Just like in Week 8, I honestly don’t have many negative things to say about rookies this week. Therefore, for this week’s Rookie Report, I’m just going to cover five first-year guys whose stocks are up after Week 10 and you may want to pick up for a late-season push.
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Baker Mayfield (QB – CLE)
After toiling near the bottom of fantasy quarterback rankings through his first few starts, Mayfield’s fantasy value has really taken off over the past two (admittedly favorable) matchups. He lit up the Falcons’ defense Sunday in a win, throwing just as many touchdowns (three) as he did incompletions. I know this stat has been repeated dozens of times already this week, but it’s worth mentioning again: He became the rookie quarterback with the highest passer rating in a single game ever who attempted at least 20 passes.
Out of all the rookie quarterbacks taken this season, Mayfield appears to be the only one worth anything in fantasy and is an intriguing option as bye weeks continue to roll on (Patrick Mahomes and Jared Goff still have off weeks on the horizon). His schedule is fairly easy going forward, too, with the terrible Bengals defense coming up in two of his next five games (given up the third most fantasy points to opposing quarterbacks) and the Panthers (fifth most) in Week 14.
Nick Chubb (RB – CLE)
Mayfield’s running mate in Cleveland, Chubb helped him carry the Browns to victory over the Falcons. Chubb is owned in nearly every league now, so he can’t be a waiver wire pickup, but those of you who do own him should consider him to be a low-end RB1 going forward.
He destroyed Atlanta on Sunday, carrying the ball 20 times for 176 yards and a touchdown. He also got involved in the passing game, catching three passes and scoring the first receiving touchdown of his career. Chubb’s day included a 92-yard rushing touchdown, the longest in the history of the Browns.
When Chubb first took over the starting job, the biggest knock on him was that many of his fantasy points to that point had come off of one-off long touchdown runs. Since the Carlos Hyde trade, Chubb has shown he’s anything but a fluke.
He’s already become the first back since 2015 to record three touchdown runs of 40 yards or more in a single season, and his 5.88 yards per carry after contact is the most in the league, according to Pro Football Focus. He’s shown the ability to change direction quickly, and use almost a slalom-type method to wait behind the line of scrimmage for his hole to open up. He should be used every week without a question, and will likely be a first-round fantasy pick in 2019.
Rashaad Penny (RB – SEA)
I’ve buried Penny this entire season, but his time in the fantasy sun has finally come. After failing to break 50 yards in a game all season, he exploded Sunday against the Chargers, racking up 108 yards on only 12 carries.
The problem with Penny, for now, is that Seattle’s backfield is incredibly crowded. Mike Davis scored 18 fantasy points in standard leagues in Week 10, even with Penny’s big day, and led the running backs with 15 touches. If Chris Carson is healthy, he’ll also heavily factor into the mix, considering he’s been the team’s starter when he’s been available.
Still, in deeper leagues and dynasty formats, Penny is certainly worth a stash. The Seahawks obviously love his talent, given that they drafted him in the first round, and if they’re eliminated from playoff contention, it wouldn’t be crazy to see Penny get more touches so they can see what they have in him going forward.
Marquez Valdes-Scantling (WR – GB)
There is no reason why MVS shouldn’t be owned in any league at this point. His ownership levels are up above 70 percent in Yahoo and ESPN leagues, which is a huge leap from where he was two weeks ago, but all owners should be looking for him on the wire.
Adam Schefter reported earlier this week that Randall Cobb has already been ruled out for the Packers’ Thursday night game against the Seahawks, meaning Valdes-Scantling will once again be Aaron Rodgers‘ No. 2 option. Against the Dolphins, he didn’t blow anyone away with his stats, but he got seven targets, the fifth week in a row he’s had at least five.
The fifth-round pick was targeted primarily by Rodgers on short routes, which isn’t shocking considering that the Packers led for much of this game and relied heavily on Aaron Jones while just trying to run the clock in the second half. This week against the Seahawks, who have scored at least 25 points in four out of their past five games, Green Bay will be looking to throw more to keep up.
Josh Adams (RB – PHI)
Adams’ production won’t jump off the board, but at some point, I’d have to think that the Eagles are going to get smart about their running game and feature Adams more. Statistically, he’s been their best option out of the backfield since Jay Ajayi tore his ACL earlier this year.
Adams is forcing one missed tackle every three carries, according to Pro Football Focus, while fellow backs Wendell Smallwood and Corey Clement are only forcing them once every 4.8 and 27.5 attempts, respectively.
Over the past three weeks, he’s tied for the team league in carries (20) and his workload has increased over that time. His snap count share has jumped from 12 percent in Week 7 to 31 percent in Week 10, according to FootballGuys.com, and I would expect that to keep rising as the Eagles look for ways to get their offense back on track.
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Jon Munshaw is a correspondent at FantasyPros. For more from Jon, check out his archive and follow him @jon_munshaw.
