Arizona Cardinals
Trey McBride now holds the record for scoreless yards (851) and catches (80) for a tight end
That is counting only receiving scores as McBride does have a fumble recovery touchdown that goes down as a rushing score. McBride needs another seven catches and 113 yards without a receiving touchdown to set the record regardless of position.
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Atlanta Falcons
Kirk Cousins ranks 29th in EPA per play and CPOE (min. 100 dropbacks) since Week 10
He is Pro Football Focus’s No. 31 graded passer over that stretch. In his past four games, Cousins has eight interceptions, four fumbles, and zero touchdowns. PFF has also charted his rate of accurate throws as falling by over five percent during this downswing.
Baltimore Ravens
Tylan Wallace ran a route on 62 percent of the Ravens’ dropbacks
Rashod Bateman suffered a knee injury before the Ravens’ Week 14 bye and Diontae Johnson refused to enter the game. Bateman’s knee injury isn’t believed to be a long-term issue but it’s not clear if that means he will play this week. Johnson was suspended for one game because of his antics. Wallace is worth a stash in tremendously deep redraft leagues and all dynasty formats.
Buffalo Bills
Josh Allen set the record for fantasy points in a game by a quarterback (51.9)
Allen cleared George Blanda’s mark from 1961 by over two points. He also became the first player to throw and run for three scores in a single game. Allen now has a stranglehold on the MVP race with -400 odds to win the award.
Carolina Panthers
Chuba Hubbard set a season-high in snap share (97 percent)
Jonathan Brooks went down with another torn ACL in Week 14 on his third snap of the day. Miles Sanders is on injured reserve, leaving the backfield all to Hubbard once again. The Panthers have become a competent offense just in time for Hubbard to crush the fantasy playoffs.
Your Carolina Panthers are projected for league-average points this week 🫡 pic.twitter.com/I0MuPFpfay
— Hayden Winks (@HaydenWinks) December 11, 2024
They are favored by sportsbooks for the first time this year.
Chicago Bears
DJ Moore saw 35 percent of the Bears’ targets
Moore had one game with a target share of 30 percent and none over that mark through a dozen weeks. He has seen 41 percent of the team’s targets over his past two games plus 35 percent of the air yards.
Cincinnati Bengals
Mike Gesicki is averaging 3.9 fantasy points per game with Tee Higgins in the lineup
That number balloons to 13.8 with Higgins inactive.
Cleveland Browns
David Njoku has a 31 percent target share and a 24 percent air yards share over the past two weeks
Njoku had a 20 percent target share with 11 percent of the air yards in the six games following Amari Cooper’s trade. He was running as the No. 4 pass-catcher behind all three starting receivers. Cedric Tillman has missed the past two weeks, freeing up more looks for Njoku.
Dallas Cowboys
Rico Dowdle has averaged 3.8 yards after contact and .06 yards over expected since Week 9
The Cowboys spent the first two months of the season messing around with a backfield by committee. That wasn’t working and they went all in on Dowdle following their Week 7 (and a Week 8 absence from Dowdle). Since then, the Cowboys have given Rico 65 percent of their carries plus a 10 percent target share. Despite the increase in touches, Dowdle’s efficiency marks have ballooned as a workhorse back.
Denver Broncos
Bo Nix is scrambling on 8.1 percent of his pressured dropbacks since Week 8
That number was all the way up at 14.3 percent in his first seven games. Nix averaged 17.3 rushing yards on pressured scrambles over the first seven weeks of the season. With his scramble rate dropping in his past six games, he is down to 5.3 yards per game on the ground. The rookie has also settled in from a clean pocket. In those first seven weeks, Nix fled a clean pocket on 7.1 percent of his dropbacks, adding 9.9 rushing yards to his stat line per game. His clean pocket run rate is at 2.8 percent since Week 8 with a weekly rushing output of 5.7.
Detroit Lions
David Montgomery leads all running backs in yards per route run
If you want to read about Tim Patrick, check out my waiver wire article. Instead, you are now cursed with the knowledge that D-Mont is the best pass-catching running back in the NFL. He is also second in PFF receiving grade, 11th in YAC per reception, and third in ESPN’s Overall Score via their player tracking data.
Green Bay Packers
The Packers’ early down pass rate of 43 percent rank 31st in the NFL
“Well certainly the Malik Willis starts have an effect on that stat?”, you must be asking yourself. You, my studious reader, are correct. Since Week 4—Love’s first game back after two Willis starts—the Packers have thrown the ball on 46 percent of their early downs. That ranks 30th in the league. Matt LaFleur’s approach on early downs is largely responsible for the team ranking 31st in overall passing volume.
Houston Texans
Tank Dell has a 17 percent target share in three games with Nico Collins and without Stefon Diggs
The bad news is that he had a 22 percent target share in Collins’ first game back and that has fallen in the two subsequent outings. Collins only ran a route on 55 percent of the Texans’ dropbacks in that game and has since reclaimed his full-time role. On the other hand, he has seen 40 of the team’s air yards over the past two weeks.
Indianapolis Colts
Anthony Richardson is PFF’s No. 7 graded passer
Richardson’s completion rate and adjusted yards per attempt stood at 44 percent and 5.4 before his benching. In three games back as the starter, those marks are up to 52 percent and 6.4. Richardson also had a chart-breakingly bad -14.6% CPOE that is now at a less-than-ideal but workable -3%.
Jacksonville Jaguars
Tank Bigsby set a season-high in carry share in games with Travis Etienne active
Bigsby accounted for 69 percent of the team’s rush attempts and out-carried Etienne 18-4. His only game with a higher carry share came in Week 8, a contest Etienne missed. The Jags are underdogs of roughly a field goal this week and are somehow favored in their next two games despite Trevor Lawrence being done for the year. Both of those games set up especially well for Tank.
Kansas City Chiefs
Isiah Pacheco’s longest carry of 34 yards is twice that of Kareem Hunt’s longest attempt
That is despite Hunt’s 167 carries amounting to over three times as many attempts as Pacheco, who missed most of the year with a leg injury. Pacheco is wildly better than Hunt and the Chiefs are already distributing their carries as such. Pacheco saw 58 percent of the carries last week compared to 21 percent for Hunt.
Las Vegas Raiders
Sincere McCormick ranks sixth in yards after contact (3.7) among running backs with at least 30 carries
His PFF rushing grade of 78.2 sits at 18th among those running backs. Ameer Abdullah ranks 73rd and 74th out of 75 qualified backs in those metrics. Zamir White’s stats are almost identical while Alexander Mattison is better, though not top-50 in either stat. This should be McCormick’s backfield going forward.
Los Angeles Chargers
Kimani Vidal out-snapped Gus Edwards 30-25
Vidal was on the field for 53 percent of LA’s plays compared to 44 percent for Edwards. Both players saw their carry shares rise last week because Jim Harbaugh cut Hassan Haskins out of the mix. Vidal ran a route on 42 percent of Justin Herbert’s dropbacks but did not catch a pass, juicing his snap count without adding much fantasy value.
Los Angeles Rams
Puka Nacua has seen 38 percent of the Rams’ targets over the past five weeks
Nacua has run away with the No. 1 receiver gig since returning to the lineup. He was ejected in Week 9 and has come back with a vengeance over his past five games.
| Fantasy points per game |
It’s not a close race between the two. Kupp’s numbers are all extremely strong, but Nacua is looking like one of the league’s best wide receivers.
Miami Dolphins
Jaylen Waddle and Tyreek Hill combined for a season-high in target share (57 percent) in games with Tua Tagovailoa active
Put another way, Tua finally learned that he has the best wide receiver duo in the NFL. Hill earned 31 percent of the targets while Waddle was at 27 percent. The duo also accounted for 93 percent of the team’s air yards.
Minnesota Vikings
Jordan Addison has a 29 percent target share over his past four games
That is four percent higher than Justin Jefferson. He is also dwarfing Jefferson in air yards with a 42 percent share compared to Jefferson’s 29 percent. This obviously won’t stick, nor was it an issue for Jefferson last week. He caught seven passes for 132 yards and two scores. However, the increase in target competition from an Addison breakout and T.J. Hockenson’s return will make it hard for Jefferson to out-score guys like Ja’Marr Chase and Puka Nacua to close out the year.
New England Patriots
Drake Maye is third in NFL history in yards per carry (9.1) on at least 30 attempts
He’s different, folks.
Since becoming the Patriots' starter in Week 6, no quarterback has been more effective scrambling than Drake Maye.
— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) December 4, 2024
Maye leads all quarterbacks in scramble runs (33), rushing yards (335), RYOE (+129), EPA (+28.0), and missed tackles forced (12) since Week 6.@Patriots | #NEPats pic.twitter.com/gPsmM2mgkm
New Orleans Saints
Alvin Kamara earned his lowest carry share since Week 7
Kamara only saw 53 percent of his team’s rush attempts. His season average is 63 percent. Kendre Miller played for the first time in a month and saw nine carries, good for a 30 percent carry share. That was the second-most carries for a Kamara backup and tied for the highest share this year.
New York Giants
Tyron Tracy Jr. set season-highs in route rate (70 percent) and target share (21 percent)
Tracy tied his season-high in snap share (84 percent) and earned his second-highest carry share (70 percent). Things were touch-and-go with Tracy’s fumbling issues, but the Giants aren’t punishing him for the mistakes anymore.
New York Jets
Braelon Allen saw 55 percent of the Jets’ carries
That’s not the workhorse role fantasy managers were hoping for. Allen ran 11 times for 43 yards while fellow rookie Isaiah Davis ran 10 times for 40 yards and a score. Davis also earned a 16 percent target share to Allen’s 14 percent, though both are strong marks for a running back.
Philadelphia Eagles
Andy Dalton, Joe Flacco, and Aidan O’Connell have as many 300-yard games as Jalen Hurts
Hurts has one such game. There are 17 players with multiple 300-yard games. Hurts has attempted more than 25 passes once in his past nine games and hasn’t topped 30 throws during that stretch. He is still looking for his first three-score game through the air.
Pittsburgh Steelers
The Steelers didn’t have a wide receiver score more than eight PPR points
George Pickens was out and no one receiver stepped up for Pittsburgh. Jaylen Warren led the team with five targets. None of the receivers caught more than three passes or hit 40 yards. This is not the spot to go crate-digging for FLEX options.
San Francisco 49ers
Jauan Jennings has a 32 percent target share over his past five games
His air yards share is all the way up at 37 percent and he has been targeted on 27 percent of his routes while running nearly every possible route for the 49ers. Jennings is averaging 17.4 fantasy points per game during that stretch. He’s just as good in the advanced numbers, ranking sixth in yards per route run and seventh in PFF receiving grade.
Seattle Seahawks
Jaxon Smith-Njigba has earned 38.4 percent of his targets 10+ yards downfield since DK Metcalf returned
JSN was only seeing 29.6 of his targets on intermediate and deep looks before DK Metcalf missed two weeks with a knee issue. Seattle had been reluctant to use JSN as anything other than a low-value possession receiver before Metcalf suffered the knee injury. They’re now more than comfortable cutting him loose, and he is making good on the role with 18.3 fantasy points per game over the past month.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Baker Mayfield has the most games with at least two passing touchdowns and two interceptions in the past five years
Mayfield has four such games, tying him with Carson Wentz and Dak Prescott from previous seasons. He has multiple interceptions in five games and has scored at least 23 fantasy points in four of those contests. You can take Tampa Bay out of Jameis Winston, but you can’t take the Winston out of Tampa.
Tennessee Titans
Tony Pollard has seen at least 73 percent of the Titans’ carries in three straight games
Tyjae Spears was active for the two most recent games and didn’t make a dent in Pollard’s role between the tackles in either outing. Pollard ran 21 times for 102 yards in a loss to the Jags. Spears did, however, fully take over the primary passing downs role. Pollard, in turn, ran a route on 35 percent of the Titans’ dropbacks, his lowest mark of the season.
Washington Commanders
Zach Ertz has finished as a TE1 in 7-of-13 games
Ertz is eighth in air yards share and sixth in target share among tight ends this season. The Commanders have the ninth-highest team total of the week and yet PPR’s TE10 is still available in the majority of fantasy leagues (according to Yahoo roster rates).
