This is what kills your team; that top-ranked consensus player that has a fantasy faceplant. A fantasy faceplant is a player who finishes at least 15 spots lower than expected on a given week. Everyone knows Fantasy Football has so much variance week-to-week, so the faceplants might be just a blip. But as we go through the season we can see if the players show a trend. I will use FantasyPros each week to get the initial rankings. The players highlighted are from the TNF game and the Sunday day games. These do not include the SNF or MNF games. You can view last week’s faceplants here.
Lamar Jackson, Baltimore Ravens
Started – QB1
Sunday Finish – QB16
Lamar would have finished even worse if it wasn’t for Mark Andrews making amazing catches; and Lamar’s 68 rushing yards. He had four INTs in his return after missing the last game.
Moving Forward: There was talk about him still feeling the effects of being sick, but this could just be a bad game that will happen. Lamar is electric and you saw in this game how hard he is to defend.
Najee Harris, Pittsburgh Steelers
Started – RB6
Sunday Finish – RB36
The Bengals jumped on the Steelers early. This was never really a contest. Big Ben was pressured all day and the offense could not get going. Because they were playing from behind, Najee Harris only received eight carries.
Moving Forward: This was an overall bad game by the offense. The bright spot is Harris still had 5 targets, so he is still a must start.
Justin Jefferson, Minnesota Vikings
Started – WR4
Sunday Finish – WR26
Justin Jefferson in this game still led in targets for the Vikings, but Adam Thielen benefited from receiving both passing TDs. With 4 catches for 83 yards, it was not a bad day by any means.
Moving Forward: No worries here. If just one of the TDs went to Jefferson he would have been top-10 on the week. It is nice to see that Jefferson is still getting so many targets; nine in this game.
Mike Gesicki, Miami Dolphins
Started – TE7
Sunday Finish – TE25
Mike Gesicki only received three targets this game. He wasn’t even the leading TE in targets; that was Durham Smythe with five. Jaylen Waddle had 10 targets himself so there wasn’t as much opportunity for everyone else.
Moving Forward: Gesecki has over 6 targets in three out of the last four games. In those games, he has not converted those targets to catches, with only a 50% catch rate. I think Gesecki is not a definite start at TE at this time because of lack of yardage and catches.
Make sure to check in on the Fantasy Faceplant each week on Monday. You can find me on Twitter @hayeb3 and all my fantasy football work
Brandon Haye
Brandon grew up in Jacksonville, Florida and works as a health insurance data analyst. He has no children, but two fur babies - Squirt and Brownie. He and his wife, Katie, spend their time playing poker and enjoying time with their pups. Brandon is a huge Michigan Wolverine and Jacksonville Jaguars fan. He at one time was in 77 fantasy leagues and loves the game of football. Brandon started writing for The Leauge Winners in 2021.