Weekly Twitter Observations

Luke Wetta

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Each week I will walk through the Twitterverse extracting some of the best commentary from trusted fantasy football minds. Twitter can be overwhelming with the amount of information that streams live, but it also proves to be one of the fastest and easiest ways to communicate. In 140 characters or less you can learn something about a player you may have never thought of from trends, stats or analysis.

T.J. Yeldon, RB JAX

One of more popular names to come across my timeline this week was that of Jacksonville’s T.J. Yeldon. Injuries to Toby Gerhart and Denard Robinson have provided T.J. with more touches than even the coaching staff probably expected this earlier in the season. After 15 touches in week one, Yeldon was force-fed the rock in week two, amassing 25 carries and adding three receptions. Josh Moore highlighted the early usage this week and was clearly optimistic.

Another good sign from the Jaguars offensive coordinator is the faith in the rookie to take on a “workhorse” type role.


Denard is expected to be out about a month or more with a MCL sprain and Gerhart is unlikely to take many reps from the young runner from all indications.

The success for running backs coming out of Alabama has not been the greatest to say the least (Trent Richardson will likely be the joke comparison for underperforming running backs for the next millennia). T.J. has great size, but his speed and agility were nothing to write home about. Through two games, his 3.3 yards per carry leaves much to be desired, but the Jacksonville offense and line are not doing him many favors, either. The reviews so far from the fantasy community remain mixed as seen from Matt and Brad’s tweets.

[inlinead]As always, fantasy football is not just about the best athletes as opportunity is just as important. Yeldon is a rookie runner developing with a young team around him. His work in the passing game is promising, though he is essentially catching swing passes at the line of scrimmage and making due with marginal gains. From a dynasty perspective as an owner you have to be excited about the early returns. Yeldon does not possess the high upside of a runner like Ameer Abdullah but T.J. already has established himself in the offense around him. The only downside is the lack of scoring opportunities the Jaguars offer. Despite being tied for sixth in total carries through two weeks, Yeldon is barely a top 30 running back in fantasy. If Blake Bortles can continue to progress and the young receivers produce, this offense could start to matter in fantasy outside of Allen Robinson on a weekly basis.

Tyler Eifert, TE CIN

Two weeks into the 2015 season and Bengals tight end Tyler Eifert is soaring up rankings and ADP. Eifert was one of my targets across the board this season and mentioned back in August how I preferred Tyler over similarly hyped Zach Ertz. Of course, I still expected the running game and return of Marvin Jones to limit Eifert’s weekly looks with A.J. Green receiving his healthy share as well. But as Phil Alexander shared, it has been Eifert leading the way in the receiving game.

Currently, Eifert is tied for second amongst tight ends for both targets and receptions. On his own team, though, he clearly is leading the way and becoming a go-to player for Andy Dalton. When evaluating the landscape for tight ends today in dynasty it still remains Rob Gronkowski versus the world. Behind him there are number of established veterans as well as Travis Kelce. I could easily make an argument for a number of these players while “Zeus” appears to be the current number two by a short margin. When looking at age and current opportunity being afforded in Cincinnati, I could also go as far as to place Eifert behind Gronk. Mainly I would be looking to trade up for his services now and have seen Jimmy Graham be offered for Eifert straight up already this season. Eifert could be running hot against a couple of weaker defenses and coordinators may begin to shift more focus to covering the tight end, but his value looks like it will only continue to move upward as we progress throughout the season.

Melvin Gordon, RB SD

Through the first two weeks of the season, Danny Woodhead has been the Chargers running back to make an impression on fantasy owners. Scoring two touchdowns and excelling in the passing game, his rookie counterpart has been somewhat overshadowed. Melvin Gordon has been in on 46% of the snaps in both games while Woodhead has been in for just over 50%. Danny’s experience and third down prowess was a knock against Melvin’s value even before the season and reason for many to discount the Wisconsin Badger as a viable fantasy asset coming out of the gate. This, of course, has played out as many believed it would and Gordon’s fantasy value may have taken a hit. During the Summer, Gordon was a top ten selection amongst running backs and behind only Todd Gurley for rookies. Recent ADP trends have seen Gordon fall out of the top 10 and even behind the aforementioned T.J. Yeldon. But looking at the stats, Melvin is logging a healthy 4.6 yards per carry compared to Yeldon’s 3.3 average. The big part of Gordon’s game a few have taken notice of is his big play ability.

The Vikings’ Adrian Peterson has also taken notice and mentioned recently he sees himself in Gordon’s game. While Gordon definitely needs to improve on pass protection and his receiving skills, what rookie doesn’t? Gordon has been targeted four times through two weeks and pulled all of them in so the team is also not completely avoiding him in that area. To date, I like what I have seen and still expect a running back who will grow to take on a larger part of the offense yet this season and be a consistent fantasy asset for his owners.

Dion Lewis, RB NE

Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots are usually a great landing spot for running backs to produce within their system. The problem for fantasy owners is determining which runner will possess that value. Beyond that, even after a running back appears to establish himself, Bill has shown a propensity to switch up lead backs without a moment’s notice. Enter Dion Lewis. Coming in the season he was an afterthought and not to be found on too many draft boards. LeGarette Blount served his suspension week one, but many believed he would be the clear workhorse for the Patriots and a potential RB2 on the season. But the NFL moves fast and fantasy owners need to adapt quickly as seen from numerous tweets this past week.

In week two and with Blount available for duty, Dion still handled 85% of the snaps for Patriots running backs. This could have easily been a game script move and Lewis’ ability as a receiver along with Tom Brady’s 59 pass attempts worked well together. But fantasy football seasons are often won by taking risks and swinging early on players. Dion could be that player this season who you presumably overpaid for at the time, but came away as the game changer you needed down the stretch. I still believe there will be games in which Lewis shares more touches with Blount and potentially whomever else Belichick saw first that day. But Lewis is a player I am looking to acquire based on an impressive small sample and an offense that rarely fails to pile up fantasy points.

Matt Jones, RB WAS

Well, that didn’t take long. The reactions during week three of the NFL season around the Washington backfield has shifted towards the rookie runner Matt Jones.

Coming into the Thursday night contest, Alfred Morris had handled 57% of the running back snaps. This alone was a significant reduction from his 80% share the previous seasons. He also had managed to take 60% of the handoffs, but all that changed in week three. Deep into the fourth quarter, Jones was the leader in snaps and also rushed eleven times compared to Morris’ six. All day, people had been asking whether to start Jones and the common response I saw was that it was just not feasible based on limited carries and snaps. Now that advice will likely be offered to Alfred Morris owners moving forward. In the end, the way the Washington offense looks with Kirk Cousins at the helm will limit the weekly fantasy points for either running back. Before the season, it had been reported the team was looking to sign Morris long-term but that may no longer be an immediate need. From a dynasty perspective, I would expect rankers to move both Alfred and Matt closer together while waiting to see how everything continues to play out. If you want to make a bet today, Matt Jones appears like the more valuable asset in D.C.

Thank you to 4for4.com, Football Outsiders and Football Guys for some of the stats used within this article. Both are great resources still available for the average fantasy fan.

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