My plan for success this week involves stacking Jackson and Brown
against a struggling Titans defense giving up the 5th most fantasy
points to the receiver position. After a spate of brutal matchups
against the Steelers, Colts, and Patriots, the skies should open
up. (and if they don’t...oooh baby). Hollywood went for
7-126 in last year’s playoff game, and has been a squeaky
wheel recently. Expect a few deep shots to finally connect this
week. My confidence here seems irrational even to me, but the
Ravens have too much talent on and off the field not to get this
offense figured out.
Despite a slow start and a down Week 10, Kirk still has been heating
up over the last month. He has 22 targets over the last three
games, including a 5-37-2 line against the Seahawks in a 37-34
shootout and 3 double-digit scoring games in his last four. Clearly
taking a backseat to Deandre Hopkins this year, Kirk will benefit
from the attention Seattle is sure to give his teammate as the
ball should be flying all over the field Thursday night. An upside
WR3, Kirk is a strong starting consideration.
Thomas has had a long winding road to being a fantasy consideration
at the tight end position. A college and early NFL career quarterback,
Thomas has found his way into the fantasy conversation this season.
Tight end is always a crapshoot outside the top two or three,
and Thomas is coming off a career high 66 yards last week against
the Lions. The Bengals have been loose against the position giving
up the 3rd most yards and touchdowns. Thomas’s 52 targets
put him just outside the top-10 so there is enough volume coming
his to warrant a spot start this week. Beggars can’t be
choosers!
The move to 6th round rookie Jake Luton has had mixed results
for Chark. After a monster 7-146-1 line against Houston, Chark
busted last week against the Packers who were without their stud
cover corner Jaire Alexander. Pittsburgh has let lesser teams
hang around too long several times this season, but should make
life a nightmare for Luton and this offense. The Steelers are
attackable through the air, so Chark is by no means a sit candidate,
but he's a good bet to underperform. Keep that in mind when selecting
your lineups.
The Rams offense has become a sort of WRBC (that’s wide
receiver by committee) lately, as the tight ends, and now Josh
Reyonlds have encroached on Woods’s target share. Woods
was largely left out of the fun last week against Seattle, and
his yardage totals are way down over last year. The lack of downfield
targets and the fact that Goff could struggle without their All-Pro
left tackle Andrew Whitworth has the arrow trending down for Woods.
Yeah, I don’t blame you for barking at your screen about
this one, as Jones has been a stud since Kenny Golladay went down
three weeks ago. But there are some key takeaways here if you
look a bit closer. First, it looks like Golladay will be back
this week, and prior to stepping in for him, Jones was a droppable
player in most 12-team leagues. And yes, the 8 receptions last
week were nice, but the prior two games he had a total of 6, and
relied on touchdowns to buoy his final fantasy value. The return
of Golladay, and the injury to Stafford’s throwing thumb
would seriously have me considering sending Jones back to the
bench if I had the option.
