Patrick Mahomes Should Thrive Against Raiders

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes should be locked in as a fantasy QB1 for Monday's contest against the Las Vegas Raiders. The Raiders rank 22nd in the NFL in passing yards allowed per game at 253, while the Chiefs rank seventh in passing yards per game. Mahomes is always a fantasy QB1, but a […]

Texans Defense A Risky Week 5 Play

The Houston Texans defense has allowed the 17th-most points per game in the NFL this season at 23.3 and now faces a Jaguars team in Week 5 that is scoring 26.3 points per game, the sixth-best mark in the league. The team has been gashed on the ground, allowing the second-most rushing yards per game. […]

Ka'imi Fairbairn A Risky Week 5 Play

Houston Texans kicker Ka'imi Fairbairn has connected on 88.9% of his field goal attempts so far this season, including going 5-for-6 from 40-plus yards. This week, Fairbairn takes on a Jaguars team that's allowed the second-fewest fantasy points per game to kickers. The defense has done a good job keeping opposing teams away from field […]

O.J. Howard Has Little Appeal In Week 5

Houston Texans tight end O.J. Howard was targeted a season-high five times last week against the Chargers, but he brought in just two of those for 27 yards. After catching two touchdowns in the opener against the Colts, Howard has just three receptions since. With Jordan Akins taking targets away from him, Howard's role is […]

Nico Collins Faces Tough Week 5 Matchup

Houston Texans wide receiver Nico Collins has had some solid moments this season, but his low volume and a tough matchup against the Jaguars this week makes him a difficult player to trust in fantasy. Collins had 82 yards last week, but it came on just three catches. His season high in receptions is four. […]

Brandin Cooks Has WR3 Appeal In Week 5

Houston Texans wide receiver Brandin Cooks remains the No. 1 target for quarterback Davis Mills, but the gap in targets between him and the other players is shrinking. After seeing 12 targets in Week 1, his numbers have dipped, and the last two weeks have seen Cooks get seven targets per contest. He found the […]

Dameon Pierce Has Upside In Week 5

Houston Texans running back Dameon Pierce has a tough matchup in Week 5 against the Jacksonville Jaguars, but his high volume gives him fantasy upside even though the Jags allow the eighth-fewest rushing yards per game. Last week, Pierce had all 14 rushing attempts for Houston, finishing with a career-high 131 yards and a touchdown. […]

Davis Mills Is Tough To Trust In Week 5

Houston Texans quarterback Davis Mills has thrown four interceptions over the last two games and now has a Week 5 matchup with the Jaguars on deck, who have a plus-three turnover differential this season. The Jaguars allow the 16th-fewest passing yards per game this season; while that's right in the center of the league, it […]

Timeshare or Position Battle? Breaking Down Running Back Committees for Fantasy Football

As the season rolls along, we're starting to get a better idea of how some running back committees have gone. Some of those committees have turned out to not be committees. James Robinson has dominated the Jaguars backfield and left Travis Etienne with a minimal role, for example. And some have been even more committee […]

Tape Tells All: Analyzing Dameon Pierce's Week 4 Performance

Welcome back to Tape Tells All, the weekly series where I look at film and data for something that happened in the NFL this week. Today, I want to look at a young running back who has been producing over the last few weeks: Houston Texans rookie Dameon Pierce. In Week 4, Pierce had the […]

Wide Receiver Waiver Wire Pickups for Week 5: Top Free Agent Adds Include Romeo Doubs, George Pickens, Jahan Dotson, Corey Davis

Week 4 was a fun week in the NFL. We got to see Bailey Zappe almost lead the Patriots to a win over the Packers, which is cool for me, a long-time Zappe fan dating back to his time at Houston Baptist University. We also got to see some big wide receiver performances, including DK […]

Donovan Peoples-Jones (WR, CLE) - Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Pickups for Week 5

BALLER MOVE: Add in 14+ Team Leagues ROSTERED IN: 8% of Leagues ANALYSIS: The volume in Cleveland probably isn't consistent enough for Donovan Peoples-Jones to be an option in shallower leagues, but he's an ideal player for a 14-team league: a talented receiver who can do good things when he gets opportunities. Sometimes in a deep […]

Jamal Agnew (WR, JAX) - Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Pickups for Week 5

BALLER MOVE: Add in 14+ Team Leagues ROSTERED IN: 0% of Leagues ANALYSIS: Last year, the Jaguars converted Agnew from defensive back to receiver because they were desperate for pass-catching options. This year, they solved the pass-catching woes by signing a bunch of guys, so they weren't going to need Agnew nearly as much. Except, […]

Alec Pierce (WR, IND) - Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Pickups for Week 5

BALLER MOVE: Add in 14+ Team Leagues ROSTERED IN: 5% of Leagues ANALYSIS: Look, we know how the Colts receiving corps goes. Every week, someone new emerges, and then the next week disappears. It's been this way for years. Heck, in Week 2, Ashton Dulin had five catches for 79 yards, and now he has […]

Darnell Mooney (WR, CHI) - Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Pickups for Week 5

BALLER MOVE: Add in 14+ Team PPR Leagues ROSTERED IN: 56% of Leagues ANALYSIS: Everyone has been dropping Mooney lately, and for good reason, as his best game coming into this week was a two-catch, 23-yard outing in Week 3. But Mooney finally had the kind of game you were expecting when you drafted him. […]

Third-Year Fantasy Basketball Breakouts: The Time Is Now

Not every player can set the world on fire as a rookie. Or as a second-year player. Sometimes, young players take time to develop. A lot of star players take a leap in year three, but there are also players who aren't stars but become solid role players in that third season. Anthony Edwards is […]

Five Players With Fantasy Basketball Bust Potential

The NBA season is just around the corner. You're probably doing a bunch of fantasy basketball prep right now, so here's something to help you with that: a piece about potential busts. For the purposes of this piece, I'm basically talking about two kinds of busts. There are players who are being drafted too high […]

Third-Year Players To Give Up On In Fantasy Basketball: Enough Already

Not every player can set the world on fire as a rookie. Or as a second-year player. Sometimes, young players take time to develop. But other times, those struggles in years one and two can be signs that those players are on their way to washing out of the NBA. Below are five third-year NBA […]

Should I Pick Up George Pickens? Week 5 Waiver Wire Outlook

The Pittsburgh Steelers did it—they put Kenny Pickett in at quarterback. And putting Pickett in was also a key in sparking a big game from another rookie: wide receiver George Pickens. Pickens caught six passes for 102 yards in Sunday's loss to the Jets. It was Pickens' best game by a mile so far in […]

JuJu Smith-Schuster Sees Eight Targets In Week 4

Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster had another solid game on Sunday against the Buccaneers, catching five of his eight targets for 46 yards. Smith-Schuster has been targeted eight times in three of the four games so far and while he hasn't had a 100-yard game or found the end zone yet, he's still […]

Marquez Valdes-Scantling Catches Three Passes In Week 4

Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling was targeted five times in Sunday's win over the Buccaneers, hauling in three of them for 63 yards. It was the most yards that MVS has had in a game this season. Expected to be a field-stretching threat for quarterback Patrick Mahomes, Valdes-Scantling has mostly been unable to […]

Travis Kelce Gets Going Early

Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce caught a 16-yard touchdown on the second play from scrimmage in Sunday's win over the Buccaneers, setting the tone early for how his day would go. Kelce led the Chiefs in targets with 10, hauling in nine of them for 92 yards. Kelce is the No. 1 target […]

Jerick McKinnon Quiet In Week 4

Kansas City Chiefs running back Jerick McKinnon had seen his usage rise over the past few games, but that changed on Sunday against the Buccaneers, as McKinnon had just two of the team's 37 rushing attempts. He lost a yard on the ground and caught his only target for one yard. Even worse for McKinnon's […]

Isiah Pacheco Sees Big Workload In Week 4

Kansas City Chiefs running back Isiah Pacheco had 12 carries back in Week 1, but his role with the offense plummeted the next two weeks. That changed in Week 4 against the Buccaneers, as Pacheco saw 11 carries for 63 yards, with much of his work coming in the second half. He finished with a […]

Clyde Edwards-Helaire Finds End Zone Twice

Kansas City Chiefs running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire carried the ball 19 times in Sunday's win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, finishing with 92 yards and a touchdown. He also caught a two-yard touchdown, his lone reception. Edwards-Helaire's usage had been a concern coming into this game, but he re-established himself as the leader of the […]

Patrick Mahomes Throws Three Touchdowns In Week 4

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes faced a tough matchup on Sunday against the NFL's best scoring defense, but he was able to connect with his receivers for three touchdowns in the win over the Buccaneers. Mahomes was 23-for-37 for 249 yards in the game. He threw one interception and added 34 yards on the […]

Jordan Akins Catches Two Passes In Week 4

Houston Texans tight end Jordan Akins caught a touchdown in Week 3, but this week against the Chargers, he was held to two receptions for 33 yards. If you thought that his touchdown last week might have been a sign of things to come, it looks like that isn't the case. The Houston tight end […]

Rex Burkhead Catches Touchdown In Week 4

Houston Texans running back Rex Burkhead was targeted five times in Sunday's loss to the Chargers, catching all five passes for 39 yards and a touchdown. But Burkhead didn't see a single touch in the run game, as all 14 carries for the team went to Dameon Pierce. Burkhead's receiving work would make him a […]

Brandin Cooks Finds End Zone In Week 4

Houston Texans wide receiver Brandin Cooks caught all seven of his targets in Sunday's loss to the Chargers, finishing with seven catches for 57 yards and a touchdown. Cooks continues to be the No. 1 option for quarterback Davis Mills, but it isn't by the overwhelming margin that was anticipated, which has lowered his floor. […]

Nico Collins Leads Team In Receiving Yards In Week 4

Houston Texans wide receiver Nico Collins had a 58-yard reception from quarterback Davis Mills in Sunday's loss to the Chargers, and that one reception for Collins was for more yardage than any other Texans player had in total on the day. All in all, Collins had three catches for 82 yards. There have been some […]