What a night for zero-RB fantasy drafters. Leonard Fournette was borderline startable, Tony Pollard outperformed Zeke Elliott on roughly half the touches, Gio Bernard reminded everyone why he's the most overhyped #8 offensive option in fantasy football history, and everyone else outproduced Ronald Jones, whose negative-point total and a mere four touches was more shocking than maybe it should have been.
In the FF4W Premier Fantasy Football League, Amari Cooper was included in a trade moments after the game ended. I assume Amari will be moving around a lot this week, as some try to sell high, while others see an opportunity to cash in on what could be an elite season. CeeDee Lamb dropped at least three passes, from what I saw. Lamb should still be viewed as a WR1 (he was #9 on my rankings). But it's fair to say the veteran is locked in. Through four games last year--Dak Prescott's only full games--Amari was on pace for 148 receptions and 1,604 yards on an insane 204 targets. So yeah, given what we saw last night, buying high on Amari isn't necessarily a bad move.
Elsewhere, Dak and Tom Brady put on a show. This might be Dallas's toughest matchup all year, and Dak was the reason they nearly won. Yes, there were many other near-heroes. But just like last summer, Dak deserves to be viewed as an elite talent in an elite offense. And if the defense can play half-decently, the Cowboys could be a very dangerous team.
Of course, the Bucs are more dangerous. If any team in the past decade had a chance of going undefeated, this team's chances are better. The running game won't be this bad all year. But it's fair to believe Antonio Brown, Gronk, and Chris Godwin will be this good all year, or at least close to it. Tampa Bay is built to be a top-10 all-time scoring team. There will be enough fantasy love to go around--not for 8-9 people each week, but surely for 4-5.
A note on Mike Evans: he's a great buy-low guy, and maybe that's too obvious coming off only one bad game. But at least twice he was a victim of a last-minute tipped ball that he couldn't handle. His 3-24 night easily could have been 5-50. Small consolation, I know. But this is the way it'll work. Next time Godwin might take a backseat. Another day, Gronk. You draft a Bucs player knowing the odds of a great game are good, and the odds of a good game are great. On balance, Evans will be Evans.
Oh, and when will teams realize it's better to go for it on 4th-and-5 than kick a field goal and give Brady 84 seconds to win the game? I mean, isn't there enough game tape by now? But I digress.
---
Before last night's game, Gus Edwards' news was pretty earth-shattering. Baltimore let Mark Ingram walk knowing they had one of the NFL's best backfield trios. In less than two weeks, they're left with a fourth-stringer (Ty'Son Williams) who tore his ACL two years ago and three near-retirees (Le'Veon Bell, Devonta Freeman, and Latavius Murray). If the age gap were a little bigger, this would be an awful sequel to what I imagine was a truly awful sequel, "Three Men and a Little Lady." What happens when three aging RBs join forces with a 25-year-old undrafted free agent with zero regular-season NFL carries? The answer is, we probably don't want to know.
I don't see how this will end well, fantasy-wise. Maybe Bell or Williams magically steps up and earns 14+ touches. Maybe the 31-year-old Murray is revitalized. But the chance of hitting the jackpot with one of them seems slim. All I know is Sammy Watkins (one of my favorite "undraftable" bargains) and Marquise Brown are looking better and better, while Mark Andrews could see the kind of volume reserved for elite TEs.
---
Personalized Fantasy Advice Sign-up: www.fantasyfootballforwinners.com/p/personalized-fantasy-advice.html
Follow on Twitter: @_FF4W
In the FF4W Premier Fantasy Football League, Amari Cooper was included in a trade moments after the game ended. I assume Amari will be moving around a lot this week, as some try to sell high, while others see an opportunity to cash in on what could be an elite season. CeeDee Lamb dropped at least three passes, from what I saw. Lamb should still be viewed as a WR1 (he was #9 on my rankings). But it's fair to say the veteran is locked in. Through four games last year--Dak Prescott's only full games--Amari was on pace for 148 receptions and 1,604 yards on an insane 204 targets. So yeah, given what we saw last night, buying high on Amari isn't necessarily a bad move.
Elsewhere, Dak and Tom Brady put on a show. This might be Dallas's toughest matchup all year, and Dak was the reason they nearly won. Yes, there were many other near-heroes. But just like last summer, Dak deserves to be viewed as an elite talent in an elite offense. And if the defense can play half-decently, the Cowboys could be a very dangerous team.
Of course, the Bucs are more dangerous. If any team in the past decade had a chance of going undefeated, this team's chances are better. The running game won't be this bad all year. But it's fair to believe Antonio Brown, Gronk, and Chris Godwin will be this good all year, or at least close to it. Tampa Bay is built to be a top-10 all-time scoring team. There will be enough fantasy love to go around--not for 8-9 people each week, but surely for 4-5.
A note on Mike Evans: he's a great buy-low guy, and maybe that's too obvious coming off only one bad game. But at least twice he was a victim of a last-minute tipped ball that he couldn't handle. His 3-24 night easily could have been 5-50. Small consolation, I know. But this is the way it'll work. Next time Godwin might take a backseat. Another day, Gronk. You draft a Bucs player knowing the odds of a great game are good, and the odds of a good game are great. On balance, Evans will be Evans.
Oh, and when will teams realize it's better to go for it on 4th-and-5 than kick a field goal and give Brady 84 seconds to win the game? I mean, isn't there enough game tape by now? But I digress.
---
Before last night's game, Gus Edwards' news was pretty earth-shattering. Baltimore let Mark Ingram walk knowing they had one of the NFL's best backfield trios. In less than two weeks, they're left with a fourth-stringer (Ty'Son Williams) who tore his ACL two years ago and three near-retirees (Le'Veon Bell, Devonta Freeman, and Latavius Murray). If the age gap were a little bigger, this would be an awful sequel to what I imagine was a truly awful sequel, "Three Men and a Little Lady." What happens when three aging RBs join forces with a 25-year-old undrafted free agent with zero regular-season NFL carries? The answer is, we probably don't want to know.
I don't see how this will end well, fantasy-wise. Maybe Bell or Williams magically steps up and earns 14+ touches. Maybe the 31-year-old Murray is revitalized. But the chance of hitting the jackpot with one of them seems slim. All I know is Sammy Watkins (one of my favorite "undraftable" bargains) and Marquise Brown are looking better and better, while Mark Andrews could see the kind of volume reserved for elite TEs.
---
Personalized Fantasy Advice Sign-up: www.fantasyfootballforwinners.com/p/personalized-fantasy-advice.html
Follow on Twitter: @_FF4W