This article is part of our On Target series.
The most targets at the tight end position? Greg Olsen. The second-most? Kyle Rudolph. You can chalk this up firmly in the "literally no one saw this coming" category. I like to think I peruse a fair amount of fantasy football content and there was almost no Rudolph hype to be had. To be fair, the red-nosed tight end has basically been a barely-relevant fantasy player throughout his whole career, so this was pretty hard to see coming. He's played 167 snaps through three games and looks like he has a real role in the Vikings offense, albeit it's a low-ceiling offense. In leagues where I'm streaming tight ends, Rudolph is a waiver wire add for me this week.
What is the possible ceiling for the assured WR1 in an offense that is an odds-on favorite to finish the season top five in passing attempts? At this point, I think that Jones has easily moved himself into the top 10, maybe even top five, WR conversation. He's clearly past the Alshon, Dez (injured), Allen Robinson (Blake Bortles has forgotten how to play despite last week's results) and Brandin Cooks tier of players. He has 29 targets through three games and it appears as if the Lions are continually going to be in pass-heavy game scripts. It's impossible to buy a player after a 6-205-2 performance, but if there are trade offers to be made in your league, get to sending.
The most targets at the tight end position? Greg Olsen. The second-most? Kyle Rudolph. You can chalk this up firmly in the "literally no one saw this coming" category. I like to think I peruse a fair amount of fantasy football content and there was almost no Rudolph hype to be had. To be fair, the red-nosed tight end has basically been a barely-relevant fantasy player throughout his whole career, so this was pretty hard to see coming. He's played 167 snaps through three games and looks like he has a real role in the Vikings offense, albeit it's a low-ceiling offense. In leagues where I'm streaming tight ends, Rudolph is a waiver wire add for me this week.
What is the possible ceiling for the assured WR1 in an offense that is an odds-on favorite to finish the season top five in passing attempts? At this point, I think that Jones has easily moved himself into the top 10, maybe even top five, WR conversation. He's clearly past the Alshon, Dez (injured), Allen Robinson (Blake Bortles has forgotten how to play despite last week's results) and Brandin Cooks tier of players. He has 29 targets through three games and it appears as if the Lions are continually going to be in pass-heavy game scripts. It's impossible to buy a player after a 6-205-2 performance, but if there are trade offers to be made in your league, get to sending.
Something is rotten in the state of Arizona… and it's a combination of John Brown's lingering concussion problems, Floyd's imperfect route running and Carson Palmer's fragile psyche. Whatever happened to the Cardinals this offseason, it isn't pretty. Floyd has only nine catches on 23 (!!!!) targets and Brown has only 17 targets through three games. I am very cautious regarding the Arizona offense moving forward; David Johnson and Larry Fitzgerald are the only fantasy contributors that I am currently counting on, and I think they are totally an example of a team that flew too close to the sun. Palmer's Adjusted Yards per Attempt last year was the best of his re-birthed career (meaning post-Cincinnati) and just wasn't an accurate representation of who he was as a quarterback, and that was not baked into the Cards' wide receiver ADPs at all. There isn't really much you can do with these two in your seasonal leagues, but I do think Brown would be an interesting dynasty buy low because he has been completely irrelevant through three games.
No more Austin Seferian-Jenkins means that all of a sudden, Cameron Brate is a capital-T Thing. The Bucs coaching staff had talked all season like this was a possibility, and now here we are. Jameis Winston threw 58 passes last week and Brate was a big beneficiary of that huge split; this no-huddle offense is going to benefit everyone that is fantasy relevant in Tampa Bay, including potentially Adam Humphries, because Vincent Jackson is a total corpse. I put in sizable waiver wire bids on Brate in several leagues and I think it's quite likely he finishes the year inside the top 12 of tight end scoring.
After last week, I think that we can consider the cobwebs officially cleared. Nelson looked like the Jordy of yore, burning past cornerbacks, earning all of Aaron Rodgers' trust and delivering both down the field and in the red zone. Not that any of this is particularly surprising, but it is comforting to owners who took a shot on him in the second or third round of their drafts. Basically, it's the exact opposite of what is happening with Jamaal Charles owners. Perhaps the real takeaway here is that the biggest ill with Rodgers and the Packers' offense has simply been that Nelson is vastly underappreciated in our analysis of the offense. When they look bad, it's because Nelson isn't on the field or wasn't all the way back at full capacity (that and the Vikings team they played in Week 2 is just really good).
