Welcome to another edition of the SAF (Samulski’s Arbitrary Fantasy) Awards! I’m your host, Eric Samulski, and we’ve come to the eighth week of this weekly awards segment where we shine a light on the best performances, the disappointing performances, and the most misleading performances in the week of NFL action.
As the name states, the SAF Awards are totally arbitrary but no less valid and desirable awards given out by me based on the committee of voices in my head. Some awards will carry over every week while others will emerge from the ether based on my mood or the mercurial winds of pop culture trends.
While you will find plenty of actionable fantasy football information here, you’re not likely to get many of the fantasy football acronyms that make me feel like a real estate agent: EPA, aDOT, YACON, etc. Those are all valuable and have their place, but that place is not here. This is the place where we give out awards, talk some trash, and have some fun.
If you have players you believe are deserving of awards or want to suggest awards for the next week, feel free to reach out to me on Twitter (@SamskiNYC). But without further ado, let’s hand out some hardware that doesn’t exist and people wouldn’t really want if it did!
Star of the Week: CeeDee Lamb - WR, Dallas Cowboys
We’ve been waiting for it, but we finally got the CeeDee Lamb breakout game. After three straight games under 55 yards receiving, Lamb went into Dallas’ bye week with a 117 yard, seven catch game against the Chargers. It was a solid effort but nothing earth-shattering.
Well, Dallas came out of the bye clearly looking to get the ball to their star receiver. Lamb caught 12 of 14 targets for 158 yards and two touchdowns against an overmatched Rams secondary. What makes this more interesting to me is that his long reception of the day was just 26 yards, which means he didn’t get that yardage total from one or two big plays but from continuously ripping off huge chunk plays.
It was only the second time all season that Lamb saw over 25% of the targets and only the third time all year his average depth of target was over 10 yards. Given how well he performed, I’m not sure why the Cowboys would change anything heading into a game against the Eagles after Sam Howell just threw for 400 yards against their secondary.
Breakout Player Award: Will Levis - QB, Tennessee Titans
Yes, the man puts mayo in his coffee, which is appallingly gross. But also, yes, he was tremendous on the football field on Sunday and we only care about one of those things. It’s the mayo thing. You can’t roster him. You can’t condone that kind of sick behavior. That’s just not what mayo is for.
OK, fine, Levis deserves a spot on your fantasy roster after completing 19-of-29 passes for 238 yards and four touchdowns while not throwing an interception and taking just two sacks. Yes, some of the throws were to wide open receivers or to veteran receivers who got away with clear offensive pass interference, but Levis has arm strength for days and has no problem chucking it down the field. His 11.8 average yards per pass were the second most on the day; however, it was not all sunshine and rainbows.
Nine of his 19 completed passes were for five or fewer yards. Only five passes went for more than 10 yards, three of them being the touchdowns to DeAndre Hopkins. He had just a 36.8% success rate and was credited with throwing behind his receivers frequently throughout the game. He’s probably the Titans’ starting quarterback going forward this season, but there will be some gross moments. Perhaps as gross as putting mayo in coffee.
The Office Space Award: Miles Sanders - RB, Carolina Panthers
This award highlights a player who we’re all looking at on our rosters and thinking:
After returning from injury and a bye week, Miles Sanders saw just 12 snaps and two carries in the Panthers’ win over the Texans. He gained zero yards on those two carries. He played just two more snaps than Raheem Blackshear. On the season, Sanders has just 190 yards on 63 carries with a long run of 15 yards. He has one touchdown.
It’s just been a brutal season for the 26-year-old, and it’s becoming increasingly clear why the Eagles let him walk in free agency. Perhaps we should be letting him walk from our fantasy teams as well.
Frankenstein Award: Jahan Dotson - WR, Washington Commanders
If you’ve watched any version of any Frankenstein movie, you know the iconic moment where Dr. Frankenstein proclaims that the monster is alive.
That’s how many fantasy managers feel about Jahan Dotson after he caught eight of ten targets for 108 yards and a touchdown against the Eagles on Sunday. While some of his uptick in usage had to do with Curtis Samuel being out, Dotson was a high-upside player coming into his second NFL season, so it’s makes sense for the Commanders to try to see if he can be a long-term complement to Terry McLaurin.
On Sunday, Dotson had his third straight game with over 85% of the routes. He also saw 18% of the targets, which was DOWN from the 23% he saw in Week 7, when Samuel also missed. He saw almost an identical amount of air yards as Week 7 and was similarly target on over 23% of third and fourth downs, which shows the trust Sam Howell and the team have in him.
For all intents and purposes, it seems like Dotson has shifted into a larger role with Samuel being sidelined and it just took a week for that production to click. Now that it has, it might be here to stay.
Looking for more fantasy football content? Rotoworld has you covered. Watch Fantasy Football Happy Hour with Matthew Berry weekdays at noon ET LIVE on Peacock and the Rotoworld Football Show on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays wherever you get your podcasts.
Ryan Gosling Replacement Award: Trey McBride - TE, Arizona Cardinals
Did you know George Clooney was originally cast as the lead in “The Notebook”? Did you know he was going to play a younger version of Paul Newman? Eventually, George Clooney decided not to go through with it, and Ryan Gosling was cast in the role, and the rest is history.
In the spirit of that moment, we give this award to the player who is set to take over a role vacated by a notable player ahead of them. This week, that award goes to Trey McBride, who has taken the starting tight end job in Arizona from Zach Ertz and isn’t giving it back.
In truth, McBride had begun seeing more work in Weeks 6 and 7 when Ertz was still on the field. However, in both of those games he still ran fewer routes than Ertz despite seeing slightly more targets. Yet, with Ertz sidelined in Week 8, McBride delivered an Oscar performance. He was in on 88% of the routes, had 40% of the targets and caught 10-of-14 targets for 95 yards and a touchdown.
With this being a lost season for Arizona, there’s simply no reason for the team to allow Ertz to come back and get his job back from McBride. They need to let McBride develop and see what he can be for them going forward. Last year’s second round pick will also likely benefit from Kyler Murray returning to the lineup in Week 10, which means it’s wheels up for this young tight end.
Horizon Award: Demario Douglas - WR, New England Patriots
The Horizon Award is where we look out into the distance and see if we can spot something magical, like a beautiful sunset or a potential fantasy asset. This week, that person is Demario Douglas.
The rookie from Liberty had been seeing his usage increase in New England since coming back from injury, being on the field for over 75% of the routes in each of the last two weeks. However, while operating primarily out of the slot on a bad offense, the numbers weren’t there.
Yet, with Kendrick Bourne now out for the season and DeVante Parker in concussion protocol, there’s a chance for Douglas to emerge as the main pass-catching weapon in New England. They have, so far, been using him a lot close to the line of scrimmage, so he may not break huge plays or be a major red zone threat, which makes him more of a PPR-target, but he’s also a rookie from a small school who could emerge as the next Wes Welker or Julian Edelman out of the slot for Bill Belichick.
Rodney Dangerfield Award: Gus Edwards - RB, Baltimore Ravens
For those of you too young to remember, this award is fondly named after the comedian Rodney Dangerfield, who was most famous for being in “Caddyshack” and also for a schtick in which he bemoaned that he couldn’t get any respect from the day he was born.
This week, that lack of respect applies to Gus Edwards. Over the last two weeks, Gus Edwards has scored four touchdowns and has finished ranked sixth and third in PPR scoring, respectively. Yet, nobody seems to value him in fantasy.
Perhaps that’s because he hasn’t topped 80 yards this season. Perhaps it’s because fantasy football caters too much to PPR formats and Gus has just six combined catches this year. Perhaps it’s because everybody thinks Lamar Jackson is the RB1 in Baltimore. There are myriad good reasons to not love Gus Edwards as your fantasy RB1, but he deserves your respect.
He’s seen 50% or more of Baltimore’s carries in four straight weeks. He has all of the non-Lamar Jackson runs inside the five-yard line. He’s also run routes on 33% of dropbacks this season. According to Next Gen Stats, 42% of Edwards’ carries have gone for more yards than expected. That has allowed him to 12th out of 49 RBs with at least 40 carries. No, there’s nothing flashy about his game, but he consistently gains positive yardage and gets the most important touches for a good football team. There are worse things to use a roster spot on.
That’s it for this week; we’ll see you next Wednesday for another edition of the SAF Awards!
