The Judge's Verdict:
football 2019 Week 8
October 29, 2019
CASE SUMMARY:
Week 8 may have been the most "predictable" weeks of the season so far. By that, the Judge means that the top performers tended to be players ranked among the elite by most analysts. Yes, there were some surprises, like Jets TE Ryan Griffin leading all tight end scoring with his 2 TDs (Griffin had fewer than 3 points in all but 1 previous game this year) and Daniel Jones leading scoring among QBs (#2 and #3 were Watson and Rodgers, each within 1 point of Jones's total). But of the 5 players who recorded 30+ points (based on 1/2 PPR scoring), 4 were highly ranked by most analysts.
WRs Mike Evans and Cooper Kupp scored 37 and 31 points, respectively. Evans's 198 + 2td against Tennessee wasn't even his best fantasy day of the year, as he had 190+3 for 37 points in Week 3 against the Giants. Kupp's day was his best this year, and his 220 yards (+1 td) was the 2nd most yardage by any WR this year (Amari Cooper had 226 in Week 5). But Kupp has been solid all year, so this day was certainly not beyond expectations.
Among RBs, Aaron Jones monster day was mostly a result of catching passes. He rushed 3 times for 67 yards, but added 7 catches for 159 yards and 2 TDs for a total of 38 points. But fantasy owners remember Jones massive 4 TD, 45 point day in Week 5. Latavius Murray was terrific last week replacing Alvin Kamara, but he outdid himself this week with 32 points off of 102+1 on the ground and 55+1 receiving. Perhaps the return of Drew Brees made the Saints rushing game more effective. The only "surprise" 30+ day came from San Francisco's Tevin Coleman, with a total of 4 tds, 105 rushing yards and 13 receiving. Coleman, who missed 4 weeks with a high ankle sprain, had come close but had not crossed 100 yards yet this season, and had just 2 TDs total. Coleman had a 145-yard rushing day and a 156 scrimmage yards + 2 td game last year with Atlanta, and in 2016 had a 3-TD day, but this week was the best overall performance of his career.
DEFENDANT TESTIMONY:
4for4
Murray, Jones, Evans and Kupp were all in 4for4's top 10 at their position. Coleman was ranked 20th, right on the fence of RB2 status.
Huddle
The Judge admits to being a bit unsure how to evaluate The Huddle this week. On the plus side, they were the only site to rank Aaron Jones #1, ahead of McCaffery and Dalvin Cook, and were perfectly accurate. They also ranked Murray 4th, higher than any other analysts (actually CBS also had Murray a consensus 4th). Kupp was a solid 7th (although TheHuddle ranked him #1 in Weeks 6 and 7), and Coleman 16th, not the highest but a few spots higher than average. However they also left Mike Evans at #30 among WRs, same as two weeks ago (TB was on a bye last week). The Judge appreciates bold predictions and TheHuddle absolutely nailed the Jones call, but the Evans miss is a big one as well.
Advice
Murray, Jones, Evans and Kupp were all in FFAdvice's top 10 at their position. They placed Coleman 13th, well above the average ranking.
Sharks
Ranked Evans and Kupp 5 and 6 among WRs and Murray and Jones 5 and 6 among RBs. Coleman was 18th among RBs.
CBS
Cupp and Murray were both ranked well within the Top 10 by all 3 CBS analysts (both were 6th or higher among all 3). Jones was ranked 7th, 9th and 11th, still mostly in the Top 10. But Evans was lower, at 11th, 11th and 17th (Heath Cummings had Evans at 17). Coleman was outside the Top 20 by all 3, at 21st, 24th and 25th.
ESPN
ESPN's consensus rankings had the smallest gap between RBs, as they had Murray 8th, Jones 9th, and Coleman 12th, whichis the highest ranking Coleman received. Cupp was the 5th WR while Evans was 10th, on the fence of must-start status.
Footballers
These guys ranked Cupp 3rd but Evans 10th, while among RBs, they had Murray and Jones 7 and 8, and then Coleman was placed 20th.
Sharks
Fantasy Sharks ranked Kupp 10th but placed Evans down at 24th, noting the emergence of teammate Chris Godwin, who they ranked 5th. Right idea, wrong guy. They placed Jones 3rd among RBs but only elevated Murray to 14th (from 25th last week). Tevin Coleman was ranked 29th.
Sixpack
Kupp: 3rd, but Evans: 12th. None of the 5 analysts placed him in the Top 10. Jones and Murray were inside the Top 10 (7 and 9), and Coleman was 19th.
FFToday
Had Kupp 4th but Evans down at #15 (with Chris Godwin 8th). Interestingly, they ranked Murray 4th, with Jones outside the Top 10 at #11, but Coleman right behind at #12. Jones's rank is a few spots below average and outside the Top 10, but Coleman's position was better than all other experts (tied w/ ESPN).
Diehards
Only Kupp and Jones were inside the Top 10. Evans was ranked 12th (Godwin was 4th) and Murray was 13th. Tevin Coleman was ranked 18th.
Fantasy
Ranked Kupp, Jones and Murray in the Top 5 at their positions. Evans, however, was 12th, and Coleman was ranked 17th.
SleeperU
Liked Kupp and Evans (3rd, 6th) but under-ranked the primary RBs, with Jones 10 and Murray 14. Coleman was ranked 19th.
(read more about the fantasy football experts here)
VERDICT ANALYSIS:
While all the analysts had some of the 30+ club among their Top 10s this week, only five sites ranked all 4 players there, and only two of those (FFAdvice and ESPN) also had Coleman placed reasonably high. TheHuddle was terrific with Jones and Murray, but they were also the most pessimistic about Evans.