We are now six weeks through the NFL season and some things that the fantasy football community thought would happen; are completely off. There are some things that have made this year feel different compared to past seasons. The stars that we are used to seeing put up numbers, just haven’t this year. Here are some of the biggest fantasy anomalies so far into the season.
Fantasy Football Anomalies
The Good
Josh Jacobs (RB4)
This one has been a shocker to me so far. The talent has always been there with Jacobs, but now he is providing strong RB1 numbers. Jacobs has more fantasy points than Christian McCaffrey and Derrick Henry. He has now had back-to-back weeks putting up 30 points, and is now the RB4 for the season. What changed?
Throughout the first three weeks of the season he has only played over 65% of the snaps once. The last two games he has played over 80% of the snaps. He averaged 7.3 yards per carry last week, which is his career best when having more than 15 carries.
We have seen flashes of these types of games from Jacobs. If he can be consistent, he will be a top back this season. This year has been very weird for RBs, but Jacobs is proving why he could keep this up for the rest of the season. He has a bye week in Week 6, then gets to show off his talents against the Jaguars in Week 7.
Geno Smith (QB6)
First off, I find it hard to believe that I am writing about Geno Smith in 2022. What a season by Smith so far; proving everyone wrong. He has had a monster start to the year and has been putting up great numbers. Smith has had back-to-back 30 point games, and man has he looked good.
Geno is currently tied for 7th in passing touchdowns, and 12th for passing yards. Smith has shown that he is very accurate this year as well, leading starting QBs in completion percentage. No one, and I mean literally no one, thought he would be doing this good. To top it off, he has been a very fun player to watch. While he is dominating through the air, he can also take off with his legs. Smith is starting off the season hot, and we will see if he can keep this up going against the Cardinals in Week 6.
The Bad
Now that we’ve discussed the players that have stunned us this season, let’s switch to players that have fallen short of expectations this year. There are always two sides of the story, but these players haven’t held up their end of the deal.
Najee Harris (RB29)
What a disappointing season for Najee so far. Going into the season, it seemed like he was the “safe” late round RB to take. Everyone that drafted him has to be very disappointed. Najee has only logged one touchdown throughout six games. He has yet to rush for over 75 yards in a game, and it does not look like it is getting better for him. He has not had a game over 20 touches; and it sounds like Pittsburgh wants to involve Jaylen Warren more.
While Najee played more than 75% of snaps in Week 3 & 4, in Week 5 he played under 50%. Warren was on the field more than Najee in Week 5; and so far, it does not look like it will be a good season for him. That entire offense is one that I do not want a part of; but what a disappointing start for the RB that was taken in the first round. When you probably think it couldn’t get worse, he plays the Buccaneers in Week 6. If there’s another bad performance, you can expect his fantasy football value to drop even more.
Kyle Pitts (TE24)
Kyle Pitts has had a nightmare start to his season. He was being drafted as the TE3 and looked poised for a breakout. The complete opposite has happened. He does not look involved in this offense and now has an injury. To prove how disappointing his season has been, here are some ‘no-name’ guys that have been better than Pitts this year: Kylen Granson, Tyler Conklin, and Daniel Bellinger. Taysom Hill scored more points in one game than Pitts has in four games. Yikes.
This is the complete opposite than what you wanted to see from Pitts this season. He has scored less than four points in three games this year. He has had more than three catches only in one game this year. It has been so bad that I saw Pitts get traded for Romeo Doubs in fantasy football redraft league. I apologize if you have had to deal with Pitts this year, it has been a disaster.
Harry Prskalo
Writer for The League Winners. Just a guy that loves Fantasy Football and will help you win your championship.