Fantasy Football Player Notes

Javonte Williams has made a miraculous return from his multi-knee ligament tear from the 2022 season. His speedy recovery allowed him to play in the preseason, with favorable usage as both a rusher and receiver. On the first drive, he had 3 targets and one carry over the 1st four plays. Then Perine entered the game. Over the first 23 plays, it was a 50/50 split essentially with Williams (56%, 8 RB opportunities) and Perine (47%, 3 RB opportunities). Perine played more receiving downs...but Williams was still peppered with targets like last year's pre-injury. However, I would hardly say that Juggernaut Javonte is 100% back to fantasy stardom with him still splitting work with Perine and potentially undrafted free agent, Jaleel McLaughlin. The Raiders' run defense is no world-beater - 24th in PFF's defensive line rankings - so I understand the appeal of starting Williams, but he's probably more of a floor play than ceiling option with it being his first real game back from the injury. A 20-touch guaranteed workload is likely too aggressive to project.

In Weeks 1-5 without Jerry Jeudy fully healthy last season, Sutton's target share was 28%. In Weeks 10-12 (Jeudy also missed these games), Sutton's target share was back up to 27%. But even in the games where Sutton commanded the lion's share of looks, he came up short more often than not. He was completely forgotten in the red zone - 11 RZ targets, one red-zone TD before Week 18 - and he failed to capitalize on 1200-plus air yards. Considering Jeudy is likely going to miss Week 1 due to severe hamstring injury, it's difficult to not view Sutton as a fantasy WR3 at worst with volume coming his way, with room for more if he can take advantage of a beatable Raiders secondary and positive TD regression on his side. Sutton posted solid stat lines in his two matchups versus LV in 2022, both that also occurred without Jeudy healthy. He averaged five receptions for 66 yards on 7 targets, while also scoring one of his two total touchdowns from the 2022 season.

Perine was viewed during draft season as a stopgap for fantasy teams that went with a zero-RB approach. But a crazy return by Williams has forced Perine back into the RB3 ranks with only a receiving role seemingly in his possession outside the occasionally early down rush attempt. I'd keep him on the bench, with his stand-alone role likely not enough to warrant FLEX/RB3 consideration.

The time is now to fade Greg Dulcich. The new coaching staff has no allegiance to him as the TE1 on the roster. During the team's first preseason game, Dulcich only ran a route on 50% of Russell Wilson's dropbacks. He was also out-snapped 10 vs 15 and out-targeted (0 vs. 3) by Adam Trautman (who was brought over from New Orleans). There are MUCH better tight ends to play in Week 1 with full-time roles. Stay away from Dulcich until he shows a usable role in Denver's offense.

Even in the deepest of formats, Reynolds is barely even on the flex radar. He finished outside the top 80 receivers last season in target share (12.1%, 81st) and target per route run rate (16.4%, 84th). If you're touchdown hunting in those deep leagues, though, he isn't the worst target to plug in. In the eight games he played at least 70% of the snaps, Reynolds saw ten red zone targets from Goff. The Chiefs gave up the third-most receiving touchdowns to wide receivers last year. Reynolds will run about 63% of his routes against Jaylen Watson (65.9% catch rate, 93.4 passer rating allowed in 2022) and L'Jarius Sneed (70.5% catch rate, 91.6 passer rating allowed in 2022).