Jalen Hurts Can Be Streamed Down The Stretch

The Eagles haven’t named a starter yet for Week 14’s game against the Saints, but if Hurts is given the opportunity then he has some streaming appeal. This particular meeting is far from ideal for a rookie quarterback, but his skill set is what we’re looking at. He only completed 5-of-12 passes on Sunday and threw an interception. But he can get it done on the ground as evidenced by the 29 rushing yards on five attempts. This is still a team with a semblance of a shot at making the playoffs even as they sit at 3-8-1 so a change at quarterback would be a bit drastic. But I’ve been clamoring for Ryan Fitzpatrick to be the starter for Miami so I’ll campaign for change in Philadelphia as well. Wentz was finally benched after completing 6-of-15 passes for 79 yards and four sacks. Hurts’ presence seemed to breathe new life into the Philadelphia offense so let’s see what he can do with a week to prepare with the first-team offense. Again, the matchup sucks but if they commit to him down the stretch then the games in Weeks 15 and 16 versus Arizona and Dallas have appeal.

Tyler Lockett Is A Low-End WR2

Dare I suggest that he’s flirting with being unstartable? I don’t think I’ll go that far. But it’s crazy to think that we’re at this point with Tyler Lockett . He still has nine targets in three of his last four games and he remains a fixture in the Seattle offense. But he’s wildly inconsistent. He entered Sunday as a top ten wide receiver with eight touchdowns on the season. But six of those came in two games. Since his monstrous 15-catch, 200-yard, three-touchdown game against Arizona he’s averaging less than 50 receiving yards in his last six games and has just one touchdown. He has 31 catches in that span but it feels so weird to imply that he could be a touchdown-or-bust player. Would I bench him? No because I normally start my studs. That theory didn’t work out for me in leagues I roster Russell Wilson , Kyler Murray , and Justin Herbert. But it paid off in other leagues where I own Michael Thomas and Alvin Kamara . With Lockett, you have to keep starting him because of the explosive upside. But we’re seeing him in a bit of a drought right now as he’s taken the backseat to DK Metcalf.

Matt Ryan Is In Store For A Strong Finish

It hasn’t be pretty for Atlanta this year and Ryan has certainly had his share of struggles. In his last three games he’s thrown three touchdowns and three interceptions with 690 passing yards. Perhaps the biggest concern is the 52.2% completion rate over that span. The good news is that two of those games came against the New Orleans Saints and he no longer has to play them this year. The next three games for Atlanta will be against the Chargers, Buccaneers, and Chiefs. You can make the argument that all three teams have a good enough pass rush to frustrate Matt Ryan , but their secondaries can be beaten. Matt Ryan needs Julio Jones in order to be productive. If he’s on the field and actively involved you can feel pretty good about starting Ryan as he targeted Julio ten times on Sunday. With the Falcons visiting the Chargers next week, we have a chance to potentially see a high scoring affair after Herbert and the Bolts were shut out by the Patriots. It’s not sexy, but the Falcons have still played better since firing Dan Quinn. Recency bias may say the team is in shambles but they’ve played the Saints twice in the last 15 days. Better times are ahead for the Ryan and the rest of the dirty birds.

Ready To Commit To Cole Kmet?

It’s a very small sample size, but over the last two games the Bears have been utilizing Cole Kmet more and more. Last week, here’s a breakdown of the Bears snap share from Fantasy Alarm’s Andrew Cooper:

Sunday’s game against Detroit yielded similar results. Kmet played 54 snaps to Jimmy Graham ’s 34 and he caught five-of-seven targets and a touchdown on Sunday. It certainly does feel like a changing of the guard at the tight end position in Chicago. And the Bears have strangely started looking better on offense with Mitchell Trubisky back under center. The schedule also isn’t terrible for Kmet down the stretch with matchups against the Texans, Vikings, and Jaguars. He won’t get the “league winner” label because he’s a tight end and we’ve seen that 2020 still sucks for this position. But this could be an under-the-radar kind of play going forward.

Deshaun Watson Without Will Fuller Is Problematic

Luckily Watson’s day was salvaged with a rushing touchdown early in the first quarter, but after that it was a struggle for Watson to put up any production. The passing volume helped push him to 341 yards but it was the first game this year Watson didn’t throw a touchdown pass and he had two turnovers as well, although the fumble wasn’t his fault. It was a nice game for Keke Coutee and Chad Hansen . But it turned out to be a pretty underwhelming day for Brandin Cooks and Jordan Akins , although the targets were at least still there for Cooks. The schedule doesn’t get much easier for Watson and Co. Their next two games are on the road in Chicago and then they have a rematch against the Colts before hosting the Bengals in Week 16. The front office and Will Fuller ’s suspension aren’t doing Watson any favors. He looked pretty defeated after Sunday’s game and noted in his press conference that he’s tired of losing. Who wouldn’t be tired of losing at this point? This is the same team that dealt one of the best wide receivers in the game and now he’s trying to string together a strong finish with practice squad players. I’m not doubting the effort by any means, but only he can do so much with what's around him. If they can put proper weapons around him and protect him, he’s easily a top five player at his position. However, at this juncture you’re still going to start him in fantasy, but not with the same level of confidence.

Don’t Fall For The T.Y. Hilton Trap

For almost three months Hilton was a fantasy bust. But now he’s found the end zone in back-to-back weeks with 12 catches for 191 yards over that span. Strangely enough his big game on Sunday was predicted by many (including Jen Piacenti) but he finished with the third-most snaps out of all wide receivers. Michael Pittman and Zach Pascal played on the field more. The other concern with Hilton and even Pittman to an extent has been the fact that Philip Rivers distributed the ball to everybody on the field. In four straight games Rivers has connected with at least eight different receivers. So while we all clamored for Michael Pittman because he looked like the top pass catcher in the offense, the fact is that Rivers will find a way to get everybody involved. Could Hilton pull off a couple more big games? Of course, but that also applies to Pittman, Pascal, and Indy’s three-head monster at tight end. Not to mention, Jonathan Taylor has looked better lately. Next week’s matchup against Last Vegas shapes up nicely for Hilton to possibly continue this streak, but it absolutely feels like a trap game as well.

Do Fall For The Mike Gesicki Trap

I’m more than okay plugging Gesicki into lineups over Hilton because the tight end position requires more gambling than wide receiver does. Gesicki, like Hilton, has found the end zone in back-to-back games. On Sunday he led the team in targets with 11 and it marked the fourth straight game with at least five targets for the superstar tight end in the making. Again, we don’t have too many reliable tight ends outside of Travis Kelce , Darren Waller , and even T.J Hockenson has been solid. So if you don’t own any of those players then you’ve been stuck throwing everything at the wall to see if something sticks. For Miami’s pass catchers, Gesicki was second on the team in snaps trailing only DeVante Parker . The Dolphins will host Kansas City next week and the Chiefs have allowed opposing tight ends to catch 25 passes for 307 yards and a pair of touchdowns over their last three games.

Matthew Stafford Is A Top Twelve Play

The production over the previous two games against Carolina and Houston was suspect. However, on Sunday Stafford threw for over 400 yards and three touchdowns against a very good Chicago defense. And he did that without Kenny Golladay . Golladay was seen running sprints in the end zone, but was ultimately declared inactive and missed his fifth straight game. The good news is that he’s trending in the right direction to playing next week against Green Bay. Don’t take that as scripture. I’m not saying he will play, but he’s progressing in the right direction. Golladay’s return can only yield even better results for Stafford although it doesn’t get much better than 400 passing yards. The Lions also face the Packers, Titans, and Buccaneers in the fantasy playoffs and this presents an opportunity for Stafford to pay off especially if Golladay truly does return. Next week could be an entertaining NFC North matchup for Stafford. Over his last 11 games against Green Bay he has 23 touchdowns and just four interceptions. Coming off a huge game in Week 13, we should expect Stafford to ride that momentum next week.

Collin Johnson Is The WR1 In Jacksonville

Take that for what it’s worth because what is the significance of being the top pass catching option in Jacksonville these days? The team has lost 11 straight games and would’ve been in on the Trevor Lawrence sweepstakes if it weren’t for the Jets handing the game back to the Raiders on Sunday. In Week 12 against Cleveland, Johnson had four catches for 96 yards and a touchdown. That was a solid day, but he followed that up with four catches for 66 yards. Sure it’s a downgrade, but even with D.J. Chark back in the fold, Johnson still had six targets on 39 offensive snaps.  We really wanted Laviska Shenault for be a thing, and that could still happen in the future. But for now, Johnson is a big 6’6” target for whoever is throwing the ball for the Jaguars and when he’s making plays like these, it’s hard not to get a little hot and bothered from a fantasy perspective.