The first round of fantasy football playoffs gets going this week and so with that it’s a great time to check in on who had big weeks inside the red zone last week and how that could help their fantasy values for season-long and DFS this week.
Red Zone Passing
Baker Mayfield CLE - Week 13 was a monster for Mayfield as the Browns took down the Titans and the 11 red zone passing attempts he had were a season-high. Three of those turned into touchdowns for him as the Browns put up 40-plus points. Interestingly though, only four players saw those targets go their way so it wasn’t a major distribution of targets which helped if you had one of those players on the roster as they had more than their normal chances to produce on Sunday. Mayfield faces the Ravens’ defense on Monday so we may see a drop in the passing attempts but the success may still happen as the Browns rely on the run game to keep defenses honest.
Ryan Tannehill TEN - Even in, and perhaps because of, a losing effort, Tannehill has his most red zone passing attempts with nine. He also put up three touchdowns in those nine attempts. Perhaps because of the shootout the Browns-Titans game became is why he put up such a big week inside the 20 but he’s also had three other weeks of six or more red zone attempts this season and his performances rank him 11th in the league in passing attempts inside the 20. The Titans offense has been pretty consistent much of the year and that shouldn’t change going forward as they try and clinch the AFC South.
Nick Mullens SF - The Niners had a tough go of it in the game against the Bills but that didn’t stop Mullens from having a good day in the red zone. He had eight passing attempts, which ties the season-high for him and one he’s hit three times now. Mullens is likely going to be the starter the rest of the way for the Niners and based on the fact that he’s hit seven red zone attempts or more four times he’s been pretty solid for getting the weapons the chances to produce inside the 20. There are only a handful, a large one, of quarterbacks in the league to have had four or more games with such red zone passing days and Mullens has only started less than half the games this year.
Red Zone Rushing
Cam Akers RB LAR - Akers had the best red zone week of his season in Week 13 against Arizona with a whopping nine carries which is just the sixth time this season that a running back has seen at least that many rushes inside the 20. Four of the nine came inside the five and he converted one for a score. He also now has 23 carries on the season in the red zone, including the five he saw on Thursday night, and that means that 16 of those have come in the last three games and 21 since Week 10. Akers is the stud back we thought he would be at this point, it just took him a while to get there.
Myles Gaskin RB MIA - After missing a few games, Gaskin was back for the Dolphins’ backfield in Week 13 and back to his old ways of getting the red zone work with eight carries, second-highest total of the season for a single game. He got six of those inside the 10-yard line but once more he was kept out of the endzone. He has 29 carries inside the 20 on the year but only two scores. The 29 carries ties him for 10th most in the league and his two touchdowns is the fewest among those ahead and tied with him and only one other has less than four touchdowns. He keeps getting the ball but isn’t being as productive as the volume suggests he should be able to be.
Ty Johnson RB NYJ - For a guy that wasn’t supposed to start and hadn’t been seeing that much, if any, work in the previous weeks, he certainly showed up nicely against the Raiders. The seven red zone carries were third in the league this week and the first such carries of the season for Johnson. He carried it four times inside the 10 and five yard lines and converted one for a score. Frank Gore has been the starter the last few weeks but due to an injury, Johnson stepped up in his place. It’s unknown the status of the backfield for the Jets for Sunday as Gore is still in concussion protocol but either way the Seahawks rush defense is far better than the Raiders so it might be tougher sledding in Week 14, though in the red zone they’ve been pretty beatable.
Damien Harris RB NE - There was some concern about Harris’ usage once Sony Michel came back from the IR but the last three weeks have proven the concerns to be moot. In each of the last three weeks, prior to Thursday, Harris out touched Michel in the red zone including Week 13 when Michel had four carries inside the 20, Harris carried it five times and got more work inside the 10 as well. In Week 14 on Thursday, Harris got more work than Michel as well too. So Harris is the go to back still for New England down the stretch.
Red Zone Receiving
Jarvis Landry WR CLE - Have a week did we Mr. Landy? He backed up the Week 12 targets, four, with a six target week in Week 13 which led the NFL for red zone targets. He caught two of those targets and one for a score in the big game against Tennessee. The thing with Landry though, is that he has 13 targets on the season inside the 20 and nine of those have come in the last two weeks. It’s clear that he’s the top target without Odell Beckham Jr. on the field but it’s finally nice to see the consistency out of him we’ve been waiting to see nearly his entire time in Cleveland.
Mike Gesicki TE MIA - While Tua Tagovailoa may not have been spectacular on Sunday, he did favor Gesicki inside the 20. Of the five attempts Tagovailoa had, he threw four to Gesicki of which he caught two and one for a score. He is one of only six tight ends to have a red zone target in each of the last three weeks and this total of four was a season-high while also making up nearly a third of his season total. Gesicki is still available in some leagues and makes a nice touchdown-dependent flier at the position.
Jamison Crowder WR NYJ - Crowder may not have had the volume we’re used to seeing from some on this list, but he had the productivity and had the high percentage of targets we like to see. He did catch two touchdowns from just the three targets which were both of the red zone scores Sam Darnold accounted for on Sunday and the three targets were 75-percent of the total passing attempts for Darnold as well, and represent nearly half of Crowder’s season total of seven. He gets to face a Seahawks defense that has been generous to wideouts this year and has been porous in the red zone so we could see another nice day from Crowder.
Tim Patrick WR DEN - There are two top picks in the receiving corps for the Broncos in Jerry Jeudy and K.J. Hamler who were taken with the first and second-round picks this year, yet they haven’t combined to total Patrick’s red zone targets as an undrafted free agent rookie. He had another three targets on Sunday against the Chiefs and two of those went for touchdowns that nearly won the Broncos the game. Even with all of the switching back and forth between quarterbacks this year, he still ranks top-30 in the NFL in red zone targets. He is safe to play nearly every week at this point as a WR3 or flex.
Darren Waller TE LV - Waller is coming off a huge week in which he put up 40-plus points in most scoring systems against the Jets and although his red zone totals weren’t terribly high they are worth mentioning. He was targeted twice on Sunday and caught both including one for a score. The remarkable thing about Waller this year has been the consistency with which he’s played and that includes the fact that he has at least one red zone target each game of the season, making him the only tight end or receiver in the league to achieve that feat. Next up is the Colts who are very good against the tight end position and haven’t allowed a 100-yard performance from that spot since Week 8 of 2016.