Bucky Irving has really opened eyes as a rookie. (Sporting News)
Saquon Barkley had the greatest running day in Eagle history to put himself in the MVP conversation; the Giants feel they’re being too soft as they lost their sixth straight — despite coming off their bye week; and KC enjoyed its fifth walk-off win, yet Patrick Mahomes wants to see more blowouts.
Bucky Irving Bolts to the Top of the Depth Chart
Coming off a solid nine-win effort in 2023, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers got off to a good start this year, winning four of their first six games. A fifth straight playoff appearance looked like a near certainty until things unraveled with a four-game skid.
Fortunately, the Bucs turned that around in Week 12 by hammering the horrific G-Men 30-7. With the Falcons slumping, a fourth straight NFC South title is still very much in play.
One of the best aspects of this win — certainly from a Fantasy perspective — was the emergence of Bucky Irving as the new No. 1 back in Tampa Bay.
The rookie enjoyed season bests in rushing and receiving yardage (including a career-high 56-yard run — see video below) and in receptions, while hitting paydirt for the second straight game and fifth time over the last eight. It’s been a challenge trying to figure out the pecking order in the Buc backfield all season, but Irving seems to have to wrestled control. Still, even if he regresses to a timeshare, he’s proven valuable from a Fantasy perspective and is clearly the more efficient option compared to Rachaad White.
Drafted in the fourth round this year, Irving was a 2023 second team All-Pac 12 selection and, at 5’9″ with a strong lower half, he has the type of frame that lends itself to success, albeit not necessarily in a bellcow type of role. So his early rise on the depth chart has been a pleasant surprise.
In fact, Irving has been among the NFL’s top rookie performers this season and has been an RB1 in back-to-back games, so you must start him in Week 13. We expect him to be a mid-range RB2 next week.
Anthony Richardson’s Inconsistent Sophomore Season
After bouncing back to nine wins last year, the Indianapolis Colts have been inconsistent this season. They got off to a poor start, dropping their first two games, before rhyming off four victories in five tries. Since then, however, the Colts have handed that run right back and lost four of five, their defeat last week costing them a chance to pull within a game of division-leading Houston in the AFC South.
Mirroring that inconsistency has been starting QB Anthony Richardson. On the plus side, the sophomore has stayed much healthier than he did as a rookie. But the flipside is that Richardson has shown precious little in the form of growth, as he’s generated very few completions and fewer TDs relative to his pass attempts. Really, only the yardage numbers have improved.
How bad has Richardson been? Well consider that he’s +50,000 to be be named AP NFL Regular Season MVP for 2024-25 as per FanDuel. Yup, long odds like that tell quite the story.
Richardson failed to lead a single touchdown drive in Week 12, and although you can forgive that to an extent given the opponent (Detroit), it was still a big disappointment considering he had looked pretty good the previous game. He had a real tough outing in the air, but salvaged his day for Fantasy owners with 61 rushing yards on 10 carries.
The good news? Indy now faces a New England team that has really struggled to pressure opposing offenses. Expect Richardson to flirt with 200 yards passing, making him a decent streaming or mid-range QB2 option.
RotoRob Tune of the Day
Belgian cool jazz saxophonist Bobby Jaspar was active from 1954 until his untimely death at age 37 in 1963. In 2007, Clarinescapade was released, a compilation album featuring the track “What’s New?” which was written by Johnny Burke and Bob Haggart, and was originally released as a pop song in 1939.