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Bye Weeks: New Orleans, Oakland
Grab a Helmet
Julius
Thomas @ IND: I finally give the tight ends some pub by talking
up Jimmy Graham’s otherworldly campaign and…he immediately goes
out and catches zero passes on six targets (aka, zero points)
and wrecks his foot against New England, giving fantasy GMs everywhere
heart palpitations. Ummmm, sorry? Let’s try this again, shall
we? No tight end has performed like Graham has this year, but
Thomas is closer than you think with 80.1 points. That would make
him the fourth best wide receiver if he actually played the position.
And that’s not bad for a guy who didn’t play ANY position until
2010, the year he started playing football (!) at Portland State
University, where he also starred as a Vikings cager. The last
guy to go from the college hardwood to the professional gridiron
played Thomas’ position, as well, and he’ll be headed to Canton
when it’s all said and done. You could do worse than the new age
version of Antonio Gates, I think.
Justin Blackmon: Target monster.
Justin
Blackmon v. SD: If you’re not sold on Blackmon because he plays
for one of the worst teams in the league, you might wanna take a
closer look at those box scores. Despite missing the season’s first
four games, the Okie St. product now has 29 targets and 38.6 fantasy
points to his credit. That’s the same number of targets James Jones
has in five games and more points than Marques Colston and Stevie
Johnson have in six. Additionally, Blackmon is currently leading
all WRs in points-per-game at 19.3 and it isn’t even that close
(DeSean Jackson is a distant second at 14.8). Sure, two games is
a smaller sample size, but almost 20 points per contest is still
pretty amazing, especially when you consider he’s playing catch
with, arguably, two of the worst QBs in the league. The Jags are
likely without Cecil Shorts in Week 7, so the Blackmon show must
go on. Hope you have tickets.
Keenan
Allen @ JAX: I talked up Allen
in the preseason, reasoning the Chargers would need someone
to step into the void created by Danario Alexander’s season-ending-before-it-began
knee injury. That person turned out to be Eddie Royal in the early
going, as the former Hokie outperformed even the aforementioned
Blackmon (not to mention everyone else) in his first two games with
41.4 points. Since then, Royal has gone ice cold (just 10.2 points
since) while Allen, the rookie from California, has heated right
up, just as I thought he might. He’s gone over the 100-yard mark
for two consecutive weeks now and has also snared a pair of Philip
Rivers touchdown passes in that span. This week, he draws a Jacksonville
squad that I just got done describing as “one of the worst teams
in the league.” I was being nice. They’re the worst. Go get Allen
and plug him in.
Grab Some Wood
Michael
Floyd v. SEA: Floyd’s NFL career got off to an unimpressive
start last year when he failed to notch double-digit fantasy points
even one time prior to a Week 17 explosion against the barely
trying Niners (eight receptions, 166 yards, and a score for 22.6
points). 2013 has been way more productive for the former Golden
Domer and, thus, more interesting for his owners. He’s already
scored more points in 6 games (40.5) than he did in his first
15 last season and is starting to look like the complement to
Larry Fitzgerald most thought he could be. I suspect that maturation
will continue as Floyd gets more comfortable with Carson Palmer,
but don’t expect miracles on Thursday night. The Seahawks are
coming to Glendale and that spells trouble. Brandon Browner was
victimized by the smaller, faster T.Y. Hilton in Week 5 but Floyd
is more his speed, both literally and figuratively.
Robert
Woods @ MIA: It hasn’t been a great start for rookie receivers
in 2013 either, as evidenced by the fact Keenan Allen is already
the second most productive noob at the position (behind Kenbrell
Thompkins). Terrance Williams sits behind Allen and Robert Woods,
Buffalo’s most productive wideout through six games, sits behind
Williams. Yes, that means Buffalo’s leading receiver is just the
fourth most productive rookie in a ho-hum class of rookie pass-grabbers.
It’s early yet, sure, and Woods was also saddled with a rookie
quarterback, unlike these other guys. Now, however, he’s paired
with an even less experienced signal caller, a guy that has somehow
played fewer games than E.J. Manuel despite being in the league
three times as long. I’m intrigued by Thad Lewis, but I worry
about the fact he only connected with Woods two times in Week
6 (for a grand total of nine yards). Wait until they develop some
chemistry.
DeAndre
Hopkins @ KC: I’m still pretty bullish on Hopkins in
general and we saw what he was capable of back in Week 2, when
he almost single-handedly beat the Titans in overtime (17.7 points)
with a series of scintillating, high-degree-of-difficulty grabs.
Impressive as that performance was, however, it was still just
one performance and we should definitely be mindful of what the
Clemson product has done since: not a whole lot (just 15.7 points
in his last four games). In fact, despite his early season success
(over 10 points per in his first three starts), Hopkins has actually
tallied fewer total points than both of the aforementioned players.
The Texans’ QB woes are certainly dragging his overall value
down and a switch to T.J. Yates or Case Keenum could put a serious
dent in it. This weekend, however, it’ll be the Chiefs doing
most of the denting. Avoid Houston’s promising young wideout
in Week 7.
Good luck, folks!
Quarterbacks 
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