One fact for every NFL team. Some might say it's truly a great day to be great.
Special thanks to TruMedia, PFF, Pro Football Reference, and Next-Gen Stats for all referenced metrics.
Arizona Cardinals
- Question: Has Trey McBride completed more hurdles than anyone in the league?
Yes. Source: Trust me, bro.
McBride has completed his three hurdles in back-to-back-to-back games, but unfortunately, we'll have to wait until Week 12 before seeing if he can extend the streak.
Either way, credit to the third-year stud for trailing only George Kittle in yards per route run (2.43 vs. 2.22) at the position this season–now if only McBride can end the pesky distinction of having the league's most targets without a receiving TD (65).
Atlanta Falcons
- Question: Has Bijan Robinson been playing better than ever recently?
He sure has. Overall, the second-year talent has ripped off *five* consecutive games with 100-plus total yards, which is good for the longest current streak in the NFL.
Now if Robinson can keep things going …
- The longest streak since 2020 is eight games by 2023 Christian McCaffrey and 2021 Jonathan Taylor.
- The longest streak since 2000 is 15 games by 2016 David Johnson.
- The longest streak since at least 1970 is 17 games by 1985-86 Marcus Allen.
Best of luck, Bijan. Sincerely, all of your very happy fantasy managers.
Baltimore Ravens
- Question: Who are the NFL's best QBs when they hold the ball for a while?
I feel like Lamar Jackson needs to be near the top given some of the magic he creates while extending plays, and sure enough: He is.
The below chart denotes every QB's adjusted net yards per attempt (accounts for TDs, INTs, and sacks) and EPA per dropback (probably the best advanced efficiency metric we got) when taking at least three seconds to throw. That's Lamar's head up there in the very top right.
Also: Caleb Williams down there in the bottom left next to Deshaun Watson, Will Levis, and Jacoby Brissett. Yikes.
Buffalo Bills
- Question: Who have been Josh Allen's most efficient targets?
Sadly, pretty much everyone other than Dalton Kincaid. And Curtis Samuel. Ugh.
Allen's passer rating by target (min. 10 targets, get well soon Amari Cooper):
- RB Ray Davis: 152.1
- RB Ty Johnson: 139
- TE Dawson Knox: 119.3
- WR Keon Coleman: 117.5
- WR Mack Hollins: 114.7
- WR Khalil Shakir: 113.0
- RB James Cook: 109.2
- TE Dalton Kincaid: 92.7
- WR Curtis Samuel: 59.9
Allen ranks fifth in passer rating (111.2) on targets to RBs and TEs this season. Only Lamar Jackson (14) and Baker Mayfield (9) have more TDs than Allen (8). And yet, Kincaid hasn't reached 55 yards in a game this season and rests as just the TE21 in PPR points per game.
This has hardly been all the second-year talent's fault; either way here's to hoping his new knee injury doesn't keep him out of a matchup with the Chiefs' league-worst defense in PPR points per game allowed to the position.
Carolina Panthers
- Question: Just how good has Chuba Hubbard been this season?
Exquisitely good. One of three RBs to already have 800-plus rushing yards this season, Hubbard has been essentially the only consistent bright spot inside the NFL's 28th-ranked scoring offense. And he hasn't simply needed oodles of volume to make it happen: Hubbard's average of 5.1 yards per carry is tied for the sixth-highest mark in the league, while only Derrick Henry (+2.24), Saquon Barkley (+1.58), and Jordan Mason (+1.47) have averaged more rush yards OVER expected per carry than Chuba (+1.37).
Hubbard is right there with Henry when it comes to breaking tackles and picking up yards after contact. Not too shabby for the newly #rich RB.
Chicago Bears
- Question: How many sacks is Caleb Williams on pace to take this season?
71.8. The Bears' porous offensive line is certainly partially, if not mostly, responsible for Williams' league-high 38 sacks taken, but the rookie also hasn't exactly helped his cause: Only Will Levis (29.6%) has allowed a higher rate of his pressures to be converted into sacks than Williams (29.5%).
Only 2002 David Carr (76) and 1986 Randall Cunningham (72) have taken 70-plus sacks in a season over the last 50 years. Here's to hoping new Bears OC Thomas Brown figures out a way to prevent Williams from adding his name to the list.
Cincinnati Bengals
- Question: Does Ja'Marr Chase BOOM more often than any other player in fantasy?
He does! Among all WRs since Chase entered the league in 2021 …
- Most games with 20+ PPR points: Justin Jefferson (27), Chase ranks seventh with 20.
- Most games with 30+ PPR points: Davante Adams (13), Chase ranks sixth with eight.
- Most games with 40+ PPR points: Chase (4)
- Most games with 50+ PPR points: Chase (3)
The latter bullet is particularly wild when you consider the rest of the NFL regardless of position has combined for just four such fantasy performances over the past four seasons.
Chase currently leads the NFL in receptions (66), receiving yards (981), and receiving TDs (10). The only triple-crown winners over the past 50 years? 1990 Jerry Rice, 1992 Sterling Sharpe, 2005 Steve Smith, and 2021 Cooper Kupp.
Cleveland Browns
- Question: Has Nick Chubb been quite bad since returning from injury?
Kinda sorta. On the one hand, his average of 2.7 yards per carry ranks … dead last among 59 RBs with at least 40 rush attempts this season.
On the other hand, matchups with the Bengals, Ravens, and Chargers as well as the Browns' injury-riddled/not-good offensive line haven't helped matters, as Chubb has "only" averaged -0.2 rush yards below expectation this season. That's still the 15th-worst mark in the league, but maybe things are ready to improve ahead of a potential smash spot against the Saints.
Dallas Cowboys
- Question: How has CeeDee Lamb done with Cooper Rush over the years?
Here are his game logs in Rush's seven career starts:
- Week 8, 2021: 6 receptions-112 yards-0 TD (8 targets), PPR WR17
- Week 2, 2022: 7-75-0 (11), WR24
- Week 3, 2022: 8-87-1 (12), WR8
- Week 4, 2022: 6-97-1 (8), WR8
- Week 5, 2022: 5-53-0 (8), WR41
- Week 6, 2022: 5-68-0 (10), WR30
- Week 10, 2024: 6-21-0 (10), WR40
The last three performances certainly haven't been ideal, but eight-plus targets in every game at least show that Rush understands the assignment of getting his No. 1 WR the football.
Denver Broncos
- Question: Has Courtland Sutton been on a heater in recent weeks?
Sure has! You don't need more than one hand to count the number of WRs who have been more productive than Sutton ever since his unfortunate Week 7 goose egg.
Sutton in Weeks 8-10:
- Receptions: 21 (tied for 6th)
- Receiving yards: 292 (4th)
- Yards per route run: 2.83 (8th)
- PPR points: 59.4 (WR4 behind Ja'Marr Chase, CeeDee Lamb, and Calvin Ridley)
Up next: The Falcons' 25th-ranked defense in fantasy points per game allowed to the position.
Detroit Lions
- Question: Do the Lions run the ball on 3rd and medium more than anyone?
They do! Overall, the Lions' seven RB rush attempts on 3rd down with 5-10 yards to go lead the league, as do their first downs (3) in those situations. Four teams don't even have one!
The Lions' 42.9% success rate of picking up a first down on these runs easily clears the league-wide average of 20%, which yeah, makes sense considering it's already hard enough to slow down Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery when you are expecting the run.
Green Bay Packers
- Question: Is Jordan Love tougher to sack than just about anyone?
He is!
Lowest pressure-to-sack rates among 35 QBs with 150-plus dropbacks:
- Jordan Love (8.8%)
- Derek Carr (9.7%)
- Lamar Jackson (11.7%)
- Josh Allen (11.8%)
- Andy Dalton (14%)
Love has averaged the eighth-most yards per attempt (7.4) under pressure this season. His 80% first down conversion rate on scrambles trails only Tua Tagovailoa (100%! 5 for 5!) among all QBs with at least five scrambles this season. Here's to hoping that the nagging groin injury managed to heal up a bit during the team's Week 10 bye.
Houston Texans
- Question: Is Joe Mixon getting fed more than any RB in the NFL?
Yup. Overall, Mixon's four games with 25-plus carries are twice as many as any other RB despite, you know, missing three and a half games this season.
The Texans' RB1 has averaged 23.7 carries per game excluding his injury-shortened Week 2 against the Bears. Even including that contest leaves Mixon with a league-high 21.6 carries per game; he's on pace to tie his career-high 334 touches from 2021.
Here's to hoping the wear and tear doesn't catch up to the ex-Bengals veteran: Only Derrick Henry (21.6) is averaging more PPR points per game than Mixon (20.8) through 10 weeks.
Indianapolis Colts
- Question: Have Anthony Richardson's 10 career starts been all bad?
No, but things certainly were getting a bit rough before getting benched. The below chart denotes Richardson's' EPA per dropback in nine of his 10 career starts; I excluded his 13-snap injured performance against the Steelers from Week 4 this season.
Fingers crossed that Richardson's two-week demotion gave him the rest he needed to get back to scoring bunches of fantasy points. Or, you know, just not being one of the worst QBs in football.
Jacksonville Jaguars
- Question: Just how pathetic was the Jaguars offense in Week 10?
Miserable. In Week 10 the Jaguars …
- Became the fourth team to gain 10 or fewer first downs in a single game.
- Gained the fourth-fewest total yards in a game (143).
- Averaged -0.14 adjusted yards per pass attempt.
The latter metric is truly damning. Adjusted yards per pass attempt give extra weight to TDs and INTs to help add some context to raw yards gained, and the Week 10 Jaguars join the Week 7 Panthers as the only two teams to finish in the negative this season.
Up next: A Lions defense that has wreaked more havoc than any other defense in the NFL this season. Best of luck, Mac Jones.
Kansas City Chiefs
- Question: Has Kareem Hunt actually been overly good this season?
Not really!
Hunt among 48 RBs with 55-plus carries:
- Yards per carry: 3.6 (44th)
- Yards over expected per carry: -0.52 (42nd)
- Yards after contact per carry: 2.36 (46th)
- Missed tackles forced per carry: 14.4% (36th)
- Explosive runs per carry: 0.04 (46th)
- PFF rush grade: 66.3 (38th)
Now, Hunt has been good in short yardage and generally has at least moved forward: 37.6% of his runs have produced a positive EPA gain (23rd), and just 14.4% of his runs have been stopped for a loss or no gain (8th).
The Chiefs have felt comfortable enough with Hunt's performance to feed him 20-plus touches in each of the last five games; just realize the imminent return of Isiah Pacheco should add a much-needed burst of explosiveness back to this rushing attack.
Las Vegas Raiders
- Question: Is Jakobi Meyers a stone cold baller?
Yep. Just watch the film!
Los Angeles Chargers
- Question: Is Justin Herbert sneaky athletic?
Yes. You might also call him deceptively fast. More quick than fast. Scrappy. First guy in, last guy out. Blue collar, lunch pail kind of guy. A real student of the game. Did I say scrappy already?
Herbert was pretty banged up during the first month of the season, but he's put together 4-49-0 and 9-32-1 rushing lines in two of his last three games–two of the eight-highest single-game rushing totals of his career.
The Chargers might need to continue tapping into this facet of Herbert's game ahead of a potential season-defining stretch against the Bengals, Ravens, Falcons, Chiefs, Buccaneers, and Broncos.
Los Angeles Rams
- Question: Has the Rams offense screeched to a halt in the red zone?
In some ways, yes. Only the Giants (-0.49) and Cowboys (-0.47) have a lower EPA per dropback than the Rams (-0.42) inside the 20-yard line this season, although Los Angeles has the fifth-best offense in terms of EPA per designed run (+0.23) in the red zone.
Kyren Williams deserves a lot of credit for this: His 58.3% TD rate on carries inside the five-yard line is the second-best mark behind only Joe Mixon (67%) among the league's 26 most-used goal-line backs this season. Hell, since 2022 his 60% TD rate trails only Gus Edwards (67%) and Jalen Hurts (62%) among 40 players with at least 15 such carries.
Miami Dolphins
- Question: Has Tyreek Hill been oddly underutilized this season?
Hard yes.
Hill games with five or fewer targets:
- 2024: 4
- 2023: 2
- 2022: 2
Overall, Hill's average of 6.7 targets per game is his lowest mark since his rookie season. The same is true for pretty much all his per-game counting and fantasy numbers as well. Funny how that works.
Minnesota Vikings
- Question: Has Sam Darnold *generally* been more accurate this year?
We can get a decent idea using Pro Football Reference's "On-Target Pass %":
Darnold On-Target Pass % by year:
- 2024: 81.2% (1st)
- 2023: 68.9% (54th)
- 2022: 77.1% (10th)
- 2021: 74.5% (26th)
- 2020: 71.8% (38th)
- 2019: 75.2% (18th)
Now if only Darnold could do a better job not letting the ~20% of his off-target passes find their way into the arms of the defense as often. Alas.
New England Patriots
- Question: Does a bunch of crazy shit tend to happen when Drake Maye drops back to pass?
Abso-lutely. I like to quantify this by taking the sum of every QB's big-time throw and turnover-worthy play rates.
The top-five QBs among 38 with 100-plus dropbacks:
- Anthony Richardson (12.2%)
- Drake Maye (11.4%)
- Jalen Hurts (10.3%)
- Josh Allen (10%)
- Jameis Winston (9.9%)
You know the stat is good when Jameis is involved. And yes, he did lead the league in this Red Zone-friendly metric during his legendary 2019 campaign.
New Orleans Saints
- Question: Has Derek Carr had to deal with more sheeshy drops than most?
Last week's Alvin Kamara mishap certainly sucked, and yes, it wasn't exactly the first time Saints pass-catchers let their QB down.
Most air yards from dropped passes this season:
- Broncos (209)
- Browns (199)
- Cowboys (177)
- Panthers (167)
- Jaguars (158)
- Packers (155)
- Saints (143)
Overall, the Saints' three dropped passes thrown 20-plus yards downfield are tied for the second-highest mark in the league behind only the Cowboys (4). Say it with me everyone: Sheesh.
New York Giants
- Question: How well does Malik Nabers' rookie season stack up historically?
Things haven't been overly smooth for Nabers due to the ever-annoying presence of Daniel Jones under center, but that hasn't stopped him from putting up some pretty great per-game receiving numbers.
Rookie WRs to average 75+ yards per game since 2000:
- Odell Beckham (108.8)
- Justin Jefferson (87.5)
- Puka Nacua (87.4)
- Anquan Boldin (86.1)
- Ja'Marr Chase (85.6)
- Randy Moss (82.1)
- Malik Nabers (75.9)
- Michael Thomas (75.8)
Will a potential QB change to Drew Lock help things at all? Not sure, but it can't really get worse, right? RIGHT? RIGHT???
New York Jets
- Question: What has this team's pass-game usage looked like since acquiring Davante Adams?
We now have a four-game sample to work with:
Jets receiving breakdown in Weeks 7-10:
- Davante Adams: 39 targets, 20 receptions-206 yards-1 TD
- Garrett Wilson: 33 targets, 24-305-2
- Breece Hall: 20 targets, 13-154-0
- Tyler Conklin: 12 targets, 9-54-2
It's been relatively tough sledding for Adams, but it'd be surprising to see his counting numbers remain so low for much longer as long as those targets stay sky-high. The Jets' end-of-season schedule could certainly help matters: Colts (22nd in PPR points per game allowed to WRs), Bye, Seahawks (23rd), Dolphins (7th), Jaguars (27th), Rams (24th), and Bills (9th). Giddy up.
Philadelphia Eagles
- Question: Has Jalen Hurts been the league's best passer since returning from bye?
Pretty close! Not to say Hurts was playing particularly bad during the first month of the season, but yeah, the fifth-year veteran is arguably playing the best ball of his career at the moment.
Hurts among 30 QBs with 100-plus dropbacks since Week 6 (pre-TNF):
- EPA per dropback: +0.320 (No. 2 behind only Lamar Jackson)
- Completion percentage over expected: +12.2% (No. 1)
- PFF offensive grade: 88.4 (No. 3 behind only Lamar, Justin Herbert)
- Passer rating: 126.1 (No. 2 behind only Lamar)
- Yards per attempt: 10.2 (No. 2 behind only Lamar)
Pittsburgh Steelers
- Question: Has Russell Wilson been the league's most efficient downfield passer?
Something like that! On passes thrown 15-plus yards downfield Russ ranks first in yards per attempt (18.3), first in completion rate (57.9%), and second in passer rating (120.1). Turns out that moon ball is still pretty, pretty, pretty good in the year 2024.
San Francisco 49ers
- Question: Is Brock Purdy low-key continuing to ball out this year?
Sure is! Despite playing with an injury-ravaged offense, Purdy is averaging career-high marks in pass yards per game (272.7) and rushing yards per game (25.2) while maintaining top-eight marks in EPA per dropback (+0.226, 6th), yards per attempt (8.8, 2nd), and PFF offensive grade (82.3, 8th).
Only Lamar Jackson (320.7) and Geno Smith (305.8) are averaging more combined pass and rush yards per game than Purdy (298) this season. Purdy, purdy, purdy good.
Seattle Seahawks
- Question: Do the Seahawks have the NFL's worst offensive line?
It's not great! The below chart denotes every team's average time to pressure and rush yards before contact per carry. Offensive lines struggling in both departments are located in the bottom left quadrant.
The Seahawks aren't definitively the worst group up front, but they certainly deserve to be included on any shortlist. Sigh.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Question: Has Rachaad White been fantasy's best RB since returning from injury?
Almost! Overall, only Bijan Robinson (97.8), Joe Mixon (83.4), Saquon Barkley (80.5), Derrick Henry (80.3), Jahmyr Gibbs (79.7), and De'Von Achane (79.5) have scored more PPR points than White (76.3) over the past four weeks.
The heavy majority of this has been thanks to White's production in the passing game: 71% of his fantasy points have come strictly from receiving this season–Christian McCaffrey (77%), De'Von Achane (61%), and Rico Dowdle (61%) are the only other RBs even close.
Tennessee Titans
- Question: How great has Calvin Ridley's usage been without DeAndre Hopkins?
Pretty amazing actually. Over the last three weeks, Ridley ranks fourth in targets (32) and first in air yards (439) among all WRs. The result has been 60.3 PPR points–more than any WR not named Ja'Marr Chase (87.1) or CeeDee Lamb (64.2).
Ridley is accordingly one of Freedman's favorites ahead of Week 11. And guess what: I agree!
Washington Commanders
- Question: Is Terry McLaurin the most consistent WR in fantasy football?
Arguably! Pre-TNF, McLaurin has ripped off eight straight games with 13-plus PPR points–no other WR has an active streak longer than three. Only Justin Jefferson (8) has more games with a more normal quantifier of 15-plus PPR points per game this season than McLaurin (7).
THANK YOU, Jayden Daniels!