Fantasy Football Player Notes

Many talk about the Panthers falling behind in games this year, leading to many pass attempts. While I won't disagree with that sentiment, the line on this game suggests it'll be closer than most believe. On top of that, the Raiders games averaged just 122.0 plays per game in total, which was the second-lowest number in football and limited overall upside. The did allow a ridiculously high 6.27 percent touchdown rate, as well as 8.28 yards per attempt. Based on passing attempts alone, they allowed 0.57 fantasy points per attempt, which ranked as the second-most to only the Dolphins. But again, there were just five quarterbacks who threw more than 31 pass attempts against them due to the turtle-pace they move at. If Bridgewater can be efficient with his passes, he has a good chance to be a streamer, as 9-of-16 quarterbacks finished as top-12 quarterbacks against the Raiders despite the low volume. Given the new offense, it may be difficult to come out extremely efficient, but Joe Brady's offense should be considered a net-positive overall. Bridgewater should be considered a solid QB2 play this week.

The opening line for this game was Broncos by 1.5, but that changed once oddsmakers learned about Jadeveon Clowney signing with the Titans. Suddenly, they have one of the best defensive fronts in football. At the same time, we haven't seen Lock with his new set of weapons, and they're equally as good. He now has Courtland Sutton, Jerry Jeudy, KJ Hamler, Noah Fant, Melvin Gordon, and Phillip Lindsay at his disposal. He also has a new offensive coordinator in Pat Shurmur, who's been better as an offensive coordinator than a head coach. His passing offense hasn't finished outside the top-18 in passing yards since way back in 2012, which bodes well for Lock. With that being said, he's still under Vic Fangio, who may be stuck in the old school mentality where if you're winning, you run the ball. In neutral gamescripts, the Broncos passed the ball just 57 percent of the time last year, which ranked as the ninth-lowest mark. In fact, both teams were low in that category (Titans had the third-lowest mark), so this could be a slow-paced, low-volume game. You likely didn't draft Lock to be your QB1 in season-long leagues, so you don't need to risk it here. If he plays well, that's the best-case scenario, as you might have yourself a starter moving forward.