This article is part of our On Target series.
I am going to come clean: I did not really buy into the Martellus hype over the offseason. He was a really intelligent signing by the Patriots because their offense is at its best when they have two tight ends on the field who are both solid route runners and very good run blockers. That being said, I assumed that Bennett would fall behind Julian Edelman / Rob Gronkowski / Dion Lewis in the pecking order but as of this moment, it seems as if he is on the same ground as any of the other offensive weapons in New England. You of course can't trade for him right now but it would be possible if he has a down game or two, and for the rest of the season, he's going to be an elite tournament option in daily fantasy contests.
Cordarrelle Patterson / Adam Thielen
It is not very likely that Stefon Diggs misses much time with the current minor injury that he has, but him missing the Texans game really showed us some buried talent on the Vikings roster. Adam Thielen looks like a souped-up version of all the white slot WR's littered around the NFL because he's 6-foot-3 and 201 pounds while running a 4.47 40. He's established himself as their primary outside receiver after that performance against Houston, and I'm putting waiver claims in for him even with Diggs coming back. Perhaps more impressively is that the Vikings are finally creating a role
I am going to come clean: I did not really buy into the Martellus hype over the offseason. He was a really intelligent signing by the Patriots because their offense is at its best when they have two tight ends on the field who are both solid route runners and very good run blockers. That being said, I assumed that Bennett would fall behind Julian Edelman / Rob Gronkowski / Dion Lewis in the pecking order but as of this moment, it seems as if he is on the same ground as any of the other offensive weapons in New England. You of course can't trade for him right now but it would be possible if he has a down game or two, and for the rest of the season, he's going to be an elite tournament option in daily fantasy contests.
Cordarrelle Patterson / Adam Thielen
It is not very likely that Stefon Diggs misses much time with the current minor injury that he has, but him missing the Texans game really showed us some buried talent on the Vikings roster. Adam Thielen looks like a souped-up version of all the white slot WR's littered around the NFL because he's 6-foot-3 and 201 pounds while running a 4.47 40. He's established himself as their primary outside receiver after that performance against Houston, and I'm putting waiver claims in for him even with Diggs coming back. Perhaps more impressively is that the Vikings are finally creating a role on offense for their 2013 first round draft pick, Patterson, who most had left for dead. At some point, Sam Bradford is going to rear his ugly head, but until that day comes I find all of these cheap Vikes skill position players interesting.
There is always some hesitance, even from me, to buy into these hyper-athletic wide receivers who have a very bad track record of production. Sammie Coates completely destroyed the combine, but he was way below the thresholds we want for college production in terms of market share and even raw output of touchdowns/yards. When you are in an elite offense with an elite quarterback, I am not so sure it matters. The same was true of Martavis Bryant; he had a dominator rating below 20 percent in college (meaning he accounted for less than 20 percent of his team's receiving yards and touchdowns) but when Ben Roethlisberger starting throwing to him, he turned into a stud. Funny how that works. Coates had 11 targets last week, leads the NFL in receptions of more than 40 yards and… well, he has a big cast on his hand right now which might let you send out a few lowball trade offers. I'm buying aggressively on all parts of the Steelers offense that I can unless it's Markus Wheaton.
No real extensive update here but I think as you are reading this, you should go to your league's "players page", search for Fuller and send some embarrassingly lowball-ish offers to his owner. Playing the Vikings is going to create an elite buying opportunity for RB's and WR's because their numbers are just going to be so bad. Fuller had one catch for four yards and if your average, non-fanatical owner sees that, you have a window open. Even if your fellow league mates are very sharp, they could see Fuller's first month production as a flash in the pan and this as regression setting in; we know better. Fuller is the fastest WR in the NFL in the open field, and the only good part of Brock Osweiler's game is his deep ball.
Odell Beckham / Sterling Shepard
Alright. I gave Ben McAdoo, Eli Manning and Odell one last chance, and they failed. McAdoo has been one of the most spectacularly incompetent coaches in the NFL through a month of the season and, in what would have been a winnable game, he didn't have his guys ready to go. There is not a meaningful difference in Odell's target numbers this year from last season, even with the addition of Shepard and Victor Cruz healthy again. The biggest difference is obviously coaching and the fact that Eli is playing like Blaine Gabbert. He's sailing throws that he use to make with ease, getting happy feet and stepping up in the pocket too early. He just can't seem to do any of the things that have made him effective in the past, and that's of course having a negative impact on Odell. The largest difference in output this season is that I am not confident the crazy 80-yard touchdowns are coming back for Beckham and that was how he generated so much of his value. This offense is too stodgy and bad to get him clean looks one-on-one down the field, and that's going to severely limit his value.
