The Market Report: Week 7

The Market Report is your one-stop Monday shop for all the movement from a big weekend of NFL football.

These are the players who stood out for fantasy-relevant reasons — the good reasons, the bad reasons, and the in-between.

This column will be posted every Monday afternoon.

UPGRADES

Players about whom we’re feeling more optimistic based on recent play or news.

Quarterbacks

Kyler Murray (Ari) — Murray continues to look good, despite playing through a shoulder injury that is similar to what he had last year, or at least what our Dr. Edwin Porras thinks is similar to what he had. In a laugher over the uncompetitive Browns, Kyler posted 229 yards and 4 TD on 20/30 passing, though he continues to do next to nothing as a runner, with just 7 yards on 14 carries over his last two games combined (perhaps owing to the shoulder). Still, he’s progressed as a passer considerably, and the Cardinals made one of the deepest receiving corps in the league even deeper by trading a young player and a pick to Philadelphia for TE Zach Ertz, who looks spry after an injury-plagued 2020. Kyler hasn’t been the cheat code we expected given his surprising lack of running the last few weeks, but that could be a blip on the radar, and he has more than enough juice as a passer to make up for it. (Joe Dolan)

Running Backs

Dalvin Cook (Min) — Cook was coming off an ankle injury that cost him two of the last three games, and he was clearly limited in one of the games he did play in that span. Meanwhile, Alexander Mattison put up over 100 yards from scrimmage and massive fantasy days in the games Cook didn’t play. So with the Vikings heading into a Week 7 bye, they’re gonna take it easy on Cook, right? Well, if you think a 74% snap share, 31 touches, 143 yards from scrimmage, and a TD is taking it easy, then sure. Vikings backs had 35 opportunities (carries plus targets) in Week 6 against the Panthers — Cook handled 31 of those (88.6%). He looked fully healthy, and now he has a bye week to get even healthier. Mattison is back to handcuff status, though an elite one. (JD)

Leonard Fournette (TB) — Fournette has deservingly seized control of the Buccaneers’ backfield, and he’s playing the best football of his five-year career. He dominated the touches in a Week 6 victory over the Eagles, racking up 22/81/2 rushing while catching all six of his targets for 46 yards. Season-long Lenny has seen more than 60% of the snaps and 16+ touches in each of the last three weeks, and his fantasy production has risen in each week (16.9<21.0<30.7). Fournette’s role isn’t set in stone moving into the future, but the Buccaneers have seemingly moved on from Ronald Jones (19% snap share) for now while Giovani Bernard (16%) is playing in only hurry-up situations and obvious passing situations. The Buccaneers are going to be playing from ahead most weeks so Lenny can be viewed as a low-end RB1 for the time being. (Tom Brolley)

Joe Mixon (Cin) — HC Zac Taylor said before Week 6 that Mixon would get a full workload against the Lions, and Mixon quickly proved he’s back to full strength off the ankle injury he suffered in Week 4. Mixon posted a season-best 26.3 FP on 62% of the snaps against Detroit, which came a week after totaling 35 scrimmage yards on a 28% snap share against the Packers. He slipped plenty of tackles and looked explosive on his way to finishing with 18/94 rushing, and he also exploded for 5/59/1 receiving on six targets after posting just 4/8 receiving on six targets in his last four games. Chris Evans got some run (7/67 scrimmage) in Week 6 and Samaje Perine (COVID list) could be back this week, but Mixon is one of the position’s better bets to get 18-20 touches per week moving forward, including this week against the Ravens. (TB)

Miles Sanders (Phi) — There’s been seemingly no rhyme or reason to the way HC Nick Sirianni has run his offense or how he’s used his personnel. Sanders has been hurt the most by the lack of a direction for the offense, but it at least appears that Sirianni is making more of a commitment to keep Sanders on the field. Sanders has seen 75% or more of the snaps the last two weeks, and that includes in Week 6 when he saw a season-best 83% snap share even with the Eagles trailing to the Buccaneers for most of the game. Sanders is playing more and now he just needs more touches. He finished with 9/56 rushing and 2/10 receiving on four targets with Kenneth Gainwell mostly glued to the bench (23% snap share). Sanders is still a volatile fantasy asset, especially with Jalen Hurts vulturing goal-line TDs, but we’re at least getting signs of commitment to give us some hope for RB2 usage in the near future. (TB)

Darrel Williams (KC) — Darrel stepped into the lead role in Kansas City’s backfield in Week 6, and he saw more touches in a game (24) against the Football Team than Clyde Edwards-Helaire had seen in a game since Week 6 of 2020. Williams hung 23.9 FP in his first start since CEH landed on the injured reserve with his knee injury, which will keep him out through at least Week 8. He finished with 21/62/2 rushing and 3/27 receiving on four targets against Washington while playing a generous 72% snap share. Jerick McKinnon played a small role on 28% of the snaps, posting 3/10 rushing and adding a five-yard reception on four targets. Williams has the complete trust of HC Andy Reid and OC Eric Bieniemy, and he’s a must-start RB2 for as long as CEH is out of the lineup. (TB)

Chuba Hubbard (Car) — With the news that Christian McCaffrey (hamstring) will miss at least two more games, Hubbard is back in the driver’s seat in Carolina’s backfield, where he posted 16/61/1 rushing and 4 yards receiving on 3 targets in Week 6’s loss to Minnesota. The touchdown was the first of his NFL career. While Hubbard is no CMC — his hands have looked beyond shaky — he’s doing enough as a runner to earn plenty of work going forward. And while we don’t think the Panthers would have released Rod Smith if they thought McCaffrey would suffer a setback, Hubbard has been essentially a bell cow the last two weeks — and coach Matt Rhule said he wants to run more to take pressure off the struggling Sam Darnold. With byes and injuries, it’s hard to imagine having the luxury of benching Hubbard, even if you didn’t roster CMC in the first place. (JD)

Jonathan Taylor (Ind) — At some point, Frank Reich has to open his eyes and see the talent that he’s not fully utilizing, right? For some inexplicable reason, Taylor got two (2!!) first-half carries against the Texans as the game was 10-3 at the half. Then, the lightbulb flickered on, and Taylor ended up shredding the Texans for 14/145/2 on the ground to cement an easy Colts win. Obviously, Taylor’s best play was his 83-yard gain that set up his first touchdown, but his other 13 carries still gained an efficient 62 yards. Despite Taylor looking like one of the best pure runners in all of football and a threat to score every time he gets the rock, this coaching staff still loaded up Marlon Mack and Nyheim Hines for a combined 10 touches. Those touches by Mack and Hines gained a world-beating 34 yards. Look, keeping your running backs fresh so they can contribute all season long is smart – but only up to a point. Taylor is on the Nick Chubb / Derrick Henry talent spectrum and deserves that type of usage: 18-22 carries per game. Instead, he routinely gets treated like he’s the “1A” of a committee. It makes no sense. The good news is that Taylor continues to ball out in his capped role and make the most of every opportunity that he gets. While that can be a very thin margin to live on, Taylor deserves an upgrade simply for the way he’s playing. Hopefully it leads to a bigger role. (Graham Barfield)

Darrell Henderson (LAR) — It has taken three years, but Henderson has finally put together all of the things that made him such a special running back talent coming out of college. The burst, elusiveness, quick feet, and violent running style – it’s all there. After turning in another strong performance against the Giants (23 touches, 107 scrimmage yards, 2 TDs), Henderson is a bonafide league-winner whether you drafted him in the 12th round of best-ball drafts this summer or in the fourth round after Cam Akers’ season-ending injury. Outside of the one game he missed, Henderson has been a consistent stud in his five full games and has rattled off weekly finishes of RB14 > RB11 > RB15 > RB19 > RB5 with 16 or more touches in every start. Especially against the backdrop of the RB Apocalypse we’re experiencing combined with bye weeks, Henderson will be a top-5 option in Week 7 and 8 in two extremely soft matchups against the Lions and Texans. (GB)

Wide Receivers

Jaylen Waddle (Mia) — Waddle took advantage of DeVante Parker (shoulder/hamstring) missing his second-straight game, totaling 10/70/2 as his guy Tua Tagovailoa funneled him 13 targets. Waddle is the main, consistent beneficiary of the Dolphins lack of a run game because almost all of his looks come near the line of scrimmage. Tua and Waddle’s connection has been one of the lone bright spots for what was a promising looking season in Miami as the duo has connected on 15-of-20 attempts for 144 yards, 9 first downs, and 3 TDs in just two games of work. While Tua isn’t playing particularly well overall, at least we’re going to get a solid season from Waddle to show for it. (GB)

Marvin Jones (JAX) — He lives! After turning in just 10 catches for 111 yards (on 17 targets) in Weeks 3-5, Jones shredded the Dolphins for 7/100/1 in the Jaguars first win in 13 months. Now, some context is needed here. The main bit is that the Dolphins two starting CBs, Byron Jones and Xavien Howard both missed this game. Plus, it helps that D.J. Chark (ankle) is out for the year and Laviska Shenault is completely MIA in this offense. Jones deserves a slight upgrade for his performance this week – but it’s more so about the surrounding Jaguars passing game under-performing outside of him. The Jags’ are off on BYE next week then return in Week 8 to face Seattle. (GB)

Tight Ends

T.J. Hockenson (Det) — Hockenson got back to TE1 production in Week 6 after a three-week drought because of a knee injury and because of poor quarterback play from Jared Goff. He led the Lions with 8/74 receiving on 11 targets (26% share), and he could’ve had a monster day if Goff didn’t sail a pass over a wide-open Hockenson, which would’ve gone for a 38-yard score. Hockenson now has eight catches and 15.4+ FP in three of his first six games, and he has eight catches for a total of 15.4 FP in his other three games combined. Hockenson has been way more volatile playing with Goff than he was a year ago when he had 4+ catches and/or a touchdown in 12 of his first 13 games before Matthew Stafford got injured. You have to take the good with the bad when it comes to Hockenson as a TE1 option moving forward because it doesn’t look like Goff will be improving any time soon. (TB)

Dallas Goedert (Phi) — After months of trade talk, the Eagles finally moved Ertz to the Cardinals in exchange for CB Tay Gowan and a 2022 fifth-round pick. Goedert now has full control of the TE targets in Philadelphia’s offense and he should settle in as the #2 option in this passing attack behind DeVonta Smith. Goedert has failed to reach 6+ targets in a single game this season — he was on the COVID list in Week 6 — and he’s reached double-digit FP just twice in his first five games playing next to Ertz. Goedert averaged 4.2 catches, 53.0 receiving yards, and 6.6 targets per game with two touchdowns in five contests with Ertz out of the lineup in 2018-20. Goedert has the chance to settle in as a mid-TE1 moving forward even playing with the highly volatile Jalen Hurts. (TB)

Zach Ertz (Ari) — After months of trade talk, the Eagles finally moved Ertz to the Cardinals in exchange for CB Tay Gowan and a 2022 fifth-round pick. He’ll immediately move to the top of Arizona’s TE depth chart after the emerging Maxx Williams suffered a season-ending knee injury in Week 5. Williams was trending toward TE1 status before his injury, and Ertz will have the same chance to slide into low-end TE1 status playing in one of the league’s best offenses. Ertz is going to be a volatile option with so many mouths to feed in Arizona but, with the status of the position for fantasy, he has the chance to be an every-week option if he can settle into 5-7 targets per game. (TB)

Mike Gesicki (Mia) — With all of the Dolphins injuries at receiver and their lack of a run game, this team desperately needed Gesicki to step up and he has definitely answered the call. Gesicki shredded the Jaguars for 8/115 and showed the chemistry with Tua Tagovailoa that we saw towards the tail end of last year. Over the last month, Gesicki is the TE4 in FPG – which only trails Mark Andrews, Dalton Schultz, and Dawson Knox – and he’s tied for the second-most targets (34) at the position in this span. And more good news! Gesicki gets the Falcons next. Keep rolling him out as a TE1. (GB)

DOWNGRADES

Players about whom we’re feeling less optimistic based on recent play or news.

Quarterbacks

None of note.

Running Backs

Christian McCaffrey (Car) — CMC was placed on IR prior to the Panthers’ Week 6 loss to the Vikings, despite coach Matt Rhule saying last week that McCaffrey hadn’t suffered a “setback” in his return from his hamstring injury. Sure coach. He now can’t return to the field until Week 9, and you have to imagine the Panthers will be more cautious with him than they were the first go-around. By the time CMC is even eligible to return, he would have missed five games. For the second straight year, having the top overall pick might have buried fantasy teams. (JD)

Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt (Cle) — Chubb missed Week 6 with a calf injury, and Hunt sucked it up to play through knee and wrist ailments because the club needed him… only to exit with a calf injury of his own. Hunt’s injury appears serious enough that he will be going on IR, and it seems highly unlikely that Chubb will be ready to play against the Broncos on a short week, though the Browns are leaving the door open. D’Ernest Johnson and Demetric Felton, it’s your show — the plodding Johnson is likely on early downs, while the hybrid Felton on passing downs. And with Baker Mayfield dinged up, the Browns will need a run game. (JD)

Antonio Gibson (Was) — Gibson is playing through a stress fracture in his shin, which has limited his practice time and it’s now limiting his playing time. Gibson went in and out of the lineup in Week 6 on his way to 12/44 scrimmage on 39% of the snaps against the Chiefs. Meanwhile, J.D. McKissic finished with 16/110 scrimmage on a 61% snap share and rookie Jaret Patterson added 2/3 scrimmage on an 8% share. Washington’s season is starting to slip away a bit with a 2-4 record, and it’s fair to wonder if the Football Team will shut Gibson down for a couple of weeks or potentially for the rest of the season. Patterson, a UDFA out of Buffalo, would take over as the team’s lead runner if Gibson is forced to miss time with McKissic working in passing situations while getting more opportunities as a runner. McKissic should be owned in most formats at this point, and Patterson should be stashed just in case the injury becomes too much for Gibson to play through or if the team decides to shut him down at some point with their season heading south. (TB)

Chris Carson (Sea) — Carson sat out Week 5 after he suffered a “flare up” of a long-term neck condition, and our Edwin Porras wrote at the time that Carson was likely dealing with an arthritic condition, which meant that the issue wasn’t going away any time soon. Seattle then decided last week to give Carson more time to rest by placing him on the injured reserve, which means he’ll be out of the lineup for the next two games with their bye looming in Week 9. If he’s able to return in Week 10, Carson is going to be a frustrating low-end RB2 moving forward since he could miss time or he could leave mid-game at any point. Alex Collins is also playing well enough to stay in the mix even when he does return to the lineup. Carson, much like the rest of Seattle’s offense, is setting up to be an annoying fantasy option the rest of the way. (TB)

Myles Gaskin (Mia) — Well, the Dolphins whack-a-mole backfield continued this week with Gaskin, once again, getting demoted after a strong game. After being heavily utilized in the passing game in Week 5, Gaskin caught just two balls for 5 yards against the Jaguars. Keep in mind, the team was without DeVante Parker, Will Fuller (IR), and Preston Williams – so it’s not like they had a lot of mouths to feed. Gaskin played on just 36% of the Dolphins snaps against the Jaguars after his season-high 70% last week, which is just a brutal way to pull the rug out. After barely playing in previous weeks, Salvon Ahmed came out of nowhere for a season-high 8 touches and is now averaging 2.3 YPC on the year. With the Dolphins staff just throwing anything against the wall and hoping it sticks week to week, we wouldn’t blame you if you just wanted to cut bait on this backfield all together. . (GB)

Wide Receivers

Tee Higgins and Tyler Boyd (Cin) — Ja’Marr Chase has forcefully emerged as Cincinnati’s clear top receiver just six weeks into his career, which has left Higgins and Boyd as volatile options moving forward. Higgins has fallen below 45 receiving yards in each of his first two games back from his shoulder injury after posting 3/44 receiving on six targets (20% share) against the Lions. Boyd had an even more miserable showing with just a seven-yard catch on three targets, which gives him just 5/31 receiving in the last two weeks with a full cast of receivers at Joe Burrow’s disposal. Meanwhile, the #5 overall pick has 13+ FP in every game this season with 65+ receiving yards in four straight contests. Higgins has actually seen the most targets (28) in their four games together, but his aDOT sits at just 8.8 yards compared to Chase’s 19.0 average on 26 targets. Boyd has been just flat out miserable with an aDOT of 5.3 yards on 20 targets. It doesn’t help that the Bengals are playing at the second-slowest pace (heading into Week 6), which has limited Burrow to 29.0 attempts per game. The Bengals are lacking passing volume most weeks and Chase is hogging the valuable downfield targets, leaving Higgins as a volatile WR3 and Boyd as an uninspiring WR4 with a low floor and ceiling. (TB)

Tyler Lockett (Sea) — Lockett owners are in a world of pain for at least the next two weeks while Geno Smith is at quarterback. Lockett and Russell Wilson (finger, IR) have had one of the league’s best connections over the last decade with Lockett catching 76.6% of his targets in 2018-20 — 239 catches on 312 targets. He’s had no such connection in his first five quarters playing with Smith, posting just three catches on 11 targets (27.2% catch rate) for 42 yards. Geno has had a much easier time throwing to the much bigger target, D.K. Metcalf, who has 9/112/1 receiving on 10 targets (90% catch rate) in their first five quarters together. Lockett is looking like a shaky WR3 option against the Saints and Jaguars the next two weeks while his boy Russ is on the mend. (TB)

Terry McLaurin (Was) — McLaurin picked up a hamstring injury during Friday’s practice before Week 6 and the issue limited him to a disappointing 4/28 receiving on eight targets against an exploitable Chiefs’ secondary. We’ll see if the injury limits him at all moving forward this week, but it doesn’t help that backup quarterback Taylor Heinicke has hit a wall the last two weeks, averaging 5.4 YPA with one TD to three INTs against the Saints and Chiefs. McLaurin could really use a healthy Ryan Fitzpatrick (hip, IR) back in the mix in the next week or two to give him a shot of life as he’s fallen below 11 FP in four of his six games this season. He has another strong matchup against a banged-up Packers’ secondary this week, but he’s more of a volatile WR2 right now with his hamstring injury and the current state of quarterback play in Washington. (TB)

DeVonta Smith (Phi) — Philadelphia’s best chance to move the ball through the air in Week 6 was for Jalen Hurts to chuck it deep and to hope for a DPI call, which doesn’t bode well for the passing attack moving forward since they were going against one of the league’s worst secondaries. Smith finished with a miserable 2/31 receiving on four targets against the Buccaneers with Hurts completing just 12 passes and averaging just 4.4 YPA. Smith now has 6+ catches and 70+ receiving yards in half of his games and three or fewer catches and under 35 receiving yards in the other half of his games. Smith gets a small bump with the Eagles trading TE Zach Ertz to the Cardinals, but as long as he’s attached to Hurts, Smith will be a boom-or-bust WR3 in one of the league’s shakiest weekly passing attacks. (TB)

Tight Ends

Darren Waller (LV) — While he hasn’t had one game that has just killed you yet, Waller hasn’t lived up to his lofty draft price. After dropping a 10/105/1 hammer in Week 1, Waller has averaged a tame 11.3 FPG across his last five games. In fact, from Weeks 2-6, Waller is just the TE10. Now, Waller still leads all tight ends in target share (23%) – but that is a far cry from his alpha target share last year (28%). Bryan Edwards and Henry Ruggs emergence has a lot to do with Waller not being fed the ball relentlessly and while that definitely helps the Raiders, it takes some of the steam out of Waller’s ceiling in fantasy. He’s certainly due for some big games, but Waller isn’t going to have the same level of volume in 2020 with both Edwards and Ruggs playing very well and getting 8-12 targets per game combined. By no means can you bench Waller, so this downgrade comes more as a resetting of expectations. (GB)

WATCH LIST

Players whom we’re not ready to upgrade or downgrade, but their situations demand monitoring based on recent play, injuries, or news.

Quarterbacks

Dak Prescott (Dal) — Prescott threw for 445 yards and 3 TD in the Cowboys’ wild win over the Patriots in Week 6, but it did come at a cost — on his game-winning chuck to CeeDee Lamb, Prescott injured his calf and ended up in a boot for his post-game press conference. Prescott said during the interview that he didn’t think it was anything serious, and the Cowboys have the benefit of going on bye in Week 7. It’s still something to monitor, but not something we’d be overly concerned about. (JD)

Running Backs

Latavius Murray (Bal) — Latavius and the Ravens’ throwback backfield — throwbackfield? — including Devonta Freeman and Le’Veon Bell accounted for 115 rushing yards and 3 TD (one each) on 26 carries against the Chargers in a surprising laugher in Week 6. Murray was operating as Baltimore’s lead back, but he left the field during the third quarter with an ankle injury and did not return, ultimately playing 38% of the snaps to Bell’s 32% and Freeman’s 30%. Again, it was a laugher so it’s hard to tell just how serious the ankle injury is, and coach John Harbaugh didn’t give much of a hint beyond indicating it’s not a long-term injury. Still, Baltimore has a Week 8 bye, so if Murray misses Week 7, he could be healed up in time for the second half of the schedule. And to these eyes, Freeman actually looks the best of the trio, all of whom have at least one 1000-yard rushing season to their names… but none since 2017 (Bell). (JD)

Saquon Barkley (NYG) — Barkley missed Week 6 with a sprained ankle and wasn’t remotely close to playing after he failed to practice all week. At press-time, we don’t know if Barkley will be able to suit up in Week 7 when the Giants take on the Panthers. Getting back to a limited practice on Wednesday or Thursday would be a great sign, though. Devontae Booker filled in for Barkley against the Rams and turned his 16 touches into a very nice 69 scrimmage yards while playing on a workhorse-like 72% of the snaps. Booker will be on the back-end RB2 radar if Barkley misses again. (GB)

Damien Williams (Chi) — Williams missed Week 6 with a stint on the COVID list, while impressive rookie RB Khalil Herbert played 89% of the snaps against the Packers and handled 22 opportunities, 112 yards from scrimmage, and a TD. That comes a week after Herbert was used as the Bears’ lead back in a positive gamescript against the Raiders, so at the bare minimum it looks like Herbert has earned snaps in a timeshare. Williams is likely the better receiving back, so he’ll have value, but if he can play in Week 7 against the Bucs, it could well be in a part-time role. That role, of course, is likely to be more important against the Bucs’ stout run defense. (JD)

Alex Collins (Sea) — Chris Carson is dealing with a long-term neck condition, and Seattle decided to give him time to rest by placing him on the injured reserve, which means he’ll be out of the lineup for the next two games with their bye looming in Week 9. Collins has assumed the top spot in the backfield the last two weeks, and he turned in 20/101/1 rushing and he caught his only target for a three-yard loss in defeat to the Steelers in Week 6. He owned most of the playing time in the backfield until he sat out late in the game with hip and glute injuries, finishing with a 60% snap share ahead of DeeJay Dallas (34%) and Travis Homer (8%). Rashaad Penny (calf, IR) could also jump back in the mix as early as this week, but he’s impossible to trust at this point. HC Pete Carroll said Collins took a couple of big hits against the Steelers, but he may be able to play this week. Collins is the top runner and a low-end RB2 option in this backfield if he’s able to play against the Saints and Jaguars over the next two weeks. (TB)

Damien Harris (NE) — Harris looked incredible in Week 6 against the Cowboys despite coming into the action with a chest injury, posting 18/101/1 rushing and 1/7 receiving on his lone target, leading the Pats’ backs with a 48% snap share (Rhamondre Stevenson played 33%, and Brandon Bolden played 20%). But the rookie Stevenson vultured a TD when Harris was winded at the end of a couple of hard runs, and Stevenson also managed to make some plays in the passing game, posting 3/39 receiving and running the most routes (8) of any Patriot back during the game. Harris continues to look like the Pats’ best runner, but New England trusts both Stevenson and Bolden more in the pass game and as pass protectors, based on usage. In competitive games, he’ll be a solid RB2, but he is TD dependent and has a seriously low floor given his lack of a bell cow role. (JD)

Wide Receivers

Tyreek Hill (KC) — Hill still got his production against the Football Team in Week 6, but he wasn’t quite right playing through a quad injury that caused him to miss practice time leading up to the game. He finished with 9/76/1 receiving on a team-best 12 targets (26% share), but he played on just 57% of the snaps and he ran a route on 58% of Patrick Mahomes’ dropbacks. Hill didn’t have quite the same burst he typically displays, and he also dropped another pass that resulted in an interception for the second straight game. Tyreek could be a limited participant in practice again this week before their beautiful matchup with a shaky Titans’ secondary, but he can’t be pulled from lineups as long as he’s active on gameday. (TB)

Mike Williams (LAR) — Week 6’s loss to the Ravens was very clearly a “burn the tape” type of game for the Chargers, much in the same way Green Bay’s Week 1 loss — the Packers’ only loss to date — to the Saints was. So we don’t want to overreact too much to anything we saw. But Williams — who entered Week 6 having not practiced all week with swelling in his knee — played just 36% of the offensive snaps and was clearly hobbled multiple times. It’s possible the Chargers opted to just sit Williams down once it was evident they weren’t coming back against the Ravens. His progress, or lack thereof, needs to be monitored this week. (JD)

Marquise Brown (Bal) — In a game in which Baltimore controlled the line of scrimmage against the Chargers, it was a throwback performance for a Raven offense that has increasingly relied on the pass game in 2021. That was bad news for Hollywood’s fantasy production, as he posted just 4/35 receiving on 5 targets — the target he didn’t catch arguably could have been hauled in for a TD, as it was slightly ahead of him but still hit his fingertips, giving Brown 4 dropped TDs this year if you’re being liberal with the definition. But that wasn’t the big “issue.” It’s certainly noteworthy that rookie WR Rashod Bateman (core muscle) made his NFL debut and out-targeted Brown 6 to 5. The Ravens were able to dictate the terms of their matchup with the Chargers, which means the target volume wasn’t there for Brown, and I would expect Lamar Jackson to throw it more in coming weeks than he did in this surprising blowout win. But if Bateman is healthy, Brown might not have the monopoly on WR production here that he did during the first five weeks of the season. (JD)

Michael Pittman (Ind) — On a day where Carson Wentz only threw 20 passes, it’s not surprising that Pittman turned in a 2-for-35 dud. What was a bit surprising, however, is that TY Hilton got a team-high four targets in his return. Hilton did pick up a quad injury in the second-half, but it doesn’t seem overly serious. Meanwhile, poor Parris Campbell left the game after a great long touchdown grab with a foot injury. Pittman looked like he was on the precipice of a breakout season, but that is now on hold with Hilton potentially taking over as the Colts top target. (GB)

Kadarius Toney (NYG) — After gutting through a nagging ankle injury and suiting up, Toney looked like he was well on his way to another huge game after catching 3 balls for 36 yards on the opening drive. Unfortunately, Toney re-aggravated that ankle when he juked out a Ram defender and was immediately ruled out for the day. He was visibly mad at the sidelines before he went back into the locker room. Hopefully, Toney’s ankle injury doesn’t land him on IR and he’s able to get right soon. He has looked absolutely incredible. (GB)

Tight Ends

None of note.