By: Greg Landry | LineStar Chat: @glandry | Twitter: @GP_Landry

Welcome back to LineStar NFL Takeaways! For those of you new to the community here, this article is published every Tuesday and takes a position by position look at several players whose fantasy performance stood out (both good and bad) and what this might mean in the fantasy landscape as we start to prepare for the week ahead.

2020 strikes again. I’m sure we’ve all seen it, but the image of Dak Prescott sitting on the ground, holding his leg with his ankle going in the wrong direction is the icing on the cake we just didn’t need. He’s such a talented quarterback who's so fun to watch. He was trending toward a record breaking season and likely a record breaking paycheck. Let’s hope he makes a full recovery.

Not being insensitive to Dak’s injury, but we do need to take a minute and talk about the fantasy impact here, as it’s pretty big. We’ve spent quite a bit of time in this space already this year talking about how the Cowboys high powered, fast-paced offense has been creating the perfect game environment for shootouts and fantasy production. Well, that’s all changed now. The silver lining here is the Cowboys could do A LOT worse than Andy Dalton for their backup QB. He’s not Dak, but he’s a veteran, with a ton of starting experience, and even playoff experience (though unsuccessful playoff experience). The key pieces of the Cowboys offense will still be in play with Dalton but they will be more price and matchup dependent than they were before. The pace of this offense likely slows down as well, which means the shootout environments we’ve seen every week so far are probably less frequent. The one exception here should be Zeke, as Dallas is likely going to lean on the run a bit more, which gives a boost to his already rock solid floor/ceiling combination. It wouldn’t shock me if Zeke is this year’s 2019 Christian McCaffrey and 2018 Saquon Barkley after this. Either way, the Cowboys have the talent on offense with Dalton at the helm to remain competitive but they MUST fix their defensive issues now, as they will no longer be able to ask their quarterback to throw for 500 yards every game to give them a chance to win.

What Did We Learn?

Here we'll focus on some players at each position who stood out (both good and bad) and identify if there's any actionable information we can use when building our rosters going forward.

Quarterbacks

Derek Carr, LV: 22/31, 347 yards, 3 TD, 1 INT

An outstanding performance from the Raiders on the road in one of the toughest stadiums in football. They handed the Chiefs their first loss since November of last year. Coach Gruden continues to make slow but steady progress with this offense and is finding ways to keep the Raiders competitive most weeks. Getting Henry Ruggs back, their incredibly fast and dynamic rookie receiver, seemed to make a big difference. After he broke one loose for a 72 yard touchdown, the Chiefs seemed caught off guard and were pretty much unable to do anything to keep Vegas from scoring. Three different receivers caught a touchdown in this one (Ruggs, Agholor, and Waller) in addition to Jacobs putting through two on the ground. With Ruggs healthy, plus Waller and Renfrow (and some Nelson Agholor getting mixed in), Carr finds himself with quite a few more weapons than he’s had in recent seasons. Perhaps he’ll be able to prove he was worth that big contract after all. I’m not saying go out of your way to play the Raiders offense in future weeks, but I am saying I wouldn’t shy away from them if you like something about their matchup. Their stock is rising.

Ryan Fitzpatrick, MIA: 22/28, 350 yards, 3 TDs

Jimmy Garoppolo, SF: 7/17, 77 yards, 2 INTs

The journeyman veteran and the young stud did not play out this game the way we expected. First off, a ton of respect for Fitzpatrick as the “Tua Time” chatter started this week and he put that to rest in a hurry by putting up a near perfect passer rating of 154.7 on the road against one of the toughest defenses in the league (albeit with some injuries). At this stage, we know what Miami is. They are a team building toward the future and moving in the right direction. They don’t have much of a running game but they’ve amassed a pretty talented group of pass catchers in Parker, Williams, and Gesicki. They will be pass heavy and they have the ability to score points, but they will be inconsistent.

The bigger story here is the 49ers are officially in panic mode. They look awful on both sides of the ball despite getting a bit healthier. They removed Jimmy G from this game to “protect him” but it’s not clear if that was from further injury (this was his first game back from his ankle injury) or just plain embarrassment. San Francisco also has a brutal stretch of games coming up where it’s honestly difficult to see them winning any of them. From Super Bowl appearance to fantasy football outcast, I don’t see myself targeting the 49ers for my player pools anytime soon.

Alex Smith, WAS: 9/17, 37 yards

This needs to be mentioned even though there is little impact on fantasy. After breaking his tibia and fibula back in November of 2018, undergoing 17 surgeries, an infection that nearly led to amputation, and at one point was considered life threatening, Alex Smith returned to the field on Sunday. Finally, a feel good story in what has otherwise been a horrible 2020. From a fantasy standpoint, Washington is in complete disarray at the moment. They benched Dwayne Haskins (but are saying they haven’t given up on him), Kyle Allen is not the answer (although it sounds like they are planning to turn back to him again this week), and now you have Alex Smith who is probably the guy most likely to make you competitive again given his experience but who knows how long it will be before he’s back to some kind of normal form. Does Washington continue giving Smith the reps to see what he can do? It’s going to be a guessing game every week who will start for Washington, which is going to make it difficult for this offense to get into any kind of rhythm. I’m probably going to just be avoiding this team all together the rest of the way.

Running Backs

Todd Gurley, ATL: 14 carries, 121 yards, 1 TD, 4 receptions, 29 yards

I had to do a double take a couple of times watching Gurley to make sure it wasn’t 2018 and he wasn’t in a Rams uniform. He was the only thing worth celebrating for the talented, but winless (and now coach-less) Atlanta Falcons. Gurley is quietly putting together a solid season despite having only one game with more than 20 carries. He scored his 5th touchdown of the season, just two behind Kamara and Cook and only one behind Zeke despite all three of those players being priced much higher. With his heavy red zone role alone, he is firmly on our radar for fantasy purposes. I’m not ready to chase these points yet (it was a really good matchup against a Panthers team ranked 25th in DVOA against the run) but if Gurley can find a path to around 15 carries and 5 targets (20 touches) per game, with his red zone role, he may wind up being among the top fantasy running backs again this year.

Mike Davis, CAR: 16 receptions, 89 yards, 9 receptions, 60 yards, 1 TD

On the other side of Gurley, Mike Davis has the NFL world asking, Christian McCaffrey who? Seriously, what do the Panthers do when CMC comes back? I'm kidding (kind of) as McCaffrey is clearly the more talented back but you can’t just ignore what Davis has done filling in. The Panthers offense hasn’t skipped a beat. I NEVER expected Davis to pick up the passing game work like he has. He was second on the team with 10 targets and has now had at least six targets in all four of his starts and has two receiving touchdowns. This is the best case scenario for Davis, as the two year contract he signed is up at the end of this season, making him an unrestricted free agent. With the Panthers heavily invested in McCaffrey for the long term, I imagine Davis will get paid to play somewhere else next year. Regardless, looking ahead to this season, there are a couple of scenarios that may very well play out here. First, with Davis playing so well and the Panthers now tied for first place in the NFC South, they could elect to hold out McCaffrey a bit longer to make sure he’s completely healthy. Second, even when McCaffrey does come back, it wouldn’t shock me if he saw a decrease in his ridiculously heavy workload that made him the consensus first overall pick in fantasy this year. The Panthers want to have their star playmaker healthy for what looks like it could be a playoff run this season, getting Davis more involved will take some of that pressure off of McCaffrey. This means he may not be the "lock and load" play each week that we've come to expect, as ROI on his typically high salary might be harder to come by if he sees a fewer touches per week. This will be something for us to monitor closely.

Devonta Freeman, NYG: 17 carries, 60 yards, 1 TD, 2 receptions, 27 yards

It’s hard to get too excited about a running back on a team with zero wins, but it’s worth noting that Freeman continues to creep into three down back territory. His workload has steadily increased each week, with five carries in his first game, 11 carries and four targets in his second game, and now 17 carries and 3 targets in his third game. Meanwhile, Wayne Gallman saw just five carries in this one and Dion Lewis mixed in for 2 receptions for just one yard. New York has the added benefit of playing in the weakest division in football. Only two of their next seven games are against teams with a winning record, which will give them the opportunity to stay competitive in games. If Freeman assumes the “Saquon Barkley role” (not as much talent but was always a strong pass catching back during his days with the Falcons) he could find himself being a serviceable piece for fantasy lineups. There is a path for him to find his way to 15-20 carries and 3-5 targets per game. Keep your eye on him the next few weeks.

Wide Receivers

Chase Claypool, PIT: 7 receptions, 110 yards, 3 TD, 3 carries, 6 yards, 1 TD

We’ve talked quite a bit in this article about how we love the Steelers pass heavy attack with a narrow distribution of touches. Looks like they’ll need to make room for one more person to be part of that distribution after Claypool exploded in this one. He became the first rookie in the NFL to score four touchdowns since Reggie Bush in 2006 and the first Steeler (not just rookies) to score four touchdowns in a game since Roy Jefferson back in 1968. Diontae Johnson was hurt (again) in this game, which opened the door for Claypool to see the extra targets and he seized that opportunity. His 11 targets was most on the team by a large margin with Eric Ebron seeing the second most with just six. JuJu Smith-Schuster only saw five targets himself, catching four for a disappointing 28 yards. When Johnson is back healthy, look for all three of these receivers to be involved. I don’t see how Claypool can be forgotten about with how he’s started so far. I would expect the tight ends to see a drop in targets (Ebron had a turnover in this game) and for the passing attack to center around all three very talented receivers in Pittsburgh.

Brandin Cooks, HOU: 8 receptions, 161 yards, 1 TD

It wasn’t pretty and it wasn’t exactly a challenging matchup against the Jaguars, but Houston definitely seemed to have new life in their first game in the post Bill O’Brien era. One person who clearly seemed happy that Romeo Crennel is their new head coach was Brandin Cooks. This was vintage Cooks from his days in the Superdome with the Saints. He was targeted 12 times to Fuller’s eight and Cobb’s six while finding the end zone for the first time since week 13 of last season. Don’t over react here, this team has a long way to go. Cooks showed us the ceiling is still there but his floor is non-existent. We need some more time to see how this offense is going to operate.

Travis Fulgham, 10 receptions, 152 yards, 1 TD

I never considered Fulgham for my player pool this week. I know he made a few plays and filled in admirably off the practice squad against San Francisco in week four but nothing from that game indicated we would see a performance like this, especially in one of the toughest matchups he could have against the Pittsburgh defense. Still, despite the impressive game, scoring another touchdown, and the obvious trust he’s built with Carson Wentz, his future status is going to largely depend on the health of his teammates. The Eagles have Desean Jackson, Alshon Jeffrey, and Jalen Reagor all likely coming back sooner than later, which likely leaves Fulgham on the outside looking in. You can argue he’s done enough to move ahead of Whiteside and Ward on the depth chart, but with so many mouths to feed (let’s also not forgot about Ertz and Goedert) on this Eagles team when healthy, I can’t see this being anything more than an afterthought a week or two from now. It's worth keeping an eye on with so many question marks surrounding Philadelphia right now.

Tight Ends

Marc Andrews, BAL: 6 receptions, 56 yards, 1 TD

Andrews has been a tough guy to trust (granted pretty much all tight ends are). His targets so far this season look like this: 6, 3, 8, 3, and 9. He’s yet to go over 60 yards in any game. But he did score his third touchdown in the last two games and his fifth of the season in this one. The red zone role, on a team we know will put up points most weeks, continues to keep Andrews in the conversation for top fantasy tight end. If we could get a little more consistency in his weekly targets, he’d have a real shot at top tight end this season with Kittle and the 49ers offense struggling so much. If you have the salary for Andrews you have to play him at such a thin position but I’m not at the point where I’m “moving salary around” to fit him in. The targets just aren’t consistent enough to justify his price tag. I’d rather go fishing at the bottom of the barrel for someone with similar targets and hope they fall into the end zone that week, while using the extra salary to firm up other positions.

Austin Hooper, CLE: 5 receptions, 57 yards

It’s been a minute, but Austin Hooper is back in our lives. The 4-1 Cleveland Browns put up over 30 points for the fourth straight game and Mayfield seems to be building trust with his new tight end. I was waiting to see if last week’s seven targets were a fluke or not but even with David Njoku coming back for this game, Hooper still played 79% of the snaps, saw a team high 10 targets and had a season high 57 yards. Consistency and floor will be a bit iffy. But pretty much every tight end not named Travis Kelce has a low floor right now. At the end of the day, we have a tight end seeing opportunities on a productive offense. That’s all you can ask at this position.

Key Injuries To Watch

In this section we'll take a look at some key injuries and what the potential impact may be for fantasy purposes.

Note: As a reminder, I’m writing this on Monday, so the news below may change depending on when you read this. Use the NFL beat writers twitter feed (which is directly inside your LineStar account) as well as the news page to get up to speed.

Dak Prescott, QB, Dallas Cowboys

See detailed discussion of this injury in the introduction to the article. Get well soon Dak.

Dalvin Cook, RB, Minnesota Vikings

Cook left the game with a groin injury but did return (although he didn’t see anymore carries). He had an MRI that Coach Mike Zimmer said “went pretty well.” My guess, the Vikings are playing the hapless Falcons this week followed by a bye week. They also have a talented second running back in Alexander Mattison (who filled in nicely with 20 carries for 112 yards). I would assume Cook sits this week as a precaution before the bye week, which will make Mattison the chalk of the year in week six.

Sammy Watkins, WR, Kansas City Chiefs

Watkins is expected to miss a couple of weeks with a hamstring injury. Kansas City has plenty of weapons to work with. Expect some combination of Mecole Hardman, Demarcus Robinson, and Byron Pringle to pick up the extra targets here.

AJ Green, WR, Cincinnati Bengals

Green suffered a hamstring injury and did not return. He’s falling down the priority order in the Bengals offense with Tyler Boyd and rookie Tee Higgins already showing a lot of potential.

Diontae Johnson, WR, Pittsburgh Steelers

Two weeks ago it was a concussion, then the Steelers had an unexpected bye week, now Johnson suffered a back injury in this one. Mike Tomlin downplayed the injury, saying Johnson may be available next week. If he misses, it could be Chase Claypool time again.

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