web analytics

Sam Bradford, DeMarco Murray, Riley Cooper Post-Week 6 Fantasy Advice

Fantasy Football
October 19, 2015

The Philadelphia Eagles knocked off the New York Giants 27-7 in a turnover-infested snoozer Monday night, but at least DeMarco Murray and Riley Cooper provided some fantasy value for owners who were looking for late-week boosts.

The same cannot be said about quarterback Sam Bradford, who was responsible for three of the seven total turnovers in the game.

With that in mind, here is a look at the final tallies and some fantasy reactions for the Philadelphia playmakers.

Sam Bradford

The three interceptions jump out for Bradford because they nullified a solid performance yardage-wise. What’s more, it was the fourth time in six games the former Oklahoma Sooners star has thrown multiple interceptions, which is a nightmare for fantasy owners.

Michael Fabiano of NFL.com noted the quarterback wasn’t on the same page with his No. 1 receiver throughout the evening, which is a testament to Bradford’s lackluster showing:

Bradford was a dark-horse candidate to put up monster fantasy numbers this season in head coach Chip Kelly’s high-octane offense, but the turnovers and lack of touchdown passes (he has thrown more than one touchdown only twice in six games) have derailed his value.

The potential is still there because of the sheer number of throws he will attempt in Philadelphia’s attack (38 per game through the first six contests), but Bradford will not be a trustworthy fantasy option at quarterback until he limits his turnovers.

DeMarco Murray

If Bradford was a dark-horse candidate to put up impressive numbers this season, Murray was supposed to be a mortal lock.

He led the NFL in rushing yards in 2014 and was expected to thrive in an uptempo attack in Philadelphia. He finally cracked the century mark in rushing yards for the first time this season during Monday’s victory, and he even found the end zone in the process.

An offensive line that Football Outsiders ranked dead last in run blocking entering Week 6 is largely to blame for Murray’s lack of consistent production, but the Eagles didn’t play to his strengths as an inside runner in the first few weeks. As Sports Illustrated noted, they did Monday:

Murray was a fantasy punchline when his season high in rushing yards for a game was 36 after three contests, but he reached the 20-carry mark in each of his last two performances. As a result, he racked up 192 combined rushing yards and two scores.

Behind a lackluster offensive line, Murray isn’t the surefire fantasy star he was last season, but the increased production with more carries, Philadelphia’s willingness to get him involved on inside runs Monday and his overall track record mean he should be in your lineup moving forward.

Riley Cooper

Don’t be fooled by Cooper’s big fantasy day, because it was an anomaly in what has been a lackluster season thus far.

Bradford targeted both Jordan Matthews and tight end Zach Ertz more than Cooper during Monday’s game. The touchdown saved what would have otherwise been a pedestrian fantasy performance, and the target numbers are more indicative of his role in the offense moving forward.

Cooper has yet to be targeted more than eight times in a contest, and he was targeted a combined nine times in the team’s first four games. Those are not trustworthy fantasy numbers, especially since he hasn’t reached 80 receiving yards in a single outing this season.

Cooper will likely see his mediocre role diminish in the offense once rookie Nelson Agholor returns from the ankle injury that kept him out of Monday’s win.

Despite the solid showing Monday, Cooper is worthy of flex consideration at best in fantasy circles moving forward.

Read more Fantasy Football news on NerdyFootball.com

Football

NFL

NFC East

Philadelphia Eagles

Fantasy Football

Sam Bradford

Jets To Promote Kenbrell Thompkins

NFL News
October 19, 2015

The Jets will sign wide receiver Kenbrell Thompkins from their practice squad to their active roster, a source told Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter). Thompkins will give the Jets another wide receiver after Quincy Enunwa was hit with a four-game suspension.

Thompkins, 26, stuck with the Patriots in 2013 after being signed as an undrafted free agent, impressing at times during his rookie campaign. He caught 32 passes for 466 yards and four touchdowns in eight starts last season, but wasn’t a major part of New England’s passing attack in early 2014, and was cut just a few weeks into the season. The Raiders then acted quickly to claim him. In 12 games for Oakland, Thompkins caught 15 passes for 209 yards. However, the Raiders cut Thompkins loose in late August.

Giants Notes: JPP, Beatty, Fells

NFL News
October 19, 2015

The latest on Big Blue before the Giants take on the Eagles tonight..

  • Jason Pierre-Paul will report back to the Giants on Tuesday and allow his hand to be re-examined by team doctors, sources tell Ralph Vacchiano of the New York Daily News. However, there are some in the organization who doubt JPP’s hand has healed enough for him to be cleared to return to the field, another team source tells the Daily News. When the Giants looked at JPP’s hand on September 7th, the damage was much worse than expected, so some team officials aren’t all that optimistic about the upcoming evaluation.
  • Giants left tackle Will Beatty, who has yet to play this season due to a torn pectoral muscle, could practice early this week, according to NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport (on Twitter). Beatty’s injury was a huge blow for the Giants, who used their first-round pick in this year’s draft on a tackle in an effort to solidify their offensive line. Beatty was one of the league’s more effective left tackles in 2014, grading as a positive contributor as both a run- and pass-blocker, according to Pro Football Focus. PFF ranked him 14th overall out of 84 qualified players at the position.
  • Giants tight end Daniel Fells has now been given an optimistic prognosis, as Rapoport writes. After nearly three weeks in the hospital battling an aggressive MRSA infection, sources say his scans and cultures have come back “looking good” and there is a real chance he’s released from the hospital this week. Furthermore, doctors now believe that they’ll be able to save Fells’ foot. Still, he’s unlikely to ever return to football given the damage his foot has sustained.

NFL Investigating Johnny Manziel

NFL News
October 19, 2015

The NFL is investigating a recent incident involving Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel and his girlfriend, coach Mike Pettine told reporters, including Nate Ulrich of the Akron Beacon-Journal. An in-car fight last week Manziel and girlfriend Colleen Crowley led to questioning from Avon police and now the league is also asking questions about the involvement of the troubled former first-round pick.

Pettine hasn’t ruled out punishing Manziel in connection with the incident, but he explained that he wants to let the process play out with the league.

The league gets involved when there are cases like this,” Pettine said during a news conference. “I don’t know what their timetable is. I don’t know the specifics, but as with anything that comes up, there’s a reporting process you go through. I’m not privy to what their details are as far as timetable.”

Crowley took to Instagram on Friday (via Ulrich on Twitter) and downplayed the incident. Manziel later echoed Crowley’s sentiment in a series of tweets (1; 2; 3).

“Colleen and I got into a dumb public argument on the way home Monday afternoon. It probably looked more interesting than it was and I know I would stop and check if I saw a couple arguing on the side of the road,” Manziel wrote. “It was embarrassing but not serious and when we talked to the police and they realized everything was alright and I was sober, we went home together and everything is fine.”

According to the police report, Crowley was intoxicated when they arrived and made inconsistent statements, “ranging from whether Mr. Manziel was physically abusive towards her or not.” The former Texas A&M star was also said to be drinking that day and that’s a potential red flag considering his recent stint in rehab.

Minor NFL Transactions: 10/19/15

NFL News
October 19, 2015

Today’s minor NFL signings, cuts, and other moves..

  • The Texans claimed cornerback and Hard Knocks fan favorite Charles James off waivers, according to John McClain of the Houston Chronicle (on Twitter). In a related move, safety Lonnie Ballentine will be placed on IR. The Texans wanted to sign James to their p-squad this year but he chose the Ravens’ p-squad instead (link).
  • The Broncos re-signed veteran blocking tight end Richard Gordon and waived running back Kapri Bibbs, as Mike Klis of 9NEWS writes. On Saturday, the Broncos released Gordon but told him to stay in town because they would re-sign him on Monday.
  • The Bills are signing Jordan Mills from the Lions practice squad, a source tells Mike Florio of PFT (on Twitter). Buffalo signed the tackle to their taxi squad in mid-September.
  • The Chargers announced that they have waived guard-tackle Michael Ola. The offensive lineman can be re-signed to the practice squad on Tuesday if he clears waivers.
  • The Cardinals removed Chris Clemons from injured reserve with an injury settlement, Aaron Wilson of The Houston Chronicle tweets.
  • The Giants cut tight end Jerome Cunningham, Wilson tweets. In a related move, the Giants promoted cornerback Brandon McGee to the active roster from the taxi squad, Jim Thomas of the Post-Dispatch tweets.
  • The Bears waived safety Demontre Hurst and promoted cornerback Bryce Callahan from the taxi squad, as Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune tweets.