The fantasy football landscape shifts each week, bringing fresh opportunities and unexpected challenges that separate the prepared from the pretenders. Savvy managers know that last week’s performance tells only part of the story, and diving deeper into the underlying metrics reveals the accurate picture.
This week presents some intriguing decisions. Here’s insight about key Las Vegas Raiders players heading into their matchup with the Denver Broncos to help you craft a winning lineup.
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Geno Smith, QB
If you need me to sell you on fading Geno Smith, you haven’t been paying attention.
If you need me to sell you on fading the Broncos matchup, you haven’t been paying attention.
This very movable force met the immovable object a month ago, and it went about how you’d expect: 5.5 yards per attempt, zero touchdowns, and six sacks.
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I’d rarely advocate for a reasonable WR3 over a QB in a Superflex setting, but yeah, I’d rather play Smith’s former teammate in Jakobi Meyers (vs. IND) if stuck between a rock and a hard place in a league like that. Smith has two finishes better than QB15 this season, has two multi-pass-TD games over his past eight games, and hasn’t reached 15 rushing yards in a game since September.
Ashton Jeanty, RB
Not all high-pedigree players are capable of putting an entire offense on their shoulders from the jump.
Personally, I haven’t adjusted my career expectation for Ashton Jeanty this season: he simply has no help, and I hope that we see that change in short order.
There’s simply no reason that a player like this doesn’t have a 15+ yard rush since September and doesn’t have a qw-yard touch in three of his past four. He has three straight games with negative yards per carry before contact, and that brings him to under half a yard before contact for the season (86.3% of his rushing yards come after being touched, league RB average: 70.3%).
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Roster building malpractice.
The struggles in that regard forced the Raiders to explore creative ways to get him the rock, proving in the process that he can be one of these offensive focal points (6+ receptions in three straight after minimal usage in that role prior).
Jeanty is doing enough to start in all formats, but you drafted him for so much more. I’d recommend taking your lumps and not holding it against the future star.
Brock Bowers, TE
Brock Bowers’ first touchdown last week was a nice play design by interim OC Greg Olson that helped him uncover in the back of the end zone, and the second one was just a great player making a great play.
It’s been a bumpy season for the consensus top TE entering this season, most of it not really his fault. The QB play has been subpar (yes, it’s the holiday season, and I felt like being kind), and an injury has cost him more than a month.
That said, if you’ve managed to navigate the position up to his point, you have an asset that ranks behind only Trey McBride moving forward.
READ MORE: Soppe’s Week 14 Fantasy Football Start ‘Em Sit ‘Em: Analysis for Every Player in Every Game
He’s been worthy of your trust in three straight games following the bizarre one-catch, three-target showing against the Broncos, and it’s safe to assume such production moving forward.
It’s never going to be comfortable betting on a Geno Smith target, but it’s scarier to fade a talent at the level of Bowers.