Fantasy Football Week 8: James Jones and Randall Cobb, Come on Down’

By Vincent Frank on Friday, October 26th 2012
Fantasy Football Week 8: James Jones and Randall Cobb, Come on Down’

It was reported by various news outlets on Thursday that star Green Bay Packers' wide receiver Greg Jennings will be out at least three weeks and will undergo a sports hernia on Tuesday. The three week timeline seems to be a bit optimistic considering that this type of injury usually causes a player to miss about six weeks. We will have to take a wait and see approach moving forward, but it looks like Jennings slide down the fantasy draft boards is about to hit a new all-time low.

Meanwhile, Jordy Nelson will not practice today due to a hammy injury. It remains to be seen whether the talented receiver can play on Sunday, but he will be testing out the injury either Saturday or Sunday. At the very least, Nelson will be a gametime decision. Considering that he didn’t practice today, I am not all that optimistic that Nelson will play Sunday against the lowly Jacksonville Jaguars.

If Nelson doesn’t play, there are two solid fantasy players on Green Bay who could actually give you WR1 production this weeks. Both James Jones and Randall Cobb have been surprising studs through the first seven weeks and will see their targets increase dramatically.

Jones has been targeted 47 times in seven games, coming down with a catch 62 percent of the time. More importantly, Jones has scored a touchdown in just less than a quarter of his catches. If you take into account injuries to both Jennings and Nelson, it makes sense to believe that Jones will give you WR1 production. Increase his target total by six or seven and you are looking at a 7-100-1 type of performance from the veteran receiver.

Cobb, on the other hand, might be asked to move outside from his natural slot position. While that might affect his performance to an extent, don’t expect Aaron Rodgers to shy away from going in his direction.

The second-year receiver has caught an astonishing 86 percent of the 43 passes thrown in his direction, good for No. 1 in the NFL for anyone with a minimum of 25 receptions. Cobb is also on pace for nearly 1,200 total yards this season and has been the “No. 3” receiver behind Nelson and Jones thus far. With Cobb becoming option 1A or 1B, he is going to see a ton of more targets against a lackluster Jaguars’ defense.

Speaking of Jacksonville. Well, they just aren’t a good football team right now...Possibly the worst in the entire NFL. While a lot of the blame could go to its offensive performance, Jacksonville has also struggled on the defensive side of the ball.

The Jaguars rank 24th against the pass, giving up over 260 yards per game. The likes of Andrew Luck, Jay Cutler and Carson Palmer, all lesser quarterbacks than Aaron Rodgers, have put up a minimum of 260 yards against Jacksonville’s defense.

While the Packers could hurt a little in terms of production in the passing game moving forward, I don’t expect it to happen this week. In short, both Cobb and Jones are top wide receiver options on Sunday.

I would also conclude that Donald Driver could be a solid FLEX option this week. He will take over as the No. 3 wide receiver with Jarrett Boykin, who was impressive in the preseason, moving to the fourth slot.

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