Roundtable Week 6: Not So Fast, Rebound Is Imminent

Photo: USA Today Sports

Welcome to Week 6 of the 2022 Footballguys Roundtable. Our intrepid panel of fantasy pundits discusses and debates four topics every week. Topics are now split into separate features.

This week's roundtable features these four topics:

• Not So Fast . . . (See below)
• The Jaguars' Backfield
• The True Reveal: Week 5
• Dynasty Buy-Sell-Hold

Not So Fast . . . A Rebound Is Imminent

Matt Waldman: From the list below, pick three players you believe will rebound after slow starts this year.

• Russell Wilson
• Matt Ryan
• Aaron Rodgers
• Ezekiel Elliott
• Brandin Cooks
• D.J. Moore
• Robert Woods
• Allen Robinson
• Logan Thomas
• Kyle Pitts

Who is going to show fantasy GMs that their demise is greatly exaggerated?

Gary Davenport: This might just be stubbornness, but I'm not buying that Wilson is washed. In Courtland Sutton and Jerry Jeudy, the passing-game weapons are there in Denver. If the Broncos' offense can just get out of its own way, Wilson's production should rebound. And hey, it could be worse. He could be Matthew Stafford.

Too soon?

Waldman: As a fellow Wilson believer (and I charted those first two weeks), I will allow it, despite the shot at the best quarterback to once play for my former employer in Athens, Georgia since Fran Tarkenton.

Davenport: Beats Art Schlichter. Maybe last year's top-20 season was an aberration. Maybe the bad quarterback play in Houston is just too much to overcome, and this is the reality of Cooks' situation. But Cooks' targets per game this season are almost identical to last year, so I'm relatively confident that this is a slow start and less a portent of the Apocalypse.

OK, I'm pretty confident . . .

I'm marginally confident . . .

Well . . . crap, I'm hanging on, but the grip is loosening.

Speaking of hanging on, the 3.8 yards per carry and one rushing touchdown we've gotten from Elliott so far certainly aren’t what fantasy managers were expecting. But as ugly as it has been, Elliott is still on track for another 1,000-yard season, and the reality is that had Elliott scored a couple more short-yardage touchdowns we wouldn't be talking about him. He's averaging better than half a yard better per attempt than Joe Mixon. Just saying.

Ryan Weisse: I have no idea what is going on in Denver, but Wilson cannot be this bad. If you look at the attempts, completion percentage, and yardage, it's not that different from what we've seen him do in Seattle. The glaring omission is touchdowns. However, with weapons like Courtland Sutton and Jerry Jeudy, it will only take a few course-correcting games of three or four passing touchdowns for us to put this all behind us.

The targets have been there for Cooks. They just need to connect. Even for a field stretcher like Cooks, a 57% catch rate is lower than we've seen in most seasons of his career. Even worse, 57% is up from the 44% he was at after Week 3. Although, the catch rate continues to rise, as he's caught 84% over the last two games. We need to wait for the touchdowns to follow. He has just one this season after scoring six in each of the previous two years in this offense. His game is prone to be boom-or-bust, but the improved efficiency should drag his floor back up to the Top 30.