By Winsto (12/03/2022)
- Every year, there seems to be a couple of players that go on a nice end-of-the-year stretch and help catapult fantasy owners to fantasy championships. I wonder who the possible candidates may be this season. We may see a one candidate announce his presence tomorrow–I am looking at Jameson Williams (WR-Detroit). (If for some reason he is still on your league’s waiver wire, go get him. After tomorrow, it will probably be too late.) Earlier in the week, Coach Dan Campbell was quoted as saying, “it would take a lot” for Williams to suit up in Week 13. Well, it appears he is suiting up for Week 13, so I guess he showed a lot to the coaching staff. He will probably be on a pitch count tomorrow, but if he has any success on his limited playing time, I would be fairly excited for him down the stretch. Keep in mind that for all of the scoring Jamaal Williams (RB) does, Detroit is actually in the middle of the pack passing and has thrown as many TD passes as the Philadelphia and Minnesota. In addition, Jared Goff (QB) is tied for 2nd least sacked QB in the league. That means he has time to go deep. You know who has the speed to go deep? Jameson Williams. The reality is this: Detroit drafted Williams with the 12th pick knowing that he would not be ready to play for at least half if not all of 2022. That, to me, speaks volumes of what kind of ceiling Detroit thinks he has. Fantasy football managers should take heed.
- Continuing with that same idea of players having strong finishes, I think we already are seeing it from Christian Watson (WR-Green Bay). At this point, even if Romeo Daubs (WR) returns, I wonder how anyone cannot continue to start him? In the last 3 games, he has gone 12-265-5. In addition, he has seen a target share of about 24% of passes during that stretch. Keep him in your starting line-up!
- I wonder if Gus Edwards (RB-Baltimore) does not get enough respect. All he has done this season is average a little over 60 yards per game and has scored at least 1 TD in 2 of the 3 games he has played. Yes, he may never catch a pass this season, so in PPR leagues, his upside is very limited, BUT, he does tend to score TDs–he rushed for 13 of them in his last healthy season in 2020. There is value in that. J. K. Dobbins (RB) is not returning this week, and Kenyan Drake (RB) does not look like a major threat to take away touches from Edwards. Yes, his opponent (Denver) has only given up 6 rushing TDs on the season, but they are giving up a middle-of-the-pack 4.6 yards per carry. I do not think I would fade Edwards because of the opponent.
- Last week, I suggested that there would be fantasy gold in the Seattle-Las Vegas match-up, and it did not disappoint. I wonder if that will be true with the Los Angeles Chargers-Las Vegas match-up this week, considering it has the 3rd highest over-under line (49.5) from Vegas. I would try to get a piece of that action. Obviously, you are starting Davante Adams, Josh Jacobs, Justin Herbert, Austin Ekeler, and Keenan Allen. But what about Derek Carr, Josh Palmer, DeAndre Carter, Mack Hollins, Gerald Everett, and Foster Moreau? I think several of these players are going to have nice fantasy days. And, if Jacobs, who is Questionable, does not play, Zamir White and maybe even Ameer Abdullah could be sneaky fantasy starters.
- I wonder if the fantasy community is sleeping on JuJu Smith-Schuster (WR-Kansas City) this week against Cincinnati. In his 3 full games before his injury in Week 10, he saw 25 targets and went for 22-325-2. It appeared that he and Patrick Mahomes (QB-Kansas City) were starting to develop a connection, and he was 2nd in targets (after Travis Kelce, of course) during that stretch. He did not do much in his first game back from injury in Week 12 (3-38), but he only played 38% of the snaps. I “think” that was intentional, as the coaches did not want, nor need, to rush him back, as Kansas City was playing the Los Angeles Rams. I think Smith-Schuster may have a nice little game tomorrow, as Vegas has it as the highest over-under line (53). With that line in mind, less obvious fantasy plays should also be in play. I think several of the following players will provide solid fantasy stats: Isiah Pacheco (RB-KC), Marquez Valdes-Scantling (WR-KC), Tyler Boyd (WR-Cin), Hayden Hurst (TE-Cin), Skyy Moore (WR-KC), Justin Watson (WR-KC), and Samaje Perine (RB-Cin).
- Tomorrow, Miami will be playing San Francisco. I wonder how good Tua Tagovailoa (QB-Mia) actually is. He is facing a top tier defense, something he has not faced since his return from injury in Week 7. You are obviously playing Tyreek Hill (WR) and Jaylen Waddle (WR), but I may temper my expectations for Tua as well as Jeff Wilson Jr.
- In that same game, I wonder how many touches Christian McCaffrey (RB-SF) will get. The reports are that he is over the “knee irritation,” but he still may be scaled back. I think it will be interesting to see how much playing time Jordan Mason (RB-SF) will get. I would think that if Mason gets a decent amount of touches, then that should tell us how valuable the SF coaches believe Mason to be, and that would allow us to envision him having a substantial role down the stretch in 2022.
- I wonder how good the New York Jets under Mike White (QB) actually are. Yes, they had a nice offensive game in Week 11, but that was against an underwhelming Chicago defense. Now that there is more tape on White, can he continue to provide fantasy value to New York’s skill position players? And with that in mind, I wonder if Zonovan “Bam” Knight (RB-Jets) may become a thing? He did have 103 rushing/receiving yards in Week 12, but again, that was against Chicago. I am very curious to see if he can build upon that success.
- In the Cleveland-Houston game, I wonder how much rust Deshaun Watson (QB-Cle) will have. He has not thrown a meaningful pass since January 3, 2021. If you have been holding Watson or picked him up recently, I would may not try to rush him into my starting line-up just yet. The reality is Cleveland may just run the ball and play it conservatively against Houston if they think they may still have a chance at the play-offs–they are 3 games out of the wild card. OR, they could just let Watson loose to try and shake the rust off and build better rapport with Amari Cooper (WR) and Donovan Peoples-Jones (WR). My guess is the first option, but it is a guess. On a side note, Peoples-Jones may be a sneaky good receiver down the stretch. On another side note, this could be a ridiculous game for Nick Chubb (RB-Cle).
- And finally… I wonder if before the crowbar was invented, did they just drink in their nests?