The Jacksonville Jaguars offense had a favorable fantasy matchup in Week 5 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Jags quarterback Blake Bortles found both of his top receivers in Allen Robinson and Allen Hurns for first-half touchdowns, as Jacksonville abandoned the run while playing from behind. Running back T.J. Yeldon still managed to be productive thanks to his receiving ability.
Check out the numbers from the key fixtures in Jacksonville’s offense, along with individualized fantasy advice for each player.
Blake Bortles
The 2014 NFL draft’s No. 3 overall pick is certainly showing signs of improvement in 2015, but it’s premature to label him a surefire fantasy QB1.
Bortles’ mechanics still need work, and he tends to spray the ball more often than not. He also faced a Bucs defense that ranked second versus the pass but 30th against the run, so Tampa Bay keyed in on Yeldon, opening up easy passing lanes for Bortles to exploit, increasing his margin for error in terms of accuracy.
Fantasy owners have to be encouraged by Bortles’ outing, though. He has two legitimate weapons in Robinson and Hurns. If Julius Thomas can contribute anything, Bortles is going to be an attractive fantasy option almost by default. His running ability also increases his fantasy upside.
Allen Robinson
There’s no denying Robinson has the makings of a No. 1 receiver. Whether Bortles is accurate enough to make him into a dependable, top-flight option is another matter.
Entering Week 5, Robinson had been targeted a healthy 41 times but only had 15 receptions to show for it. He did average 22 yards per reception, but there isn’t enough consistency to indicate he is a weekly fantasy starter just yet.
The top cornerbacks on opposing teams will likely choose to mark up Robinson over Hurns in most games. That limits his fantasy ceiling to WR2 or flex until he proves capable of beating coverage that rolls to his area of the field more often.
If Sunday’s contest marks a turning point in the connection between Robinson and Bortles, though, he could well emerge as a WR1 before long.
Allen Hurns
For whatever reason, Bortles and Hurns seem to be on the same wavelength more often. They connected on 22 of 30 targets ahead of Week 5 and showed that chemistry once again versus Tampa Bay.
Hurns is comparably explosive to Robinson and also stands at around 6’3″. Bortles can look his way on downfield throws and in the red zone, which aids Hurns’ all-around fantasy value.
Since he’s much more proficient than Robinson from a receptions-to-targets standpoint, he is the best Jaguars fantasy option at wide receiver. If Jacksonville’s defense doesn’t improve, the Jags will likely continue trailing and have to throw frequently to stay in games, making Hurns a solid WR2 fantasy play.
T.J. Yeldon
The Alabama product looks to be the workhorse Jacksonville hoped it was getting in 2014 free-agent bust Toby Gerhart. Yeldon can catch out of the backfield and run hard between the tackles, breaking out in Week 4 with a 100-yard performance at Indianapolis.
Although he wasn’t quite as productive in the Bucs game, that was more a result of the game plan, as Tampa Bay tried to stop the run better than it had in the first several games. Yeldon is the type of playmaker who can open up easy reads for Bortles off play-action fakes and can still be productive enough himself.
In terms of what to expect out of Yeldon, the Jags ranked 22nd in run blocking through Week 4, per Football Outsiders. That might limit his yards per carry, but his pass-catching ability bodes well for PPR formats. In any type of fantasy league, Yeldon is a solid RB2 and a strong flex option at this point.
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