Ultimate Fantasy Rookie Performances to Follow: Week 19

My heartfelt intro made more sense as an outro this week. Considering I accidentally wrote about Christian Watson before remembering Sam Howell played well (whoops), consider the bonus player the introduction. Also, Getty Images had the most unflattering pictures of the players this week. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did. The following is the top 6 rookie performances of the week based on their (fantasy points).

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6. Christian Watson (16.6)

After a couple of weeks of being borderline irrelevant (he probably killed you in your finals if you made it), Watson returns to the list! In the season finale, Watson caught 5 passes for 104 yards and rushed for 12 yards. Watson should continue to be a stud going into next year (unless Rogers leaves and then who knows what happens…).

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5. Garrett Wilson (17.9)

Joe Flacco loves to throw the ball toGarrett Wilson. If he had been the starting Jets QB all year, I wholeheartedly believe Wilson runs away with Offensive Rookie of the Year. SEVENTEEN TARGETS led to 9 catches for 89 yards. I’m begging the whole Jets organization to get a QB next year so that Wilson can eat every week.

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4. Drake London (18)

Finally, in the last week of the season, London became the target monster I anticipated at the beginning of the season. London led the team with 8 targets (I know, Wilson had 17. This is still a TON for Atlanta). Those targets led to 6 catches for 120 yards. It’s hard to project London’s performance going forward, because Atlanta is a confusing organization in general. He SHOULD be good, but I can’t figure out what they’re doing or how they got so many wins (all seven of them) in the first place.

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3. Sam Howell (18.26)

The Washington Commanders have no idea what they’re doing. After trading for Carson Wentz (oops!) and benching Taylor Heineke for Carson Wentz (what?), then benching Wentz because they remembered he wasn’t good, they FINALLY tried out their rookie Sam Howell. With Sam Howell as the offensive commander (eh? Not so subtle play on words!), the Commanders crushed the playoff bound Cowboys. Howell went 11/19 for 169 nice yards and a touchdown and ran a second touchdown in. Is he the future? It’s really hard to tell based off of one game. Washington has a very interesting problem next year for who they put under center

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2. Isaiah Likely (18.8)

Rookie quarterbacks (like third string Anthony Brown) love throwing to tight ends. Tight ends are big and they run relatively easy routes. Likely has shown flashes this season, especially on weeks when Mark Andrews was out. This week, Likely was the recipient of thirteen targets,  which led to eight catches for 103 yards. Criminally underutilized, hopefully the Ravens figure out how to get him the ball more in the coming season.

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1. Brock Purdy (19.82)

All Brock Purdy does is win, win, win, no matter what. 75% of his throws this week were completions. Any day one throws for 3 touchdowns it’s a good day. Most of my rookies this year didn’t make the playoffs, but Purdy will be one to watch going forward. Can this preseason unknown lead the 49ers to a championship?

WEEKLY POINTS

And with that, the 2022 regular season is in the books. I had a lot of fun taking a deeper look into this year’s rookie class. If someone had told me that I was going to write a weekly football column that tens of people would actually read while I was standing in the hot Vegas sun watching the first round of the draft, I would have laughed at them. I would never have expected this opportunity, but here I am.

I have to thank Geoff Lambert for running this site and giving me a chance to put crazy nonsense out every week for your entertainment. Hopefully he lets me come back next year. Also thank you, reader, for giving me five minutes of your attention on a week to week basis. See you next season hopefully maybe.

Come back next week for a wrap up of the entire season!

@MeLlamoMoron

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