Risers and Fallers: Stock Up, Stock Down: Week 11
Week 11 was a ridiculous week for injuries, and nowhere was that truer than in Denver. The Broncos lost two huge pieces of their passing game for what could be multiple weeks and had yet another running back go down to injury.
The first injury was to Julius Thomas, who tweaked his ankle early in the first quarter against the Rams. Thomas appears to have avoided a high-ankle sprain, but a long history of ankle issues could cause the Broncos to take it slow with their star tight end. Jacob Tamme saw 10 targets in Thomas’ absence but would be nothing more than a TE2 dart throw if Thomas cannot play.
Emmanuel Sanders followed Thomas to the locker room after taking a vicious hit from Rodney McLeod in the third quarter. Sanders suffered a concussion on the play, meaning he will have to pass through the league’s concussion protocol before returning to the field. Alert in the locker room postgame, there is a chance Sanders could pass through the protocol prior to Week 12, but he is questionable at best for the Dolphins matchup.
The final injury for the Broncos was to Montee Ball, who re-injured his groin after only playing four snaps. He is expected to be out two to three weeks, though that timetable could be optimistic. With Ronnie Hillman out at least another week, C.J. Anderson is suddenly in the RB1 conversation.
Ahmad Bradshaw suffered a lower leg injury in the fourth quarter of the Colts’ loss to New England Sunday night. Bradshaw left the stadium on crutches, and coach Chuck Pagano confirmed Bradshaw suffered a fractured fibula. He is very likely headed to injured reserve. Trent Richardson will get a bump in carries with Bradshaw sidelined, and Dan Herron should see a bump in workload as well.
Dwayne Allen also suffered a lower leg injury against the Patriots, but his is not believed to be serious. Allen left the stadium in a walking boot, but he appears to have avoided a high-ankle sprain and is “hopeful” he can play Week 12. Coby Fleener had a career day against the Patriots while seeing his usual number of snaps.
Larry Fitzgerald sprained the MCL in his left knee late in the first half against the Lions. He was able to finish the game, but only saw one target in the second half. Fitzgerald is expected to play through the injury, but he is unlikely to be a fantasy factor while banged up with Drew Stanton under center. He should not be in fantasy lineups against Seattle Week 12.
Brandin Cooks broke his thumb Week 11 against the Bengals and is expected to miss two to four weeks. Cooks started slowly but was coming on strong with two touchdowns over his last four games. Marques Colston should get a bump in targets, but he has been inconsistent all season. Kenny Stills has been playing well as of late and will be a player to monitor with Cooks sidelined.
Editor’s Note: Rotoworld’s partner FanDuel is hosting a one-week $2.5 Million Fantasy Football league for Week 12’s games. It’s only $25 to join and first prize is $300,000. Starts Sunday, November 23rd at 1pm ET. Here’s the link.
Stock Up
Jonas Gray capped of a day filled with disappointing running back performances with an unexpected explosion. Gray shredded the Colts’ defense for 199 yards and four touchdowns on 38 carries Sunday night. He entered the game with 32-career carries and zero career touchdowns. It was the definition of stunning.
As impressive as the performance was, I am not buying Jonas Gray as a must-start fantasy option moving forward. I have faded Patriots running backs all season simply because they are the most game-plan dependent group in the league. Gray only played 23-of-86 snaps in Week 9 before the bye, and I would not be surprised if he only plays 23 snaps this week against the Lions.
Gray needs to be owned in all formats, but I am not blowing a ton of FAAB dollars to get him. I have taken enough hits on the Patriots’ running-back roller coaster to get sucked in once again.
Don’t forget, for everything NFL, check out Rotoworld’s Player News, and follow @Rotoworld_FB and @RMSummerlin on Twitter. Also, purchase our info-packed Season Pass here.
I am on the record saying that Isaiah Crowell is the best back in Cleveland’s backfield, but I was concerned ball security issues and a general lack of trust would prevent Crowell from showing his full range of skills this season. That is not what played out on Sunday.
Crowell started the game and saw the majority of work for Cleveland against the Texans. He out-touched Terrance West 16-to-5 and out-snapped him 51-to-10. Ben Tate played on 17 snaps but only received two touches. Even with a lost fumble in the second-quarter, Crowell was the dominant back in the Browns’ backfield.
A great schedule down the stretch means any back that emerges from this quagmire could become a league winner, but it is hard to see any clarity. Crowell was the lead back this week, but that title could revert back to Tate or West any moment. For now Crowell is the best bet to lead the team in touches Week 12 against the Falcons, but the same would have been said about Terrance West last week.
Roddy White caught 8-of-12 targets for 75 yards and a touchdown Week 11 against the Panthers. It was White’s second double-digit target game in the last four, and he now has three touchdowns over the last four weeks. He is averaging 78 yards a game over that span.
White started the season somewhat sluggishly but has been a solid WR2 over the past month. With a defense still susceptible to giving up points and Julio Jones on the other side, he should continue to return that value the rest of the season.
Week 11 was a ridiculous week for injuries, and nowhere was that truer than in Denver. The Broncos lost two huge pieces of their passing game for what could be multiple weeks and had yet another running back go down to injury.
The first injury was to Julius Thomas, who tweaked his ankle early in the first quarter against the Rams. Thomas appears to have avoided a high-ankle sprain, but a long history of ankle issues could cause the Broncos to take it slow with their star tight end. Jacob Tamme saw 10 targets in Thomas’ absence but would be nothing more than a TE2 dart throw if Thomas cannot play.
Emmanuel Sanders followed Thomas to the locker room after taking a vicious hit from Rodney McLeod in the third quarter. Sanders suffered a concussion on the play, meaning he will have to pass through the league’s concussion protocol before returning to the field. Alert in the locker room postgame, there is a chance Sanders could pass through the protocol prior to Week 12, but he is questionable at best for the Dolphins matchup.
The final injury for the Broncos was to Montee Ball, who re-injured his groin after only playing four snaps. He is expected to be out two to three weeks, though that timetable could be optimistic. With Ronnie Hillman out at least another week, C.J. Anderson is suddenly in the RB1 conversation.
Ahmad Bradshaw suffered a lower leg injury in the fourth quarter of the Colts’ loss to New England Sunday night. Bradshaw left the stadium on crutches, and coach Chuck Pagano confirmed Bradshaw suffered a fractured fibula. He is very likely headed to injured reserve. Trent Richardson will get a bump in carries with Bradshaw sidelined, and Dan Herron should see a bump in workload as well.
Dwayne Allen also suffered a lower leg injury against the Patriots, but his is not believed to be serious. Allen left the stadium in a walking boot, but he appears to have avoided a high-ankle sprain and is “hopeful” he can play Week 12. Coby Fleener had a career day against the Patriots while seeing his usual number of snaps.
Larry Fitzgerald sprained the MCL in his left knee late in the first half against the Lions. He was able to finish the game, but only saw one target in the second half. Fitzgerald is expected to play through the injury, but he is unlikely to be a fantasy factor while banged up with Drew Stanton under center. He should not be in fantasy lineups against Seattle Week 12.
Brandin Cooks broke his thumb Week 11 against the Bengals and is expected to miss two to four weeks. Cooks started slowly but was coming on strong with two touchdowns over his last four games. Marques Colston should get a bump in targets, but he has been inconsistent all season. Kenny Stills has been playing well as of late and will be a player to monitor with Cooks sidelined.
Editor’s Note: Rotoworld’s partner FanDuel is hosting a one-week $2.5 Million Fantasy Football league for Week 12’s games. It’s only $25 to join and first prize is $300,000. Starts Sunday, November 23rd at 1pm ET. Here’s the link.
Stock Up
Jonas Gray capped of a day filled with disappointing running back performances with an unexpected explosion. Gray shredded the Colts’ defense for 199 yards and four touchdowns on 38 carries Sunday night. He entered the game with 32-career carries and zero career touchdowns. It was the definition of stunning.
As impressive as the performance was, I am not buying Jonas Gray as a must-start fantasy option moving forward. I have faded Patriots running backs all season simply because they are the most game-plan dependent group in the league. Gray only played 23-of-86 snaps in Week 9 before the bye, and I would not be surprised if he only plays 23 snaps this week against the Lions.
Gray needs to be owned in all formats, but I am not blowing a ton of FAAB dollars to get him. I have taken enough hits on the Patriots’ running-back roller coaster to get sucked in once again.
Don’t forget, for everything NFL, check out Rotoworld’s Player News, and follow @Rotoworld_FB and @RMSummerlin on Twitter. Also, purchase our info-packed Season Pass here.
I am on the record saying that Isaiah Crowell is the best back in Cleveland’s backfield, but I was concerned ball security issues and a general lack of trust would prevent Crowell from showing his full range of skills this season. That is not what played out on Sunday.
Crowell started the game and saw the majority of work for Cleveland against the Texans. He out-touched Terrance West 16-to-5 and out-snapped him 51-to-10. Ben Tate played on 17 snaps but only received two touches. Even with a lost fumble in the second-quarter, Crowell was the dominant back in the Browns’ backfield.
A great schedule down the stretch means any back that emerges from this quagmire could become a league winner, but it is hard to see any clarity. Crowell was the lead back this week, but that title could revert back to Tate or West any moment. For now Crowell is the best bet to lead the team in touches Week 12 against the Falcons, but the same would have been said about Terrance West last week.
Roddy White caught 8-of-12 targets for 75 yards and a touchdown Week 11 against the Panthers. It was White’s second double-digit target game in the last four, and he now has three touchdowns over the last four weeks. He is averaging 78 yards a game over that span.
White started the season somewhat sluggishly but has been a solid WR2 over the past month. With a defense still susceptible to giving up points and Julio Jones on the other side, he should continue to return that value the rest of the season.
Charles Sims was as unimpressive as all the Tampa Bay backs that have come before him Week 11 against the Redskins. He rushed 13 times for 36 yards (2.8 YPC) and caught three passes for eight yards. The Tampa Bay offensive line and run scheme are terrible, and both have seriously hampered the Bucs’ running game this season.
Unfortunately for Sims, neither the offensive line nor the scheme is going to improve anytime soon. On the bright side, Sims out-snapped Bobby Rainey 33-to-19 and out-touched him 16-to-5. Sims should be given the opportunity to be the starter in Tampa, for whatever that is worth.
Stash and See
These players may not be worthy of a start Week 12, but they are certainly worthy of a roster spot.
Latavius Murray gained 43 yards on only four carries against the Chargers and may finally be ticketed for a bigger role. … Jarvis Landry continues to look explosive as a key cog in the Dolphins passing game. … Josh McCown has put together back to back solid fantasy days and has a stud rookie catching passes. … Charles Johnson saw a receiver-high seven targets against the Bears. … Jacob Tamme saw 10 targets after Julius Thomas left the game. … Chris Hogan continues to soak up targets. He has 29 over the last five games.
Stock Down
I was fully onboard with the idea the return of Jason Kelce and Evan Mathis would cure whatever ailed LeSean McCoy. After two games with both players in the lineup, it is safe to say something else is wrong.
McCoy rushed 23 times for 88 yards (3.8 YPC) against the Packers Week 11 a week after gaining 19 yards on 12 carries against the Panthers. He did not play poorly in either game, but the playmaking ability we have come to expect from McCoy is simply not there. He is not making people miss in the hole, and he is not creating yards by himself. He averaged 1.26 yards after contact per carry against the Packers and Panthers combined, and is now averaging 1.96 on the season. He averaged 2.33 per carry last year.
McCoy was the number one back drafted in a lot of leagues, and he is still the 22nd best running back in points per game despite the struggles. That means he is still a starter for almost every team, and he still could pay his loyal owners back down a fairly easy finishing stretch. I am no longer confident that breakout is coming, though, and I am not playing him in daily formats until we see some signs of life.
Don’t forget, for everything NFL, check out Rotoworld’s Player News, and follow @Rotoworld_FB and @RMSummerlin on Twitter. Also, purchase our info-packed Season Pass here.
When making trades before the deadlines, I kept finding myself looking at Mike Wallace. He was having a decent season as a top-30 per game scorer, and he was finding the end zone consistently. When I dug deeper into the numbers, I quickly pivoted off Wallace.
Wallace is averaging a decent eight targets per game but has only caught 53.6 percent of the passes thrown his way. Wallace has not gone over 85 yards yet this season, and he is averaging just 56 yards a game. He scored five touchdowns in the first six games but has one in his last four. The touchdowns that were propping up his value early in the season have dried up, and Ryan Tannehill cannot hit the big plays necessary to keep Wallace fantasy relevant without touchdowns.
Wallace is getting enough targets in the red zone to keep scoring touchdowns, but he is not a player that routinely wins in the end zone. He has eight touchdowns in his career of 10 yards or less, and four of them have happened this season. Tannehill has to start hitting the big plays for Wallace to hold consistent value. I am doubtful that happens anytime soon.
The Purge
These players are unlikely to make any noise this season. They are not must drops, but can be replaced without worry.
Pierre Garcon had a cake matchup Week 11. He caught one of two targets for six yards. … I am tired of waiting on Cordarrelle Patterson. There will not be a situation where I am comfortable playing him. … Jordan Reed has been nonexistent in the Washington passing game and is now dealing with yet another hamstring issue. … Zac Stacy has not played an offensive snap since Week 8. … Eddie Royal does not have a touchdown the last four weeks? Surprising. … With Julian Edelman hurting, Danny Amendola stepped up with two catches for 13 very important yards. Cut him.
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