The Judge's Verdict:
football 2019 Week 6
October 14, 2019
CASE SUMMARY:
The most eye-opening performance of the fantasy week was Stefon Diggs's blowout, 167 yards + 3TDs. Diggs has not had a good start to the season, with just 1 TD and only 1 100-yard day. His second-highest yardage day was only 49 yards. Last week the Fantasy Judge discussed Adam Theilen's big day after calling out Kirk Cousins, noting that television analysts were seriously discussing whether Minnesota would cut Cousins altogether, despite his massive, fully-guaranteed contract. Since then, Cousins turned in his best 2 games, topping 300 yards in both and throwing for a combined 6 TDs vs just 1 INT. His combined QB Rating is the best in the league over the past 2 weeks. The Fantasy Judge wants to know which analysts had any faith in either Diggs or Cousins and which had completely given up on them.
The other eye-opening day came from James Conner in front of a national audience Sunday night. Despite Pittsburgh having to start their 3rd-string QB, Conner was able to generate over 119 scrimmage yards and reached the end zone twice, to lead all RBs in fantasy points. Conner's start to the season has been disappointing for a consensus first-round pick, and Conner owners can't be blamed if they had removed him from a starting role. Which analysts saw Conner's potential this week?
DEFENDANT TESTIMONY:
4for4
Diggs-24, Conner-12, Cousins-13
Huddle
TheHuddle anticipated big things for the Minnesota offense against the Eagles, ranking both Diggs (9th) and Cousins (8th) inside the Top 10. They weren't high on Conner, ranking him 21st among RBs.
Advice
Ranked Cousins 14th and Diggs 25th. They placed Conner 13th.
Sharks
Cousins-17 and Diggs-25. (Theilen was ranked 7th among WRs). Conner 16th.
CBS
All the CBS analysts hated Diggs, ranking him 31, 30, and 35 among WRs. Their opinion of Cousins was similarly bleak, ranking him 21st, 21st and 18th. Heath Cummings ranked Conner 10th but the others, at 14 and 15, dragged down his consensus rank.
ESPN
ESPN really hated Diggs, ranking him 34th. Cousins, 18th. James Conner was placed 17th overall. Among ESPN's group, Matthew Berry was the outlier on all 3 players, as he had Cousins and Conner 12th at their position and Diggs 25th, above all the other ESPNers.
Footballers
Ranked Diggs at 22 and Cousins at 12. Conner was the Footballers' 12th-ranked RB.
Sharks
Ranked Conner 7th among RBs, one of the very few sites to keep him in their Top 10. They also liked Diggs, ranking him 11th among WRs. They placed Cousins 15th among QBs.
Sixpack
Diggs 22nd, Cousins 12th, Conner 13th
FFToday
Ranked Conner 10th. Disliked Minnesota, ranking Diggs 40th and Cousins 16th
Diehards
Conner was placed 15th, Cousins 16th and Diggs 18th.
Fantasy
Fulltime has been on a roll lately, making big calls on Wayne Gallman and Will Fuller the past 2 weeks. However they may have topped themselves this week. The Fantasy Judge is actually shocked, but Fulltime ranked Stefon Diggs their #2 WR for Week 6, yes, ahead of Jones, Kupp, Thomas, etc. Wow. Amazing call. They also squeezed Conner into their Top 10 (ranked 10th), which few other analysts managed. And placed Cousins 11th.
SleeperU
Ranked Conner 12th, with Minnesota's tandem at 13th (Cousins) and 26 (Diggs)
(read more about the fantasy football experts here)
VERDICT ANALYSIS:
A handful of analysts sort-of liked Conner, led by the Fantasy Sharks, which, as the Judge has previously mentioned, seem to have a disconnect between their rankings and player comments. This week, their positive judgment was correct and it paid off. With that said, most other analysts had Conner in a relatively tight window between 12th and 15th. Opinions on Stefon Diggs, however, were all over the place. Not even counting FulltimeFantasy's #2 position, the rest of the field had him as high as 9th and as low as 40th. WR is the most volatile position but an opinion gap of this size is unusual. Finally, Kirk Cousins, like Conner, was generally ranked within a tight window, averaging right around 12 or 13, with only a few sites expecting him to crack the Top 10. Nobody is saying Cousins is an elite QB all of a sudden, but he has been among the best, if not THE best, from both an efficiency and fantasy perspectives over the past 2 weeks, just as NFL experts were writing him off as a total bust.