Welcome in to the Week 3 Edition of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to RB! This is the place where we talk all things running back streaming. Each week we discuss running back usage, matchups, and waiver opportunities to convert the least amount of capital into a playable running back position on your fantasy teams.
When the Chiefs reached the Chargers’ nine-yard line in the 2nd quarter Thursday, Mahomes threw to McKinnon for a score. In the 3rd quarter, down by three points and at Los Angeles’ 3-yard line, the Chiefs went McKinnon-pass-pass. When that didn’t work, they kicked a field goal rather than try again from the one yard line. A single, late 52-yard 4th quarter run boosted an otherwise muted performance. There are just too many options in Kansas City, and the Chiefs don’t seem to want to commit to Clyde.
With both teams coming off Week 1 wins, the Eagles will host the Vikings in Week 2’s second highest totalled game. Both offenses were humming along in each team’s respective Week 1 victories and Vegas is thinking more of the same for this one.
We are through a week, plus a Thursday Night Football, of the fantasy season. Play-by-play data for this season’s games are starting to pour in and get uploaded to PlayerProfiler.com. It’s time to continue our series of weekly player prop pick ‘em selections based on new knowledge. In these articles, I review selections from the previous week. I give out my favorite player prop pick ‘ems for the upcoming weekend on the DFS pages of Underdog Fantasy and Sleeper.
Jaylen Waddle finished inside the top-20 last week thanks to a touchdown, but his opportunity metrics are concerning. His Target Share ranks No. 40 among wide receivers and his Slot Rate plummeted from 43.8-percent last season to 17.5-percent in Week 1. Rashod Bateman’s opportunity metrics from Week 1 show that inconsistent performances will occur. He was outside the top-50 in targets, Snap Share, and Route Participation.
Marvin Jones is top-20 in Air Yards and Routes Run. On top of that, he’s top-10 in Average Target Distance, Unrealized Air Yards, and Deep Targets. Jakobi Meyers saw a 92.5-percent (No. 16) Snap Share, 20.0-percent (No. 32) Target Share, and 32.7-percent (No. 23) Air Yards Share. On top of that, his 14.8 (No. 14) Average Target Distance in Week 1 was MUCH higher than years past where he’s been under 11.0 every season.
Speed. There are few things in the modern NFL more important than speed. Whether it’s 40 times, how quickly a new signing can pick up an offense, or how fast a quarterback identifies a free rusher. You can’t function in today’s game without speed at the forefront of everything you do.
With this in mind, we’ll be taking a weekly look at each team’s Pace of Play.
Welcome to the newest edition of TNF Showdown which features Chargers at Chiefs. I’ll be guiding you through the important aspects to watch in each Thursday night matchup.
Without further ado, let’s see what the Los Angeles Chargers and the Kansas City Chiefs have in store for us in what will be a pivotal battle for control of the AFC West.
The perpetually under valued Brandin Cooks resides on the top of the value play list, a place he may as well call home. While some fantasy prognosticators were scared off of Cooks because of a perceived poor Texans offense and the potential emergence of sleeper candidate Nico Collins, both of those narratives were laid to rest week one. Davis Mills was sufficiently average throwing the football posting a 95.2 True Passer Rating (no. 12 among quarterbacks), and Cooks handedly out-targeted Collins 12 to 3. Cooks is a strong play in all formats.
Corey Davis remained the Jets primary wide receiver target despite the off-season hype of second-year wide receiver Elijah Moore and rookie first round pick Garrett Wilson. Davis out targeted both of his teammates and was the Jets’ leader in Air Yards. With Joe Flacco as his quarterback, and Davis likely seeing coverage from all-pro Denzel Ward this week, I’d shy away from exposure but if forced to play him I would reserve him as a cash play only.
Buffalo, this year’s Super Bowl favorite, opened the 2022 season as road favorites against the defending Super Bowl Champion Rams. They lived up to the advanced billing, crushing the defending champs 31-10, and it wasn’t even that close.
Last year, the Bills stopped teams by preventing big plays. This year, it seems they’re going to prevent little plays, too. They completely stomped on the Rams’ revamped offensive line. The Bills defense sacked Matthew Stafford seven times. Last year, he didn’t see his seventh sack until Week 8.
The Broncos have been one quarterback away from competitiveness since Peyton Manning’s retirement. They fill this much needed void with Russell Wilson. Though his 2021 season was marred with injury, Wilson was still chucking the rock when healthy. Wilson’s 5.5 Deep Ball Attempts Per Game (No. 1) and 10 Air Yards Per Attempt (No. 6) support this.
