Hello and welcome to championship week! For those of you getting ready for your fantasy football finals (aka the most nerve-wracking week of the year), good luck!
This week we are going to take a look at some rookies that crushed Week 15. If you rostered any of these guys last week, the odds are pretty good that you’re in the finals right now.
But first, let’s take a minute to appreciate the 2017 rookie class. Can you believe how many fantasy studs came out of this draft? Compared to last year, which pretty much only boasted Ezekiel Elliott, Michael Thomas, Hunter Henry, and Sterling Shepard, the 2017 NFL Draft was loaded. A handful of rookie wide receivers and tight ends shined in 2017, not to mention a ton of running backs.
Rookies could very well have gotten you into the fantasy playoffs and beyond, something that cannot often be said. The rookies we’ll be looking at today include a resurgent stud, a column-favorite, a low-key stud, and a superstar in the making.
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Kareem Hunt (RB – KC)
Boy, are we glad Kareem Hunt is back. Hunt had probably the hottest start to an NFL career since Odell Beckham Jr. came out of the Giants’ Week 8 bye in 2014. He was on top of the world, but we all watched as his fantasy numbers and usage on the football field declined. Those numbers plummeted for weeks before bottoming out back in Weeks 12 and 13.
However, when we needed him most, he bounced back in a huge way. Hunt now has the most touches of any running back over the last two weeks with 57 total touches. In a game where volume is king, Hunt has been royalty these past two weeks.
He hasn’t disappointed with his volume, either. After taking his 25 carries for 116 yards and a touchdown in Week 14, Hunt exploded for 155 yards and a touchdown on 24 carries in Week 15. He even added a career-high seven receptions, which he took for another 51 yards and another score. If you had Hunt this week, his 36.10 fantasy points in 0.5 PPR leagues probably won you your week.
His recent comeback has Hunt on pace for some pretty incredible numbers. Heading into Week 16, Hunt has 1,201 rushing yards and 440 receiving yards (1,641 total yards from scrimmage). With strong showings in the next two weeks against the Dolphins and the Broncos, Hunt could become just the sixth rookie since 1970 to lead the league in rushing yards.
He’s probably not catching up to Todd Gurley or Le’Veon Bell in fantasy points this year, but he is currently the RB3 overall despite his midseason lull. For a guy that many were able to grab late in their drafts this year, Kareem Hunt may go down as the steal of the year.
Keelan Cole (WR – JAC)
I’ll stop writing about Keelan Cole when he stops giving me reasons to. Last week when I covered the Jaguars’ fantastic draft class, I noted that Cole and Blake Bortles were syncing up nicely.
Earlier in the season they were just barely missing on a few deep plays, but Cole looked ready to break out. He had himself a game in Week 14, but even as a fan of Cole I didn’t expect what went down in Week 15.
For those of you who couldn’t watch the game, Marqise Lee left early in the first quarter with an ankle injury. With Allen Robinson and Allen Hurns already sidelined, it quickly became the Keelan Cole show.
Cole reeled in seven of nine targets for 186 yards and a touchdown against the Texans and should have had an even bigger night. Even though Bortles has been playing recently, he missed Cole wide open on a play that could have been taken to the house.
This was his second consecutive week with a play of 70 yards or greater, which is truly surprising considering he only runs a 4.64 40-yard dash. This week’s 73-yarder was mere inches from being yet another touchdown, too. His 28.1 fantasy points were good enough for a finish as the overall WR1 this week, but he was scary-close to having even more.
He was producing on splash plays when he had a limited target-share, but truly shined this week when given the opportunity. It’s unclear what his future in Jacksonville looks like due to how much talent they have at the position on their roster, but it seems to me like he’s stealing someone’s job with the way he’s been playing lately.
Christian McCaffrey (RB – CAR)
It feels like Christian McCaffrey has flown pretty under the radar this year. After the Panthers drafted him with the eighth-overall pick of the draft, expectations were pretty high.
He certainly hasn’t had the flashy season other rookies have had. He doesn’t have a 40-point game under his belt like Kareem Hunt, and he hasn’t finished any weeks on top of the fantasy leaderboards, but he’s been consistent all year long. That kind of consistency has been good enough to land him a spot as the RB9 so far this season in 0.5 PPR.
McCaffrey started the season off slowly, but let’s be honest. That whole offense started slowly. We deemed McCaffrey disappointing early on because of his lack of production, but in the context of his team’s performance, it’s easier to understand why he wasn’t performing.
Since Week 9, he’s actually been playing great. He has three games of over 17 fantasy points, including this past week’s finish as the RB8 with 22.60 fantasy points. His yards per carry jumped from 2.38 YPC to 5.0 YPC in that same time span. If there were an award for most improved players in a season, McCaffrey would undoubtedly be a frontrunner.
He brought the flash this week with one of the coolest interactions we’ve seen all season: slicing through the Packers’ defense for a touchdown when they knew the play ahead of time. McCaffrey is plain dangerous in the passing game, his 592 receiving yards this season place him sixth among rookies in receiving yards so far this season. The Panthers are finally getting the most out of their young running back, just in time for him to feast on a struggling Bucs defense in the fantasy finals.
Alvin Kamara (RB – NO)
Another week, another top 10 positional finish for Alvin Kamara. Week 14 was a tough one for those who started Kamara on their fantasy teams, but if you survived that week, he rewarded you handsomely with 17.90 fantasy points in Week 15. It was another classic, efficient weekend for the back, finishing with almost a fantasy point per touch.
At this point, it would be very tough to argue that any other player even has a right to be considered the waiver wire darling of 2017. Since Adrian Peterson left the Saints for the desert, Kamara has pretty much been the RB1 in fantasy. Apart from the week he suffered a concussion, he hasn’t had fewer than 10 fantasy points since Week 2.
While Christian McCaffrey is making his hay in the receiving game, Kamara leads all running backs in receiving yards. Not to mention that Kamara has done this while compiling almost 300 more rushing yards than McCaffrey.
Just take a look at Kamara’s metrics over on PlayerProfiler.com. There’s barely anything a running back can do that Kamara isn’t elite at.
Conclusion
That’s it for this week’s Rookie Report. In the next couple weeks, we are going to see a lot of rookies that didn’t get chances to shine earlier in the season. Teams know where they stand in regards to the playoffs and have a limited window to test out their younger players. A lot of exciting players may finally get their opportunities in Weeks 16 and 17, and we’ll be here to break those performances down for you.
If you are in your league’s finals this weekend, then best of luck to you. If not, then better luck next year.
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Aidan Mcgrath is a correspondent at FantasyPros. For more from Aidan, check out his archive and follow him @ffaidanmcgrath.