This week was an exciting one in the return league world as seven of our ranked players surpassed 90 return yards. No one was more impressive than Tavon Austin who exploded for 172 return yards and a touchdown on a kick return and four punt returns. Austin added another 138 yards and two touchdowns on just two receptions and ran for a four yard gain, giving him a PPR return league total of 47.4 points on the week. We’ve added Tavon to the Big Board, let’s take a look at who’s up and who’s down as we head into Week 11.
| Rank | Wk 10 Rank | Player |
2013 |
2013 RET TD |
2013 |
2013 PPR FPS |
Notes |
| 1 | 1 | Golden Tate |
426 |
0 |
126.9 |
167.9 |
Tate blew up on Sunday, catching six passes for 106 yards and a touchdown, adding 55 punt return yards. We’ll see how Percy Harvin’s return affects his opportunities but Tate has now posted 90+ all-purpose yards in seven of his 10 games and has become a must-start in return leagues. |
| 2 | 2 | Darren Sproles |
354 |
0 |
116.8 |
160.8 |
Sproles only got 18 return yards on Sunday but finally put up a big offensive day with seven catches for 76 yards and a touchdown and five rushes for 12 yards and a touchdown. Don’t expect games like this in non-Cowboys games but his mix of offense and return yardage makes him a must-start weekly in all return leagues. |
| 3 | 5 | Jacquizz Rodgers |
267 |
0 |
97.7 |
125.7 |
Rodgers is especially valuable in PPR leagues but his return yardage makes him a must-start in all return leagues. His 64 return yards, combined with three rushes for 31 yards and five catches for 28 yards gave him 17.3 PPR points and that’s right around where he’s been most games this year. |
| 4 | 0 | Tavon Austin |
480 |
1 |
114.5 |
147.5 |
Tavon ran wild on the Colts on Sunday, putting up 172 return yards and a touchdown, along with two receptions for 138 yards and two touchdowns. Obviously, this will never happen again but Tavon should continue to see a larger role in the return game. He’s been returning kicks since mid-October and has piled up 415 return yards over his last four games alone. He’s a must-start in return leagues as long as he continues to see a couple of catches each game. |
| 5 | 3 | Jacoby Jones |
269 |
0 |
47.1 |
62.1 |
Jones and Marlon Brown continue to hurt each others’ fantasy value and his 41 return yards on Sunday didn’t help much. It was a tough game for the Ravens and Jones only saw two targets. He saw eight targets in each of his last two games, though, and continues to be very startable in return leagues. |
| 6 | 4 | Cordarrelle Patterson |
845 |
2 |
119.5 |
137.5 |
Patterson only had 37 return yards and 22 receiving yards on Sunday but his receiving touchdown helped salvage the day. He has put up 90+ all-purpose yards in five games this season so that makes six of nine games in which he was fantasy relevant. He remains very startable in return leagues and is seeing a few more targets of late. |
| 7 | 7 | Ted Ginn Jr. |
479 |
0 |
99.3 |
122.3 |
Ginn’s 107 return yards was a welcome sight on an otherwise ho-hum, two reception for 19 yards day. He has surpassed 90+ all-purpose yards in five of his nine games so he’s startable but by no means a must-start. |
| 8 | 6 | Dwayne Harris |
887 |
1 |
115.3 |
124.3 |
Harris had another huge game as the Cowboys gave up seven touchdowns, giving him the chance to put up 121 return yards. He won’t often get five return attempts but he has now put up 90+ yards or a touchdown in six of his last seven games so he’s very startable in all return leagues. |
| 9 | 8 | Julian Edelman |
299 |
0 |
90.3 |
134.3 |
Edelman hasn’t seen too many looks since Danny Amendola and Rob Gronkowski returned and, barring another injury, his only worth is as a bye week or injury replacement. |
| 10 | 9 | Dexter McCluster |
390 |
1 |
71.8 |
96.8 |
McCluster is only a punt returner but he has seen 24 targets over the last four games and has posted 100+ yards in three of his last six games. He’s a hit-or-miss player. |
| 11 | 10 | Devin Hester |
978 |
1 |
103.8 |
103.8 |
Hester has now surpassed 100 return yards in three straight games and five times this season. He doesn’t see any offensive snaps but he’s a rare return-only player who is startable in most weeks. |
| 12 | 13 | Trindon Holliday |
715 |
2 |
84.2 |
84.2 |
Holliday has surpassed 100 return yards in two of his last three weeks and 90 yards in four of his last six weeks. As most return-only players, he’s hit and miss but you can do a lot worse than starting Holliday. |
| 13 | 14 | Brandon Tate |
735 |
0 |
74.1 |
75.1 |
Tate has now posted 90+ return yards in four straight games and is suddenly startable despite not seeing any offensive action. We’ll see what happens when they face a quarterback better than the ones they’ve seen lately (Flacco, Tannehill, Geno Smith, Thad Lewis). |
| 14 | 11 | LeGarrette Blount |
349 |
0 |
78.1 |
78.1 |
With Shane Vereen returning, Blount’s value has likely all but run out. |
| 15 | 12 | Keshawn Martin |
724 |
0 |
82.8 |
90.8 |
He hasn’t seen an offensive snap in three games and had just 12 return yards on Sunday so I would stay away. |
*FPS based on Yahoo standard scoring.
Off the Big Board: Felix Jones
