Welcome to another edition of the SAF (Samulski’s Arbitrary Fantasy) Awards! I’m your host, Eric Samulski, and we’ve come to the second 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: D.J. Moore - WR, Chicago Bears
This was a two man battle between Moore and Ja’Marr Chase, who both scored three touchdowns on the day, but the award winds up going to Moore because he had slightly more fantasy points and because his performance was more out of nowhere.
In Week 5, Moore torched the Commanders secondary for 230 yards and three touchdowns. In fact, he was THE ONLY BEARS WIDE RECEIVER TO CATCH A PASS, which is wild considering Chicago won the game 40-20. Moore now has 531 yards and five touchdowns on 27 catches through five games, which is, you know, pretty good.
It’s also hilarious because the Carolina Panthers traded him to Chicago this offseason and now are apparently desperately looking to find a true number one receiver. Like the guy they just traded away.
Sources: The #Panthers are not only looking to trade for a wide receiver, but they want a No. 1 caliber guy. This is their top priority right now.
— Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) October 3, 2023
Why? Because the organization is ALL IN on Bryce Young - the player and the person. They love him and want to support him. They… pic.twitter.com/490YeGW5ks
Friend Zone Award: Brian Robinson Jr. - RB, Washington Commanders
The Friend Zone Award is where we honor the player who leads us on the most heading into a matchup only to crush our dreams and give us nothing on Sunday.
In Week 4, that goes to Brian Robinson Jr. The Commanders running back looked set up for a great game against the Bears. Washington was expected to play from ahead, and Robinson had just come off a multi-touchdown game against a much tougher Eagles defense. There were even some people ranking Robinson as a top five running back on the week.
Then he ran for 10 yards on six carries for the entire game. He did add 33 yards on four catches, which helped prop up his fantasy score, but it was not a great effort and continued to highlight the main problem for Robinson. He received 100% of the carries in Week 5, but he can just 30% of the routes to Antonio Gibson’s 45% and saw 9% of the targets to Gibson’s 13%.
Now, that’s better than in their last true trailing gamescript, Week 3 against Buffalo, where Robinson ran 18% of the routes and saw no targets, so perhaps he’s beginning to earn a bigger role in the passing game. However, until he truly starts stealing more passing work from Gibson, it’s going to be hard to play Robinson in games where you’re not sure the Commanders will be playing from ahead. As we just saw, we may never actually know when that will be.
Stefan Urquelle Award: Desmond Ridder - QB, Atlanta Falcons
Here’s another award that will no doubt age me, but for the younger readers out there, there was a show called “Family Matters” that was part of a dynamite TGIF lineup on Friday evenings. One of the main characters of the show is the nerdy next door neighbor, Steve Urkel. Steve was good-natured and funny but often clumsy and created more problems than he intended, which led to his catchphrase.
However, in the later seasons the show (or maybe the actor, Jaleel White) decided that it was time to show off another side of Urkel named Stefan Urquelle. He was the suave and handsome alter ego who lived inside Steve Urkel’s mind until he was able to clone himself and Stefan Urquelle came out into the world and made women swoon.
We experienced something similar on Sunday when Desmond Ridder, who had looked like a barely replacement level quarterback through the first four games woke up and completed 28-of-37 passes for 329 yards and a touchdown against a solid Texans defense. He wasn’t just dinking and dunking either. Ridder was threading the needle on some passes and looked like the version of himself in his own mind had come to life out on the field.
Only time will tell if Steve Urkel winds up taking back over as the Falcons’ quarterback.
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Ryan Gosling Replacement Award: KJ Osborn, WR Minnesota Vikings
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. In this instance, it appears that KJ Osborn is going to move into a much bigger role in Minnesota with Justin Jefferson sidelined for at least the next four weeks.
I know everybody was rushing to tout the breakout potential of Jordan Addison after this injury, and that may come to fruition, but I think we’re overlooking Osborn’s role. He’s now the WR2 or WR1B in Minnesota. Last week, he ran 88% of the routes and saw 19% of the targets. Both of those numbers were higher than Addison and both of those numbers have been higher than Addison all season.
Of course, that doesn’t mean he’s for sure going to get more chances than Addison, but it does mean he won’t be far behind at worst. When given a chance to be in two wide receiver sets last year, Osborn had some strong weeks, going for 73 yards and a touchdown against the Lions, 59 yards and a touchdown against the Packers, and 157 yards and a touchdown against the Colts. He has some talent and deserves to be on your roster.
Alluring Ex Award: Zack Moss, RB Indianapolis Colts
Did you ever break-up with somebody and then soon after see them on the street or see a photo of them looking particularly alluring and you think, “Maybe I made a mistake?” Not that they were “the one who got away,” but that maybe you could have made the relationship last a bit longer or acted prematurely?
Well, that ex is Zack Moss.
Just days after Jonathan Taylor signed a three-year extension in Indianapolis and looked like he was going back to feature back duties, Moss exploded for 165 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 23 carries. He had 70% of the rush attempts and 80% of the snaps. With Jonathan Taylor saying he was 100% healthy, Moss’ workload came as a shock.
However, we have to assume that Taylor will continue to ramp up his role, so Moss is likely not “the one who got away,” but you’d be damned if you’re not eyeing him from across the party right now thinking, “I messed up.”
David Blaine Illusion Award: James Cook, RB Buffalo
The David Blaine Award is a weekly award where we highlight stats that are really an illusion. Sometimes that will be when a player has an appealing role but the production isn’t there and other times, like today, it will be when stats can mislead us to a player’s true role.
Last week against the Jaguars, James Cook ran for -4 yards on five carries and caught three passes for 25 yards. It looked like a terrible effort. However, Cook still saw 63% of the running back snaps, which was the most of any game he played this season. He had 45% of the rush attempts and ran routes on 63% of dropbacks. Unfortunately for him, Stefon Diggs and Gabe Davis were open often, so Josh Allen went to them repeatedly.
Cook’s lack of rushing success also had a lot to do with the Bills running 81% of plays from shotgun, where their running attack is far less effective. All of it makes it seem like a one-week blip and James Cook should be back to his old ways against the Giants on Sunday Night Football.
Pay no attention to the illusion.
House Fly Award: Tyjae Spears - RB, Tennessee Titans
You know when you see that one random fly in your house that just won’t leave? You open the windows. You chase it around. But it just is always there, in the corner of your eye. That’s Tyjae Spears right now.
It’s not a personal knock on Spears. He seems like a nice dude, and he’s a good football player, but we just don’t want him in the house right now. We’d much rather have Derrick Henry getting his old workload; however, Spears got 33% of the rush attempts last Sunday, which was the most of any game this season with Henry getting just 62% of the carries. That’s not going to do it for us if we have Henry on our team.
We thought Spears might just hurt Henry’s value in the passing game, but if we continue to see his carries tick up as well, then Derrick Henry’s value takes a big hit. As of now, it seems like we have a proverbial fly in the ointment and its name is Tyjae Spears.
That’s it for this week; we’ll see you next Wednesday for another edition of the SAF Awards!