You know that girl you kept courting in high school? The one that wouldn't give you the time of day until you started dating another popular girl? It happened to almost ever one of us, right?
Okay, not really.
The moral of this story is ... Russell Wilson.
We wanted so much for him to be a tremendous fantasy football value prior to the season. We even helped his ADP reach the early third round. It was like putting lipstick on a pig and taking said barn animal to the prom, expecting to make that one girl jealous.
Well, she surely is jealous now (don't worry, I am done).
Wilson has put up 16 touchdowns compared to zero interceptions over the past four games. That's 10 more scores than he had in his first nine starts. That also has him averaging over 30 fantasy points during this span. Heck yeah, that recovery water is looking mighty good right now.
Washington Redskins tight end Jordan Reed caught all nine passes thrown in his direction for 120 yards and a score last week against the Chicago Bears. That allowed him to finish the week as the top fantasy tight end.
Ready to have your mind blown? Reed has been targeted four less times than Rob Gronkowski while posting a higher catch percentage than the New England Patriots tight end this season. Washington takes on a Buffalo Bills defense that ranks 25th against fantasy tight ends on the season, but keep that on the DL.
Blake Bortles isn't impressed with the blogosphere's advanced stats.
But we sure are impressed with the Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback.
It has taken Bortles only 40 completions to throw eight touchdowns over the past two weeks. During that span, the second-year quarterback is averaging 14.3 yards per completion. Just to put that into perspective, Tom Brady is averaging 12.0 yards per completion this season.
You might also find it interesting — interesting in the bang your head against the keyboard that you didn't draft Bortles kinda way — that he has put up three less fantasy points than Aaron Rodgers this season.
Just because Pete Carroll likes to troll us, it appears that Christine Michael and Bryce Brown — neither of whom were on the team this time last week — will share the duties against Cleveland on Sunday. Well, some of that has to do with Thomas Rawls fracturing his ankle and Marshawn Lynch still being sidelined. But, I'll be damned if you ruin my narrative here.
In any event, wouldn't it be rather hilarious if Michael put up 100-plus yards in his return to the Seahawks? That would be the best troll job from a running back since Maurice Jones-Drew had to apologize to the fantasy football world for kneeling down on a sure touchdown some six years ago. By the way, I still hold a grudge here.
Atlanta Falcons running back Devonta Freeman is still the No. 1 fantasy player at his position. Though, this doesn't amount to a hill of beans for those of you relying on him during the most important part of the fantasy season.
Freeman, like most of his Falcons teammates, has hit some sort of holographic brick wall (I blame 2Pac). He's the 39th-ranked fantasy running back over the past four weeks, sandwiched between Jonathan Grimes and Ameer Abdullah. This just goes to show us how dominating Freeman's early-season performance was.
Here are your top-seven fantasy running backs over the past two weeks:
You know that whole preseason trend that was average draft position (ADP)? Not a single player here was even considered a rosterable commodity prior to the season. Who else wants to join me in the corner crying while drinking a bottle of Jager?
Doug Baldwin has put up the three best fantasy performances of his career over the past four weeks. During that span, he has more fantasy points than Vincent Jackson has all season.
Not to be outdone, Odell Beckham has put up 346 fantasy points over his past 16 games. During that span, the second-year receiver has tallied 117 receptions for 1,796 yards and 18 touchdowns.
So yeah, apparently we have an idea who the top dynasty receiver will be following the season.