Fantasy Football Panic Meter: 5 players you should be worried about ending your season
Normally, we would solicit your suggestions for the Panic Meter in an effort to remain focused on the situations of greatest concern to the fantasy football community. This week, however, we are eschewing social engagement, because I have run out of new ways to tell you Lamar Jackson is actually good certain players simply demand our attention.
Here are the five players you need to panic about, if for some reason you were not already actively freaked out...
Saquon Barkley
Panic level: Petrified. Let's just try to enjoy the week ahead. 😳
At some point, Barkley should probably identify an injured body part that requires him to sit for the remainder of this lost Giants season. It's possible he'd like to reach some statistical milestone before he taps out — he's 303 rushing yards away from 1,000 — but it seems wild for a running back headed into another offseason of contract negotiations to handle significant December workloads for this particular franchise. New York hasn't given us any indication that they will be aggressively tanking, but, well ... we're talking about a four-win team. Things could be going better.
Monday night's home matchup with Green Bay is great for Barkley, but things take a rough turn in Weeks 15-17, facing three defenses that have been among the stingiest to opposing backs: New Orleans, Philly and Los Angeles Rams. When we reach the stage of the season in which he has no obvious incentive to put himself at risk and the matchups are terrible, Saquon-related fantasy panic will hit hard.
Tua Tagovailoa
Panic level: Dread of the inevitable 11-point fantasy week is rising. 🥵
Like Barkley, Tua has a terrific matchup ahead (Tennessee), so there's no great concern about his output in Week 14. We're good.
But then, one week later, we are very much not good — not at all. Tagovailoa closes his fantasy season with as difficult a three-game stretch as can be imagined. Just look at these games (and please note the way-too-rosy forecasts):
I can pretty much guarantee that even if he totals 60-something fantasy points over those three weeks, he is not doing it without a matchup-wrecking dud in there somewhere. That series of games is simply too messy. If you offered me the chance to lock in those projected point totals right now, I'd gladly accept. I can also tell you that if Tua hits those numbers against the defenses of the Jets, Cowboys and Ravens, he will have no greater advocate than me for his MVP candidacy. An absolutely brutal way to conclude a great season.
Tyreek Hill can survive it for fantasy purposes, because he's an unsolvable problem. But we can't feel much confidence in Tua in the money weeks. Alas.
Gus Edwards
Panic level: Despair, resignation, general gloom. 🫣 🚌
It's possible everyone else has already processed this one and I'm the only fantasy manager still reeling from the end of Edwards' run of dominance. This man scored nine times in a five-game stretch between Weeks 7 and 11, carrying many of us to wins, but he was then abruptly sidelined against the Chargers. Edwards played only 19 snaps in Week 12, turning nine touches into 37 scoreless yards. He'd been looking like this year's version of 2022 Jamaal Williams, but now it seems he's actually 2023 Jamaal. Just a terrible turn of events for Gus loyalists.
Electric rookie Keaton Mitchell played a season-high 33 snaps against the Chargers, gaining 89 scrimmage yards and looking like a player who definitely isn't about to lose playing time. I can't really argue with the elevation of Mitchell, because he's a little bit unfair. But the diminished usage of Edwards hitting at the exact moment Baltimore's schedule becomes particularly unfriendly for the ground game is quite a one-two shot for some of us. The Ravens get the Rams this week, followed by three of the league's top-eight run defenses: Jacksonville, San Francisco and Miami.
We can still hope for Edwards to see some goal-line work, but he might not reach a dozen touches in any game remaining this season. Bah.
Various assorted Chargers
Panic level: Extreme. High alert. Save your work and proceed to seek shelter. 🚨☢️☢️🚨
Justin Herbert and friends have scored 16 points combined in their last two games.
Look, I watched every snap of Iowa football this season and even I know that 16 points over two weeks is pretty terrible.
Herbert is down to one trustworthy receiver, which is not ideal. Also, his team's featured runner is almost certainly still feeling the effects of the high-ankle sprain he suffered in September. The Chargers technically got a win last week over the Patriots, but that thing certainly felt like a shared loss.
Basically, LA is a ghost team that doesn't know it's dead, still rattling around the house at weird hours. We get 'em twice in prime time over the next three weeks, which no one wants. I've benched Herbert in favor of Jordan Love in a favorite league and I'm feeling such relief.
Breece Hall
Panic level: It's more melancholy than outright panic, but still not great. 😞
Aw, man, remember those few weeks when you thought you had one of the all-time draft steals on your hands? Yeah, that was awesome.
Sigh.
Unfortunately, things are actually pretty awful for Hall specifically and for all Jets generally. Hall hasn't averaged more than 3.6 yards per carry in any game since Week 5 and his head coach recently called him out for a lack of griminess (paraphrasing). Suddenly, Dalvin Cook is back in the game plan, handling double-digit touches a week ago.
Hall has been peppered with targets recently, catching 18 short passes over the past three weeks, so he still has a pulse in full-PPR leagues. (His ADOT this season is -0.7, by the way, which feels very Jetsy.) But we're sorry to say, he cannot be fully trusted in any other format. And, oh yeah, he's dealing with an injury.
It's well past time to reduce our dependence on Jets, Hall included.
