We are now over a month into this NFL season! We must focus on the top takeaways now that we have film and statistics to study. No longer can we rest on our offseason takes of who will succeed and who will fail. We now have a reasonably large sample size of NFL football. The fantasy season will move quickly, and in a dynasty, it is essential to acquire players before they break out or unload players before they falter. We can lead our team to a fantasy football title by focusing on weekly top takeaways!
Death, Taxes, And Brandin Cooks
Brandin Cooks will be perennially undervalued in dynasty fantasy football. He bounces around from team to team in the NFL and refuses to stop giving fantasy players production. So far this season, Cooks is the WR36 in half-PPR but could have been had for third-round prices this summer. The man has 36 targets on the season and has become a favorite of second-year quarterback Davis Mills. If you ever need a solid depth piece for a contender, Brandin Cooks should always be a target in any trade.
Treylon Burks Missing Time
The theme of Week 4 has, unfortunately, been all about injuries. The first-round wide receiver suffered a turf toe injury this past Sunday in a victory against AFC South rival Indianapolis. With all the other rookie wide receivers breaking out, it looked like Treylon was the next man up. Week after week, we saw his snap counts rise to a level where he was on the field more often than he wasn’t.
Treylon had a rough summer dealing with several medical issues, including a rare case of late-onset asthma. However, things were finally coming together. His route participation rate was climbing, and they were even trying to get him the ball in the rushing attack. Burks will miss about a month of action. If anyone was high on Burks during the predraft process and still believes in the talent, now is the perfect time to go out and get him. His value may never be lower.
Jonathan Taylor Injury
This year, Jonathan Taylor was crowned the consensus top running back. Both in dynasty and redraft leagues, managers were taking him at the top of every draft. Week 1 was an excellent performance, but weeks two and three left much desired. In Week Four, we had an injury that caused Taylor to exit the game early.
The early reports from the locker room were that Taylor suffered a high ankle sprain. If true, that would put the axe on his 2022 campaign. However, the MRI results returned negative, which is a good sign. Taylor is questionable heading into a quick turnaround on Thursday Night football, but many don’t expect him to play. The best case scenario would be him missing this game and taking advantage of two weeks’ rest before returning in Week 6 against AFC South rival Jacksonville. Either way, backup Hines’s value will rise over the coming days.
Jacksonville Backfield Flipping
One of the major storylines in Jacksonville in the past offseason was how the backfield would be handled with the return of first-round pick Travis Etienne. Veteran UDFA James Robinson was returning from an Achilles injury, and there were many question marks regarding the timeline of his return. The vast majority of fans just assumed that Etienne would have the backfield primarily to himself, with Robinson getting a light workload to begin the season. Boy, were we wrong.
Through the first two weeks, Robinson relegated Etienne to a back-up-like role. He was more than doubling the second-year player in touches. However, in the past two weeks, we have seen a shift in distribution to more of a 50/50 share of work. If this trend continues, Etienne could take over this backfield before we know it. We have to remember he missed an entire season; this is his rookie year. Etienne is a must-buy right now, while Robinson should be moved as soon as possible while his value is still high.
Information is the most powerful tool any dynasty fantasy football manager possesses. If you can stay on top of the correct information more than your league-mates, you will come out on top. The AFC South is home to some key fantasy players. Be sure to check back with us, as we will be breaking down takeaways from every division this week. And be sure to come back next week, as we will be doing the same for all 18 weeks of the 2022 NFL season!
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I hope you enjoyed this piece in our Winning With Vegas series. For more content like this, follow me on Twitter @DanT_NFL. DMs are always open for any questions, comments, or craft beer recommendations!
