2022 Fantasy Football Red Zone Report: Josh Jacobs Set to Steamroll Texans in Week 7
While the Red Zone Report recaps the past week, the massive blockbuster deal involving Christian McCaffrey will certainly impact the 49ers red zone usage moving forward. This will be something to minor for sure. On the other hand, we dive into some interesting numbers overall, and how they play into this weekend, namely Derek Carr and Josh Jacobs against the Houston Texans defense, and the emergence of Alec Pierce in Indy. Red zone usage is key in fantasy football, as we’ll point out all year long. From red zone passing, to rushing, to receiving, we’ll take a look at some notable numbers from the first five weeks of the season that can help your fantasy football teams the rest of the way. Using the red zone report here at Fantasy Alarm, here are the key numbers and notes in this week’s red zone analysis.
NFL Red Zone Report
NFL Red Zone Passing for Week 6
Derek Carr, Las Vegas Raiders
The Houston Texans have been mighty tough on quarterbacks in the red zone, whereas they have been quite generous to opposing running backs. If Carr doesn’t get lucky on some big plays, it could be a tough day in the touchdown department for him, and Josh Jacobs would be the main beneficiary. Carr has a rather poor 38.9 percent completion rate in the red zone this season, and only he and Kyler Murray have a sub-40 percent completion rate with at least 30 red zone passing attempts this season. With so many weapons, Carr shouldn’t have these types of numbers inside the 20s.
Davis Mills, Houston Texans
The hope is that the Houston offense gets better, and maybe those of you in deeper superflex formats can feel safer deploying Davis Mills, but Houston has predominantly run the ball in the red zone. Mills has been solid inside the 20s this year, going 6-for-9 with four touchdowns and just one interception, but Dameon Pierce has 14 carries and three scores, and Rex Burkhead has three carries himself. Hopefully Mills looks better than ever after the bye, but Lovie Smith wants to get Dameon Pierce 20+ carries a game, and if the first six games told us anything, he’ll be heavily used inside the 20s.
NFL Red Zone Rushing for Week 6
Justin Fields, Chicago Bears
LET FIELDS RUN IN THE END ZONE! Sure, he didn’t score this past week, but this offense needs all the help it can get, and Fields has excellent mobility. USE THAT TO YOUR ADVANTAGE! Fields has had a mostly disappointing start to the year, but he can make up for a lack of volume by being effective with his opportunities, and continuing to run eight or more times a game. Now, keep the total volume, and get more usage in the red zone, and Fields will have a productive rest of the season from a fantasy perspective. He’s currently on pace for 799 rushing yards this season on 153 attempts, and if he gets that kind of workload, he’s scoring way more than his projected three rushing scores.
Josh Jacobs, Las Vegas Raiders
I was too low on Jacobs coming into the year, and I regret that. He’s been excellent this year, and he’s where you want to be in terms of red zone usage, as he’s getting 80 percent of the team’s red zone carries, and 100 percent of the workload inside the 10- and 5-yard line. He’s picked up the touchdowns of late, scoring three times in the past two weeks, and he should continue to expect positive regression in the touchdown department with this kind of workload, particularly inside the 20s. If Derek Carr can keep the offense moving more consistently, watch out!
Caleb Huntley, Atlanta Falcons
Upon Cordarrelle Patterson’s return, can Huntley retain some sort of role? Patterson dominated red zone work through the first three weeks of the season, but since he went on IR, it’s been Huntley that has largely dominated the red-zone work. Now, he hasn’t been overly impressive, scoring just once on 11 touches, but it’s not as if anyone else, notably Tyler Allgeier, has been all that and a bag of potato chips. We know Arthur Smith doesn’t want to use Kyle Pitts, and the team will continue to be run-heavy, so I’m forced to believe that Huntley will retain some sort of role upon Patterson’s return. Am I going to pay a lot in a trade to find out? No, but I’m not exactly going to be looking to drop Huntley in deeper formats either.
NFL Red Zone Receiving for Week 6
A.J. Brown, Philadelphia Eagles
The beauty here is that regardless of the score, Philadelphia is content to continue throwing the ball. He leads the Eagles receivers in red zone targets, and while he’s caught less than half of them, two of his four receptions in the red zone have gone for six. Through the first six weeks of the season, we are looking at the highest floor of Brown’s entire career from a fantasy perspective, and health-willing, that won’t change the rest of the way. Brown may only have two touchdowns so far this season, but he’s a big play waiting to happen, and when Hurts does throw it the end zone, Brown is the likely target. I mean, the Eagles don’t have to be so run-heavy in the red zone do they? Do they?
Alec Pierce, Indianapolis Colts
Pierce may not have prolific red zone marks at the moment, but he’s coming alive and thriving in this offense. He’s tied for the second-most red zone targets amongst Indy wide receivers, and his blend of size and speed is a mismatch all over the field for this offense. The Colts need to start playing him all the time, and hardly taking him off the field, and we’re hoping that comes sooner rather than later. Michael Pittman Jr. will always get his, but Pierce should continue to get red zone looks and post an impressive rookie campaign.
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