Studs and Duds Week 8 Sunday/Monday

  • STUDS

    1.  Cedric Tillman

     Cedric Tillman should be a guy you heavily consider on the waiver wire this week. He has showcased himself as the number one target for Jameis Winston and a clear trendsetter for the changing of the guard in this offense post-Deshaun Watson. With Winston as a starter, Tillman has produced an 18.1 PPR points game and a 28.9 PPR points game. There’s no reason for us to think he’ll slow down anytime soon, as the Browns need a number-one receiver anyway, and he fits the bill perfectly.

    2. Ladd McConkey 

     From one wide receiver waiver wire pickup to another. Ladd McConkey has solidified himself as the number-one receiver in Los Angeles. Now that he’s fully healthy and the rookie hurdles seem to be behind him, he’s finding incredible rapport with Justin Herbert. It’s hard to trust him immediately with a flex spot as it still could be rocky at certain points, just like any other rookie. Still, it’s impossible not to recommend him as a great depth receiver in your fantasy roster and perhaps more in the future.

    3. National Tight Ends Day

     Who knew that a wonderful made-up national holiday by George Kittle would inspire all the tight ends to finally go off in fantasy?  Well, that’s what happened on Sunday: Kittle himself,  Kyle Pitts,  Sam Laporta, Travis Kelce,  and amazingly, the best of the bunch was Cade Otton. It’s hard to make an overall statement about a position. It has undoubtedly been a rough time for fantasy managers regarding tight ends, so this was a well-needed boost for everybody involved. Hopefully, this sets a positive trend going forward. 

    DUDS 

    1. Anthony Richardson

    At Studs and Duds, it isn’t really our thing to do a full scope of the season until the end of the year. It’s really about reacting to what happened week to week and giving advice based on those players and performances. But the Anthony Richardson situation got us thinking that it’s time to do at least one Dud of the year before the season ends.  Anthony Richardson: With our analysis, it was clear that Anthony Richardson was a low-end Tier 1 quarterback with a lot of concern coming back from injury but a lot of upside with his running ability and being in year two with a lot of room to grow. That was just completely off the mark. Most times, at the quarterback position, we have some baseline understanding of what a guy will do weekly, and yes, sometimes that fluctuates. Still, in most cases, it’s consistent throughout the season.  Anthony Richardson just fell off a deep end. The running ability never felt there. He had no field awareness this season, and we should have avoided him altogether in drafts. It’s hard to imagine a situation being much worse than this as we continue throughout the season, at least in the quarterback position. It’s genuinely unbelievable how bad he’s been this year and how much better Joe Flacco has been, even for fantasy purposes. 

    2. Amari Cooper 

    Amari Cooper only caught one ball on Sunday and was only targeted once.  It’s not a fun start in Buffalo. Although we think it can be excused, ultimately, this is a blowout where he just wasn’t needed on Sunday. We’ve talked about the game script before and how sometimes it just doesn’t go your way. That was the case for Amari.  He will be needed in this offense because Josh Allen will need a number one target to succeed the rest of the way, particularly in the winter months with the short passing game, and that’s where Amari comes in. So don’t worry about it. Play him with confidence, and he’ll find his way to success in short order.