Returner Recap and Latest News: Week 16

Footballguys Staff's Returner Recap and Latest News: Week 16 Footballguys Staff Published 12/17/2014

Individual returner projections for each week are included in your MyFBG projections and rankings automatically. My returner projections are included in the default projection set with David Dodds' offensive predictions. Choose David as the source, and then choose a scoring system in which you have included points for return yards.

The base return projections for a week can be seen on this page. You can also go to the content for the week and use the Returner Projections link to get to that page.

UPDATES

The TItans have placed punt returner Dexter McCluster on Injured Reserve. The team's depth chart was edited to show Leon Washington as both the punt and kick returner. Washington is an experienced returner who handled kickoffs earlier in the year before losing the job briefly and then regaining it last week.

Week 15 Recap

Top Performers

After letting two top returners leave in free agency after last season, the Kansas City Chiefs turned to the draft to find a replacement. In Week 15, De'Anthony Thomas showed the return ability that led Kansas City to select him as Thomas returned 8 punts for 156 yards including an 81-yard touchdown. Rarely does a player lead all returners for the week with just punt returns yards, but Thomas managed it as he beat out the 142 kickoff return yards of Chicago's Marc Mariani and the 116 yards of Benny Cunningham of the Rams.  Buffalo's Marcus Thigpen joined Thomas on the list of punt returners to find the end zone this week as Thigpen took a punt 75 yards for a score in a Bills win over the Packers.

In the race for the most total return yards for the season, Devin Hester extended his lead over Jacoby Jones as the Falcons returner broke 1200 total return yards for the fourth time in his career. As great of a returner as Hester has been, he has a long way to go to match the longevity of Brian Mitchell who had 10 seasons of at least 1200 return yards.

All Week 15 Returners

Below are all returners for Week 15.

RankPLAYERTEAMKick RetKR YdsKR TDPunt RetPR YdsPR TDTotal YdsTotal TDs
1 De'Anthony Thomas KAN 0 0 0 8 156 1 156 1
2 Marc Mariani CHI 5 142 0 1 0 0 142 0
3 Benny Cunningham STL 4 116 0 0 0 0 116 0
4 Leon Washington TEN 5 116 0 0 0 0 116 0
5 Bruce Ellington SFO 4 90 0 2 12 0 102 0
6 Dwayne Harris DAL 5 94 0 1 -1 0 93 0
7 Preston Parker NYG 3 90 0 0 0 0 90 0
8 Devin Hester ATL 3 81 0 1 7 0 88 0
9 Marcus Thigpen BUF 0 0 0 2 75 1 75 1
10 Cordarrelle Patterson MIN 2 74 0 0 0 0 74 0
11 Travis Carrie OAK 3 73 0 2 1 0 74 0
12 Brandon Tate CIN 1 24 0 5 49 0 73 0
13 Josh Cribbs IND 2 60 0 4 13 0 73 0
14 Ted Ginn Jr ARI 1 18 0 4 54 0 72 0
15 Jacoby Jones BAL 1 16 0 3 49 0 65 0
16 Jarvis Landry MIA 1 26 0 2 34 0 60 0
17 Fozzy Whittaker CAR 3 59 0 0 0 0 59 0
18 Eddie Royal SDG 0 0 0 1 58 0 58 0
19 Danny Amendola NWE 2 43 0 1 13 0 56 0
20 Josh Huff PHI 4 54 0 0 0 0 54 0
21 Omar Bolden DEN 2 53 0 0 0 0 53 0
22 Markus Wheaton PIT 2 50 0 0 0 0 50 0
23 Chris Davis SDG 2 47 0 0 0 0 47 0
24 T.J. Graham NYJ 2 44 0 0 0 0 44 0
25 Antonio Brown PIT 0 0 0 2 43 0 43 0
26 Jordan Todman JAX 2 38 0 0 0 0 38 0
27 Frankie Hammond KAN 1 37 0 0 0 0 37 0
28 Marcus Sherels MIN 0 0 0 2 37 0 37 0
29 Shaun Draughn CLE 2 36 0 0 0 0 36 0
30 Andre Roberts WAS 1 33 0 1 1 0 34 0
31 Percy Harvin NYJ 1 33 0 0 0 0 33 0
32 Knile Davis KAN 1 29 0 0 0 0 29 0
33 Danieal Manning HOU 1 28 0 0 0 0 28 0
34 Anthony Dixon BUF 2 27 0 0 0 0 27 0
35 Dexter McCluster TEN 0 0 0 4 26 0 26 0
36 Taylor Gabriel CLE 1 26 0 0 0 0 26 0
37 Bobby Rainey TAM 1 25 0 0 0 0 25 0
38 Jeremy Kerley NYJ 0 0 0 3 23 0 23 0
39 Marlon Moore CLE 1 22 0 0 0 0 22 0
40 Brad Smith PHI 1 21 0 0 0 0 21 0
41 Jalen Saunders NOR 0 0 0 3 21 0 21 0
42 Senorise Perry CHI 1 20 0 0 0 0 20 0
43 Bryan Walters SEA 0 0 0 3 19 0 19 0
44 Odell Beckham NYG 0 0 0 4 19 0 19 0
45 Brenton Bersin CAR 0 0 0 2 18 0 18 0
46 Julian Edelman NWE 0 0 0 2 17 0 17 0
47 Travis Benjamin CLE 1 17 0 0 0 0 17 0
48 Wes Welker DEN 0 0 0 2 16 0 16 0
49 Ace Sanders JAX 0 0 0 2 14 0 14 0
50 Jeremy Ross DET 0 0 0 2 14 0 14 0
51 Marvin Austin DEN 1 12 0 0 0 0 12 0
52 Paul Richardson Jr SEA 1 12 0 0 0 0 12 0
53 Tyson Alualu JAX 1 12 0 0 0 0 12 0
54 Emmanuel Sanders DEN 0 0 0 1 11 0 11 0
55 DuJuan Harris GNB 1 8 0 0 0 0 8 0
56 Keshawn Martin HOU 0 0 0 3 6 0 6 0
57 Randall Cobb GNB 0 0 0 1 5 0 5 0
58 Keenan Allen SDG 0 0 0 1 3 0 3 0
59 Cliff Matthews ATL 1 2 0 0 0 0 2 0
60 Mike Tolbert CAR 1 2 0 0 0 0 2 0
61 Darren Sproles PHI 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 0
62 Brandon LaFell NWE 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
63 Micah Hyde GNB 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
64 Tavon Austin STL 0 0 0 2 -2 0 -2 0

Returners Year to Date

Here are the top 40 returners for the year based on total return yards.

RKPLAYERTEAMKick RetKR YdsKR TDPunt RetPR YdsPR TDTotal YdsTotal TDs
1 Devin Hester ATL 40 972 0 16 238 1 1210 1
2 Jacoby Jones BAL 27 835 1 28 230 0 1065 1
3 Jarvis Landry MIA 27 802 0 24 206 0 1008 0
4 Dwayne Harris DAL 28 687 0 25 234 0 921 0
5 Jordan Todman JAX 36 910 0       910 0
6 Adam Jones CIN 19 596 0 20 239 0 835 0
7 Cordarrelle Patterson MIN 32 824 0       824 0
8 Benny Cunningham STL 28 800 0       800 0
9 Percy Harvin 2TM 31 759 0       759 0
10 Andre Roberts WAS 24 554 0 26 193 0 747 0
11 Knile Davis KAN 25 728 1       728 1
12 De'Anthony Thomas KAN 12 383 0 28 327 1 710 1
13 Jeremy Ross DET 18 458 0 28 248 0 706 0
14 Bruce Ellington SFO 21 543 0 20 154 0 697 0
15 Chris Williams CHI 24 579 1 4 30 0 609 1
16 Leon Washington TEN 25 586 0 2 10 0 596 0
17 Griff Whalen IND 15 379 0 26 187 0 566 0
18 Ted Ginn Jr ARI 16 308 0 24 255 1 563 1
19 Travis Carrie OAK 15 362 0 23 179 0 541 0
20 Solomon Patton 2TM 18 416 0 10 112 0 528 0
21 Brandon Tate CIN 18 397 0 16 119 0 516 0
22 Josh Cribbs IND 14 421 0 15 78 0 499 0
23 Darren Sproles PHI 1 15 0 35 481 2 496 2
24 Preston Parker NYG 17 417 0 8 53 0 470 0
25 DuJuan Harris GNB 22 456 0       456 0
26 Danny Amendola NWE 15 391 0 11 46 0 437 0
27 Latavius Murray OAK 19 429 0       429 0
28 Philly Brown CAR 12 273 0 16 153 1 426 1
29 Marc Mariani CHI 14 348 0 7 29 0 377 0
30 Marcus Sherels MIN 4 110 0 26 266 0 376 0
31 Markus Wheaton PIT 15 372 0       372 0
32 Travaris Cadet NOR 15 364 0       364 0
33 Tavon Austin STL 2 19 0 32 330 1 349 1
34 Chris Polk PHI 11 340 1       340 1
35 Marcus Thigpen 3TM 7 147 0 10 187 1 334 1
36 Travis Benjamin CLE 12 246 0 12 88 0 334 0
37 Marlon Moore CLE 13 322 0       322 0
38 Josh Huff PHI 11 321 1       321 1
39 C.J. Spiller BUF 10 306 1       306 1
40 Chris Davis SDG 12 304 0       304 0

Week 16 Outlook

Job Changes

Cleveland used four different kick returners, with Travis Benjamin, Marlon Moore, and Taylor Gabriel each getting one return before giving way to Shaun Draughn who handled all kickoffs in the second half.

Although Anthony Dixon shows in the box score with two kickoff returns for Buffalo, they were short kicks that did not make it to primary returner Marcus Thigpen.

Though Coach Rex Ryan said Percy Harvin would not be returning kicks in Week 15 due to an ailing ankle, Harvin saw one return late in the third quarter with the game close. New York went with receiver T.J. Graham on the other returns.

The Titans went back to Leon Washington for kick returns after having tried multiple other players in the previous weeks. Washington responded with four good returns including one of 46-yards, but muffed a kickoff after a safety.

INJURIES OF NOTE

Receiver Keenan Allen suffered a broken collarbone and is likely to go on Injured Reserve. The Chargers have used both Allen and Eddie Royal on punt returns this season, and so are likely to stick with Royal now.

Dexter McCluster is dealing with an ailing knee and his status for the week should be watched.

Photos provided by Imagn Images

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