Five Burning Questions
By the time you read this, I’ll be in the mountains of Utah in a secluded cabin drinking beer and eating grilled meat. There won’t be any football, but there will be beer and grilled meat. Checkmate.
Before I go, I figured I’d answer a few questions the voices inside my head have been asking me all week. You can skip them if you want, but then you’d never know how to find the Ark of the Covenant.
Why is Coby Fleener your hill to die on?
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I was asked that this week on the Twitter machine, so I thought I’d go ahead and answer it here. Enjoy.
Way back in March, I penned an article titled Fleener Riot. If you missed it at the time, or aren’t inclined to click the link, it can be summed up rather succinctly: Coby Fleener isn’t very good at football but he is a productive fantasy player on a team that uses the heck out of the tight end. I backed my statement up with some numbers (he scored 8.3 ppg vs Dwayne Allen’s 6.9 in their time together in Indy), told some bad jokes, and moved on with my life, anxious to be proven right. Then the season happened.
In case you were abducted by henchman from the shadow government and missed weeks one and two, it, uh, didn’t go so well. Our subject fielded 12 targets, catching only three while tallying four drops. With the horrid start, Football Twitter exploded with Fleener is awful tweets, often tagging me in them. Ever the patient man, I sat quietly in the dark (I forgot to pay my electric bill), waiting for he of the blonde locks to reward my worship, and reward he did.
Now the PPR TE13 after the seven catch, 109 yard, one touchdown showing against Atlanta, the question is if he can keep it up. In an effort to find out, I watched all 23 of his targets multiple times. Here is what I found.
- I counted five total drops. Sure one was worse than the time my dog puked on my pillow, but three were the result of contact with a defender. Two of those instances saw a linebacker hack the ball out at the point of the catch with the third a result of a helmet to the ball, again at the point of the catch. Were they drops? Yep. Were they drops because he is awful? Not at all.
- Seven of the 23 targets were objectively uncatchable, a resounding 30%. His catch rate on catchable balls (10 of 17, 59%) is still bad, but it isn’t catastrophic. As good as Drew Brees is, he hasn’t been good when throwing to Fleener.
- From a pure mechanics standpoint, Fleener is as poor as ever at getting his head around and eyes on the ball. It’s always been a major issue for him, and I don’t expect to see it fixed. It just is who he is.
- For all the talk of how bad Fleener is, the dude is always open. He did it in Indy and he is doing it in New Orleans. The reason he keeps getting targets is because he keeps finding himself open in all areas of the field. With an ADOT of 11.3 and nine targets over 15 yards, Brees is seeing the same thing I am.
I still feel pretty strongly that Fleener is a mid to back-end TE1 this year. He won’t score as many points every week as he did week three, but he also won’t be as disappointing as he was weeks one and two. This is what Fleener does. We all knew it coming in and shouldn’t be surprised now that it is playing out.
Is it possible to have better hair than Fleener?
Is it possible to move a mountain? Is it possible eat two saltines in 60 seconds without anything to drink? Is it possible for Tom Selleck to be immortal?Â
All of these questions have different answers. None of them have anything to do with anything. You’re welcome.
What do I do with Josh Gordon?
As a long-time fan/apologist of the troubled receiver, I am sort of at a loss on where to go with him. His trade value at the moment is essentially nil and he is certainly not droppable, at least not until we hear if there will be any action from the NFL in terms of a suspension. For the moment, I am holding unless I can get somebody to pay a future second, which is beyond unlikely. If I am in a league with deeper rosters, I’d consider shipping a later third for him, just in case. Just know the floor is lower than low.
What one player would you be in the biggest hurry to trade?
After combing over the current fantasy leaderboards, I found a few obvious over-performers. Matt Ryan, Tevin Coleman, and Marvin Jones top the list, but none of them really fit the bill for my exercise. Ryan is a quarterback, which means he doesn’t matter, everybody knows Coleman is propped up by the three touchdown game, so selling high may not be possible (I would still try), and Jones is good enough he could finish as a WR1. Instead, I went a bit deeper and found LeGarrette Blount.
This really comes down to two major factors: Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski. Their impending return means an end to 25 carry games for Blount. It also means he isn’t likely to even double his current TD total (four) over the rest of the season. I’m not totally sure what the veteran is worth, but if you can get a second, I’d take it and run.
What one player are you in the biggest hurry to trade for?
Kenneth Dixon is perhaps a week or two away from returning. When he does find his way back, it will be into a backfield ranked 27th in yardage and 29th in yards per attempt. That alone is reason enough to look at acquiring the rookie, but when you consider he was clearly the best of the Baltimore backs in camp, I can’t help but be excited by the possibilities.
Dixon should come in and immediately push for touches. I’m expecting him to take the job at some point this season on his way to low-end RB1 or high-end RB2 type dynasty status.
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- How to Win Without Watching Football - July 22, 2021
- 2018 Summer Sleeper: Chicago Bears - July 9, 2018
- NFL Draft Aftermath: Winners and Losers from the AFC North - June 18, 2018
