RADIO
Week two is over and done with, and we are now looking forward to the next slate of games. Before we can move on with our lives we must take a look at the warning signals from the week prior.
It’s important to gather the information to determine if the players who misfired in our lineup just had a bad game or is it something to be worried about over the long term.
Some of these players may be showing warning signals that are surprising and unexpected, while others may be causing concern -- and although we had higher hopes, we can't be too surprised. Let's get to it.
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Quarterback
Trevor Lawrence, Jacksonville Jaguars
Things are not looking good in Jacksonville. The Jaguars are the only team in the NFL that doesn’t have a goal-line carry. It appears the Urban Meyer experiment is going to combust. The trickle-down economics has worked its way into Lawrence’s fantasy production. Over the last two weeks of the season, he has supplied just 25.90 fantasy points, making him the QB25 on the season.
Turnovers are starting to become a problem. He has tossed 5 interceptions in two games. We are also not getting the rushing production as advertised from his college days at Clemson. With just 19 rushing yards which equates to 1.9 fantasy points over two games, it is hard to think of him as having the rushing floor we want for our quarterbacks in fantasy.
There are some positives that we can look at with Lawrence. First off, he’s tied with Teddy Bridgewater and Josh Allen with a league-leading 13 pass attempts of 20 yards or more. Chucking deeps balls is an indicator that a quarterback could possibly have some blow-up weeks as long the receivers can reel in a few of those deep balls in a single game.
His schedule will lighten up in the coming weeks. His matchup against the Denver Broncos in week two was not the best match-up for a rookie quarterback. It appears he might be in line for a few shoot-outs with the Arizona Cardinals, Cincinnati Bengals, and the Tennessee Titans scheduled for his next three games.
It’s not time to panic over Lawrence yet. He’s still a rookie who is working with a rookie NFL head coach. There will be some things that will need to be ironed out. We should see him rapidly develop over the course of the season to display the generational arm talent that we saw during his tenure at Clemson.
Running Back
Clyde Edwards-Helaire, Kansas City Chiefs
All fantasy gamers have a reason to be worried about Edwards-Helaire. Prior to the start of the season, he was sold as a value play in drafts due to being in one of the explosive offenses in our generation. Well, the offense is still explosive, but Edwards-Helaire is not the fuel of choice to keep the offense moving.
The former first-rounder has just 12.80 fantasy points on the season, making him the RB46. The big sell for him in fantasy throughout his short career was his potential use in the passing game. That is not happening right now. He has been targeted three times in two games. Mahomes is looking at other receivers when he drops back. From a rushing standpoint, he is only averaging just 1.44 yards after contact per attempt.
This warning signal is glaring in our faces. He’s either going to turn things around by receiving more workload in the passing game and falling in the end zone. Or he’s going to be just a body on the field collecting the minimal amount of fantasy points for your fantasy team.
I would guess that he will have brighter days. I wouldn’t bet on his production to be consistent if he does revert to his old form. From a long-term perspective, dynasty gamers have to be worried at this point.
Wide Receiver
Robert Woods, Los Angeles Rams
Batman gets all the chicks and Robin just wears tight spandex. With Matthew Stafford in town, Cooper Kupp is looking like the Batman, and Woods is running around on the field as a sidekick. Kupp is a WR1 until he’s proven he’s not. Woods on the other hand, from what we’ve seen from this small sample, seems to be matchup and game script dependent.
Woods caught just five balls for 64 yards in Sunday’s game against the Colts, making him the WR43 for the week. The week prior he had a WR46 performance. This was not the production output many fantasy leaguers were expecting going into the season.
There are some good things that we can bank on going into week three. He saw 12 targets in two games and owns a 23 percent target share. Woods is also posting a 9.3 average depth of target. The workload seems to be there, indicating that he should provide some spike weeks once he starts to connect with Stafford.
Tight End
George Kittle, San Francisco 49ers
Kittle finished week two at the TE25 by scoring 5.70 fantasy points. Ironically, that’s just five fantasy points away from the TE10 spot for the week. We really shouldn’t be worried about Kittle’s long-term production. However, Deebo Samuel is owning a 36 percent target share along with a 52 percent share of the air yards. If he continues to be the key driver of the 49ers’ passing game, then we could see more volatility from Kittle.
Playing against the Eagles wasn’t the greatest matchup for Kittle to put up fantasy points on the scoreboard. There will be better game scripts in the future. The sky isn’t falling on Kittle, he will be an important asset for the offense for the rest of the year. Fluky games happen, and top fantasy players don’t always produce. It’s still food for thought to think that Samuel might be ascending and the target distributing is going to change the overall flow of the passing offense.
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