Tyreek Hill Says He's All Good! 🐬

Would be fantastic if one of my favorite late round receivers (Diontae Johnson) could stay healthy enough to be played more than once every six weeks. As the old saying goes…

… the f*** does a hamstring do besides get pulled?

What’s in store:

• Kyler Murray was a full participant in practice yesterday! This isn’t a drill people… but you might have to hold on for just one more week.

• Tyreek Hill injured? What are you talking about? The NFL’s foremost receiving weapon says that he should be good to go against the Patriots.

• The Bengals lay an egg in Cleveland. If you started any of their players this week, you’re probably heading into MNF down a lot of points.

• Is Dalton Schultz’s breakout over the past two weeks for real? He’s led all TEs in target share since Week 5, but…

• Cardinals QB Kyler Murray officially removed from Arizona’s injury report ahead of Week 8 vs Ravens

  • It’s important to note that this doesn’t mean Murray will be active in Week 8, but it’s certainly reason for optimism that we could see him take the field in Week 9 against Cleveland. At this point, Murray should be rostered in all leagues as the Cardinals gear up for the former first-overall pick’s return to the lineup. The last time Murray took the field was in 2022 when he averaged 18 points per game before tearing his ACL in Week 14 against New England. The Cardinals are currently 1-6 and well out of playoff contention as things stand today, so it will be interesting to see how quickly the Cardinals move to re-insert their star quarterback into the lineup – especially if they would have their sights set on taking yet another quarterback early. Monitor the situation heading into Week 8, but if Murray doesn’t go, expect him to have a good chance to get back out onto the field in Week 9.

• Steelers WR Diontae Johnson misses practice Thursday with hamstring injury, status for Week 8 up in the air

• The dreaded hamstring injury is rearing its ugly head once again for the Steelers’ top wide receiver, and it’s almost as if the fantasy gods don’t want to give Johnson a chance to prove us right when we said all offseason that Johnson is the alpha in the Steelers’ WR room. There’s still enough time between now and Sunday that we could see him fight through the injury, but given that it was a hamstring that held him out originally for the four games he missed from Week 2-5, fantasy managers should be prepared to face life without Diontae for the second time in eight weeks. If this is indeed a setback, we could be staring down a second extended absence, as well.

• Dolphins WR Tyreek Hill participates in practice Thursday, says he’s good to go against the Patriots

  • After a serious injury scare on Wednesday regarding a potential hip injury for the NFL’s top receiving weapon, Tyreek Hill clarified himself Thursday that he would be ready to go in Week 8 against New England. Hill practiced at full speed on Thursday and didn’t appear to be in low spirits about the supposed hip injury he suffered this week, which suggests that there is a solid chance he takes the field on Sunday. It would obviously not be advisable to just disregard the situation at this point, especially since this is the top-scoring player in fantasy football we’re talking about here – but barring any contrarian reports over the next few days to what the Cheetah himself has told us, fantasy managers should feel alright about his status heading into Week 8 after uncertainty swirled for 24 hours.

• I have A.J. Brown as my fantasy WR1 this week in a fantastic matchup against the Commanders, and I don’t think there’s a case against him being the WR1 besides the fact that Tyreek Hill has the capability to go nuclear at any time. The thing is though – A.J. Brown is just on an entirely new level this season compared to last year, and he’s challenging Tyreek Hill as the best fantasy WR in football over the past five weeks.

• In that time span, he’s averaging a higher target share (34% to 33%), a higher aDOT by a long shot (13.25 to 10.47), a higher air yards share (50% to 47% - ridiculous), 37% of the Eagles’ end zone targets to Tyreek’s 20%, and more fantasy points per game (26 to 25.4). And you’ve probably heard this stat flying around all week, but it matters: Brown has 125 or more receiving yards in five straight games, and now he’s getting the Commanders who are allowing the seventh-most fantasy points to wide receivers overall and 5th most points to perimeter pass catchers.

• He’s managed to make Devonta Smith a legit afterthought in this offense, and as problematic as that’s been for Smith’s managers, I think we should get used to the level of domination we’re seeing from AJB. He’s tearing it up not only from a utilization standpoint, but also in his production.

• Listen - Cooper’s been going through it, man. Since he’s been in Cleveland, he’s put up with replacement level QB play from four different quarterbacks, and that includes his starter in Deshaun Watson. His catchable target rate is the lowest in the NFL among wide receivers to run 200 or more routes this season at 60%, which is a damn shame for one of the best route runners in the league. That’s led to five sub-top-20 finishes on the year so far in six games for Cooper, including three sub-top-50 finishes, too. And I’ve got bad news: that trend has a solid chance of continuing this week in a tough matchup against the Seahawks.

• Seattle’s allowing the fewest fantasy points to perimeter wide receivers over the past four weeks, and that’s largely been a product of Devon Witherspoon’s breakout on the right side of the defense. Normally, I’d say Cooper’s capable of overcoming a tough matchup, but that argument occurs in a vacuum - his fantasy production does not. P.J. Walker has not helped sustain a single reliable wide receiver so far this season, and that isn’t going to change at this point.

• I’ve got Cooper as a low-end WR3 this week, and I’d be tempted to throw in a young receiver like Tank Dell or Josh Downs to swing for some upside that Cooper lacks.

Texans TE Dalton Schultz entered Houston’ offense this offseason and instantly became the most experienced offensive weapon they had coming into 2023. With rookie QB C.J. Stroud under center, Schultz had a real opportunity to become the safety blanket in the Texans offense for Stroud – but through the first four weeks of the season, that wasn’t the case. Something changed in Week 5, though, and that led to Schultz becoming a focal point in Houston’s offense in Weeks 5 and 6…

That something could potentially be the availability of WR Tank Dell, who quickly developed rapport with Stroud before going down in Week 5 early with a concussion. He subsequently missed Week 6 as well with the injury, and that allowed Dalton Schultz to take on a tremendous 27.4% target share in the two games where Dell played less than 40% of snaps (0%, obviously, in Week 6) –and that 27.4% target share led all tight ends in that two week span.

The problem, though, is that when Tank Dell WAS on the field in Weeks 1-4, Dalton Schultz was only receiving a 10.5% target share - good for 27th among all tight ends in that span. That coincided with an ugly 6.2 fantasy points per game average, and there’s a chance that Schultz could revert back to that form with Tank Dell likely returning in Week 8.

We’re can’t say for certain that Dell’s absence is what has caused Schultz to see an uptick in his usage and production, but the stats point to it as a potential determining factor in helping to thrust Schultz into the TE1 conversation.