NFL Player News

Surratt (6’2/229) was a two-year starter at linebacker who collected 206 tackles and 13 sacks over 22 starts after switching positions from quarterback. He earned first-team All-ACC honors and was runner up for ACC Defensive Player of the Year in 2020. The brother of Wake Forest WR Sage Surratt (also in this class), Chazz showed a knack for knifing through gaps and closing quickly on the blitz. At his pro day, Surratt posted a 4.59 forty, 25 bench reps and a 4.18 shuttle that were all 85th-percentile-plus showings. But at sub-230 pounds with 30-inch T-Rex arms, he’s below NFL size and length thresholds. Suratt’s next area of emphasis will be run-game diagnosing and coverage smoothness. Despite his athleticism and previous QB experience, Surratt allowed a 104.8 passer rating against and an 81.8 percent catch percentage for 10.3 YP on 55 career targets. At 24, Surratt is one of the class’ oldest players. It’s fair to wonder how much development he has left.

Despite consistently being on the field more than any other Patriots receiver, Boutte has struggled to put up fantasy numbers. The Patriots are also often trailing and throwing, so that’s doubly bad news for the 22-year-old receiver. This is one example of volume that isn’t worth chasing in fantasy.

It was another high-volume day for Lamb, who has been targeted 12 times in each of his last two games. The Cowboys’ WR1 has had to adjust to life with Cooper Rush under center but has still managed to give his fantasy managers solid production in each of his last two games. The big plays haven’t been there for Lamb, but credit the Cowboys for finding ways to get the ball in the hands of their best playmaker. We shouldn’t expect weekly WR1 production from Lamb, but he’s a safe bet to return top-24 fantasy performances as long as the volume is there. He should make for a solid start on Thursday against the Giants.

We’ve been saying this for a few weeks now, but this Jonnu Smith production is not a fluke. He started getting more involved in the Dolphins’ offense when Tua Tagovailoa was sidelined, but the Dolphins have since morphed into a quick-hitting passing attack, which has favored Smith’s athleticism. He also possesses a physicality that few other Dolphins’ receivers have, which makes him an ideal red zone target. He is a locked-in TE1 the rest of the way.

Since Tua Tagovailoa has come back from his concussion, the Dolphins have turned into a quick-hitting passing attack that rarely takes shots deep down the field. That has allowed them to move the ball easily and put up points, but it has taken some of the ceiling away from Tyreek’s fantasy value. Considering he was also matched up with Christian Gonzalez for much of this game, the veteran wasn’t able to get much going, and he’s more of a low-end WR1 as he plays through injuries in Miami’s new pass attack.

Richardson came out scorching, throwing some nice passes on the Colts’ opening series as he added three rushes for 35 yards. Indy settled for a field goal, however, and continued to regress from that point on. That included Richardson, who had his third scoreless outing in seven tries this year. (A horrid Alec Ogletree end zone drop did have something to do with that.) The 61 yards rushing were a new season high, but the 39.3 completion percentage was a new season low. Richardson actually had fewer laughable passing misses than he did in Week 11, but the general inaccuracy was simply too much. Once again, some of his biggest completions required dives from his pass catchers. Richardson is dangerous with the ball in his hands, but that is too easy for opposing defenses to take away when he is not threatening through the air. The Patriots are at least a much softer Week 13 matchup than Detroit.

Hunt, in what could be his final game as the Chiefs’ lead back, did precious little with his 19 touches against a miserable Panthers defense. His pass game involvement (four targets) helped matters, but for a third straight outing, the veteran failed to find the end zone. Hunt could cede the starting job to Isiah Pacheco in Week 13 against the Raiders if Pacheco is able to return from his early-season leg injury. Hunt could still be treated as a flex option in deeper formats since the Chiefs will be heavy favorites against the Raiders.

We’ve been waiting for a “Waddle Day” all season, and we finally got it. The 25-year-old has topped 60 receiving yards just twice all season and this is the first time he’s done it since Week 1. The Dolphins now have four receivers they really like using in the passing game, which makes it tough to rely on Waddle every week, but he showed that he still has the juice. Waddle was easily able to get open against the Patriots’ cornerbacks, who were in man coverage often, and the Dolphins schemed up routes to get him ample yards after the catch. Waddle is worth having on your roster, but he remains a WR3 with all the competition for catches in Miami.

Dowdle handled 19 of the Cowboys’ 28 rush attempts in Sunday’s win. His longest gain came on a nine-yard carry, but Dowdle kept the ball moving forward with one physical run after another to keep the offense on schedule. Dowdle has now handled 29 rush attempts in the last two weeks and has 114 yards to show for his volume. He’s also caught five passes for 18 yards over that span. The Cowboys have proven more than willing to make him the staple of their backfield. He’ll make for a nice volume-based RB3 in Thursday’s Thanksgiving Day matchup against the Giants.

The Bears out-scored Minnesota 17-3 in the fourth quarter, didn’t turn the ball over on offense, and even recovered the first onside kick of the season and still couldn’t find a way to win. It was their seventh one-possession game of the year and their fifth one-score loss. The offense relied heavily on screens for the second game in a row, with both DJ Moore and Keenan Allen being fixtures of the short passing game. Williams also did damage out of structure and put his best throw of the year on tape with a rainbow to D’Andre Swift for a 30-yard gain as he scrambled to the sideline. The rookie added an additional 33 yards on six rush attempts as well. There were still some miscues including three sacks, one of which was an obvious throw-away situation in overtime. Williams refused to let the play end gracefully and took a drive-killing sack that eventually gave the ball back to Minnesota for their game-winning drive. Despite losing, this was easily the best Bears performance in over a month. It will give fantasy managers hope that Williams can creep up the QB2 ranks for his Week 13 date with the Lions.