NFL Player News

TeSlaa’s touchdown grab this week was relatively routine for his lofty standards. He climbed that ladder on a hole shot into the end zone and was spun around by a collision with multiple defenders. For most players, it would have been an incredible addition to the highlight reel. It was just another Sunday for TeSlaa. The rookie is up to five touchdown grabs on the year. Incredibly, the seven targets equaled TeSlaa’s last month of work in the box score. He will be a boom/bust WR6 for his Week 17 date with the Vikings.

The five-catch effort was Kraft’s second straight after previously having zero. His 54 yards were almost his most since Week 1. His 46-yard reception in the third quarter was his longest of the season. All of that is good, though it was still somewhat disappointing amidst a 367-yard Jordan Love outburst where Christian Watson and Matthew Golden both eased by 100 yards. Kraft is averaging a pedestrian six targets. He’s going to need both more looks and big plays to remain a higher-end TE1. It will nevertheless be impossible to bench him for Week 6 against the Cowboys’ shaky defense.

Bell was targeted just twice on the day, catching neither target. He did see a carry on an end-around play, rushing for 26 yards on his sole touch of the game. He has ramped up to a starting receiver’s workload of snaps, ranking second among Dolphins receivers with 41 snaps. Though Bell is the field more, he is yet to be a key part of the Dolphins offense and will see less opportunities once Caleb Douglas (ankle) returns. Bell is best left on fantasy benches when the Dolphins come out of their Week 6 bye.

Olave was averaging over 120 yards per game before today’s contest. The Saints’ extreme play volume and tilt to toward passing the ball turned his great role into elite fantasy production. That finally came to a halt with Brian Flore’s defense shutting down Tyler Shough. The second-year passer completed just 16 throws for 96 yards. Shough and the entire passing attack should improve drastically versus the Giants next week. Fantasy managers can keep treating Olave as a WR1 despite this speed bump.

Golden’s 123 yards were his third new career high in just five games this season. In other words, his breakout year remains ongoing. Golden’s long gain was a soaring 50-yard deep shot over the middle of the field where the wideout had to go up and get it. Golden also contributed a 36-yard reception. Routinely contributing 40-plus yard grabs while also doing some nice compiling, Golden has become not only a WR2 option, but a safe one at that. That will definitely include for Week 6 vs. the Cowboys’ leaky defense.

Washington was the most involved Dolphins receiver, leading the team in targets and receiving yards. He started things off with an 18-yard rush and saw a steady peppering of low-depth targets. Though he led all Dolphins skill-position players in snaps, Washington doesn’t see many scoring opportunities in the Miami offense. After a Week 6 bye, The 25-year-old is a volume-based FLEX play Week 7 against the Jets.

Tyler Shough managed a dismal 96 passing yards in this game, so there simply wasn’t enough production for any New Orleans wideout to post usable fantasy numbers. Vele still tied Chris Olave for a team-high in targets. He has at least four catches and six targets in every game this year. Even after a quiet Week 5, Vele remains a solid WR4 option headed into a Week 6 date with the Giants.

Although he notched a receiving score in Week 2, these were the first two rushing touchdowns of Lloyd’s career. Awesome stuff, though a player who was averaging 2.7 yards per carry coming into this afternoon saw that number sit at just 3.1 against the Bears. The Pack also got journeyman Pierre Strong involved in their increasingly frustrating backfield committee. Strong was mostly just absorbing Chris Brooks’ (ankle, injured reserve) lost work, but that of course means Lloyd wasn’t seeing a bigger workload. Although the scores are nice, Lloyd is still lacking an RB2 profile heading into Week 6. He will be a low-upside FLEX vs. the Cowboys.