1. Marvin Jones Continues to See High-Quality Looks
Marvin Jones' ability to high-point the football down the field has been his calling card for the past few seasons. But on Monday night, Jones got back to what made him hot waiver add last season: red-zone targets.
Against the Jets on Monday night, very little went right for the Detroit Lions, but the continued connection between Matthew Stafford and Jones was a nugget of hope for both Jones owners and Lions fans to cling to in future weeks.
Jones saw eight targets and three of them were red-zone looks. The red zone became a staple of his game last season, when he scored 5 red-zone touchdowns on 15 red-zone targets. He's already a fifth of the way to that red-zone target total in one week.
Jones’ targets, which netted him four catches for 54 yards, didn’t result in a touchdown. And although his teammates, Kenny Golladay and Golden Tate, saw 15 and 11 targets, respectively, Jones’s 8 looks showed there is plenty of volume to go around in Detroit.
2. Adrian Peterson Dominates Washington's Red-Zone Touches
Adrian Peterson saw seven red-zone carries against the Arizona Cardinals. Not all red-zone carries are created equally, though. Being fed inside the red zone is certainly something fantasy owners love to see. But in Peterson’s case the results were a mixed bag, and yet he is proving far more valuable than many expected when he signed with Washington during the tail end of training camp.
In Week 1, Peterson led all Washington runners with 26 carries for 96 yards and 1 touchdown. The game unfolded perfectly for him as Washington jumped out and maintained a healthy lead, allowing them to lean on the run. It was pretty much exactly what happened in AP's debut with the Cardinals a year ago, when he received 26 carries for 134 yards and 2 touchdowns in his debut with the team.
And then outside of one more high-volume showing, AP didn't do a whole bunch because he's very reliant on positive game scripts as he's not much of a factor in the passing game. This year may or may not be different -- Chris Thompson will almost surely monopolize snaps when Washington faces negative game scripts -- but Peterson has a great chance to see another high-volume game when Washington hosts the Colts this week.
3. Corey Davis a Bright Spot in the Tennessee Passing Attack
Corey Davis was one of very few bright spots for the Tennessee Titans in Week 1. Davis was tied with a group of players for third in red-zone targets (3), trailing only Alvin Kamara (5) and David Johnson (3).
Davis saw two first-quarter targets from Marcus Mariota before he left the game with an elbow injury. Both targets came inside the 5-yard-line. One was an incompletion, and the other a 1-yard gain. And a third red-zone target came in the fourth quarter from Blaine Gabbert and resulted in a 15-yard gain.
The takeaway is Davis is back on our radar as a legit red-zone weapon and the unquestioned top receiving option in Tennessee. The drawback, of course, being that the extent of Mariota’s injury is unknown.
But being utilized by Gabbert in relief of Mariota signals Davis has a chance to be a fantasy factor regardless of the Titans' quarterback situation, although he obviously has a better ceiling with Mariota at the controls.