Fantasy Football Player Notes

If you want to see double-digit targets, just watch his Week 15 game against the Lions. It doesn't matter if he's shadowed by Darius Slay; Winston will be targeting him relentlessly. There have been three games Godwin has seen 10-plus target this year. In those games, he's averaged 9.3 receptions, 132.3 yards, and 0.7 touchdowns. Slay is coming off a game in which he allowed 8-of-10 passing for 128 yards in his coverage, so it's not a must-avoid matchup, though it's also not necessarily a smash spot, as Stefon Diggs is pretty dang good. Knowing there have been 16 wide receivers who've finished top-24 against the Lions, you should have little fear about Godwin's floor in this matchup. Start him as a low-end WR1/high-end WR2 and you just might get one of those massive performances.

"Jones is still our starter," says Bruce Arians. Well, if that amounts to a 30/27/23 snap split, who cares? It wasn't even Jones who tallied the 30 snaps! Over the last three games, while Jones has been the "starter," Barber has tallied 41 touches while Jones has 36 touches. This is a backfield to avoid whenever possible. After getting crushed over the first seven weeks of the season, the Lions run defense has not allowed a team of running backs to average more than 4.42 yards per carry. When you know that the running backs have been capped at around 10-12 carries apiece, you lose all sorts of hope, as none of them have been heavily involved in the passing game, either. Here's a fun fact that the Jones haters will just love. He's averaged 1.88 yards per route run, which ranks as the sixth-best mark among running backs, but sure, let's give him just 31 targets all season. Many suggested his hands were what would keep him off the field. Barber's 3.2 yards per carry and 3.7 yards per target is not deserving of a roster spot. If you can't guarantee more than a dozen carries or a few targets, these running backs are stuck in mediocrity. Jones would be the running back of choice this week due to what he offers in the passing game (not guaranteed usage, of course), as the Lions have allowed a league-high 2.09 PPR points per target to running backs, including eight receiving touchdowns through the air. Still, Jones is nothing more than a low-end RB3 with Arians risk built in.

Is now the time we are able to trust OJ Howard? I actually think so. He has 60+ yards in back-to-back weeks and is finally getting looks from Winston. Now, Mike Evans is out, which means there are targets up for grabs and the Bucs lose a big red zone threat, which could lead to Howard being used more in that role, raising the likelihood of a touchdown. He is a borderline TE1 this week.

Perriman has 70+ yards in back-to-back games, and now he sees an elevated role in Mike Evans' absence. He also sees a nice matchup against a Lions defense that stinks overall. He is a sneaky WR3 play with upside this week.

Watson is more of a middling WR5 because he has a bit more unknown, which may be a good thing, as we've kind of been-there-done-that with Perriman for a while now.

Brate caught a touchdown last week, but there's zero hint of consistency with him for fantasy. If you want to get risky, I could make the argument that Evans being out means there's targets up for grabs and they lose a red zone threat, but Howard seems to be firmly ahead of Brate, so I would personally avoid him.