I take a look at some key stats & fantasy takeaways that stood out for 12 different teams last weekend and/or trends that are emerging over the course of the season. The “Stat to Know” from each team is bolded, as well as players who are mentioned.
Fantasy Takeaways from Week 6 (teams listed in alphabetical order):
Arkansas – QB Feleipe Franks passed for 22/30-318-4 against Auburn, while also running 15 times (for only 28 yards). 318 yards & 4 TDs were both career highs against FBS teams for Franks. In his previous two games he threw for 200 yards and 212 yards, so I’m not ready to hype Franks, but in an SEC that seems to be giving up a lot of passing yards this season he is on my radar.
Arkansas State – QBs Logan Bonner & Layne Hatcher have been sharing time, which essentially means I’d been ignoring them, but I wanted to take a closer look after Bonner went 11/19-233-3 this weekend against Central Arkansas, while Hatcher was 10/19-153-3. On the season Bonner is 58/91-741-8, while Hatcher is 41/70-564-6. They have both rushed for negative yards on the season. This is the first time I can recall in recent memory where there was a QB rotation between two QBs with similar skill sets, and neither seems to be separating, so essentially this is still a situation to avoid.
Auburn – Just a couple weeks ago I (and a beat writer) joked about avoiding the Auburn potential 4-5 man RB rotation on twitter, then a few injuries happened and RB Tank Bigsby entered the conversation. Bigsby ran for 20/146-0 against Arkansas and also had 4 receptions for 16 yards. Now I’m not convinced that when Shaun Shivers returns to health that Bigsby might not lose some of that volume (or receptions), but I do think there is a chance he may be emerging as RB1. This is a wait and see for me (FYI – I grabbed him in one of my own CFF leagues to put on the bench).
Boston College – Last season RB David Bailey looked great as the RB2 behind AJ Dillon as Bailey ran for 148/844-7. But this season Bailey has run for 48/148-1, a 3.1 average. He is 7/60-1 receiving on the season. Last week he rushed 15/36 for a 2.4 avg. Boston College is airing the ball out and they either can’t run the ball or aren’t committed to the run, but either way Bailey has been a huge disappointment so far.
Georgia – WR George Pickens came into the season as the likely name to know, but WR Kearis Jackson has been the standout so far. Jackson has 19 catches for 300 yards, while the next highest is Pickens with 8/87. Jackson has had at least 62 yards receiving in each of the first three games.
Kansas State – A stat I shared on twitter as well – the WR unit as a whole has 24 catches for 299 yards this season, while RB Deuce Vaughn has 9/279 (31.0 average!) and TE Briley Moore has 14/201. WR Chabastin Taylor has 10/169-1, but other than him WR Malik Knowles has been MIA, WR Wykeen Gill is out for the season with an injury & WR Joshua Youngblood announced his transfer Tuesday.
MTSU – While I’ve spent a lot of time on the QB ups and downs, in the meantime WR Jarrin Pierce has put up 36/366-1 over 5 games. Over the last four games he has averaged 8 catches for 83.25 yards a game. While in this offense no WRs may grab many TDs, he is emerging as the go-to receiving option.
North Texas – In his last 2 games as the clear starter QB Austin Aune has thrown for 28/47-339-2 and 23/43-382-3, and QB Jason Bean is no longer sharing time. While I wish the completion percentage was a touch higher, Aune has established himself as a fantasy starter, especially with the North Texas defense having given up 41+ points to every FBS opponent this season.
Temple – In their season-opener Temple was basically who they were last season, and that is overall a good thing. QB Anthony Russo threw for 21/30-206-1 and rushed for 2 TDs, RB Re’Mahn Davis ran for 23/97-1, and WR Branden Mack had 7/80-1 on 10 targets. Last year’s other top WR Jadan Blue was 5/40 on 7 targets. Blue’s output was a little disappointing, but Navy chewed a ton of clock in this game limiting the Temple offense.
Texas – With four games of data is any Texas RB worth your time? Here are season totals so far – Keaontay Ingram 35-188-0, 10/93-1 receiving – Roschon Johnson 32/142-2, 1/7-1 receiving, Bijan Robinson 14/67-0, 5/59-0 receiving. Johnson and Robinson have dealt with injuries early, so keep that in mind, but all are averaging between 4.4-5.4 yards per carry, while Ingram is complimenting the rushing with some receiving. What actually stands out to me is that QB Sam Ehlinger has rushed for 5 TDs on the season (4 last week) as compared to 2 rushing TDs for the RBs combined. Until any of these backs start getting goal line carries I don’t see their value.
Texas Tech – Let’s look at the WRs as sometimes on teams who pass a lot the situation can seem somewhat muddled – here are the top 5 on the season – KeSean Carter 21/215-4, Erik Ezukanma 21/295-3, TJ Vasher 14/163-2, Ja’lynn Polk 12/120-0, Dalton Rigdon 10/103-0. Carter was out last game with an ankle injury, while Rigdon has missed time as well. I love Vasher’s physical tools, but he was only targeted once last game, seems very high risk/reward right now. Polk was actually the 2nd most targeted last game with 5/54 on 6 targets. The only two I can really justify playing right now are Ezukanma and Carter (if/when) healthy.
Virginia Tech – Coming into the season it felt like Virginia Tech had a lot of names in the backfield, but RB Khalil Herbert has clearly distinguished himself, rushing for 43/449-5 on the season, a crazy 10.4 average. Fellow transfer RB Raheem Blackshear is a distant second with 29/108-1 on the season, a 3.7 average, with RB Jalen Holston next at 6/54-0.
