Synecdoche, NFL: The best fantasy players over short stretches of 2019

The term “synecdoche” is a literary device in which part of a thing is used to represent the whole. It’s a strange term, hard to understand in the abstract. The first example in Google is “all hands on deck,” where “hands” is a substitute for the whole of “sailors.” That sort of thing.

(It’s also part of the title a self-important Charlie Kaufman movie starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, but the last time I said something negative about that movie the internet came for me, so I’ll stop that there.)

Because it’s a complicated term that I will confess to not fully understanding, I will concede that possibly this doesn’t work perfectly. But if you’re ever looking for a synecdoche for the 2019 fantasy football season, just refer to the Week 8-11 stretch. Over that four-week stretch, the No. 1 PPR quarterback was Lamar Jackson, the No. 1 running back was Christian McCaffrey, the No. 1 wide receiver was Mike Evans (but No. 2 was Michael Thomas), and the No. 1 tight end was Travis Kelce.

Looking at a season under a small sample typically isn’t that representative of the whole. But then, seasons aren’t typically as top-player-dominant as the 2019 season was. That said, generally speaking, the top fantasy producers over small stretches of a season are rarely just totally out-there names. Guys who do well over a small stretch of a season usually do well over the whole season. So when a player dominates over one of those small stretches but doesn’t show well for the full year, for whatever reason, that’s worth noting. Maybe it was just a blip, maybe he got hurt, or maybe it’s an indicator of better things to come.

Today, I’m looking at players who were big-time fantasy performers over certain four-week stretches of 2019 and what that means for 2020 and beyond.

Quarterback

Weeks 8-11, 9-12, 10-13: Josh Allen, no. 2 quarterback over each

Allen has been a star fantasy quarterback over his two years, regardless of how good he’s actually been as an NFL quarterback. If not for Lamar Jackson’s stardom, Allen would have been the No. 1 quarterback over these stretches. Because so much of his value has been derived from not only rushing (replicable) but rushing touchdowns (less replicable), we can’t count on Allen being that sort of star year-in, year-out, but as long as he stays healthy he’ll have dominant short stretches all the time.

Weeks 9-12: Sam Darnold, No. 3 quarterback

The Jets went 7-9 last year. That’s a bad finish, but given the fact that the team started 1-7, things definitely picked up down the stretch (albeit as the schedule got significantly easier). Over Weeks 9-12, the team went 3-1, losing to Miami (bad) but beating the Giants, Washington, and Oakland. Darnold passed for 275 yards per game over that stretch, with 8 touchdowns against 2 interceptions, and added his only two rushing scores of the season as well. It amounted to 87.8 fantasy points over that stretch, behind only Jackson and Allen. Darnold hasn’t been a roaring success so far in his career, but he’s shown flashes that are enough to keep him at the helm of the Jets for a while to come, especially if the team can surround him with more help (which they haven’t come close to doing yet this offseason, either).

Running back

Christian McCaffrey really destroys this little game. He was literally a top two fantasy running back over every four-week stretch of the season, even the ones that surrounded the Panthers’ Week 7 bye. In fact, he was the No. 1 back over every four-week stretch except Weeks 5-8 and Weeks 7-10, when he only played three games compared to four for Aaron Jones and Dalvin Cook, the No. 1 performers over those two stretches. McCaffrey was just in another stratosphere last year. But there were still other names worth noting.

Weeks 3-6: Nick Chubb, No. 2 running back

Chubb somewhat quietly finished as the No. 8 PPR back last year, second in the league in rushing yards. Over this small stretch, he was especially good, averaging 138 scrimmage yards (with at least 99 in each game), tallying 13 of his 36 season receptions, and scoring 5 of his 8 touchdowns. Obviously, this stretch came when Kareem Hunt was serving a suspension, and Hunt’s full-year presence going forward will likely keep Chubb in check. But he has real dominance in him.

Weeks 13-16: Miles Sanders, No. 3 running back

The Eagles have refused to commit to a single back under Doug Pederson, probably a good thing for the team’s overall fortunes but frustrating for fantasy managers. The closest they came was down the stretch last year, when Jordan Howard was hurt, Darren Sproles retired, Jay Ajayi was signed but was clearly not ready to play, and Boston Scott hadn’t really popped yet. That left Sanders, who got 71 of the team’s 94 backfield carries and finishing behind only McCaffrey and Saquon Barkley in fantasy scoring. He scored four of his six touchdowns for the season in that stretch, with at least 15 carries and 4 receptions in each game — he didn’t have more than 13 carries in any game outside that stretch and only had 4 receptions once. That month probably showed what Sanders could do with a full-time opportunity, but as long as he’s in Philadelphia with Pederson at the helm, that opportunity might never come.

Wide receiver

Weeks 1-4: Keenan Allen, No. 1 wide receiver

It’s easy to forget, since his season went somewhat cold afterward, but over the first three weeks of 2019, it looked like Allen was on a historic pace. His Week 1-3 average game was 9.7 receptions on 11.7 targets for 134.7 yards and a touchdown. I remember writing at the time that he was on pace for a dominant season, with Hunter Henry hurt at the time, no assurance Melvin Gordon would be back any time soon, and Mike Williams not a guarantee. That proved to be hasty, as Allen didn’t have another hundred-yard game the rest of the year, never topped 12 targets again, and only had three more touchdowns. Still, he’s had ridiculous stretches like that before. Allen is a full-season borderline WR1/WR2, but there will always be stretches (assuming his quarterback situation works out) where he can look like an absolute superstar.

Weeks 9-12: D.J. Moore, No. 2 wide receiver

Moore had 95-plus yards in a game five times last year. Four of them came in this four-week stretch, when he averaged 110.5 receiving yards and scored half of his season-long four touchdowns. He averaged 11.3 targets in this game, but barely cracked an 8-target average the rest of the year. If the Teddy Bridgewater situation works out for Moore (and he seems like the biggest beneficiary of the new quarterback), Moore has sky-high potential in 2020.

Weeks 11-14: Calvin Ridley, No. 2 wide receiver

In Weeks 1-10, Ridley topped 5 receptions in a game once. He topped 70 receiving yards twice. And he had four touchdowns in nine games. In Weeks 11-14, he had at least 5 receptions in every game. He had 76 or more yards every game. And he scored three touchdowns. Of course, he didn’t even play four full games in that stretch, as he suffered an abdominal injury in the first half of that Week 14 game and missed the rest of the season, cutting his hot finish (perhaps spurred my Mohamed Sanu’s departure) short. Ridley has sky-high potential, especially in best ball.

Tight end

Weeks 1-4: Evan Engram, No. 1 tight end

Only eight tight ends had multiple hundred-yard games last year. Engram is one of them, and managed to pack his two into the season’s first three weeks. He had 331 of his 467 season yards and two of his three touchdowns in the season’s first month. Of course, he only played eight games, never topped 48 yards after that, ending his season in early November. If Engram can stay healthy, he has top-flight TE potential. That’s a big if, though.

Weeks 2-5: Will Dissly, No. 1 tight end

Dissly had 257 scrimmage yards and four touchdowns in Weeks 2-5. He had 12 scoreless yards the rest of the year combined. Of course, those 12 yards came in Week 1, and then he got hurt early in Week 6 and missed the rest of the year. It was similar to his rookie year in 2018, when Dissly had 147 yards and two scores in Weeks 1-2 and then had 7 yards combined in Weeks 3-4 before getting hurt and missing the rest of the year. Like Engram, Dissly’s injury issues are what has held him back. But now Greg Olsen has arrived in Seattle and Jacob Hollister popped late last year. So Dissly’s virtually impossible to count on in fantasy now.

Weeks 8-11: Ryan Griffin, No. 2 tight end

Outside this four-week stretch, Griffin’s best game of the season was either 5 receptions for 30 yards in Week 13, or 3 receptions for 28 yards and a score in Week 6. In this stretch, he had a 4/66/2, a 6/50, and a 5/109/1 (and also a 1/-2, to be fair). It basically overlapped with Sam Darnold’s big stretch, and comes after Chris Herndon had a hot finish when Darnold got hot in 2018. If you believe in Darnold, Griffin (or Herndon, if he can get healthy) should be a big beneficiary. If you don’t believe in Darnold, don’t trust a Jets tight end, either.