Eric Karabell is a senior writer for fantasy baseball, football and basketball at ESPN. Eric is a charter member of FSWA Hall of Fame and author of "The Best Philadelphia Sports Arguments".
Welcome to Thanksgiving week in both the real and fantasy football worlds, as well as the latest edition of our rest-of-season rankings and Stock Watch. There are myriad rankings changes this week, as per always, as we take into account unfortunate injuries and performance-based adjustments. For most leagues, the trade deadline arrives at noon on Wednesday, so there's still a small window to wheel and deal. Still, even if the opportunity for trading in your league has passed, it can pay big dividends to take a look at one analyst's opinions on player values for the rest of the 2020 NFL season. Happy holidays!
QB Stock Up
Taysom Hill, New Orleans Saints: There has been ample discussion and controversy surrounding Hill. However, the bottom line is that in his very first NFL start at quarterback, he scored 24.4 PPR points, good for third at the position for the week. Hill is a good football player and can clearly help a fantasy roster at quarterback. We have very little idea when (or even if) injured Drew Brees will return this season, which is why Hill earns a generous ranking here. Period.
Kirk Cousins, Minnesota Vikings: Give him credit for averaging 20 PPR points over the past three games, which, thanks to unfortunate injury and performance issues by other QB2 options (plus an attractive Vikings schedule), vaults Cousins back into the conversation for being a deep-league fantasy starter.
QB Stock Down
Matthew Stafford, Detroit Lions: Perhaps the injured thumb contributed to an ugly scoreless effort against Carolina on Sunday, but that now gives Stafford single-digit fantasy-point scoring in two of his last three games. Hey, we get to see more of this to commence Thanksgiving football! Woo-hoo!
Tua Tagovailoa, Miami Dolphins: Try to trust this process because Tagovailoa looks to be special, but Sunday afternoon sure seemed like an odd time to aggressively bench the rookie passer for Ryan Fitzpatrick in a close game. Perhaps it means nothing and he will statistically romp over the beleaguered Jets and Bengals over the next fortnight. Still, the move was a tad uninspiring.
RB Stock Up
Austin Ekeler, Los Angeles Chargers: He claims he is just about ready to return from the major hamstring injury that he suffered in Week 4. As with injured Carolina Panthers star Christian McCaffrey, that statement offers hope but no clear timetable. Dare to dream, fantasy managers! The duo's placement in the rankings, despite some uncertainty, shows where the tier of actual reliable running backs truly resides.
J.K. Dobbins, Baltimore Ravens: As noted in this blog entry, Dobbins is hardly the lone rookie running back who seemed deserving of major volume months ago but had to frustratingly "wait his turn." Testing positive for the COVID-19 virus likely derails him for Week 12, but, after that, he should thrive.
James White, New England Patriots: The loss of Rex Burkhead, likely for the season, opens up the proverbial PPR door for White to handle the vast majority of backfield receptions in New England, which he capably did on Sunday. Laugh if you will, but White outscored Damien Harris in PPR formats in Week 11 -- and he may consistently do so going forward because, yes, catches matter quite a bit.
RB Stock Down
Joe Mixon, Cincinnati Bengals: The foot injury that did not initially appear to be so serious has now cost the RB1 four games, and perhaps he will return from the injured list in Week 14. Then again, with Joe Burrow now done for 2020, why would the organization risk anything at this point? Unfortunately, we must downgrade awesome Cincinnati wide receivers Tyler Boyd and Tee Higgins as well.
Nyheim Hines, Indianapolis Colts: He has been a bit fortunate in the TD department and, after turning six carries into just two yards on Sunday, we can look at his Week 10 rushing performance at Tennessee as being aberrant as well. Rookie Jonathan Taylor looks to be back as the main ball carrier for the Colts, so Hines looks to be out as a safe flex option.
Michael Pittman Jr., Indianapolis Colts: Two games is hardly a breakout, especially with what is left of Philip Rivers' career at quarterback, but this rookie already looks like a flex option. He really needs to be rostered in considerably more leagues than T.Y. Hilton, who has yet to reach 70 receiving yards in any game this season and has scored nary a touchdown.
Curtis Samuel, Carolina Panthers: We certainly could use more volume consistency on a weekly basis here, but Samuel has scored five touchdowns over his last five games, including two of the rushing variety. He does not seem to care who is at quarterback for Carolina, nor which running back is in the huddle.
WR Stock Down
DJ Chark Jr., Jacksonville Jaguars: Chark can be a terrific fantasy option but he really needs a decent quarterback. Right now, this offense lacks one. Then again, Allen Robinson II has been overcoming this problem for years. Chark's Week 9 statistical explosion versus Houston was an aberrant one as, both in the three games prior to that outlier and in the two games since, we have been starkly reminded that he cannot do it alone.
Jamison Crowder, New York Jets: An underrated veteran (albeit a brittle one), Crowder caught one pass on Sunday as Joe Flacco actually threw downfield quite a bit. Ah, the perils of investing in offensive weapons from a winless club!
TE Stock Up
Hunter Henry, Los Angeles Chargers: Even sans the touchdowns, Henry retains TE1 status because of his relative consistency and, well, a lack of other options. We do appreciate the touchdowns in consecutive games, though!
TE Stock Down
Jared Cook, New Orleans Saints: It's hard not to notice how Cook, rostered in 70% of ESPN standard formats, has caught just three passes on only six targets over the past three weeks. That is simply not enough. Man, what is it about these New Orleans tight ends always being in the news?
