = a less expensive top 5 TE rest of season.
James Robinson at it again: “Running backs with more fantasy points than James Robinson this season: Alvin Kamara.” - Some JRob film breakdown porn. - “James Robinson has seen 94.7% of Jacksonville's running back rushes this year. That's the highest running back rush share in the NFL. The back in second is Derrick Henry, who has a significantly lower 85.6% share. I don't have data past 2011 for this specifically (maybe someone else does), but that share is the highest since then. Last year, CMC was at 91.1%. Pretty wild usage.”
Most Targeted RBs AVG Through Week 7 Kamara 8.8 Elliott 6.3 Davis 5.9 Jones 5.6 White 5.3 Edwards-Helaire 5 Sanders 5 Gaskins 4.8 McKissic 4.7 Montgomery 4.7 Robinson 4.6 Edmonds 4.6
“Diontae Johnson's target totals in the three games this year that he didn't leave early with an injury: 10, 13, 15”
Daniel Jones is an athlete. “While everyone is laughing at Daniel Jones for not finishing the run, he topped out at 21.23 MPH on that long run and that was the fastest top speed by ANY quarterback on a run since the 2018 season. And yes, that includes all of Lamar Jackson's runs. Not bad. Tyreek Hill's top speed this year = 21.29 MPH. Daniel Jones' top speed this year = 21.23 MPH.”
“Two reasons not to panic on Chase Claypool: 1. The Titans clearly prioritized him, using top CB Malcolm Butler to shadow him on all but 2 of his 19 perimeter routes. 2. He ran 32 routes in the game, which wasn't too far behind JuJu's 45 and Diontae's 42.”
CLE TE Harrison Bryant received PFF’s highest grade out of all rookies from Week 7. Followed by WR Brandon Aiyuk at #2, TE Albert Okwuegbunam at #3 and WR Donovan Peoples-Jones at #4. - “As good as Jedrick Wills has been, TE Harrison Bryant might have been Cleveland’s best draft pick this year, given they were able to grab him in the 4th round.” It’s also worth noting that Bryant has even more opportunity in front of him with OBJ out for the season with an ACL injury.
The golden boy is on a tear: “Justin Herbert just posted the 4th best FF game by a rookie QB in league history.” - “Fantasy managers hate it but Justin Herbert's ability to throw gorgeous TDs to guys further down the depth chart on a routine basis is the mark of a star-level QB and just one of the reasons it's hard to turn down the enthusiasm about this guy.” - Really no one throws a prettier ball than Herbert.
Dynasty rookie rankings and discussion on /r/DynastyFF.
Great thread on /r/fantasyfootball: “They Called It: Analysts who Foresaw Boom Performances... and those who didn't”
Cold Water:
“Rams rookie RB Cam Akers did not play a snap in the first half, per @NextGenStats tracking. He played one last week and has played 40 in 4.5 games this season.”
Evan Engram sad trombone music. Engram has 21 career drops. Most by a TE since 2017.
Tyreek Hill's targets per game: 2018: 8.6, 2019: 7.4, 2020: 6.3
Tools & Resources:
Week 7 fantasy relevant injury rundowns from FantasyPros and PFF.
Waiver wire articles: FantasyPros, CBSSports, RotoBaller, SI.com.
Full Week 7 recaps: Rotoworld, Razzball, FantasyPros, NumberFire, ESPN, Yahoo and PFF.
The Fun Stuff:
Tweet of the week: “Lemme guess, a four-man league?”
The clip seen ‘round the world: DK Metcalf turning on the jets to save a pick-6. Watching it live my first thoughts were “How is that lineman catching up to Budda Baker?” - Budda Baker: “DK HAWKED MY ASS... #RESPECT” - Favorite quote of the week: “if baker would have just zig zagged dk wouldda been toast tho”
May God have mercy on the league when Jameis Winston gets another shot.
Adam Schefter you scoundrel.
Easily one of the sweetest defensive plays of the year.
6 beautiful clips of DK Metcalf and Deandre Hopkins catching deep shots.
This huge grin on Kyler Murray’s face as he’s throwing the football after he saw Hopkins in single man coverage.
Aaron Rodgers torched the Houston Texans this weekend. Houston hates this dude now.
Will Fuller finally broke free from the Moon Phase correlation.
“The Bachelor but with coaches courting Andrew Luck.”
Owen Wilson saying "wow" but they're replaced with George Kittle saying "WOO"
That’s it for now. Don’t forget to share the FF Newsletter with friends who are 0-7:
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