Start or Sit Ricky Seals-Jones
The first week of the NFL fantasy football season is in the books, and at this point, you’re either on pace to go undefeated, or more likely, you’re an endless pit of death and despair, wondering why you wasted your time even thinking about fantasy football. After all, Joan from Accounting auto-drafted Tyreek Hill, Alvin Kamara, Patrick Mahomes and Jared Cook and smashed the thoroughly-researched players you took after countless hours of research and a long offseason. A wasted summer spent on nightly mock drafts instead of tending to your relationships with your loved ones. Whether you won or lost, it’s time to move on from week one and set your lineups for week two. Here at Football Absurdity, we try to help you out with your weekly lineup questions. For example, in this article we answer the question: should you start or sit Ricky Seals-Jones in week two as the Los Angeles Rams host the Arizona Cardinals?
Ricky Seals-Jones is eventually going to have a game worth starting him for, and I figure if I rewrite this article every week, then I will eventually be okay. There’s a lot to like about Ricky Seals-Jones’s week one performance that indicates he’s a great streamer to start in week two if you lost Greg Olsen or Delanie Walker for the season. First, he played on over 90% of Arizona’s snaps last week. Remember in the preseason when I loved him? It was assuming he would get a ton more snaps. That qualifies. Second, Ricky Seals-Jones trailed only Larry Fitzgerald in air yards, and sat behind Fitz and David Johnson in targets. His 18% target share in week one was seventh among tight ends. There’s a lot to like there when deciding whether to start or sit Rcicky Seals-Jones! He just needs the right opponent!
Oh, he gets a juggernaut defense this week. Hoo boy. Don’t worry, however, as the Rams are a tight end passing funnel. With Aqib Talib and Marcus Peters manning the outside, Sam Bradford (and most QBs) are smart enough to target over the middle. Cue Jared Cook’s massive breakout last week. This was a problem last season, as well. Jared Cook continued a trend of four TEs with at least 100 yards or a score against the Rams in their last four games. That seems to be by personnel and design. The Rams beefed up their front line and secondary in an effort to stifle the run game and wideouts. Tight ends are an afterthought. The Rams are making a conscious decision to yield yards to tight ends to strengthen themselves everywhere else, and you’re reaping all the benefits.
In a week that has at least two players in your league scrambling for a new starting tight end (myself included), Ricky Seals-Jones presents a perfectly valid option for streaming week two. He has the underlying production volume that indicates that he will have an opportunity to do well for your fantasy teams this week. The Cardinals will only have a chance to score against the Rams if they attack the linebackers in coverage, à la the Oakland Raiders last week. It’s a perfectly cromulent week to fire up your Ricky Seals-Jones shares. If you’re trying to decide if you are going to start or sit Ricky Seals-Jones, then wonder no more, friends: You should start him.
(I swear I will write about a different tight end next week)
((but only because RSJ plays against the Bears who look to be good at defending tight ends))
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