Sandman62 wrote:Diesel wrote:One more since I'm on a roll.
I'm going with Mike Williams here but am I crazy for considering benching him for Kennbrell Thompkins for flex?
Not at all. Thompkins will face BAD corners and Brady will throw a ton.
FWIW:
• All 3 CBS FF analysts have Kenbrell above Williams this week (in PPR rankings): 6, 2 and 30 spots.
• ESPN, whose rankings are NON-PPR, has Kenbrell 3 spots ahead.
• And in NFFC ADP, Williams was ahead of Kenbrell 85-94 in Primetime/Online - but that includes Online drafts all the way back in early summer. Filtering that down to just the last 2 weeks, Williams' advantage was just 1 spot ahead. Filtering to just one week, and Kenbrell's ahead, 83-89. (Thanks again Greg/Tom for the ADP filters!
) In Classic ADP, Kenbrell's actually ahead, 81-85.
So a case can certainly be made that, for the season, Thompkins may be the better receiver. Looking to this week's matchups... despite BUF's terrible run D, [per CBS] in Brady's past seven games against them, he's averaged 296 passing yards with 20 TDs and six Ints. Contrast that with Freeman, who on top of missing one of his best offensive lineman this week (Nicks), faces a Jets D that only allowed seven QBs to throw for multiple TDs last season, including Tom Brady twice.
I must admit though to a bit of a Kenbrell-mancrush.
As I always do once each summer, Ralph Palmieri and I went to Patriots training camp. The first hour or so, we purposely didn't review a roster. We knew there were a few rookie WRs, but we wanted to assess them without prior knowledge of their draft status. We kept seeing one of them get off the line much faster than the others, spinning cornerbacks around and cutting in on slants - and Brady hitting him. Going deep and Brady trusting him enough to throw it out there for him to run under. We noticed too that he was usually the one running across from Amendola in 2-receiver sets. And that when they went 3-wide, Amendola moved to the slot and, most of the time, Kenbrell stayed out wide, with Dobson sprinkled in. Over and over and over. We were impressed.
We thought maybe he was just trying harder, being undrafted. And that when the lights went on (preseason games), Dobson and Boyce would try harder and outplay him. That didn't happen either.
I think the part that's tough to get past is Kenbrell's undrafted status. But in my mind, that's not that different from another up-and-coming star WR who was drafted in last year's supplemental draft: Josh Gordon. This year, everyone seems ok with him, now that he's proven himself. I think in a few weeks, people might feel the same about Kenbrell. He obviously realized the opportunity in front of him - to be Tom Brady's #2 despite two drafted WRs in front of him - and he seized it.