“Frankel’s Fantasy Files” is a column by Kyle Frankel about fantasy football.
The saying “any given Sunday” has rarely been more evident than this past weekend, as the last two undefeated NFL teams both fell in dramatic fashion.
The Philadelphia Eagles were looking to match, or exceed, last season’s magical 8-0 start in which they looked nearly unstoppable. Despite winning every game up until this week, the birds had appeared vulnerable en route to their 5-0 record. Those struggles finally came to fruition on Sunday, as they suffered a 20-14 defeat to the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium. After two early touchdowns, they were shutout the rest of the game, including the entire second half. Superstar Jalen Hurts also looked mortal, tossing a rare three interceptions.
Meanwhile in Cleveland, the Browns defeated the previously unbeaten San Francisco 49ers 19-17 with a dominant defensive performance. Brock Purdy was able to lead the Niners on what appeared to be a game winning drive, but it was to no avail as rookie Jake Moody’s field goal attempt drifted wide right, reminiscent of Scott Norwood’s infamous miss in Super Bowl XXV.
Meanwhile in fantasy relevance, I tried to warn you about wide receiver Jameson Williams. Now it definitely wasn’t an eye-popping performance, two catches for 53 yards and a touchdown, good for 13 PPR points, but it was a flash of what type of player he can be if he gets more involved. Moreover, his blazing speed was on full display as he went streaking down the field for a 45-yard score.
Now let me dive into some other pass-catchers to help you not miss out on the next Williams.
Steady Samuel
When you get deeper into the season, the waiver wire definitely thins out. It only gets more difficult to find a stud you can slot into your lineup every week. Most of the guys left out there by now won’t have consistent production; instead they’ll boom and bust on a game-by-game basis.
Commanders wide receiver Curtis Samuel is an exception to that, as he will rarely explode for a 20-plus point performance. However, you can almost always count on him to reach double digits.
He’s averaging 12.6 PPR points per game and has strung together a few strong weeks. The last three games, he’s scored 18.2, 18.5 and 14.5 PPR points and has found the endzone in each of his last two contests. Further, he doesn’t need to rely on home run plays, as he’s tied for second in total targets on his team with 31.
We’ve all had weeks where we lost by a few points because the hit-or-miss player we started simply didn’t contribute. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been setting my lineup and wished I just had a reliable guy who I could always trust.
Samuel is that guy. He’s the boring move you’ll be thanking yourself for weeks down the line. As of writing, he’s only rostered in 28.6% of ESPN leagues and doesn’t figure to be a hot ticket on the waiver wire this week, so you should be able to snag him.
Bourne again
Now here’s a guy with a bit more volatility. The reason for that is that the Patriots offense is at the bottom of the barrel, ranking second to last in offensive points per game.
When wide receiver Kendrick Bourne is able to get opportunities though, he makes the most of them. There’s been two times Bourne has gotten double digit targets this season; he’s scored 24.4 and 19.3 PPR points in those games.
This past weekend, despite the Patriots suffering an ugly loss to the Raiders, Bourne had himself a nice week. He caught 10 of 11 targets for 89 yards, scoring 19.3 PPR points without tallying a touchdown.
The wide receiver room in New England is also riddled with injuries, as JuJu Smith-Schuster and Demario Douglas are both questionable to return this week. Further, Bourne is the clear-cut number one option, leading the team in total targets by 16.
He’s somehow only rostered in 20.4% of ESPN leagues currently so take advantage while you can.
Hunting once again
I would be remiss if I didn’t give a quick shoutout to Kareem Hunt, back involved in the Browns’ offense and looking like his old self.
Hunt took his 12 rushing attempts for 47 yards and a touchdown while catching all three of his targets for 24 yards. All that was good for 16.1 PPR points, not a bad day at the office.
He only saw five less rushing attempts than Jerome Ford, as Cleveland is looking to run the ball more while Deshaun Watson is out and seems to be using a committee approach. I think he’ll stay involved even when Watson returns.
He’s rostered in just 26.8% of ESPN leagues.
“Frankel’s Fantasy Files” runs every Wednesday.