The fantasy football regular season is in the books, and the league we thought we knew still threw us some curveballs this week. J.J. McCarthy is good now, Daniel Jones destroyed his Achilles, and Jakobi Meyers put up beaucoup fantasy points against the Jaguars, among other things. Are these the beginning of trends, or just a blip on the radar? Let’s dive in.
Is J.J. McCarthy a League Winner?
The man known as Nine, mostly in and around his own brain, J.J. McCarthy, finished week fourteen with 163 passing yards, nineteen rushing yards, and three passing touchdowns. Most importantly, he completed 70% of his passes for 7.1 yards per attempt and had zero turnovers. He looked the part of a real NFL quarterback. And, well, that had a lot to do with the matchup, as the Washington Commanders allow the third-most fantasy points to opposing quarterbacks. This isn’t anything new for McCarthy, as his 20.32 fantasy points mark the third time this year that he had 18.9 or more fantasy points in four point per passing touchdown leagues. Those games were all the first matchup of his career against top ten defenses in fantasy points allowed to opposing quarterbacks.
He lit up the Bears in week one (143/2/1, with 25 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown), but the Bears got the best of him in week six. He then toasted Detroit in their first matchup, notching three touchdowns again on 143 passing yards and twelve rushing yards. Then, this week. Again, under 200 yards and three scores. He’s doing just enough to rack up fantasy points for his managers, provided the matchup is good.
And folks, the matchups are good for the rest of the season. McCarthy gets the woeful Dallas Cowboys defense, which allows the most fantasy points to opposing quarterbacks, next up on the docket. Jared Goff finished with just 16.16 fantasy points last week, but that’s because Jahmyr Gibbs did whatever he wanted. Before last week, four of the previous five quarterbacks against the Cowboys scored 23.78 or more fantasy points. And that’s just next week.
Week sixteen brings the New York Giants and their second-best quarterback matchup to town, suggesting that things don’t get worse for McCarthy soon. The only hiccup on riding Nine to Titletown comes in the form of the Detroit Lions in week seventeen. He faltered against the Bears the second time he played them, and I feel as though Dan Campbell will have the guys ready to knock McCarthy’s head off in this one.
So, McCarthy isn’t a league winner, but he does have extremely favorable matchups down the stretch and is a good short-term fill-in for the dearly departed Daniel Jones, or if you play the matchup game at quarterback. Speaking of Daniel Jones…
Does Daniel Jones’ Injury Destroy the Indianapolis Pass Catchers?
Indiana Jones, AKA Danny Dimes, AKA the Dimesman, tore his Achilles at the beginning of the Indianapolis Colts’ week fourteen matchup against the Jaguars. It was a disaster for the Colts, who lost a key player for the season one week after losing Sauce Gardner to a scary calf injury. Daniel Jones had orchestrated a breakout season for Alec Pierce, had brought Michael Pittman back to fantasy relevance, and had ushered Tyler Warren into the league with an outstanding rookie campaign.
Riley Leonard stepped in, and with Anthony Richardson nursing a broken face, looks to play meaningful games in December, something his alma mater won’t be doing this year. But can he support these weapons in the future? Or is it a disaster for the pass catchers? First, to give the best three-word scouting report for Riley Leonard, I described him as “Temu Carson Wentz” this draft season, and we’ve already seen the gunslinging and running ability from him. He didn’t have any touchdowns, but he was 18/29 for 145 yards in three-quarters of a game.
If you strip out the Daniel Jones passes, the top weapons in the passing game finished with the following lines: Alec Pierce with three catches, on five targets, for 54 yards (3/5/54), Michael Pittman with 8/11/63, Tyler Warren with 1/5/-1, and Josh Downs with 3/4/18. Keep in mind that this is three quarters of action thrown straight into the fire.
This gives me some hope for the Colts’ pass catchers, namely Alec Pierce and Michael Pittman. Pierce likely drops to the back of the boom-bust WR3 ranks, agnostic of matchups, and Pittman remains a volume-based WR2. Tyler Warren gives me some concern, as this game makes it just one top ten tight end finish in his last six contests; Josh Downs is droppable.
The Colts have some rough matchups coming up, traveling to Seattle, hosting San Francisco, and hosting Jacksonville in a rematch of this week. I likely won’t be starting any Colts pass catchers next week, given how poorly they treated poor Max Brosmer and Kirk Cousins in the last two weeks. But San Francisco is susceptible enough to the passing game that I’ll slide Pittman, Pierce, and Warren back into my lineup. We’ll see how that goes before worrying about them in week seventeen.
Is Jakobi Meyers a Must-Start Wide Receiver?
Jakobi Meyers finished week fourteen with a team-high ten targets, which he turned into four catches for 39 yards and a touchdown. It marked his fourth-straight game with the Jaguars, wherein he finished with 11.4 or more PPR points. The streets, they are asking, yearning for an answer: Is Jakobi Meyers a must-start wide receiver?
Since joining the Jaguars, Jakobi Meyers has 31 targets, 22 receptions, and 284 yards across four games. He is the Jaguars’ WR1 since joining the team, leading them in all those categories since arriving, while dominating in targets per route run, yards per route run, and air yards share. He’s transformed their flailing passing game into a good one, elevating Trevor Lawrence into a starting fantasy football quarterback.
As I write this, Meyers is WR14; however, Sunday Night Football (and obviously, Monday Night Football) hasn’t kicked off. That leaves him room to fall off that pedestal, but given the teams playing, I doubt ten wide receivers pass his 16.8 PPR points in two games, so that he will finish as a WR2. This will mark his fourth-straight game as a WR2 or better, which is every game after his first with the Jaguars.
The matchups are not great coming up, as he faces the Jets and Broncos in the next two weeks, both of whom rank in the bottom ten in fantasy points allowed to wide receivers. Things get better in week seventeen, however, as the Colts, who gave him his 16.8 PPR points this week, are on the docket.
While Meyers isn’t a must-start wide receiver in two-WR leagues due to the upcoming matchups, in three-receiver leagues, you cannot remove him from your lineup. He’s the #1 receiver for the AFC South-leading Jaguars, and that’s worth starting in three-receiver leagues every week.
