How Can Sam Darnold and Gang Green’s Recent Misfortunes Impact Your Fantasy League?

With the New York Jets taking huge hits in their receiving and passing game over the last couple of days, Sam Darnold alone, how will this impact your fantasy league moving forward?

Injuries and unfortunate events befall all teams at some point, and it is critical to be up to date with the latest news to be ahead of the curve your league. No one likes to see a player get injured (or sick in Sam Darnold’s case) but when they do, it creates opportunities for other players out there in the football landscape.

The Jets just lost receiver Quincy Enunwa for the entire regular season due to a neck injury and quarterback Sam Darnold will miss some time because of mono. Now with two key players missing from New York’s offense, it is time to determine what opportunities are potentially sitting out there for you to take advantage of.

The most important player to discuss is obviously starting quarterback Sam Darnold. He showed flashes of promise during his rookie season and continued to do so in Sunday’s 17-16 loss to the Buffalo Bills in Week 1.

Darnold completed 28 of 41 passes for 175 yards, a touchdown, and no interceptions. He finished the day with a rating of 84.9 While the Jets lost the game to the Bills in Week 1, we can’t blame it totally on him. He did what he had to do, but the defense and special teams let him and the team down in the end.

News broke out on Thursday that Darnold will be out for several weeks after it was noted he received mono. Just when the Jets looked like they were about to turn the corner with their new quarterback, a setback has befallen them.

The Jets will now have to turn to backup Trevor Siemian to come in and fill the void while Darnold tries to get healthy.

For anyone who has the Cleveland Browns defense on their roster at the moment, must be salivating right now. Siemian is a turnover machine, as he has thrown 24 career interceptions in just a matter of two seasons that he has played.

The Browns also have some extra motivation after getting embarrassed by the Tennessee Titans this past Sunday at home. With the prime-time lights shining on the heavily-hyped Browns, it could be a match-up made in heaven for anyone starting Cleveland’s D/ST.

While the Jets do have other notable play-makers like Jamison Crowder and Le’Veon Bell, I’m not sure Siemian will be able to avoid turning over the ball at least once to Cleveland in their match-up Monday night.

At this very moment, the Browns have an OPRK of 25th which is extremely promising. This means that the Jets rank 25th against opposing defenses and special teams, and it further enhances the idea of starting the Browns in Week 2 if they are available in your league.

Now quickly shifting focus over to the receiving end of the ball, we need to address the loss of Quincy Enunwa for the season. Enunwa had a bad day against the Bills in Week 1 as he just caught one pass on three targets for -4 yards.

While he didn’t have an impact on the Jets’ offense last week, his absence definitely will be felt moving forward. In 2018, Enunwa consumed nearly 80.0% of the Jets’ offensive snap shares, as he garnered 69 total targets for the entire season.

Now with him out of the picture, it’s time for the next man to step up. Jamison Crowder was very efficient as he saw 17 targets and caught 14 of them for 99 yards. We know Crowder will be used primarily in the slot, so his usage will stay just about the same. Enunwa was more of an outside deep-threat, so who will take over that role? I have a hunch it could be Robby Anderson.

Anderson was involved in 100% of the Jet’s offensive snaps, yet he only saw seven targets in Week 1. The Jets may want to throw the ball more as the Browns surrendered the eleventh-most receiving yards to wideouts in 2018. Anderson is a burner, known for his deep-ball catches, but we also know how useful he can be in general for New York’s passing attack. If you recall, he had 63 catches for nearly 1,000 yards and seven touchdowns during the 2017 season when Josh McCown was at the helm.

With Enunwa not playing, Anderson should see an increase in targets even with the highly used Jamison Crowder in the slot. Anderson and Crowder will be the team’s top receiving targets for the time being, so it may not be a bad idea rostering at least one of them in your league.

I don’t have a problem with either one. Crowder will get a boatload of passes, and Anderson can be a receiving yards giant like he was in 2017.

It’s also worth noting that once Darnold does return, which he will at some point, both Crowder’s and Anderson’s fantasy stock increase even more. They will not only benefit from Enunwa being out but also the return of their starting quarterback as well.

The losses of Enunwa and Darnold are tough, but if you are savvy enough, you can find ways to capitalize on both situations in fantasy. It’s always good to keep a close ear to the ground when playing fantasy football because you never know which players could be the difference-maker between you losing your fantasy league and you winning it.