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If you read my last player highlight, I covered Tight End Dawson Knox. He continues to be a hot add, but the tight end landscape is more barren then ever and makes me yawn just thinking about covering another deep speculative add. This week I am going to cover the 4^th quarter darling from the Monday night game, Allen Lazard. What caught my eye with Lazar was Aarons confidence going to him on back to back plays with the game on the line. In a game where it looked like every receiver on the packers had stone hands, it was a breath of fresh air.

What we know:

6’ 5” 227 lbs

23 years old

4.55 40 time

38” vertical jump

Was recruited to Notre Dame, Stanford, and others but ultimately chose Iowa State where his father and brother both player. Athletic genes.

Started for the Cyclones as a true Freshmen.

Finished his college career 7 receptions and 678 yards away from breaking school records in both categories

Rodgers lobbied for him to get into the game in the 4^th quarter

What I think:

With Allison and Adams likely out this week for the packers, it will be the same group of stone handed receivers on the field for the packers this week against the Raiders. This could be the time that Lazard needs to prove himself on the field and earn a larger role with the offense moving forward. Allison and MVS have not been very sharp this year. When Allison returns I feel there might be opportunities for fresh young legs to work more in the mix IF he proves himself this week.

What I am looking forward to is if Rodgers continues to look his way this week. In Rodgers post game interview, he said that Lazard has been doing this all year in practice and dropped that touchdown right where it needed to be. They seem to have the chemistry and anyone that develops trust with Rodgers is worth a roster spot. Worth noting that Rodgers sits next to Lazard at meetings. Can’t be too many seats next to Rodgers in those team meetings…

Overall, this is a complete dart throw. But one that could pay off if he turns into the third option for Rodgers in that offense.

Happy Hunting and good luck this week!

With the current Tight End landscape out there in fantasy football, I will be covering a few TEs that are likely un-owned in your league. To start this rabbit chase, I am going to attempt to sell you on Dawson Knox. Dawson was never on my radar until he caught his first TD of the season in week 3 for the Bills. He also had a long catch-and-run prior to that TD, which also caught my eye.

Just look at this monster of a man:

What we know:

• 6’ 4” 254lbs
• Former High School Quarterback turned Tight End.
• Walked on at Ole Miss and never caught a TD, yet had 18.9 yards per catch in his 2018 season with lots of mouths to feed in a potent offense. Looking at you AJ Brown and DK Metcalf
• Buffalo likes what they saw and traded up to grab him in the 3rd round of the 2019 draft 
• 40 time – 4.64
• Still learning and is only 22 years old 
• Saw 63% snap share in week 3

What I think:

Looking at the 3-0 Bills I am intrigued. Mind you, they started with a Patriots like schedule. Jets, Giants and Bengals. Looking at their roster they have a small group of WRs that are not ideal redzone targets. John Brown has looked good, but is 5’ 11” and is more of a deep threat. Cole Beasley is 5’ 8” and your typical slot receiver. Zay Jones is 6’ 2” and has had his time to show he is a capable receiver... spoiler, he is not.

The Bills have been in favorable game plans to focus on their rushing game with Singletary/Gore/Allen leading the charge. The match-up this week against the Patriots will be the first time the Bills will need to put up points in droves to stay alive. Knox should see a few opportunities to stretch the field and potentially get into the end-zone. He’s an agile TE with great hands. He can line up inline or flexed out and should be getting more snaps as his coaches have been praising him for his blocking skills as well.

Happy hunting and good luck this weekend!

Last week I had some work come up and was unable to contribute! Hopefully you enjoyed all the upsets and won your fantasy matchup! Darn work gets in the way of fun from time to time.

Rookie QB’s

Something about Rookies gets me excited. It’s the potential. More often than not they are disappointing, but when they pan out it is exciting! This week we have 2 new Rookie QB’s getting thrown into the mix, Baker Mayfield and Josh Rosen get their first NFL starts. Why am I interested in watching them this week? Well, the potential.

Baker Mayfield looked much better then Tyrod Taylor when he came in to lead the Browns to victory last week. It will be interesting to see how this affects the rest of the team. Njoku should get back to the preseason hype level. Landry has already been quoted that Mayfield throws “with so much zing”. Calloway has some breakout potential and would have had an easy touchdown if Tyrod didn’t under throw him last week (he did drop a dime from Mayfield in the second half).

Josh Rosen got thrown to the wolves last week vs the Bears. Down in the 4^th quarter against one of the scariest defenses in the league, perfect time to let the rookie show what he is made of. Rosen had great chemistry with Christian Kirk in the pre-season and I would expect to see his name on some waiver wire lists next week. The big thing to watch will be how the rookie benefits David Johnson, because quite frankly it can’t get worse….right?

Prediction- Baker Mayfield goes off passing for 300+ yards and touchdowns to 3 different receivers (Landry, Calloway, Njoku). Rosen looks more like a rookie, but David Johnson owners breathe a sigh of relief as he targets his best weapon out of the backfield and has his best fantasy performance of the year.

Thursday Night Football

Any football fan will sit down and watch Thursday night football, even a Jets vs Browns game. This week should be one of the better matchups on the season with two of the favorites to win the NFC squaring off.

Minnesota was downright awful last week vs Buffalo and looks to bounce back on the road vs the 3-0 Rams. The Vikings hold 27-16-2 record all time vs the Rams including last season when the Vikings blew out the Rams 24-7. A lot of the same faces this year, but two very different starts to the season. With a Vegas over/under set at 49.5, this should be a shoot-out and great fantasy days for all involved. I’m just excited to start Week 4 with what should be an exciting game.

Prediction: Minnesota coming into LA as underdogs score the last points of the game and that proves to be the difference. Final 38-35 Vikings

 The Bills?

Did you see Josh Allen hurdle?! In an age when defenders are getting flagged for patting a quarterback on the head, no one expected Josh Allen to hurdle a tackle. He didn’t only do it with his legs (2 rushing TDs) he also went for 15-22 for 196 yards and a touchdown in a game where he did not need to pass much.

With LeSean McCoy coming back this week, I will be watching to see if McCoy can return any value with a new signal caller out there. Since Allen has already proved his ability to keep plays alive and use his legs, we might see more swing passes and option plays going McCoys way.

Prediction – The Bills lose to the Packers, but Josh Allen surprises with 250 yards, 1 passing touchdown and another one on the ground. His mobility opens up the game for LeSean McCoy and owners that nabbed him in the 4^th or 5^th round are starting to get excited. 

Week 2 Recap

Denver Backfield - Nailed my prediction of Freeman getting in the end zone week 2 (did it again week 3) and both backs are RB2/Flex worthy. Lindsay got ejected for throwing a punch week 3, but he will be back and we can expect a split backfield once again.

JETS - Missed badly here. Darnold looks…..like a rookie. I called for Crow to get into the end zone twice in week 2, and was off a week in both directions. He scored twice in week 1 and twice in week 3. Maybe start Crow on odd number weeks? Smarter play is to avoid the Jets all together.

Steelers vs Chiefs – It was the highest scoring game of the week with a whopping 79 points. Kelce and Hunt also had great bounce back games. Missed on AB being the #1 WR of the week, but can’t win them all!

Well, last week was a doozy. My Steelers tied the Browns (loss in my book), we had a few injuries, and the leading QB was Fitzmagic. Hopefully you came away with some W’s and made some moves on waivers to improve the squad!

Week 1 recap

Last week, we watched Alfred Morris and Matt Breida vs the Vikings defense. I predicted that Morris would get the goal line work and get into the end zone. Well, I was right in the fact that Morris got the redzone carries, but he fumbled while reaching for the goal line that might have cost the 49ers the game. Carries were pretty evenly split. Brieda had 11 carries for 46 years, and Morris had 12 carries for 38 yards. Missed my prediction as they are still going to be splitting carries, but Morris could be a sneaky flex play this week against the lions.

The second watch-list was on the Indianapolis backfield. Wilkins did get the bulk of the carries and didn’t look too bad considering the OL problems for Indy. He rushed 14 times for 40 yards and caught all three balls coming his way. Signs are pointing to Mack coming back this week so it will be interesting to see how this muddy backfield will work moving forward. A positive was Nyheim Hines. If you are in a PPR league I would urge you to grab Hines. He caught 7 of 9 targets (only 33 yards) but lined up all over the field. Andrew Luck passed the ball 53 times on Sunday. I don’t expect him to throw 50+ every game, but do expect the Colts to be down and relying on Lucks arm to stay in games. 

The final watch-list from week 1 was Aaron Rodgers' targets. I predicted that Allison would be the second highest targeted receiver on the Packers and he was! (tied With Adams who I expected to lead). I was wrong about Cobb. He looked great, and the connection he has with Rodgers can’t be ignored. His ankles look fantastic as well!  Cobb, Allison, and Adams all ended with good fantasy days and touchdowns. Hopefully you grabbed Allison, he has solidified his role in the offense.

Denver Backfield

Royce Freeman was the highest drafted Bronco RB and had a decent first game out there. He rushed 15 times for 71 yards but didn’t have any targets in the passing game. The surprise last week was fellow rookie Phillip Lindsay. Lindsay rushed 15 times for 71 yards and caught 2 passes for 31 yards and a Touchdown. Freeman owners were worried about Booker stealing carries, but now it looks Lindsay is the threat and this is a full-blown committee. It will be interesting to see how the carries are distributed this week against Oakland.

Prediction –Both rookie running backs continue making the most of their time on the field. Lindsay has some flashy plays but Freeman finds the end zone leaving fantasy owners scratching their heads week 3 on who the back to own is in Denver.

J-E-T-S Jets Jets Jets

 

One of my biggest surprises week 1 was the Jets Lions game. I expected a blowout, but did not expect the Jets to be on the winning end. Except for the very first play, Darnold looked great. He was poised in the pocket and managed the game well. He also targeted Quincy Enunwa 10 times! The next closest Jet had 3 targets. I tried to grab Enunwa everywhere this week as he is Darnold’s first read and should continue to get a good chunk of targets weekly. With Jermaine Kearse coming back this week it’ll be interesting to see how those targets are distributed.

In the Jets backfield, Powell got the start but split carries with Crowell. Powell had 13 rushes for 65 yards and Crowell (CAWWW) had 10 touches for 102 yards and 2 TDs. Most of those yards came in garbage time on a 62-yard TD run, but the Crow looked good! If the offense continues to produce both backs could be viable flex/RB2 plays.

Prediction- With the Dolphins coming to New York, Darnold has another great game but spreads the ball around a bit more this week. Crow finds the end zone twice for the second week in a row and the Jets move to 2-0.

Steelers vs Chiefs

Being a Steeler fan, they are always on my must watch list. This week is special because they are coming off a horrible week 1 and run into an offense that is arguably scary then theirs. Tyreek Hill is a freak. He went 7-169-2 and added another touchdown on a punt return. He is no doubt electric and silenced the few critics out there that didn’t think he could keep up with limited opportunities. We also got a glimpse of Patrick Mahomes cannon. In a game where Kelce and Hunt were quiet, the Chiefs still managed to put up 38 points against a stout Chargers secondary.

On the other side of the fence is the Steelers. After a heart breaking tie to open the season, there is still no Le'Veon Bell. James Conner shined in his first start rushing 31 times for 135 yards and a pair of touchdowns. He also caught 5 of 6 targets for 57 yards and is a strong RB1 until Bell decides it’s time to come back. Bell was seen in Miami at a club until the wee hours of the morning on Tuesday so I do not expect that to be anytime soon. Even without Bell, the Steelers have an offense that can keep up with the Chiefs and I expect our Defense to get after Mahomes.

Prediction – In the highest scoring game of the week, the Steelers come away with a win. Antonio Brown is the #1 WR of the week and Kelce and Hunt owners can sleep well with great bounce back performances.