Devonta Freeman's fantasy season is essentially over before it really began. The preseason RB-12 ADP Freeman (overvalued even if he'd been healthy) can return Week 15 against Arizona. That assumes he'll be healthy by then. And even if he is, he surely wouldn't play a prominent role until at least the postseason (which they probably won't reach). Rookie Ito Smith hasn't run well, but he's managed a TD in each of his last three games. He'll continue to be a TD-dependent RB4, assuming around 8-12 touches. And Tevin Coleman will settle into a weekly RB3 role with massive upside if Smith's running (2.4 YPC in his last four contests) doesn't improve.
Josh Allen is now officially week-to-week with an elbow injury and is now largely droppable in 2-QB leagues. The almost-retired Derek Anderson could be tapped to unceremoniously end his career throwing balls to the league's worst receiving corps. Or Nathan Peterman (career mark of three TDs and nine INTs) could be the sacrificial lamb. Either way, we're looking at strangely competing realities, where the offense can't look much worse than it did with Josh Allen at the helm -- except yes, it can look a whole lot worse.
Marshawn Lynch's groin injury has Head Coach Jon Gruden concerned, which is like saying I'm concerned with rain splattering through my screened window while water gushes through a hole in my roof. The "lone bright spot" narrative is meaningless when the bright spot is a 32-year-old RB on a 1-5 team. Still, Doug Martin is now a more compelling RB4 hold (still don't trust him, but he could be helpful in deep leagues), while the more talented Jalen Richard is one of the few non-handcuffs worth grabbing if you have the bench space.
Last year Tom Brady averaged 16 completions per game to his receivers (WRs and TEs). The year before, he and Jimmy G. and Jacoby Brissett averaged 17 completions to receivers. This year Brady's averaging 21. Much of this has to do with a depleted backfield where only one guy (James White) is catching balls, necessitating a game plan that features more receivers. The problem is, from a fantasy perspective, Brady is throwing to too many receivers: Gronk, Julian Edelman, Josh Gordon, and Chris Hogan lead the way, while Cordarrelle Patterson and Phillip Dorsett could still have roles from week to week. It's possible that two of these guys will be weekly starters (Gronk and . . . Edelman?). But most weeks it's hard to imagine three.
And so the hype surrounding Gordon confuses me. Maybe he'll thrive in this system, and with someone like Brady consistently getting him the ball where he wants it. But there's plenty of room for error, even with 21 receiver completions a game. Despite the team posting 43 points last weekend, Gronk was the best fantasy receiver, and he was only a back-end TE1. Edelman was high-end WR3. No one else was better. Not a good sign.
Josh Allen is now officially week-to-week with an elbow injury and is now largely droppable in 2-QB leagues. The almost-retired Derek Anderson could be tapped to unceremoniously end his career throwing balls to the league's worst receiving corps. Or Nathan Peterman (career mark of three TDs and nine INTs) could be the sacrificial lamb. Either way, we're looking at strangely competing realities, where the offense can't look much worse than it did with Josh Allen at the helm -- except yes, it can look a whole lot worse.
Marshawn Lynch's groin injury has Head Coach Jon Gruden concerned, which is like saying I'm concerned with rain splattering through my screened window while water gushes through a hole in my roof. The "lone bright spot" narrative is meaningless when the bright spot is a 32-year-old RB on a 1-5 team. Still, Doug Martin is now a more compelling RB4 hold (still don't trust him, but he could be helpful in deep leagues), while the more talented Jalen Richard is one of the few non-handcuffs worth grabbing if you have the bench space.
Last year Tom Brady averaged 16 completions per game to his receivers (WRs and TEs). The year before, he and Jimmy G. and Jacoby Brissett averaged 17 completions to receivers. This year Brady's averaging 21. Much of this has to do with a depleted backfield where only one guy (James White) is catching balls, necessitating a game plan that features more receivers. The problem is, from a fantasy perspective, Brady is throwing to too many receivers: Gronk, Julian Edelman, Josh Gordon, and Chris Hogan lead the way, while Cordarrelle Patterson and Phillip Dorsett could still have roles from week to week. It's possible that two of these guys will be weekly starters (Gronk and . . . Edelman?). But most weeks it's hard to imagine three.
And so the hype surrounding Gordon confuses me. Maybe he'll thrive in this system, and with someone like Brady consistently getting him the ball where he wants it. But there's plenty of room for error, even with 21 receiver completions a game. Despite the team posting 43 points last weekend, Gronk was the best fantasy receiver, and he was only a back-end TE1. Edelman was high-end WR3. No one else was better. Not a good sign.