1035: 15 Transactions for Week 7

JJ Zachariason (0:02)

This is The Late-Round Podcast with your host, JJ Zachariason.

What's up, everyone, it's JJ Zachariason in this episode 1035 of The Late-Round Fantasy Football Podcast, sponsored by DraftKings. Thanks for tuning in. There's no better way to get closer to the action than with DraftKings Daily Fantasy, the ultimate destination for football fans. New customers can play free for their share of millions and prizes with their first deposit of $5 or more. Download the DraftKings Daily Fantasy app and enter promo code LATEROUND to play free for your share of millions. The crown is yours. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER. In New York, call 8778-HOPE-NY. In Connecticut, call 888-789-7777. 18 plus in most states. Eligibility restrictions applied. Ends December 31st. See terms at draftkings.com/promotions. It's a 15 Transactions day. Let's get to it.

Add Kimani Vidal. So entering week 6, we didn't know exactly how the Chargers were going to split up their backfield with Amari and Hampton sidelined. But we got our answer. Kimani Vidal was that answer. There were legitimate reports out there before that game that Hassan Haskins was going to be the guy. That's what the report said. But Vidal saw 75% of the team's running back rushes and a 10.5% target share. He out snapped Haskins 43 to 20 And he looked good. He scored 22.8 PPR points. Apparently, the Samarian Hampton injury is going to be longer than a 4 week injury. Which means there could be more opportunity for Vidal in the coming weeks. Now, with that being said, there's two things I need to point out here. Number one, the Chargers face the Dolphins. The Dolphins have now given up 420 plus PPR point performances to running backs in 6 games. They're a top 5 matchup for running backs by adjusted points allowed. The second thing to bring up is the trade rumors. There's a lot of chatter saying that the Chargers could be looking to add another running back via a trade. And Vidal's not at the point right now where he's irreplaceable. It's a more volatile situation than we'd like. He's definitely the top ad this week though. LA's schedule over the next month is not too bad, and there's always a chance that they don't go after another running back, that this is it for them, and if that's the case, they might ride Vidal until Amarion Hampton is back.

Add Arande Gatson to second. I've talked about Arande Gatson in the past, but it's worth bringing his name up once again, because week six was a really big one for him. He saw a season-high 21% target share against the Dolphins. He had a 77% route participation rate. He got seven of eight targets for 68 yards. Now, yes, Quinton Johnston was out. We have to keep that in mind, but Will Disley, he was back. He was active for the first time since week two, and despite that, Gatson was still seeing a lot of looks. It looks like he's grabbed hold of that receiving role at tight end. Considering his rookie status, there's some growth potential there, he's worth having on your bench.

Hold Trevion Henderson. So there's been something on my mind ever since I published that Mailbag episode last Friday, and I want to talk about it. Within that episode, a listener asked how I felt about Trevion Henderson, and my answer was pretty long-winded. I at first just dug into the rookie running back class in general, and then I got into Trevion Henderson. Now, after that episode was published, I got some messages from people. They were a little bit upset about my answer, and after listening back, I can understand why people were upset. My answer sounded kind of defensive. I didn't get my message across properly, and that's 100% on me. I didn't mean to sound that way. And more importantly, I definitely didn't want to paint some picture that everything was fine with Trevion Henderson, that he was some stellar pick in fantasy football drafts. Henderson has been a bust, plain and simple, and he was not someone I should have touted the way I touted over the summer. I was way too high on him. Through six games, I haven't seen the guy that I prospected during the draft process. There hasn't been that much opportunity for him to show off his pass-catching ability, which is really why I liked him. And I just hate this New England run game. There's not that much creativity. But he's also just been bad. He's been way worse in pass, bro, than a lot of us expected him to be. But I didn't want you to walk away from last week's Mailbag episode, thinking that I thought everything was totally fine with Trayvon Henderson. It wasn't. It clearly isn't. And it wasn't me just trying to defend a take or anything like that. I've been wrong, and I was wrong with the way that I handled that question. So genuinely, I'm sorry about that. But I have Trayvon Henderson as a hold right now for two main reasons. First off, if you go to social media, you're gonna find posts from people saying that Henderson's a drop. I'm not there yet at all. In most 12-team leagues, you shouldn't be letting go of a second-round rookie running back who at least had a lot of promise entering the season. It's been six weeks. It sucks that he's dead weight on your bench. Trust me, I have a lot of Trayvon Henderson. But there's still two outs for him to see more work. One of those outs just being that he can beat his competition, and the other one is his competition getting injured. And speaking of that competition, if Ramondre Stevenson were playing out of his mind, like if he was playing really, really well, then I'd probably feel different about Trayvon Henderson. But Stevenson's not. On the season, according to Next Gen Stats, Stevenson is an EPA per attempt of minus 0.48. Now, that's partially due to his fumbles, but Henderson is at minus 0.1. Stevenson's success rate, 31 percent. Henderson, 39 percent. Stevenson has a yards after contact per attempt rate of 2.1. Henderson, 3.0. And Stevenson has a worse yards per carry average. The wild part about this is that Stevenson's numbers, they're buoyed a little bit by that Miami game, that Miami Dolphins defense that I talked about earlier. In that contest, Henderson was benched because he had some really bad pass pro reps. Stevenson, in that game, saw plus 18 rushing yards over expected. He had 29 yards after contact. In all other games, Stevenson has minus 30 rushing yards over expected and 76 yards after contact. Henderson has roughly 50 more yards after contact on 10 fewer rush attempts. And of course, we know that Stevenson is one fumble away, at least we think he's one fumble away, from losing more work. This is all to just say the following. Alright, Henderson has been a bust, and again, it's on me for not being clearer on last week's Mailbag episode. It was a mistake for us, for me, to draft him where we were drafting him. But despite being out snapped 43 to 19 by Stevenson on Sunday, now is not the time to drop Trevion Henderson. He's just someone that has to sit on your bench. Add Bam Knight. So the Cardinals opted to use more Bam Knight in Week 6 This backfield is a total nightmare. Knight had 37 snaps against the Colts. Michael Carter was at 32 That's according to PFF. Carter, though, ran 21 routes. Knight was at 13 That resulted in a target split of 4 to 1 in favor of Michael Carter. So to put that all another way, Carter was more of the negative game script back. And that was emphasized even more because Amari DiMarcato was injured. Bam Knight saw a little bit more work on early downs. Now, technically, if DiMarcato were to miss time with his ankle issue, Carter might be the more attractive fantasy asset to have in that backfield versus him and Knight. Because the Cardinals get Green Bay this week before their week 8 bye. Then it's a favorable matchup against Dallas, and then a not so favorable one against Seattle. All of those opponents, though, could force a negative game script, which means with these current running backs, that would favor Michael Carter. But look guys, Trey Benson's eventually gonna be back, and it's not like this offense is amazing. So don't go nuts adding Bam Knight. Just understand that right now, he's a real part of this offense.