another week of twists and turns in the NFL

By Martin Richardson

Football can be a heartless being. It can take what you’ve enjoyed for two weeks and strip away whatever fun you had; just ask Bucs fans who saw Bo Nix destroy their defense. Or even Dolphins fans who endured a Thompson and Boyle disaster at QB. Or even Bengals fans who are desperate to see a W on the board. Just when you think you know what is going to be happening this season, weeks like last week happen and throw it all up in the air. 

But, if you’re a Vikings fan, you’re absolutely loving the start you’ve made with Sam Darnold running the show and connecting with Justin Jefferson. And Seahawks fans are loving their team churn out results with key injuries not hampering their great start. And who would have thought that Justin Fields would be leading the way with an impressive 3-0 start. 

Though through all of these shocks, trials and tribulations, some things are still being overlooked and hidden away, perhaps through the play of others (Mahomes and Rice hiding the lack of Kelce productivity for example) and I want to take a deeper look at what’s going under the radar after week 3 in the NFL.

 

KHALIL SHAKIR

In an off season that saw Stefon Diggs traded, the drafting of Keon Coleman, as well as the signings Curtis Samuel, Mack Hollins and Marquez Valdes-Scantling the Bills kept hold of one wide receiver in particular: Khalil Shakir. And this has paid off so far this season. He has two touchdowns already this season and a perfect target to reception ratio of 14/14. He’s already matched his touchdown total from last season and has an average of 12 yards per reception, making him a great fantasy pickup as he will get you points every week. Compare this to the meagre 5 targets of Coleman in three games, this shows that Shakir is proving to be the WR1 of the Bills offense, and a productive one at that. What’s even more of shock is that he is available in more than 30% of leagues. Shakir is one to watch as the Bills march on with their impressive start to the season.

 

JALEN HURTS

As his name suggests, this one hurts. He was my fantasy QB last season, and I loved watching him play. That was until he got injured and played through it all, just to create a stale and weary offense. The pressure was on the Eagles to get it right this season- a new OC in Kellen Moore and a new DC with the returning Vic Fangio arrived to help turn it round for the Eagles on both sides of the ball. And if I am honest, I am not sure they have just yet.

Hurts has 4 interceptions already this season, with 2 against the Packers, which has shown he has made a slower start. His 4 touchdowns this season, with only 1 being a rushing TD, shows he’s yet to get firing on all cylinders. Now one could argue that injuries to AJ Brown and DeVonta Smith are a factor, but good QBs get the team on their back and get the job done.

Whilst Hurts still sits in the top ten of fantasy QBs, he is behind the likes of Sam Darnold (8 touchdowns), Baker Mayfield (7 total touchdowns) and Jayden Daniels (5 total touchdowns). I think that Saquon Barkley has both helped and hindered Hurts this season. That drop from Barkley against the Falcons certainly didn’t help the fantasy numbers for Hurts, as well as the game in general for the Eagles. But Barkley’s ability to be able to make massive game changing runs has diverted people’s gaze from Hurts’ shortcomings this season.

This week he faces a Bucs team that has been embarrassed by a Broncos team that couldn’t string a pass together in weeks one and two. The Bucs defence is about as hot and cold as Hurts himself. Superb in their shutting out of the Lions in week two, then made Bo Nix look like prime Drew Brees last week. Now is the time to see if Hurts can turn it back on and be the dual threat on offense we knew last season. Or see if he is actually going to be a QB that for fantasy terms you cannot trust week in week out? Just scraping double figures against the Saints doesn’t inspire confidence, but we shall see.

THE JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS

What’s going on here? Something just isn’t working out at the Jags. 0-3 and Doug Pederson is on the hot seat for being out of work by January. This summer saw Trevor Lawrence get a bumper new deal, based on all his success I assume, as well as being labelled a generational talent. But what may have been lost is, that as of last Sunday, Lawrence has now lost 8 games in a row, going back to last season and at the moment he has the second worse completion rate in the league.

The Jags just cannot seem to break out and win a game no matter how hard they try. They have been poor for a while now and because it’s Lawrence, and Etienne, and Engram and Pederson as HC, they seem to be getting away with it. Which means this is having a massive impact on your fantasy matchups.

TRAVIS ETIENNE

I’m going to start by saying something that links to Etienne, but isn’t about him- stop trying to make Tank Bigsby a thing. I Just don’t see the need to stop giving Etienne the ball whenever you need someone to move the chains. Etienne has 36 carries for over 130 yards with 2 touchdowns, you don’t need to hold him back at all this season.

 

The counter to that may that Etienne has yet to really have, by his standards, a top game this season, his best being 68 yards rushing against the Bills. Granted he did get a touchdown against the Dolphins, but that fumble was a big part of his small return in fantasy numbers. A touchdown against the Browns perhaps showed that things were getting better, but only 52 rushing yards perhaps further shows that the Jags are stumbling on offense. So much so, they are trying to get Etienne going in the air too, but with limited success. It’s like they just can’t decide on what is best on offense and this is impacting a top player like Etienne.

Brian Thomas Jr

Given the situation at the Jaguars, it may well have gone under the radar just how good Brian Thomas Jr has been for them. When you look at his stat lines from the season so far, he has been impressive. He has 11 receptions from 17 targets so far this season, and these have gone for a massive 189 yards, with just the one touchdown, but an impressive average of 17.2 yards. Hitting double figures in week 1 with a touchdown and solid yardage in his next two games, Thomas is no doubt a solid FLEX option for anyone’s team this season. And he is available in nearly 25% of ESPN fantasy leagues.

Thomas is showing that when he gets the ball, he is no doubt the top dog in Jacksonville. But, as we have seen, his QB needs to step up and justify that big contract he was given, rather than earned.

MARTIN RICHARDSON

NFL/FANTASY FOOTBALL ANALYST

A Yorkshireman living in Lancashire, Martin is a massive NFL fan but his heart belongs to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Also a huge Fantasy Football enthusiast and spends far too long crunching the numbers! Follow him at @MRBucsFan31

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