This article is part of our On Target series.
Tyler Boyd / Brandon LaFell / Tyler Eifert
The largest question facing fantasy owners from an injury perspective this week is what the Bengals passing offense will look like sans A.J. Green. Over the last six weeks, AJG led the NFL in market share of his team's passing offense, and will miss at least a few games with a hamstring injury. My personal bet is going to be placed on Boyd; he looks more like a real NFL player than LaFell (or James Wright). Boyd was a highly productive player at Pittsburgh in college, and though he's not overly athletic he is well suited to a possession role in the NFL, which is what this offense will need. LaFell can be an adequate deep threat at times (similar to how Cincinnati used to use Brandon Tate) and Eifert gets a gigantic boost in percentage of red zone targets with Green out of the lineup.
Mitchell had a fantastic game for the Patriots with Chris Hogan and Rob Gronkowski out of the lineup, which is a shocking development if you know anything about the Patriots and drafting wide receivers. Julian Edelman is the last WR they "drafted" that stuck on the team in a meaningful role and they spent little draft capital on him. Mitchell had 96 yards and a touchdown in his first nominal start and looked the part of a WR who can play. The potential upside of being on what is a top
Tyler Boyd / Brandon LaFell / Tyler Eifert
The largest question facing fantasy owners from an injury perspective this week is what the Bengals passing offense will look like sans A.J. Green. Over the last six weeks, AJG led the NFL in market share of his team's passing offense, and will miss at least a few games with a hamstring injury. My personal bet is going to be placed on Boyd; he looks more like a real NFL player than LaFell (or James Wright). Boyd was a highly productive player at Pittsburgh in college, and though he's not overly athletic he is well suited to a possession role in the NFL, which is what this offense will need. LaFell can be an adequate deep threat at times (similar to how Cincinnati used to use Brandon Tate) and Eifert gets a gigantic boost in percentage of red zone targets with Green out of the lineup.
Mitchell had a fantastic game for the Patriots with Chris Hogan and Rob Gronkowski out of the lineup, which is a shocking development if you know anything about the Patriots and drafting wide receivers. Julian Edelman is the last WR they "drafted" that stuck on the team in a meaningful role and they spent little draft capital on him. Mitchell had 96 yards and a touchdown in his first nominal start and looked the part of a WR who can play. The potential upside of being on what is a top five offense and being attached to that as a starter is huge. They invested real money in Hogan, so I do not believe he would supplant him right away, but Mitchell is a firm buy in all keeper formats and if Hogan misses some more time, a potential cheap DFS flyer.
With Randall Cobb, Ty Montgomery and Jordy Nelson all struggling with injuries and fitness throughout the year, Davante Adams has been the one steady constant for (a generally uninspiring) pass-heavy Green Bay offense. It's at the point of the year where we are sort of done discovering who players are and beginning to project what things could look like next year or with a roster shakeup. Adams was a forgotten man in redraft formats this year, quite literally going undrafted, but he has definitely proven that he can play when given enough targets. Assuming that Montgomery is not good enough to create his own special role (author's note: he isn't), Adams should be second in line in targets in GB for quite some time. Cobb never really became the special player he showed glimpses of as a rookie and second-year player, essentially becoming the NFC Julian Edelman. With Nelson another year older, getting up there in years for a guy who gets a lot his value from down the field throws, Adams could be the lead dog in targets as soon as 2017.
I've covered Rishard a few times in this space this season, but I think it's official now: Marcus Mariota is elite-adjacent and Matthews is the only player on the team who looks and plays like a WR1. Tajae Sharpe can be a fine possession wide receiver (which he was in college), Delanie Walker is an elite pass catcher as a tight end and DeMarco Murray is excellent as a receiver out of the backfield, but Matthews turning into the real deal at the X in this #ExoticSmashmouth offense is what can help the whole unit step away from mediocrity. Justin Hunter, Andre Johnson and Kendall Wright weren't getting the job done but after a 13-target, 122-yard day that capped off a six week stretch with six touchdowns, I am ready to start thinking about Matthews as a WR2 in 12-team leagues.
Normally when a team's starting quarterback and backup quarterback both get injured, we assume it is death for their wide receivers, but given the circumstances in Chicago, I think not. Brian Hoyer was obviously the better option for the apparently talented Meredith but Jay Cutler just never looked for him, targeting him under 10 times since he took over for Hoyer. Matt Barkley, however terrible that he might be, at least proposes a more equal distribution of targets than Cutler, who tends to lock on to one guy at a time. None of us should be rushing to the waiver wire to reacquire anyone playing with Barkley, but it is not impossible Meredith could end up being a helpful WR in the fantasy playoffs.
