Each week during the 2022 NFL season, Field Yates will help fantasy football managers by providing the precise intel needed on the most important, fantasy-relevant storylines, with some help from friends at ESPN, who offer the best and freshest insight into what matters most. Field's Rolodex is vast; he'll dial up whomever he needs. This is the Field Pass.
My job at ESPN thankfully does not include putting together our weekly projections, as that is a task handled by the incomparable Mike Clay. Mike does tremendous work, and if you're not already reading/watching/listening/following him, correct that now.
But if you opened up your game preview for Week 7 and your initial reaction was "Mike only has my team projected for 44.7 points!?!?!?" fear not. You are not mistaken.
OK, maybe 44.7 is just a little less than the actual projections, but Week 7 will be the week that those who emerge victorious are reminded that a win is a win, score be damned.
You see, there's a small speed bump we're all going to have to make our way over this week: four out of the five highest-scoring players in all of fantasy football this season are on a bye!
1. Bills QB Josh Allen: 172.9 points
2. Bills WR Stefon Diggs: 150.6 points
3. Rams WR Cooper Kupp: 148.8 points
4. Ravens QB Lamar Jackson: 146.18 points (plays the Browns in Week 7)
5. Eagles QB Jalen Hurts: 145.86 points
It is logical that three of the top five scorers in fantasy football are quarterbacks, as it is the position where points are easiest to come by, especially for those that have rushing upside like Allen, Jackson and Hurts do.
But what has been completely illogical about the fantasy football season this year is just how exceptionally disappointing the quarterback position as a whole has been. If you have one of the three above, you don't know what I'm talking about. Same goes for those who have Patrick Mahomes and a couple of others ... maybe.
But for the vast majority of people out there, you've been witness to just how little consistency and upside there has been at the quarterback spot this year. Which runs exactly counter to what we've been accustomed to, as for years we've preached the importance of patience in your draft at quarterback because there would end up being so many useful options later in drafts.
Nope. Not this season. There are several ways to illustrate this, including these two examples: