Ultimate Fantasy Rookie Performances to Follow: Week 14

This year, 262 college kids were drafted into the NFL and began their dream towards becoming an NFL player. The last pick has traditionally been called “Mr. Irrelevant” and has been celebrated for being drafted but ultimately, probably worthless. Brock Purdy was drafted out of Iowa State to the San Francisco 49ers and was bound to sit on the bench behind Trey Lance and Jimmy Garoppolo. That is, until Lance went down with a fractured fibula in week 2 and Jimmy broke his foot on the first drive of week 13. For his first outing, without any practice with the first team, he went 25/37, for 210 yards, 2 touchdowns and an interception. Although not making the list this week, pretty cool stuff (and he beat Kenny Pickett in fantasy points this week, so there’s that…). Congratulations on making it to the field, Brock!

Sorry for the over explanation on Mr. Irrelevant. My mom reads this and literally everything she knows about football is from my column this year (Hi Mom!).

Now for the real list. For newbies, these are the top rookies of the week based on full PPR fantasy football scoring. The scores are located (here).

5. Zonovan Knight (16.8)

Zonovan Knight was undrafted this year. Luckily for him, the Jets signed him in the year where everything they touch turns to gold.* This week, Knight had 15 rushes for 90 yards and 5 receptions for another 28. Rumor has it that Michael Carter is close to coming back, but Knight has earned the right to the majority of carries.

*How do I get the Jets to adopt me as their official beat writer so I can earn a Pulitzer prize?

4. Rachaad White (17.4)

I almost wrote this article before the Monday night game and I’m glad procrastination stopped me. Rachaad White had a last second touchdown, stealing the win from the New Orleans Saints. This week, White and Fournette split carries and catches and since they were roughly equally effective, they’ll probably continue to do that going forward, killing White’s fantasy value this year. It’s not like he’ll get a last second touchdown every week.

3. Alec Pierce (18.6)

It feels like the best player on the Indianapolis Colts is different every week. This week, Matt Ryan chose to throw to Alec Pierce. Pierce caught half of his targets (4/8) for 86 yards and a score. An interesting fact about this game is Pierce doubled the targets of the supposed stud Michael Pittman Jr. I wanted to like Pierce early in the season, but the Colts are just bad. He’s been nothing but a craps roll all year.

2. Garrett Wilson (24.2)

Eight catches for 162 yards. Thank you Mike White for taking over for Zach Wilson.

1. Christian Watson (24.4)

I’m convinced Christian Watson only scores touchdowns. He had TWO more this week on only 4 touches. THIS IS UNSUSTAINABLE BUT VERY EXCITING ANWAY. Maybe he’ll cool off during his bye week next week, but you have to keep playing him. Fun fact: in the past four weeks, Watson has 99.2 points. In the previous 6 games he played (he missed some time from injuries), he had a total of 26.7. For the people who care about the stats, he had 3 receptions for 48 yards and a touchdown and 1 rushing attempt for 46 yards and a touchdown.

Numbers!

Year chart

Thanks for reading! Have a good week!

Sincerely,

MeLlamoMoron

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