- Jackson cooling off: Baltimore Ravens QB Lamar Jackson has cooled off in a major way over the last month after a blistering start to the season.
- Ehlinger's fantasy value: Breaking down what new Indianapolis Colts QB Sam Ehlinger could offer from a fantasy football perspective.
- Wilson's performance against pressure: New York Jets QB Zach Wilson has suffered the league’s single-biggest dropoff in yards per attempt when pressured versus when kept clean this season
Estimated reading time: 19 minutes
Week 8 is here; it’s truly a great day to be great. Today’s goal is to break down the week’s key fantasy football questions facing the quarterback position before producing the group’s specific ranks. Updated ranks throughout the week from myself and the rest of the PFF Fantasy crew can be accessed with PFF+.
Let’s talk about Lamar Jackson
This column featured an edgy “LaMVP?” section header back in Week 4 when Jackson had just gotten through posting QB8, QB1 and QB1 performances during the first three weeks of the season. Jackson threw for 10 touchdowns in this stretch to go along with another two scores on the ground and multiple 100-plus rushing-yard performances. His production was good enough to wonder if the Baltimore Ravens offense was about to party like it was 2019 again.
Overall, Jackson found the end zone as a rusher and passer at least three times in Week 1 (3), Week 2 (4) and Week 3 (5) alike. Unfortunately, Jackson has totaled just three passing touchdowns ever since. While the Buffalo Bills, Cincinnati Bengals, New York Giants and Cleveland Browns aren’t exactly scrub defenses, Jackson’s passing and rushing production has cratered over the last month and produced just one finish inside the position’s top-15 fantasy scorers.
Not having No. 1 RB J.K. Dobbins (knee) and No. 1 WR Rashod Bateman (groin) for portions of this stretch haven’t helped, but even the return of the latter receiver didn’t do much to boost this passing game in Week 7. Of course, even this reduced version of Jackson is still plenty capable of keeping an elevated fantasy floor thanks to his rushing upside. Just six players have 500-plus rushing yards this season (pre-MNF):
- Nick Chubb (740 rushing yards)
- Saquon Barkley (726)
- Josh Jacobs (632)
- Derrick Henry (538)
- Jackson (510)
- Dameon Pierce (505)
Similar to someone like Kyler Murray: It’s impossible to bench Jackson despite these struggles when everyone remains well aware that he’s one get-right spot away from out-scoring everyone at the position. Still, this offense has finished with under 200 passing yards in four consecutive games; work still needs to be done in order for this group to get back to their 2019 “Super Saiyan” heights.
This Detroit Lions offense has looked broken in recent weeks
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