The Rams looked like a veteran-heavy team entering the 2023 season. Matthew Stafford, senior quarterback. Cooper Kupp, aging receiver. Sean McVay is an experienced coach. It looked like a team rolling out the same old stuff.
Another preseason story goes into the shredder. The best thing anyone could have done this fantasy season is prioritize a pair of rising Rams right before the season, or in the first week of free agency.
The Rams escaped with a one-point win at the Giants on Sunday, and it was the new faces that energized the offense. Sophomore running back Kyren Williams totaled 101 yards and all three touchdowns in Los Angeles, moving him to the top of the fantasy running back board. Rookie receiver Puka Nacua didn’t break the game, but his 118 receiving yards were tops on the team. It was a fitting fantasy capper for two of the year’s stories.
Christian McCaffrey was probably the best fantasy player you could have drafted this year (an injury-clouded Week 17 sidelined), but not everyone had a real chance with McCaffrey. He was an early pick in every room. If you were drafted too late in the first round, he was never an option.
But anyone with summer information on Williams or Nacua (or an aggressive FAAB shade in Week 1) would probably land one of these guys, maybe both. Williams and Nacua each had global ADPs outside the top 200 in the final week of the draft season and were undrafted from most Yahoo leagues.
Nacua’s signal was inevitable in Week 1: He threw a 10-catch, 119-yard masterpiece for the Seahawks. Williams was more subtle: Although he had a pair of touchdowns, he gained a modest 52 yards on 15 carries. Cam Akers also had 22 rushes that day, although they went absolutely nowhere (29 yards), including a touchdown.
So after Week 1 we wondered if Williams was good enough to take charge of this job and if Nacua was good enough to hold on to significant market share even if Kupp (who would miss all of September) ultimately returned.
An emphatic yes on both counts.
The Williams season consisted of three parts. He rolled out an RB7, RB4, RB26. RB3, RB30 and RB2 open the year before suffering an ankle injury in late October. Some smart fantasy managers would have traded for Williams while he was injured, considering the sweet late-season schedule the Rams had in store. Williams went into smash mode for the final third of the year, finishing RB1, RB9, RB18, RB5, RB11 and RB1 (in progress) over the past six weeks.
This is what a competition winner looks like.
Maybe Nacua isn’t a grand slam like Williams, but he’s still a home run. He entered Week 17 as the WR7 in half-point PPR scoring (cumulative points), and the WR9 if you prefer a per-game average. He has played monster games with Kupp and without Kupp. It’s amazing that the Rams found this feisty rookie with the 177th overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft.
It’s been a quirky year for rookie pass catchers. Tight end Sam LaPorta is a challenge for the TE1 spot, and Zay Flowers looks like a sure star. Jordan Addison and Rashee Rice were reliable, Tank Dell was very good before a leg injury ended his year. Jayden Reed can play.
But there have also been frustrating moments. Quentin Johnston may have been a mistake in the first round. Jaxon Smith-Njigba was part of a crowded and somewhat disappointing Seahawks offense. Marvin Mims Jr. teased us for weeks, but could never do enough to get promoted in Denver. To be fair, Mims has also made his share of rookie mistakes.
The LAR outbreaks remind us that exchange capital is not the most important thing. Williams was the 164th pick in the 2022 class, similar to where Nacua was taken last spring. No team is right, even with most of their offensive evaluations, but if Sean McVay and Co. If I like a player, I will at least look at it again.
And I know how important the September FAAB process often is. This year there was a fantasy title, hidden in plain sight. All you had to do was look west.
Other heroes of week 17
— It was no surprise that mobile quarterbacks seeped to the top of the Week 17 standings. To be fair, Lamar Jackson crushed Miami with his arm: five touchdown passes, 35 rushing yards. It looks like he’ll get his second MVP before the ball drops in 2024. Hopefully his second playoff win isn’t far behind. Jackson’s 36.34 Yahoo points were easily tops for the position, with athletic maestros Justin Fields (313 total yards, two scores) and Kyler Murray (256 yards, three scores) settling in the 20s.
Josh Allen is listed at QB5, and it all came from his legs – he only threw for 169 yards, but he ran 11 times for 44 yards and two scores. The Bills offense has been a strange phenomenon since Joe Brady took over for Ken Dorsey.
– Arizona’s stunning upset of Philadelphia had another hero: James Conner. He converted 27 touches into 133 yards and two scores. Volume and goal-line equality are wonderful things. If you stayed true to Travis Etienne Jr. and De’Von Achane, you were rewarded. Etienne rushed for 102 yards and a pair of scores, and Achane was dynamic despite Miami’s loss, generating 137 total yards and a touchdown on 18 touches.
– Saturday night gave us a strong receiver, with CeeDee Lamb (13-227-1) torching the Lions and Amon-Ra St. Brown (6-90-1) providing his usual drumbeat. They had a name brand business on Sunday; Davante Adams was dominant (13-126-2) if you had the guts to stick with him, DJ Moore (9-159-1) continues to click with Fields and Brandon Aiyuk (7-114-1) was part of San Francisco’s expected victory in Washington.
Of course, there will always be many misses and disappointments on the recipient’s part; it’s the ultimate boom/bust position. Tyreek Hill only posted a 6-76-0 line, not what we expect on 12 targets. He hasn’t scored a touchdown since Week 13. Stefon Diggs’ puzzling slump continued: four catches, 26 yards. His last peak came in week 12; He has been suffering from fantasy headaches for two months. Philadelphia’s passing touchdowns surprisingly went to Julio Jones (two) and Dallas Goedert (one), meaning AJ Brown (4-53-0) and DeVonta Smith (3-30-0) fell well short of their expectations.
– Waiver-wire hawks were rewarded at tight end, where Juwan Johnson dominated in Tampa Bay (8-90-1) and Isaiah Likely picked up two touchdowns. It’s also possible that David Njoku (6-134-0) was taken off the wire a few weeks ago; he’s looked like an All-Pro since Joe Flacco joined the Browns. Njoku would have had a much better game on Thursday if the Jets fought back even a little bit.
As we send this piece to the editor, Travis Kelce is on three targets, two catches, six yards. Besides Isiah Pacheco, no one on the Chiefs had a decent first half. Some things are too depressing to think about right now, but we’ll have more Kansas City (and late-game thoughts) when I update this column later on Sunday.
I hope you get what you need. I hope you’re planning a parade for next week.