Tim's Takeaways: Week 16

Amon-Ra St. Brown...Must Start?

    Other than D’Andre Swift or (maybe) TJ Hockenson, the Lions offense has been a fantasy wasteland this season. But a new face has emerged in their absence. Amon-Ra St. Brown has become a must-start.

    Since Swift got hurt in week 12, St. Brown has drawn no less than 11 targets in any game. That’s four games in a row. That’s 46 targets over the past month. Only Cooper Kupp and Justin Jefferson have more than that. Pretty good company to be in, if you ask me. St. Brown has no less than 8 catches or 73 yards in any game during this span. He has 23.5 (or more) PPR points in three of these four, and no less than 15.3 points at any point during his hot-streak. Once again, nobody else in the league can say that other than Cooper Kupp. That’s how good St. Brown has been.

     Maybe it’s because there’s no Swift. Maybe when Swift returns the fun is over. Or maybe, the Lions have figured out they have a beast that needs to be fed. Is it any coincidence that they’ve won two of their last four games after going 0-10?

​    Whatever the case, if you have St. Brown, you better ride him till the wheels fall off… because the way he’s playing, there’s no way to justify leaving him on the bench. 



AB: League Winner.


    With Chris Godwin done for the season, and Mike Evans dealing with a hamstring injury (an injury that tends to linger… see Jones, Julio), AB (love him or hate him, the greatest statistical WR of this generation) is now atop a WR depth chart that happens to catch passes from the greatest QB of all time.

    Some things just don’t require too much thought. This is one of them.

    In his first game since these new injury developments, AB put up 10 catches for 108 yards, in a blowout game no less. Is anyone surprised? That is just another day at the office for Brown. If you read between the lines, you’d find he actually has added motivation to go off for the rest of the season. He can earn an extra $1 million in incentives if he racks up 11 catches, 281 yards and two TDs over the next two games. If you think him and Brady are not aware of that, I’m sorry to say: you’re wrong. Those totals would equate to 51.1 fantasy points, or 25.5 PPG over the next two weeks.

    Mark my words, Antonio Brown is going to be a league-winner. 



What did I say About Tee Higgins??

     A few weeks ago, I posed the question: 'Is Tee Higgins a must-start?' We continue to view Chase that way, so why not Higgins? After all, he had been more heavily targeted all season and had gained more yardage than Chase in nearly every game for the last eight weeks. Then, in classic fashion, (because I jinxed him) he put up just two catches for 23 yards in week 15. Great call Tim, way to go man!

     Well… After an insane game where Higgins racked up career-highs in catches (12) receiving yards (194) and fantasy points (43.4) in week 16, I can’t imagine starting him is much of a question anymore.

   Consider this my victory lap. I would have taken one last week, but I was too busy hiding under a rock. 

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