Fantasy Football Player Notes

Considering Golladay was out the first two weeks, you can say that it's been a disappointing start to the season for Jones, who has just 78 yards through two games. He has the same number of targets as Amendola and just one more than the rookie Quintez Cephus. The Cardinals haven't been a very giving team to wide receivers thus far, as the 46.9 PPR points they've allowed to them is the lowest in the league. It certainly helps that they've played just one receiver who was a legitimate threat (Terry McLaurin), and he was able to post 125 yards and a touchdown. Last year, against this defense (without Patrick Peterson, who was suspended), Jones caught 4-of-4 passes for 56 yards. That's an interesting number because Jones has not topped that number in each of his last six games. He's becoming more and more volatile, but when the total for a game is 54.5, you want to believe he's going to get a slice of that pie. He's a risk/reward WR3/4 this week.

It appears he'll be back in Week 3 based on early week reports. As is the case with any player coming off a multi-week soft tissue injury, there's a bit more risk associated with them. Coming back to a matchup with the Cardinals isn't a bad thing, though it's also not as good as some think. A league-low 34.4 percent of skill-position players fantasy points have come from wide receivers against the Cardinals. That number was at 45.7 percent in 2019, which was below league average as well, though it certainly helped that they allowed a million points to tight ends. Golladay caught 4-of-9 passes for 42 yards and a touchdown in their Week 1 meeting last year, though that was without Patrick Peterson, who was serving a suspension. The Cardinals now have a starting cornerback duo of Peterson and Dre Kirkpatrick on the perimeter, which should be considered above average. Through two games, the duo has combined to allow 9/113/1 on 18 targets. Volume was paramount against this defense last year, as they allowed 19 receivers to score more than 13.1 PPR points, and 14 of them had nine or more targets. Oddly enough, they didn't allow a single multi-touchdown game to a wide receiver. Golladay should be in lineups if he's playing but think of him as more of a WR2/3 in his first game back.

Hockenson has been on fire to start the season and it's resulted in a top-10 TE ranking for fantasy through two weeks. However, he gets a slight downgrade with Golladay most likely returning to the lineup this week. Hockenson is a low-end TE1 in this matchup.

Through two weeks, here are the snap counts between these three: Swift 54, Peterson 39, Johnson 39. Gross. Here are the opportunity counts: Peterson 24, Swift 18, Johnson 16. Again, gross. Even worse is that Swift and Johnson have gotten two carries inside the 10-yard-line while Peterson has just one, which seems like it should be Peterson's role. This is going to be an ugly backfield to predict every week, though Swift should eventually establish himself as the top option. The Cardinals have surprisingly not allowed a running back more than 56 yards on the ground through two weeks. They limited Raheem Mostert to just 56 yards on 15 carries, though he did rattle off 95 yards and a touchdown through the air. Swift is clearly the preferred receiving option, as he's been in on 39 pass snaps, while Peterson and Johnson have combined for 33. Running backs have accounted for 50 percent of fantasy production against the Cardinals, which ranks as the third-highest in the league, so if the Lions are going to come anywhere close to their 24.5-point implied total, someone is likely to have value. Swift would be my choice, but as you can see, there's no guarantee. Treat him as a low-end RB3 and hope he finds his way into the end zone or sees quite a few targets. Peterson is getting the most touches but if he's not locked into goal-line work, he won't offer much upside at all. He's nothing more than a RB4 who's got a limited ceiling. I wouldn't want to start Johnson considering the 8.0 opportunities per game.

Through two weeks, here are the snap counts between these three: Swift 54, Peterson 39, Johnson 39. Gross. Here are the opportunity counts: Peterson 24, Swift 18, Johnson 16. Again, gross. Even worse is that Swift and Johnson have gotten two carries inside the 10-yard-line while Peterson has just one, which seems like it should be Peterson's role. This is going to be an ugly backfield to predict every week, though Swift should eventually establish himself as the top option. The Cardinals have surprisingly not allowed a running back more than 56 yards on the ground through two weeks. They limited Raheem Mostert to just 56 yards on 15 carries, though he did rattle off 95 yards and a touchdown through the air. Swift is clearly the preferred receiving option, as he's been in on 39 pass snaps, while Peterson and Johnson have combined for 33. Running backs have accounted for 50 percent of fantasy production against the Cardinals, which ranks as the third-highest in the league, so if the Lions are going to come anywhere close to their 24.5-point implied total, someone is likely to have value. Swift would be my choice, but as you can see, there's no guarantee. Treat him as a low-end RB3 and hope he finds his way into the end zone or sees quite a few targets. Peterson is getting the most touches but if he's not locked into goal-line work, he won't offer much upside at all. He's nothing more than a RB4 who's got a limited ceiling. I wouldn't want to start Johnson considering the 8.0 opportunities per game.

After catching five passes for 81 yards in a tough matchup against the Bears, Amendola let deep-leaguers down with his two-catch, 21-yard performance in Week 2, though he did see seven targets for the second straight week. We should probably move on considering the lack of ceiling, but it's hard to ignore that he went for 7/104/1 against this defensive scheme last year. The Lions chose to target him 13 times in that game. The Cardinals have shifted things around and now have second-year cornerback Byron Murphy in the slot, which is a completely different position for a cornerback. Through his first 18 games in the pros, he's allowed 77 receptions for 769 yards and 10 touchdowns on 113 targets. That's more touchdowns allowed than anyone else in the league. If you need a last-minute WR4/5 due to injuries, I'm willing to go back to Amendola in a pinch.

Through two weeks, here are the snap counts between these three: Swift 54, Peterson 39, Johnson 39. Gross. Here are the opportunity counts: Peterson 24, Swift 18, Johnson 16. Again, gross. Even worse is that Swift and Johnson have gotten two carries inside the 10-yard-line while Peterson has just one, which seems like it should be Peterson's role. This is going to be an ugly backfield to predict every week, though Swift should eventually establish himself as the top option. The Cardinals have surprisingly not allowed a running back more than 56 yards on the ground through two weeks. They limited Raheem Mostert to just 56 yards on 15 carries, though he did rattle off 95 yards and a touchdown through the air. Swift is clearly the preferred receiving option, as he's been in on 39 pass snaps, while Peterson and Johnson have combined for 33. Running backs have accounted for 50 percent of fantasy production against the Cardinals, which ranks as the third-highest in the league, so if the Lions are going to come anywhere close to their 24.5-point implied total, someone is likely to have value. Swift would be my choice, but as you can see, there's no guarantee. Treat him as a low-end RB3 and hope he finds his way into the end zone or sees quite a few targets. Peterson is getting the most touches but if he's not locked into goal-line work, he won't offer much upside at all. He's nothing more than a RB4 who's got a limited ceiling. I wouldn't want to start Johnson considering the 8.0 opportunities per game.