Week 14 Booms and Busts: Sam Darnold starting to look like a fantasy league winner

We’ve called Sam Darnold a lot of names during his checkered seven-year career, “bust” being one of the most common.

Maybe in 2024, it’s time to call Sam Darnold a fantasy football league winner.

Darnold certainly looked the part in Sunday’s blowout win over Atlanta, shredding the Falcons for 347 yards and five touchdown passes. It was Darnold’s fourth straight game with multiple TD passes and zero interceptions. He’s currently the QB2 on the Week 14 leaderboard, and assured of his seventh finish inside the top 10 at the position. Darnold’s been bankable just about every week.

Darnold’s spreading the fantasy goodness to his primary targets, too. Jordan Addison (8-133-3) caught three of those Darnold touchdowns Sunday, Justin Jefferson (7-132-2) the other two. That’s the narrow target tree we know and love. Addison chased up to 35.3 fantasy points on the day before the primetime games (the WR2), with Jefferson scoring 28.7 points (the WR3).

Darnold’s season has been all about chunk plays and consistency. He entered Sunday with a juicy 8.2 YPA and that number was a robust 12.4 Sunday. He’s posted a rating over 100 in 11-of-13 starts. There’s a floor to go with the upside here.

Head coach Kevin O’Connell is one of the best passing-game designers in the league and surely deserves a lot of credit for the Darnold breakout. We’ve seen KO’C work some miracles before. But maybe the timing was finally right with Darnold. He was poorly supported during his time with the Jets and Panthers. Maybe he picked up some key things in the one year in San Francisco, when he hardly played.

To be fair, Atlanta’s secondary was one of the green matchups on the slate. The schedule gets (theoretically) harder to finish, albeit next week’s opponent, Chicago, is currently getting torched by the 49ers. After that, it’s Seattle and Green Bay. At least two of the games are at home.

But this is an infrastructure I want to bet on. Jefferson often looks like the best receiver in football and Addison — a Biletnikoff winner in college — has to be one of the best WR2s. T.J. Hockenson (4-45-0 Sunday) is a credible third piece. And the consistency we talked about lets fantasy managers sleep at night.

Minnesota, of course, moved on from Kirk Cousins in the offseason. He didn’t fare well in Sunday’s revenge game spot. Oh, the Falcons moved the ball plenty, but Cousins threw two picks and didn’t have a touchdown pass for the fourth straight game. This offense crushes your soul every week.

Darnell Mooney (6-142-0) made the most of seven targets and Drake London (5-70-0) was passable, though we wanted more from his 10 opportunities. Kyle Pitts has vanished from the offense (1-14-0). The Atlanta coaching staff continues to back Cousins, but you wonder what would have to happen for Michael Penix Jr. to get a chance. Sure, they’re paying Cousins that exorbitant salary, but they also used a first-round pick on Penix. This is why most teams don’t throw heavy resources at more than one quarterback.

Maybe a trip to Vegas will help Cousins get his groove back in Week 15. After that, the Giants and Commanders come calling.

Dolphins deliver a fantasy party

Miami’s overtime win over the Jets had plenty of fantasy winners. Tyreek Hill (10-115-1) finally had a blowup game, De’Von Achane got home on volume and touchdown deodorant (69 yards, touchdown) and Jaylen Waddle was involved and useful (9-99-0). Anyone who clicked on their names was validated.

But let’s say a word about Jonnu Smith’s crazy day. He was ignored for basically three hours and didn’t have a single catch through regulation. Then Smith went bonkers in the overtime, catching three passes for 44 yards, including the game-winning 10-yard score. In a matter of about 10 minutes, Smith jumped up to the TE5 mark, a spot he’s been living in for about a month now. Maybe Smith just needed a helping hand from play designer Mike McDaniel, as his first two catches came on well-designed screens — the type of thing Miami can get almost any time it wants.

The Jets, well, they’re always somewhat frustrating. Aaron Rodgers had his best game of the season (339 yards, 8.7 YPA) after three months of soul-crushing outcomes. It was the third Davante Adams smash game of the year (9-109-1), after two bad games and one passable one. Braelon Allen picked up a backfield start with Breece Hall unavailable, but Isaiah Davis played just as much. At least the Jets are officially eliminated from playoff contention. They finish the fantasy playoffs this way: at Jaguars, Rams, at Bills.

Panthers remain fantasy-relevant in loss

I know no one’s using Bryce Young in standard fantasy leagues and no one gets a parade for 5.6 YPA or 16 points. But Young only took one sack against the Philadelphia pass rush Sunday, and he almost engineered the upset of the season; he’s been much improved since regaining the starting job. All we ask of Young is for him to be competent enough that we can keep rolling with Chuba Hubbard (107 total yards, touchdown) and Adam Thielen (9-102-0, 11 targets). Xavier Legette (2-39-0) was a disappointment on eight looks; he missed what could have been a game-tilting touchdown in the final minute.

The Eagles, well, they played with their food. Jalen Hurts was held to 108 passing yards and 5.1 YPA, though he had two touchdown passes and the obligatory touchdown run. Saquon Barkley ran for 124 yards but didn’t score (although he had a 2-point conversion) or catch a pass — we expected more against Carolina. A.J. Brown caught all of his targets, but was targeted just four times. That’s not enough, especially with the Eagles still chasing the No. 1 seed in the conference. Philly hosts the dangerous Steelers next week.