So, you sat Hunter Henry on Thursday night.
No need to beat yourself up too much. It was a tough call. The Denver Broncos wield one of the NFL‘s most feared defensive units, and even more concerning going in, Antonio Gates appeared fully healthy and ready to take the reins from the rookie tight end.
Henry had six catches for 83 yards and a touchdown. Gates had two grabs for 16 yards.
Pro Football Focus’ Nathan Jahnke broke down the snap count, too.
Again, all Hunter:
If you sat Henry, you can surely identify with other fantasy players who did, also. Owners of all levels have stories about sitting players who erupted on their bench.
Let’s not allow that to happen in Week 6.
Wide Receivers
Start: John Brown
Owning Arizona Cardinals speedster John Brown has been an absolute roller-coaster ride this year.
Here’s a list of the 26-year-old’s game-by-game fantasy points log (ESPN standard scoring):
- 0.8
- 1.4
- 7
- 14.4
- 1.1
Some of those early season struggles can be attributed to Brown recovering from a concussion. He finally had a cathartic 10-catch, 144-yard performance against the Los Angeles Rams in Week 4 but reverted back to a one-catch, 11-yard outing a week later with Drew Stanton under center instead of Carson Palmer.
On Monday night, Palmer will be back. It’s likely he picks up right where he left off with Brown, who will look to torch one of the league’s most burnable secondaries.
The New York Jets have allowed 1,515 receiving yards this season—third-worst in the NFL. The once-feared Darrelle Revis and Co. have been getting roasted by the deep ball all year.
Remember Marquise Goodwin? Watch him burn Revis, via Best NFL Plays:
Gang Green is giving up a league worst 9.2 yards a completion, per NFL.com. They’ve also allowed eight completions of 40-plus yards, which is second-worst only to the Oakland Raiders’ leaky defense.
Brown will likely continue to be a boom-or-bust commodity, but this week has “boom” written all over it in bold, capital letters.
Sit: Alshon Jeffery
Alshon Jeffery is the Chicago Bears’ best receiver.
Apparently, Brian Hoyer didn’t get the memo.
Since taking over for the injured Jay Cutler in Week 2, Hoyer has treated Jeffery like a third read—and even that might be generous.
The 2013 Pro Bowler has failed to lead the team in targets over Kevin White (who’s on injured reserve and missed Week 5), Cameron Meredith and Eddie Royal for the past three games.
Here’s Jeffery’s target breakdown, per FantasyPros:
Time to feed the man, right?
Not so, according to the team.
“The coverage will dictate where the ball goes,” offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains told the media on Thursday, per Patrick Finley of the Chicago Sun-Times. “Alshon’s productive—when it’s one-on-one, the ball’s going to go to him. When they double-team him, the ball’s going to go somewhere else.”
During last week’s loss to the Indianapolis Colts, Hoyer had Jeffery open for a surefire fourth-quarter touchdown on fourth down with 1:02 to go and the Bears trailing 29-23. The journeyman quarterback instead threw an incomplete pass to Meredith, leading to some sideline frustration from Jeffery.
Hoyer, who noted his experience with DeAndre Hopkins on the Houston Texans last season, doesn’t seem overly worried about his top target getting the short end of the stick. Here’s what he told Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune:
As a quarterback, you don’t want to get into the game of forcing things. I think that is where turnovers and bad plays come from. I’m going to go through the reads the way I am coached and I don’t discriminate. I don’t care if it’s (tight end) Logan (Paulsen) or the back. That’s just the way it goes. It’s been working. We just have to get some more touchdowns.
With Jeffery likely to be matched up with bruising rookie Jalen Ramsey when Chicago hosts the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday, expect Hoyer to continue avoiding the risky play.
Even if that means avoiding Jeffery.
Running Backs
Start: Matt Forte
Everyone seems down on Matt Forte this week.
How come?
The Jets are on the road against the Arizona Cardinals, desperate to bounce back from an embarrassing three-game skid. Sure, the Cards are a daunting defense to square off against, but would you rather Ryan Fitzpatrick air it out versus Patrick Peterson and Tyrann Mathieu or Forte pound the rock?
Easy answer.
Arizona hasn’t been formidable against the run this season. They have allowed opponents 118.2 rushing yards a game, ranking them 23rd in the NFL, according to ESPN.com. The Cardinals have also allowed six rushing scores, tied for fifth-most in the league.
Yahoo! Sports’ Brandon Funston contends that Forte is sit-worthy because the Jets will likely be forced to throw if they go down big. That would mean more Bilal Powell and less Forte. And that’s a fair argument.
But last week, as the Pittsburgh Steelers stomped all over NYJ, 31-13, Forte saw 12 carries for 53 yards to go along with two catches for seven yards. Those are not eye-popping numbers by any means, but they result to a relatively safe floor.
If this turns into an aerial battle, New York will be in for a world of hurt. Jets coach Todd Bowles, a former Cardinals defensive coordinator, knows how lethal those playmakers are in the secondary. Expect the Jets to work to establish the run early and control the pace of the game.
They’ll need Forte to do that. He could eclipse 20 carries.
Sit: Jeremy Hill
Jeremy Hill helped many owners win titles when he broke on to the scene as the Cincinnati Bengals’ thunder to Giovani Bernard’s lightning two years ago.
Since then, he’s been a fantasy headache.
Part of the LSU Tigers product’s struggles are due to a vicious early schedule. But his carries have fluctuated (9, 11, 17, 21, 4), and his production has been decent, at best.
For where you likely drafted Hill, he’s been a disappointment.
Bernard got the “start” against the Dallas Cowboys in Week 5 and totaled 50 yards on nine carries to go along with six catches (on six targets) for 46 more yards. Hill was banged up with a shoulder injury and finished with 12 yards on four touches.
Rotoworld put it bluntly in a postgame blurb: “Hill will be no better than an RB3 in Week 5 [sic] at New England. Gio is simply the better option for the Bengals, who are desperate for weapons in the passing game.”
The New England Patriots are surrendering 86.4 rushing yards an outing, ninth-best in the NFL. That’s bad news for Hill. By contrast, the Pats have allowed 31 receptions to opposing backs, according to NFL.com—only the San Diego Chargers, Atlanta Falcons and Pittsburgh Steelers are giving up more.
That’s good news for Bernard.
In a game that Andy Dalton and the Bengals will likely be trailing, expect Bernard to be the more useful backfield weapon, both in PPR and standard leagues.
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