Fantasy weeks 3-5

Since my last blog post, there have been three more weeks of fantasy football action, and I’m here to tell you all about how my team has been performing.

As you may recall from my previous post, I was going into Week 3 with a record of 1-1. My Week 3 opponent was none other than Vishal Yelamanchili, and if you saw his comment on my last post then you know that I ended up losing to him. It was a close contest, but the final score was 107.1 to 117.8 in Vish’s favor. This loss was due to a variety of factors, but the most glaring one was an ugly 4.4 point game from Justin Jefferson. His statline of 3 catches for 14 yards was atrocious by his standards, especially playing against the Lions of all teams, and it was painful to see. Jerry Jeudy also had a poor outing, scoring just 3.7 points on 2 catches for 17 yards, but this was much more excusable in my opinion. Jeudy was dealing with a rib injury that he had picked up in the Week 2 game, and he was also dealing with the god-awful quarterback play from Russell Wilson. So it was probably a questionable call on my part to put him into my starting lineup, especially when I had waiver-wire stud Greg Dortch go off for 17 points on my bench, but hindsight is always 20-20 I guess. 

The rest of my roster all played well, with the exception of my newly acquired kicker Tyler Bass, but some volatility is expected at the kicker position from week to week. Prior to my Week 3 matchup, I traded Bills RB Devin Singletary and Nyheim Hines for Travis Etienne of the Jacksonville Jaguars. Etienne was a player that had severely underperformed so far in the season with respect to the lofty expectations placed on him, but I figured I’d take a shot on his upside since I didn’t have much to lose at the RB position anyway. He and my other running back Tony Pollard both had solid games, but it ultimately wasn’t enough to beat Vishal’s team, as he was aided by a 28 point explosion from Hollywood Brown. 

Going into Week 4 with my record of 1-2, I determined that I needed to try and make another trade. I was looking specifically to find a more reliable WR3 than Jerry Jeudy, as the Broncos offense had looked like hot garbage through three weeks and I didn’t trust Russell Wilson to be able to get him the ball consistently. I identified my trade target as Chargers receiver Mike Williams, who was coming off a down performance in Week 3 that saw him haul in only one catch. I swung a deal for him and Seattle rookie RB Kenneth Walker III in exchange for Jeudy, Chase Claypool, and Mark Ingram II off my bench, who I threw in because the manager who I was trading with had the injured Saints star Alvin Kamara on his team. While it pained me to trade away Jeudy, with Mike Williams I felt that I had acquired a WR that I could feel more safe about playing, and who also had the potential to have a few incredible games with Keenan Allen sidelined by injury. Getting Kenneth Walker in the deal I thought was also a nice addition, but as you’ll see later he would prove to be much more than that. 

In Week 4, I was matched up against Jacob Pandya, who had a 2-1 record and a really good all-around team featuring Kyler Murray and Dalvin Cook. But I was confident going into the matchup that my team could secure the win. It started with a huge bounce-back game from Justin Jefferson, as he dominated the Saints in London scoring 31 points. Helping my cause further was Dalvin Cook having a lackluster performance in that same game, putting up a modest 10.6 points. I got a bit scared when Pollard and Etienne both gave me next to nothing in terms of points scored, but it ended up being ok because Jacob’s two receivers, Amari Cooper and Diontae Johnson, ironically both gave him next to nothing as well. A good game from new addition Mike Williams and the ever-reliable Travis Kelce secured my team the win 125.66 to 106.18, and brought my overall season record to 2-2.

Week 5 I played my friend Tarik Bennouna, who went into the week with a record of 3-1 but also some injuries on his team to key players like Cordarrelle Patterson and D’Andre Swift. I had some momentum from last week, and was looking to see if I could get another win. A lot of my top players performed really well in this one. Jefferson had another game where he scored above 30 points, and Jalen Hurts and Mike Williams again had great performances as well. The cherry on top was Travis Kelce having a monster game against the Raiders in which he scored 4 touchdowns, cementing the victory in style. I won the week 152.98 to 102.06, though it would have been a bit closer had Tarik started Gabe Davis instead of Christian Kirk. 

With an overall record now of 3-2, my team seems to be trending in the right direction. Some of the players on my roster have begun to show flashes of their upside as well. Etienne, who started the season in a backup role to James Robinson, has begun to split carries out of the backfield more evenly and has demonstrated the dynamic running and pass-catching skill set that had him being drafted so highly at the start of the fantasy season. And Kenneth Walker III could now be thrust into a much bigger role in his respective offense with Rashaad Penny’s heartbreaking season-ending leg injury. I am excited for my team going forward and hope to keep my win streak alive in Week 6.