Week Three is in the books for the NFC South! 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 an entire two weeks of NFL football to study. We can lead our team to a fantasy football title by focusing on weekly top takeaways! 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.
Baker Mayfield Value Killer
Every year fantasy managers prop up DJ Moore as a potential WR1. He puts up over 1,100 yards yearly but fails to eclipse four touchdowns. We thought Mayfield would be the quarterback to unlock Moore’s touchdown upside, but it does not look like the case. Here are stats Mayfield ranks 32nd in the league or worse; Completion Percentage, Average Depth of Target, and Time To Throw. Just a reminder that there are only 32 starting quarterbacks in the NFL on any given week.
Even Christian “QB-Proof” McCaffery is suffering under Mayfield. When healthy, the perennial top fantasy running back has only scored one touchdown on the season. However, this stat perfectly summarizes the Carolina Panthers under Mayfield. He passed for 170 yards this past Sunday against the New Orleans Saints in a key NFC South matchup. Sixty-seven of those yards came on a touchdown pass to Laviska Shenault. This touchdown pass was a dump-off that had zero air yards.
Alvin Kamara Concerns
Dynasty managers must be concerned with the production level from Kamara this year. He is currently RB55 through three weeks after missing one game due to an injury. It doesn’t get much better if you break it down to a per-game basis to ignore the injury. RB46 in points per game in Half PPR formats. Kamara has failed to find the endzone in 2022 and only has less than 120 scrimmage yards. Things are not looking good.
In the meantime, the Saints passing attack is struggling as well. After no turnovers in Week One, Jameis Winston has back-to-back games with at least two interceptions. The Saints are middle of the league in points scored while being top of the league in yards. This means the offense is simply not finishing drives and converting yards into points. Turnovers play a large part in this. Unless Jameis controls the interceptions, it could be a long year for Alvin Kamara managers.
Cordarrelle Patterson Repeat Season
A 31-year-old running back on his fifth team would be an easy sell in most years. And most dynasty managers were doing that this off-season. However, Patterson has continued to impress and is currently the RB4 on the season in Half PPR formats. Perhaps the most fantastic part of this is that most of his production came in the air last year as Atlanta lacked pass-catching options. Everyone was writing off Patterson’s value, with the Falcons drafting Drake London in the top ten of the 2022 NFL draft. But this year, most of his production has come on the ground. Including a very impressive 141 yards on just 17 carries this past weekend.
Once again, we are faced with the value problem with Patterson. If you are a rebuilding squad, you probably sold him either last year or during the offseason. If you are a contender, you must hold and ride out this production to hopefully a fantasy football title in 2022.
Brady Needs His Weapons Back
The Tom Brady versus Aaron Rodgers matchup this past Sunday was unlike any we have seen. The Green Bay Packers are a team concentrating on its defense and running game, and the Buccanneers entered Sunday’s matchup with a slew of injuries in the wide receiver room. Chris Godwin and Julio Jones were injured, and Mike Evans dealt with a one-game suspension. Tampa Bay struggled to move the ball, reflected in the final score, as the Packers emerged with a 14 – 12 victory.
Brady’s receivers included Russell Gage, Cameron Brate, Scotty Miller, Cole Beasley, and Breshard Perriman. We haven’t seen Brady with such a poor group since the 2019 Patriots. Evans will return from suspension next week against the Chiefs, and the hope that Julio Jones will be good to go. Brady will need all the weapons he can get to go head-to-head with Patrick Mahomes.
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 NFC South has many key fantasy players in it. 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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