• What to make of Breece Hall‘s up-and-down nature: The first-round fantasy pick's inconsistent production is frustrating, but continue to start him with ease down the stretch.
• Buccaneers' Bucky Irving is thriving: The rookie running back has 235 rushing yards, 97 receiving yards, 187 yards after contact and five rushes of 10-plus yards as the PPR RB2 over the past two weeks. He either ranks first or second to only Saquon Barkley in each category.
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Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes
Preparing for the next week of the fantasy football season often involves diving into potential waiver-wire adds or breaking down the more covert trends from the past week's games. But it's also beneficial to evaluate what's right in front of us: the players who excelled and those who came up short of expectations.
BOOMS
WR Terry McLaurin, Washington Commanders
McLaurin has been as steady as they come this season. The season's PPR WR4 through Sunday's games has scored 15-plus PPR fantasy points in nine games and has gone under 10 points in only three outings — two of which came in the first two weeks.
McLaurin followed up his 21.2 PPR points in Week 12 with a season-high 27.3 against the Titans in Week 13. Rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels looked McLaurin’s way early and often, and the star wideout finished with eight receptions, 73 yards and two touchdowns.
Terry McLaurin at halftime:
🔥 52 receiving yards
🔥 2 TDs
🔥 23.2 PPR points pic.twitter.com/UDIjl7JBNw— PFF Fantasy & Betting (@PFF_Fantasy) December 1, 2024
Scary Terry is set up for a career-best PPR season. McLaurin's previous best finish was as the PPR WR14 in 2022.
Going Forward: High-floor WR1
RB Bucky Irving, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
This marks back-to-back weeks of Bucky Irving making the “Boom” portion of this article.
Irving followed up his then-season-high 27.2 PPR fantasy points in Week 12 with 27.5 in Week 13.
The rookie has 235 rushing yards, 97 receiving yards, 187 yards after contact and five rushes of 10-plus yards as the PPR RB2 over the past two weeks. He either ranks first or second to only Saquon Barkley in each category.
With one of the 10 easiest strengths of schedule for the fantasy playoffs, Irving is a sure-fire top-10 PPR running back the rest of the way.
Going Forward: Top-10 running back
WR D.J. Moore, Chicago Bears
The Caleb Williams–to-D.J. Moore connection has finally come alive.
In the past two weeks, Moore has scored 26.9 and 23.7 PPR fantasy points as the span's WR1.
Moore's two-week stretch includes 17 catchable targets (third most), 203 receiving yards (fifth most), 126 yards after the catch (second most), four receptions of 15-plus yards and four missed tackles forced.
Williams seems to have figured it out recently, ranking as fantasy football's QB3 over the past two weeks. If the Bears' offense can continue to click, Moore and fellow wideout Keenan Allen will help fantasy managers in a big way through the playoffs.
Going Forward: Low-end WR1, high-end WR2
BUSTS
RB Breece Hall, New York Jets
Boom-or-bust Breece Hall continues …
After topping 30 PPR fantasy points in Week 11, the first-round fantasy pick provided managers with just 6.0 in Week 13.
The Jets threw often this week, with Aaron Rodgers recording 39 pass attempts to Hall’s 12 carries. Hall did well on that workload, going for 60 yards (5.0 yards per carry) but could not find the end zone or get much work in the passing game. His lone target fell incomplete.
Temperature Check: Unbenchable due to boom potential, but also a headache due to Jets' offense
RB Chuba Hubbard, Carolina Panthers
This was Chuba Hubbard‘s worst outing since Week 1, producing only 2.3 PPR fantasy points in a game that went to overtime.
Hubbard notched 12 attempts for only 43 yards and lost a fumble in the extra period, but fantasy managers shouldn't panic. Panthers quarterback Bryce Young threw the ball 46 (!!) times Sunday, so it was clear the game plan was to air the ball out — which won't always be the case down the stretch.
However, if there is one thing to monitor, it's rookie running back Jonathon Brooks. He handled 33.3% of the Panthers' running back rushing attempts against the Buccaneers. I do not see Brooks stepping in enough to take over the backfield, but he may do just enough to frustrate Hubbard's fantasy managers. Brooks handled all of the goal-line snaps (two) and a good chunk of early-down snaps.
Temperature Check: Don't panic, but monitor Jonathon Brooks‘ usage
TE George Kittle, San Francisco 49ers
Kittle secured one reception for 7 yards in a dreadful loss to the Buffalo Bills. We were left with 1.7 PPR points.
49ers quarterback Brock went 11-of-18 passing for just 94 yards in snowy conditions, so while Kittle may have been the dud of the week, he never had a chance to get going.
Starters came out of the blowout early in the fourth quarter, so there isn't much to proclaim other than the 49ers were outclassed and the weather conditions seemed to hamper them.
Temperature Check: Still a high-end TE1
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