We are now over a month into this NFL season! We must focus on the top takeaways now that we have film and statistics to study. No longer can we rest on our offseason takes of who will succeed and who will fail. We now have a reasonably large sample size of NFL football. The fantasy season will move quickly, and in a dynasty, it is essential to acquire players before they break out or unload players before they falter. We can lead our team to a fantasy football title by focusing on weekly top takeaways!
Fields On An Island
Justin Fields played his second primetime game of the season last Thursday night, and the whole world got to see first-hand how much trouble he is in. According to PFF, the Chicago Bears offensive line ranks bottom five in the league, and this fact was painfully obvious even to the untrained eye. Fields spent most of the game scrambling from the pocket to extend the play long enough to give himself time to pass. The result is an offense that is bottom-five in the league in scoring.
Where do we go from here? Justin Fields has been set up to fail this season. The Bears made minimal moves this past offseason to provide the second-year quarterback any help. In the 2022 offseason, the Chicago Bears spent the fourth-least amount of money to bolster the roster. This is despite having the 11th most cap space in the league. It seems like this new front office is ready to move on from Fields and hit the reset button.
The Chicago Bears hold a top-ten pick in the 2023 draft class. The 2023 class has some promising quarterbacks, and the Bears may have the option of drafting one. Not since Josh Rosen would we have seen a team move on from a young quarterback so quickly. For Fields to secure his future, he must get this team some more wins.
Packers Continue To Struggle
The Chicago Bears are not the only team in the NFC North that has been struggling on offense. The Green Bay Packers are now sitting at .500 despite appearing in the playoffs the last three seasons. The departure of Devante Adams has had a significant impact on this roster. On Sunday, Rodgers threw to a combination of Robert Tonyan, Allen Lazard, and Romeo Doubs. This offense badly needs an alpha wide receiver that can get open.
The lack of separation led to Rodgers taking four sacks in this game. These sacks also led to two fumbles, one of which was lost. Rodgers finished with a stat line of 26/41 for 246 yards and a touchdown. With the NFL trade deadline approaching in the next few weeks, Green Bay is hopefully making some phone calls. Odell Beckham Jr and Will Fuller are still free agents, and Carolina may be ready to move on from Robbie Anderson. Rodgers requires some help, and if the Packers’ front office doesn’t make any moves, it will be more of the same for the rest of 2022.
Kirk Cousins Solid Starter
Don’t look now, but Kirk Cousins is QB9 on the season. Through six weeks, Cousins has proven himself a solid fantasy starter. In Sunday’s win over the Miami Dolphins, Cousins went 20/30 for 175 yards and a pair of touchdowns. The odds were stacked against the Vikings as they dealt with a temperature in Miami that broke 120 degrees on their bench, a commonly known tactic employed by the Dolphins. Cousins and the offense overcame that obstacle to secure a 24-16 victory.
107 of the 175 yards went to Justin Jefferson, but the touchdowns were distributed to Adam Thielen, and Irv Smith Jr. Jefferson’s large stat line was aided by a 47-yard completion. Jefferson is untouchable in dynasty, but Cousins might be a player that can be acquired. A quick check of the DynasytyGM trade browser returns some exciting finds. There are many scenarios where Cousins is going for position players and a handful of late picks. If you are a contender who had Brady and/or Rodgers as your QB2, Cousins might be a nice piece to acquire to help solidify your quarterback room for a playoff push.
Information is the most powerful tool any dynasty fantasy football manager possesses. If you can stay on top of the correct information more than your league-mates, you will come out on top. Some key fantasy football players call the NFC North home. Be sure to check back with us, as we will be breaking down takeaways from every division this week. And be sure to come back next week, as we will be doing the same for all 18 weeks of the 2022 NFL season!
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I hope you enjoyed this piece in our Winning With Vegas series. For more content like this, follow me on Twitter @DanT_NFL. DMs are always open for any questions, comments, or craft beer recommendations!