Happy Halloween: Fantasy Football Tricks and Treats

Every year our fantasy football rosters are hit with some players who fail to meet our expectations (Tricks) or players who exceed our expectations (Treats).  I am going to point out a few who I feel have been tricks and others who have been treats thus far in the 2020 NFL Season.

Hopefully, your roster(s) are full of more treats than tricks.

Tricks:

T.Y. Hilton  –  I am likely in the minority here but I predicted Hilton to be the comeback player of the year and as of now, he has done little to justify my prediction if he even wants to be in the conversation as he has only produced just 20 catches from his 37 targets for 242 receiving yards through six games without a single touchdown.

Last year he caught 20 of his 25 targets for 292 yards and 4 touchdowns in his first three games before he got injured and has never been able to bounce back.

It is quite obvious that the Colts do not have another wide receiver to take the attention from T.Y.   The Colts are hoping that the rookie WR (Michael Pittman) they chose with the second pick in the 2^nd round of the 2020 NFL Draft will be back on the field next week and draw some of the attention of the opposing defense.

Kenyan Drake – Drake was not so much a trick for me but many fantasy owners bought into the hype that he was going to be a top-notch running back on a consistent basis when instead he has been a stud about 15% of the time, very average about 60% of the time and disappointing a quarter of the time.  Now he is expected to miss a few weeks due to a high ankle sprain so the outlook is not great for Drake helping any fantasy team to a championship this year.

Tyler Higbee – Aside from one game in week two of the 2020 NFL season in which Higbee scored 3 touchdowns, he has been unreliable for his owners that were expecting similar numbers that he miraculously produced towards the end of last season when he averaged over 30 points in PPR leagues over weeks 13-16 when it counted most as fantasy playoffs were in full swing.

Julian Edelman – I’m not sure about you but I really didn’t expect Julian’s numbers to drop from last year even with a new quarterback as I thought he would be a decent option to dump the ball to when the quarterback gets pressure.  But instead, Edelman has only posted double-digit points twice through 7 weeks and those were produced during the first 2 weeks.  Last year, there were only 3 games all year where he did not post double-digit points.  Edelman definitely tricked me this year.

Treats:

James Robinson – Last Spring the Jaguars attempted to trade their former 2017 4^th overall draft pick Leonard Fournette before eventually waiving him after not being able to find a suitable trade partner.  The team obviously felt comfortable with Robinson as their lead back and apparently was correct in doing so as he has amassed over 700 yards from scrimmage with 6 touchdowns thus far in his rookie campaign.

I don’t believe anyone expected the product of Illinois State who was signed as an undrafted free agent back in April to become the bell cow running back that he is a top-five running back in the NFL as approach the mid-season mark.

Jonathan Taylor – Marlon Mack suffering a season-ending injury opened the door for Jonathan to emerge sooner than later after being drafted with the 9^th pick in the 2^nd round of the 2020 NFL Draft.  Taylor has begun his rookie campaign with double-digit scoring every week through the first six games with the exception of week 4 against a tough defense in Chicago but still managed 79 yards from scrimmage.

Travis Fulgham – Travis who?  Fulgham was not exactly a household name before week five but his role in the offense became an important one starting in week four with injuries to guys like Alshon Jefferey, DeSean Jackson and rookie Jalen Reagor.  Travis has scored a touchdown in 3 of the last 4 games and produced double-digit fantasy points in all 4 of those games.

There is no light at the end of the tunnel for Jackson as he was placed on injured reserve with a high ankle sprain but Reagor has been activated from IR as he appears to have recovered from his thumb injury and looks to immediately carve a bigger role in the Eagle’s offense.  Jefferey is also expected back soon.  With that said……..I do not expect Fulgham to continue the production he has had these past four weeks but sometimes these are players who often get slept on and owners regret not jumping on the bandwagon, Travis could be that player.

Mike Davis – This is for the owners of Christian McCaffrey who went down with a high ankle sprain during the Panthers week two game against the Buccaneers.  Insert Mike Davis and McCaffrey owners hardly missed a beat although he has struggled a bit these last two weeks against the Saints and Falcons.  Hopefully, McCaffrey returns back to action next and once again takes over the reins in the backfield leaving Davis to pick up the leftovers as he was doing prior to Christian getting injured.

Tom Brady – This choice is not so much because we expected Tom to struggle but more because we didn’t know what to expect after he signed with the Buccaneers.  Who contributed more to the success of the New England Patriots?  Brady or Belichick?  Today it’s looking like the Patriots would have been better off giving their former quarterback Tom Brady some love and letting coach Bill walk as the Buccaneers seem to be more aggressive in giving their QB the tools he wants to make another Championship run after recently signing WR Antonio Brown to team up with Mike Evans, Rob Gronkowski and Chris Godwin (when he returns after having surgery on his fractured finger).

Those are just a few examples of players who have been tricks or treats thus far in the 2020 NFL Season with more expected to appear in the second half of the season.  Who are some of your surprises or disappointments on your fantasy football rosters as we are fast approaching the mid-point of the season?

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