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Bring out your dead! It's one of the worst weeks in recent memory in the NFL for injuries (please don't count them on me), so let's have a not-so-quick roundup of all of the fantasy relevant guys who we need to monitor going in to Week 6.

Quarterbacks

• Russell Wilson - Wilson’s injury on Thursday night prevented him from completing the game. He has a torn tendon as well as a fracture/dislocation of his middle finger on his throwing hand. He had surgery to repair it and is expected to be out until Week 10 at the earliest. Seattle has a bye in Week 9. In relief, Geno Smith immediately led the Seahawks on a 98 yard scoring drive, so that was encouraging. The Seahawks fantasy players remain startable, but get a bit of a downgrade across the board. Geno Smith should be picked up in superflex leagues as bye weeks are going to start hitting everybody.

• Daniel Jones - Jones suffered a concussion and was visibly woozy/dazed/stumbling on the field after the play. He was later carted off the field and Mike Glennon finished the game. Glennon finished the game with enough passing action to encourage you to start Kadarius Toney, and possibly Sterling Shepard if he returns. Jones did not practice today but is apparently “on track with everything” according to head coach Joe Judge. Jones returning is a bump for Toney, Booker and Shepard, the only likely fantasy starters on the Giants.

• Trey Lance - Lance suffered a sprained knee on Sunday. So far, his timeline is very murky because the 49ers have a bye this week, so are not required to report any injury statuses. Jimmy G could return based on Lance’s play as a passer this year so far, so this situation is clear as mud. Pay attention to who’s practicing with the ones next week to see who the starter will be in Week 7.

• Tom Brady - Oh if wishing could make it true. But seriously, Tom Brady hurt his thumb and has a quick turnaround on Thursday night. All reports indicate that he’s not 100% but will be starting tomorrow. Right now that offense is working at nearly peak efficiency, so even 75% of Tom Brady should result in plenty of fantasy production from the normal guys.

Running Backs

• Saquon Barkley - Barkley had a sprained ankle that swelled up pretty quick and was on display for TV on Sunday. Nice camera work, guys. He apparently dodged any major injury and we do not have a timetable for his return. Since this is the case, you should go into Week 6 assuming that he will not play and it will be Devontae Booker in his place, who scored 2 TDs in relief in Week 5.

• Damien Harris - Harris exited Sunday’s game twice with a chest injury. He also fumbled on the goal line, but was still given work, showing just how much Belichick thinks of the other RBs on his roster. Harris did not practice today but is day to day at the moment, so he will probably be fine to go on Sunday since he avoided a significant injury. Keep an eye on his practice status, and he’s an RB2/Flex option if he starts on Sunday against the Cowboys.

• Clyde Edwards-Helaire - CEH has been put on the IR list already with an MCL sprain, so he’s out for at least 3 weeks. Darrel Williams should be the main RB in his place, getting almost all of the work going forward. Jerick McKinnon is also available for the Chiefs, but he only has 4 total touches on the season, so he is firmly a backup to Williams for now.

• Christian McCaffrey - CMC was practicing last week and came down to a game time decision and ultimately he did not play on Sunday. This week was his originally targeted return time, so I like his chances to return in Week 6 against the Vikings. He practiced again today. If he goes, he’s going to get his normal workload. If he doesn’t, then you can safely roll Chuba Hubbard out there for one more week. Keep an eye on the inactives ahead of gametime before making the final decision on this one. 

• Chris Carson - Carson missed Week 5 with a neck injury, but avoided the IR which should mean that he’s back soon. He did not practice today, but Pete Carroll said that the plan is for him to return to practice tomorrow. With Russell Wilson out for a while, it’s a great spot for the Seattle RBs to get even more carries than normal. If Carson cannot go, it’ll be Alex Collins for another week - he received 15 carries last week and has Flex value against the Steelers on Sunday night.

• Joe Mixon / Samaje Perine - These two split carries in Sunday’s game 12/15 with more of a 60/30 snap percentage split. However, after the game, Perine was placed on the covid list and that sets up Mixon to have a full workload on this Sunday against the lowly Lions. If you have Mixon, it should be back to normal for him. Perine is droppable in most leagues.

• Dalvin Cook - Cook missed the game in Week 5, and Alexander Mattison proved once again to be the best backup RB in fantasy football. Cook did practice all week before being ruled out, so even though he practiced today, it’s no guarantee that he’ll be starting this week. The Vikings are on bye in Week 7, so it might be that they hold him out through the bye week just to be sure.

Wide Receivers

• Tyreek Hill - Hill was reported to have a knee injury which turned out to be a quad contusion. He is not practicing today, and obviously a leg injury on this speedster is something that needs to be treated seriously. Keep an eye on his status through the week. If he does not practice, I do not expect him to play on Sunday. Their matchup against Washington is juicy though - they’re giving up the 4th most points to opposing WRs, so I would start him if he is going to play. If he does not, Mecole Hardman, who was second on the team with 12 targets last week, should be the main beneficiary. Travis Kelce will be heavily involved as usual and Darrel Williams should see plenty of targets. It’ll be up to one of the many other targets on the team to step up - 6 other players saw 2 or fewer targets on Sunday. Perhaps a place for Josh Gordon to step up? Unlikely, but it’s fun to feed into the hype.

• Kenny Golladay - Here’s our token Giants entry for this position as well. They really got battered on Sunday. Golladay suffered a hyperextended knee, and he was finally getting warmed up this season on the Giants too. He’s expected to miss at least week 6, but was not placed on the IR. Kadarius Toney is the new hotness on the team, and Sterling Shepard could be coming back with Darius Slayton, this muddling the target share for the Giants. Daniel Jones’ status is also an issue for the WRs.

• JuJu Smith-Schuster - You know an injury is serious when the team immediately signs whoever is on the top of the free agent pile - this time it was Anthony Miller. Juju is going to have shoulder surgery and will miss the remainder of 2021. Diontae Johnson and Chase Claypool will continue to operate as the 1-2 on that offense. Juju was not contributing much this year, and was not fantasy relevant anymore, anyways.

• A.J. Brown / Julio Jones - A.J. Brown returned last week and was on the field for 64% of snaps. He didn’t have any setbacks, so he should be back above 80% next week. Julio missed his second straight game last week and it was a hamstring injury, the typical kind of injury he’s had all his career. He is practicing today, so he might be back, but I’m not enthusiastic about starting him immediately once he returns. For now this team is all Derrick Henry and there’s not enough production for two starting WRs anyways.

Welcome back to the Rookie Report! We’ve now made it halfway through the fantasy regular season, and you should have a pretty good idea of whether your team is in good position for the playoffs, or if you have some work to do to get back in the hunt. Keep grinding even if you don’t feel great about where you’re at right now. A big second half can still get you back into your league playoff picture.

By this point in the season, we’ve seen 3 rookies truly establish themselves as every-week must starts: Najee Harris, Ja’Marr Chase, and Kyle Pitts. I know that you already know to start them every week, but they’re still going to show up in the report as ‘Rookies to Start’ each week unless something drastic happens, and I’ll still include some tidbits about what to expect from them each week. This is the point in the year when we start to see some late-blooming rookies asserting themselves a bit more, and being able to pinpoint which rookies will step up can give you an edge if you’re trying to get back into contention. I’m here to help you do just that as we head into week 8.

A couple of quick notes for the players listed below – All players listed under the same header at the same position are listed in the order that I would play them this week, and all points per game references and points allowed rankings are based on half-PPR scoring unless otherwise noted. There are a LOT of running backs listed as ‘Borderline’ this week, so please keep this in mind and read what’s written about each. Let’s dive into week 8…

Rookies to Start:

RB Najee Harris, PIT (Wk. 8: @Cle.): This probably isn’t a ceiling week for Najee against what’s been a strong Cleveland run defense, but the rookie has scored at least 16 fantasy points in 5 straight games and should be locked into starting lineups. The Browns rank 3^rd in Football Outsiders’ run defense DVOA stat and have allowed the 6^th-fewest running back points per game. Harris shouldn’t be a chalky DFS play this week, but he’s still a safe starter in season-long leagues.

WR Ja’Marr Chase, CIN (Wk. 8: @NYJ): This week feels like a bit of a trap game for Chase. The Jets have played from behind a lot this season, and as a result they’ve been bleeding a ton of points to running backs, but not so many to wide receivers. They’ve given up 6 and half more RB points per game than any other team in the league, and the 3^rd-fewest per game to wide receivers. There may be plenty of Joe Mixon in this game, but Chase is still going to get his. He’s been targeted 9+ times in 3 of the last 4 games, and against the Jets’ undermanned defense, he should have no problem making it 8 games in a row of 10+ fantasy points even if his volume dips a bit. The Jets rank 30^th in pass defense DVOA.

WR DeVonta Smith, PHI (Wk. 8: @Det.): I won’t fault you if you’re a little gun-shy about getting Smith into your lineup since the Eagles’ inconsistent passing game seems to have capped his ceiling, but this is as good a spot as you’ll find to fire him up. Smith has seen 38% of the Eagles’ air yards this season, and no team has been burned down the field as consistently as the Lions. Detroit allows the highest average yards before catch per completion in the league, and Smith and QB Jalen Hurts will likely connect on a few balls of 15+ yards in this one. DeVonta has WR2 upside against a Detroit defense that ranks 27^th in pass defense DVOA.

WR Kadarius Toney, NYG (Wk. 8: @KC): Toney and teammate Kenny Golladay are both practicing as of Thursday, so both players seem to be on track to play Monday night, but Toney is the one I would want to play in lineups. Toney was dominating the looks and production in this offense the last couple games he played in, and the Chiefs rank 31^st in pass defense DVOA. There should be plenty of passing volume for the Giants in this one, and if Toney is close to 100%, I like his chances at 7+ targets against a porous pass defense. If you plan to play Kadarius, keep an eye on the injury report and make sure he’s good to go, or make sure you have a backup plan in case he winds up inactive, but he’s going to reward fantasy managers who take the risk if he plays. He doesn’t have the safe floor that Smith or Chase do, but he’s got a WR1 ceiling.

TE Kyle Pitts, ATL (Wk. 8: vs. Car.): A lot of people treated Kyle Pitts’ huge day in London as his true breakout game, but it was nothing compared to what he did in week 7. Yes, he scored more fantasy points in London than he did this past week by virtue of finding the end zone, but the way he piled up his stats against the Dolphins was more impressive. He beat man coverage and made circus downfield catches repeatedly on his way to over 160 yards receiving, and he did so with Calvin Ridley and Russell Gage back on the field after both missed the London trip. Yes, there will be more games where Pitts’ usage is puzzlingly low, but you’ve now seen the ceiling and why you can’t sit him if you have him. The Panthers have been above average against tight ends this year, but they’ve also allowed three tight end scores in the last 4 games.

Borderline Rookies:

QB Trevor Lawrence, JAX (Wk. 8: @Sea.): After a truly awful start to the season, Trevor Lawrence has looked more like the number 1 pick in recent weeks, limiting turnovers and keeping his team in games. The Jaguars have limited his passing volume with a heavy dose of James Robinson, but that hasn’t stopped the rookie from averaging 265 passing yards per game in his last 3. The Seahawks have been a very burnable secondary, ranking 25^th in pass defense DVOA. I expect Seattle will want to slow the game down with Geno Smith at QB, so a 300-yard day probably isn’t in the offing for Trevor, but he should be a solid mid-range QB2 in this one.

RB Chuba Hubbard, CAR (Wk. 8: @Atl.): Chuba is coming off his worst game since stepping in for the injured Christian McCaffrey, but Atlanta seems like the perfect opponent to bounce back against. The Falcons have coughed up the 9^th-most RB points per game and rank 28^th in run defense DVOA, and have allowed double-digit fantasy points to an opposing back in every game but the one against Tampa. The Bucs have the 2^nd-lowest run rate in the league. Chuba has been losing some passing down work to Royce Freeman most weeks, but he’s still handled at least 15 touches in each of the last 4 games. As long as the Panthers are in this game, Hubbard is going to be heavily involved. He’s a solid RB2 option despite the letdown game last week.

RB Kenneth Gainwell, PHI (Wk. 8: @Det.): With the injury to Miles Sanders, Gainwell is in line for a much bigger workload in week 8. He’ll share backfield duties with Boston Scott, and both could be start-able facing off with a Detroit defense that allows the 4^th-most RB points per game. Detroit ranks just 21^st in run defense DVOA, so both backs should have some success on the ground. Boston Scott saw 3 rushing attempts inside the 10 yard-line last week while Gainwell saw just 1, but Detroit is just as likely to give up a receiving score to a running back as a rushing one (6 of each allowed so far). The plus matchup, the Eagles implied point total of 25.75 this week, and Gainwell’s extensive usage as a receiver give him the edge over the backs listed after him in this section.

RB Khalil Herbert, CHI (Wk. 8: vs. SF): Herbert has handled at least 18 rushing attempts in each of the Bears last 3 games and should continue to operate as the lead back until David Montgomery returns. I do think Damien Williams will be more involved on passing downs this week than he was last week (he missed the entire practice week on the Covid list last week), and the Bears aren’t likely to be in as deep a hole on the scoreboard as they were last week, so Herbert probably won’t repeat his 5 receptions from last week. That shouldn’t be a huge concern as rushing volume is going to carry the day for Herbert again. The 49ers are a solid run defense, but nowhere near as stout as the Bucs defense Herbert shredded in week 7. He should be on the cusp of another RB2 week.

RB Elijah Mitchell, SF (Wk. 8: @Chi.): On the other side of the Bears-49ers tilt, Elijah Mitchell will continue to lead the 49ers’ backfield this week. JaMycal Hasty did play a bigger role than I anticipated in his first game off the IR, playing about a third of the offensive snaps, but Mitchell was the ballcarrier on 18 of the team’s 21 RB rushing attempts. There is some risk that Hasty’s involvement grows as he gets further out from his injury, but I would expect Mitchell’s stranglehold on the early down work to continue for now. Mitchell hasn’t been as consistently efficient as Khalil Herbert, and Mitchell has had virtually zero passing game usage. That’s why I’d give Herbert a slight edge over Mitchell this week in spite of the 49ers being a better run defense than the Bears have been. Both are reasonable options if you need a fill-in RB2 or high-end flex running back.

RB Michael Carter, NYJ (Wk. 8: vs. Cin.): Carter has clearly established himself as the lead back for the Jets right now, as his share of backfield touches has gone from 56% to 59% to 63% in the last 3 games, and the switch to Mike White at QB could benefit him in the receiving game this week. 14 of White’s 32 attempts after replacing Zach Wilson last week were intended for Carter or Ty Johnson, with 9 of them going to Carter. The Bengals have allowed the 2^nd-most receptions per game to running backs. The concern for Carter is that there just isn’t going to be much production on the ground, and there is minimal TD upside. The Jets have an implied total of just 16.5 points, and the Bengals rank 5^th in run defense DVOA. Carter is a deeper flex option in PPR leagues.

RB Javonte Williams, DEN (Wk. 8: vs. Was.): Williams turned in a strong performance Thursday night against the Browns despite rushing for just 20 yards. It was his receiving usage that paved the way as he set a season-high with 6 receptions and scored a receiving touchdown. He’s now caught at least 3 passes in 5 consecutive games, but the return of Jerry Jeudy is going to pull targets from somewhere. This is another week where Williams could struggle to be productive on the ground. Washington ranks 8^th in run defense DVOA and give up the bulk of the damage they allow through the air. Javonte is likely going to need another ceiling receiving week to be a useful fantasy starter, and I don’t think that’s very likely with Jeudy back. Javonte’s full-on timeshare with Melvin Gordon caps him enough that I wouldn’t play him over any of the other rookie backs listed above.

WR Jaylen Waddle, MIA (Wk. 8: @Buf.): Waddle has now played 3 full games with starting quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, and he’s scored at least 15 PPR points in all 3. This week’s matchup is a tough one though. The Bills are allowing the 2^nd-fewest WR points per game, and rank 1^st in pass defense DVOA. Slot corner Taron Johnson is allowing just 4.6 yards per target and a 65.6 passer rating on throws into his coverage. Waddle is still likely to be peppered with targets in this game, so volume should get him into the PPR WR3 range. Just know there is more risk in this matchup than we’ve seen in the last couple weeks with Waddle.

Rookies to Sit:

QB Mac Jones, NE (Wk. 8: @LAC): Week 7 illustrated exactly why fantasy football managers are more excited about Trey Lance, Justin Fields and Zach Wilson this year despite Mac clearly playing the best ball of that group. Jones put on a clinic in week 7, throwing for more than 400 yards against the hapless Jets in a game where the Patriots piled up more than 50 points…and he barely cracked the top-10 QBs for the week. New England has the 6^th-highest run rate in the red zone (they were the highest in 2020), and Mac isn’t the guy running the ball. He isn’t adding points with his legs, and the team’s penchant for running in the red zone caps Mac’s ceiling. He gets a much tougher matchup this week against the Chargers. LA has allowed the 5^th-fewest QB points per game and ranks 5^th in pass defense DVOA. This isn’t a spot to trot Jones out there even in 2-QB lineups.

QB Justin Fields, CHI (Wk. 8: vs. SF): Even with 81 rushing yards in the last two weeks, Fields hasn’t managed to post a 15-point fantasy day yet. There’s no way to reasonably recommend starting Fields given how bad this offense has looked in recent weeks, even in 2 QB formats. It’s promising that Fields is running the ball more, and at some point, the Bears will probably get things on track and get the rookie to a solid fantasy game. Unfortunately, no one will have him in their lineups when it finally happens. 

QB Davis Mills, HOU (Wk. 8: vs. LAR): Another week, another matchup against one of the best defenses in the NFL for Mills. Mills will be making his 6^th start of the season this week (assuming Tyrod Taylor isn’t ready to return), and he’ll be facing a team ranked in the top-10 in pass defense DVOA for the 4^th time, and a team in the top-5 for the 3^rd time. In those first 3 meetings with top-10 defenses, Mills totaled 390 passing yards, 1 touchdown and 5 turnovers. There is no format where you should feel good about starting Davis Mills this week.

RB Rhamondre Stevenson, NE (Wk. 8: @LAC): Stevenson flashed some surprising receiving skills in week 6, and then was back to being a healthy scratch in week 7. Bill Belichick loves to toy with us fantasy managers. Stevenson may be active again this week, but you certainly can’t count on it. The Chargers rank dead last in run defense DVOA, so there is upside for Stevenson if he sees any opportunity in this game, but I don’t expect him to see much of that.

RB Demetric Felton, CLE (Wk. 8: vs. Pit.): Nick Chubb is expected to return this week, but even with Chubb sidelined, Felton was on the field for just 22 snaps and handled 5 touches last Thursday against the Broncos. Chubb’s return means we’ll likely only see Felton for a handful of snaps again. Even if Chubb isn’t back, Felton will be mostly the passing down back against a Steelers defense that allows the 7^th-fewest RB points per game.

RB Trey Sermon, SF (Wk. 8: @Chi): Sermon is now behind both Elijah Mitchell and JaMycal Hasty on the depth chart (and possibly Kyle Juszczyk too). Just don’t.

RB Larry Rountree III, LAC (Wk. 8: vs. NE): Austin Ekeler spoke this week about wanting to see one of his fellow running backs take charge of the complementary back role in this backfield, but there’s no reason to believe it will be Rountree who steps up after he was limited to just special teams work in week 5 and was a healthy scratch in week 6 ahead of the Chargers’ bye. Ekeler did pop up on the injury report on Thursday with a hip injury, so it’s worth monitoring his status, but Rountree probably isn’t the guy seeing a big boost if Ekeler sits.

WR Rondale Moore, ARI (Wk. 8: vs. GB): Moore’s two biggest yardage days this season have come at home in Glendale, but his playing time just isn’t consistent enough to trust. The Arizona debut of Zach Ertz pushed Rondale to the lowest route participation rate he’s seen in the last few weeks, and his aDOT last week was negative. With the way he’s being used, he’s going to need some big yards after catch numbers to prove useful, and Green Bay has allowed the 7^th-fewest yards after catch per game. Moore is nothing more than an upside dart throw on Thursday.

WR Amon-Ra St.Brown, DET (Wk. 8: vs. Phi.): From week 4 through week 6, Amon-Ra was targeted at least 7 times each game. In week 7, he shockingly went without a target despite being on the field for more than 60% of the Lions’ offensive snaps. I’d expect him to get more opportunities this week, but with only 2 teams on byes you can’t be desperate enough to bet on an ARSB bounce-back. The opportunities he does get will come mostly against Philly slot corner Avonte Maddox, who has allowed just 4.1 yards per target and a 65.4 passer rating on throws into his coverage. Stay away from Amon-Ra this week.

WR Elijah Moore, NYJ (Wk. 8: vs. Cin.): I was halfway tempted to list Moore as a sleeper this week after the Jets traded for Joe Flacco. Flacco has had success throughout his career throwing the deep ball, and the Jets have frequently had Moore running downfield routes, but Mike White is going to get the start this week and Moore’s usage just isn’t consistent enough to trust him with such a dicey QB situation. Moore did score his first NFL touchdown last week on a 19-yard run, but it’s not a sign you should be getting him into your lineups.

WR Nico Collins, HOU (Wk. 8: vs. LAR): If you read what I wrote about Davis Mills above, you know it’s a bad idea to roll the dice on Collins this week. Collins has totaled 11 targets in his two games since returning from injured reserve, but against defenses that rank in the top-10 in pass defense DVOA, Davis Mills averages just 130 passing yards per start. The Rams rank 4^th. Yes, there could be a lot of passing volume for the Texans if they fall into a hole as two touchdown underdogs, but the only place Nico is worth consideration is as a cheap option in a DFS showdown tournament. His outlook wouldn’t get much of a boost if Tyrod Taylor is able to return this week.

WR Dyami Brown, WAS (Wk. 8: @Den.): Brown is expected to miss this week’s game in Denver and hasn’t been productive enough to be an option even if he was going to play.

WR Terrace Marshall Jr., CAR (Wk. 8: @Atl.): Marshall still isn’t practicing as of Wednesday after sustaining a week 6 concussion. I’d expect him to be out again, and don’t expect him to be very useful even if active.

TE Tommy Tremble, CAR (Wk. 8: @Atl.): The Falcons allow the 12^th-most tight end points per game, but Tremble hasn’t put up more than 12 receiving yards in any of the past 4 games. He isn’t a fantasy option right now.

Rookies on bye in week 8: WR Rashod Bateman, BAL

Deep League Sleepers, Stashes, and Cheap DFS Options:

QB Trey Lance, SF (Wk. 8: @Chi.): Jimmy Garoppolo has been named the starter for the 49ers week 8 game against the Bears, but the changing of the guard at QB is coming sooner rather than later if the 49ers don’t start putting up some wins. Lance is a guy you should be stashing for the stretch run. We’ve already seen the kinds of fantasy points he can produce when given the opportunity. Lance put up 20 points in a single half in his first extended action of the season and managed to put up nearly 14 points in his first full game despite not producing a single touchdown. His rushing production gives him a very high floor, a ceiling few other QBs can match.

RB Chris Evans, CIN (Wk. 8: @NYJ): Keep an eye on the injury report here as Evans didn’t practice Wednesday and is listed as questionable for this game, but if he’s good to go, there is a ton of upside for him in what could be a lopsided game. His usage is too questionable to trust in season-long leagues after last week was the Mixon & Perine show in this backfield, but this is a perfect matchup for Evans to make an impact. We’ve seen Evans post a 2-TD game against the Detroit Lions, and he has a similar ceiling in this one. The Jets allow the most running back receptions and receiving yards per game, and they’ve allowed 3 different receiving backs to clear 12 fantasy points against them (James White, Jeremy McNichols, and Brandon Bolden). Evans costs a measly $200 for Showdown contests on DraftKings this week.

WR Amari Rodgers, GB (Wk. 8: @Ari.): Green Bay is in a desperate situation at wide receiver this week with both Davante Adams and Allen Lazard placed on the Covid reserve list this week. Both players are expected to miss this game, and Marquez Valdes-Scantling has been ruled out for another week as well. That leaves Randall Cobb as the WR1, with some combo of Equanimeous St. Brown, Malik Taylor and Rodgers rounding out the WR group. Since the Covid updates came during the week, the DraftKings showdown prices for ESB and Rodgers remain extremely low ($600 and $400, respectively), but one or both will play a sizable role in this game. I do think we’ll see Aaron Jones and Robert Tonyan handle larger target shares than usual, but Green Bay is likely going to have to throw to keep pace with Arizona’s high-powered offense. The Cardinals allow the 16^th-most WR points per game, so not a brutal matchup by any means. Rodgers is in play as a dart throw in those showdown contests, but should still be avoided in season-long formats.

TE Pat Freiermuth, PIT (Wk. 8: @Cle.): The Browns aren’t an easy matchup for tight ends, allowing the 11^th-fewest points per game to the position, but Freiermuth seems to be the biggest beneficiary of the season-ending injury to Juju Smith-Schuster, and the Browns are much better against the run than the pass. It’s only been one game since the Juju injury, but Freiermuth saw his largest snap and highest target totals of the season, and I’d expect that increased usage to continue going forward. Freiermuth should be treated as a fringe TE1 this week.

That’s all I’ve got for this week. Hopefully it helps guide you to victory in your leagues this weekend. Feel free to hit me up on Twitter (@Shawn_Foss) if you have any questions or want to yell at me about anything written above. Make sure to keep a close eye on the injury report throughout the week and do a final pre-game check to make sure you don’t start any inactive players. As always: Good luck, trust your gut, and have fun. It’s just a game.

Welcome to Statistically (in)Significant, the place to find great stats that probably only matter at the water cooler (or bar). Each week I'll dig through the stats of the week gone by and deliver you some choice conversation starters. All fantasy stats are half PPR scoring unless otherwise noted.

 83-yard Rushing Attempt

Jonathan Taylor set a franchise record with an 83-yard rush that amazingly did not score a touchdown. Taylor is averaging 25.9 points per game over the last 3 weeks, he has 441 yards from scrimmage and 5 touchdowns over that time. He’s averaging 6.7 yards per carry during those games and had an explosive 116 yards of receiving in Week 5. Taylor now sits as the RB4 on the season – this week he finished as the RB1 and he’s been in the top 10 for the past 3 weeks. Among the top 5 fantasy RBs, only Austin Ekeler has fewer touches (100) than Taylor (102). Taylor had at least 3x as many yards as anyone else on his team, save for TY Hilton, who he almost doubled up, as TY had 80 yards against an opponent who he routinely torches, despite having just returned from injury.

115 Passing Yards

Jalen Hurts ended the day on Sunday as the QB4 on the week, despite completing just 12 passes for 115 yards and 1 INT. His real fantasy value comes from his legs – he had 44 yards on the ground and found the end zone twice, netting him a cool 26 fantasy points. His passing yards were less than half of all of the top 12 QBs this week, except for Aaron Rodgers, who didn’t need to throw the ball much to continue owning the Bears. But let’s go back to Hurts – this week was his 6^th consecutive game this season (i.e.. all of them) where he has scored at least 21 fantasy points. He is the QB4 on the year, and is just about 10 points behind the leader, Patrick Mahomes. Hurts may continue to turn in lackluster passing performances over and over again, but his fantasy value is undeniable and he’s clearly a must-start every week. He has matchups coming up against Detroit and both New York teams before his bye in Week 14, so there are some good matchups coming up for the player with the highest floor in all of fantasy football.

9 Kickers in Double Digits

This week, 9 kickers scored double-digit fantasy points, and only 3 of them were owned in the drinkfive.com fantasy league. Leading the way was Matthew Wright, owned in just 1% of Fleaflicker leagues. Wright broke a streak of 5 consecutive games for the Jaguars in which they did not convert a FG. Wright went 3/3 on field goals in the game in London, including a 54-yard masterpiece that had Kevin Harlan fooled and resulted in a really great call. Wright also kicked the game winner as time expired, snapping the Jaguars losing streak at 20 games – a streak which started following Week 1 of last year, which was their only win of the season. Despite it being a lower week for kicker scoring – nobody made more than 3 field goals in any game so far in Week 6, there was only 1 missed extra point across the league, a far cry from the 13 extra points that were missed last week.

11 Points Allowed

Congrats to the top D/ST of the week, the Los Angeles Rams. Their 16 points on the week increased their season total points by 66%, showing that you really just need to be playing matchups when it comes to selecting a D/ST. The Rams managed to take the top spot by just beating the snot out of the Giants with 3 INTs, 4 sacks and 1 fumble recovery to go with just 11 points allowed. In fact, the 38-11 victory completed an NFL scorigami. If you haven’t heard of a scorigami, check it out here. This is the first of the season, which is probably rare since there were 12 all of last season. I suppose fewer and fewer each year is the nature of a scorigami. The last one we had was the Steelers-Browns playoff game last year which ended 48-37. Can you tell I quickly ran out of things to say about the Rams yesterday? Their beatdown of the Giants was about as ho-hum as it gets.

30 WRs with 10+ Points

Week 5 saw a solid 30 wide receivers put up at least 10 fantasy points, which is just a middle of the road total for the year. What sticks out to me is that only 5 players had at least 100 receiving yards on the day, showing that half PPR and full PPR as the new standards are here to stay for anyone that loves points in fantasy football, which is probably all of us. Previously this year, the fewest number of WRs with 100+ receiving yards was 10, which happened twice. Leading the way last week was CeeDee Lamb with 149 yards – 56 of those yards came on the Cowboys final drive which took place in OT, capped off by Lamb’s 35-yard TD reception to walk-off the game. Honorable mention for a WR stat monster goes to Ja’Marr Chase, who is 30^th among WRs with only 27 receptions, but 4^th overall in receiving yards with 553. He has 19 fewer receptions than the 3 men ahead of him, all of whom are sitting on 46 receptions for the year.

Welcome to Statistically (in)Significant, the place to find great stats that probably only matter at the water cooler (or bar). Each week I'll dig through the stats of the week gone by and deliver you some choice conversation starters. All fantasy stats are half PPR scoring unless otherwise noted.

162.1 Total Fantasy Points

Derrick Henry didn’t score another 3 TDs this week, but he didn’t need to in order to finish the week as the highest scoring player in all of fantasy football for the 2021 season. Henry, who scored just 15.4 points this week, actually brought his average down to 27 points per game, in part because he failed to find the end zone. He did manage to throw a touchdown, however, salvaging his worst fantasy performance since Week 1 of this season. Speaking of bad fantasy performances, Patrick Mahomes put up his second worst fantasy game ever (Week 7 of 2019 was the only game worse). This poor performance left just enough of a window for Henry to pass Mahomes for the season-long lead. The last time a non-QB finished with the most fantasy points at the end of a season was Todd Gurley in 2017, who manage to do that in only 15 games.

201 Receiving Yards

This week, Ja’Marr Chase announced his presence as not only an Offensive Rookie of the Year candidate (he was already in the lead for that) but as one of the best wide receivers in the game right now. Chase is now the WR2 through 7 games on the season, finished just behind Cooper Kupp for both the season and Week 7-point totals. Chase had a career high 201 receiving yards, helped along by an 82-yard touchdown reception – a short pass where he got the ball over the middle and did the rest of the work himself. This was Chase’s second game with 10 targets. He leads the league with 21.5 yards per reception and is second only to Kupp in season long yardage. Chase is doing the most with what he’s given. He has only 35 receptions on the whole season (on pace for 85 for the year, though I would bet on the over for that). By contrast, Kupp has more receptions (56) than Chase even has targets (51). Chase’s 3.6 points per touch is an amazing number, one that is unmatched by anyone in the league so far.

28.54 Fantasy Points

The best free agent of the week, at least in the drinkfive.com “experts” league, is Tua Tagovailoa, owned in 71% of Fleaflicker leagues, but not this one. Tua is not only the best free agent of the week, he’s the best QB of the week, out of all players. Tua just edges out his 2020 draft mate, Joe Burrow, who led his team to a very impressive 41-17 victory over the Ravens. Tue finishes as the 4^th highest scoring player on the week, before the two WRs mentioned above and the man who gave away Tom Brady’s 600^th touchdown catch. Thankfully for Mike Evans, the fan gave it back, so he doesn’t have to get the cold shoulder from Brady for the rest of the season. Tua had a rough start to this season, but after a few weeks off for injury, he has returned and played very well at QB. In 2 games he has 6 touchdowns (and 3 picks, yuck). He has also run for over 20 yards in each game, and is averaging 25.45 points per game during this stretch. With games against Houston, New York Jets, and Carolina coming up, he’s a great streaming option to keep around for a while.

89.47% Catch Rate

The highest catch rate in the NFL belongs to Bengals TE C.J. Uzomah, who has caught 17 of his 19 targets so far this season (Pat Freiermuth leads the league at 90%). Uzomah has had quite the up-and-down season. He’s currently the TE10 on the year with 64.1 total fantasy points, however, 46.6 of those points (almost 73% of his total points) came in weeks 4 and 7. He finished as the TE1 in week 4 and currently leads the field in week 7 with no looming threats to overtake him on Monday night. Despite his fantasy high points, he’s a very tough player to start. He has only one week with more than 3 targets, and that was just 6 in week 4. Despite this, he’s managed to find the end zone 5 times in the last 4 games, so perhaps it’s time to find a way to insert him into your lineup, and maybe more than just a streaming option. Oh yea, and if you’re wondering, Rondale Moore has the highest catch percentage among wide receivers at 83.87%. Jaylen Waddle has the highest catch percentage among WRs with more than 50 targets with 77.19%.

602 Career Touchdowns

There was one thing happening this week that I just had to mention, and no, it’s not National Tight Ends Day. Raise your hand if you’re sick of hearing about that. No, this week Tom Brady threw his 600^th touchdown in the regular season. And his 599^th, and numbers 601 and 602 if we’re counting them all. Of course, we are. This season, Brady is leading the league with 21 passing touchdowns. Matthew Stafford is in 2^nd with 19. Brady also has a rushing touchdown, for good measure. He has 26 of those in his career. In addition, the ageless one is leading the league in completions, passing attempts, passing yards, and yards per game. Pretty good for anyone, unprecedented for a 44-year-old in the NFL. The yards per game mark is his second highest in his entire career, and he’s ahead of his career averages in completion percentage, interception percentage, and QB rating. I suppose if you’re going to play so many years in the NFL, you might as well make them count instead of just playing out the streak. In a league with so much great young QB talent, Brady might still be the best one each and every Sunday that he steps on the field. And I don’t mean that as an overall picture, I mean that right freaking now, he’s the best QB in football.