Welcome into the Week 10 edition of Redzone Risers and Fallers for the 2021 season. This is a brand new series for our site, and uses the redzone touches information that is freely available on our site. The reason for adding this tool, and making it available is its importance in helping you make better decisions when it comes to your roster. This week, and going forwards, we are going to also include fallers who have had decreased usage recently.
The idea is that if a player is starting to be used in the redzone more, then the opportunity to score is increased and you want to add them to your roster. If the opposite happens, you might look to sell that asset.
Now, in this series, we aren’t going to look at big-name players on the whole. That is to say, Christian McCaffrey and Alvin Kamara are expected to be used in and around the redzone. That is unless they start stop being used, in which case they will be included in the fallers.
Week 10 Redzone Risers
Mark Ingram (RB, NO) 22% RZ Touches
Ingram returned to the Saints just in time, as Alvin Kamara has missed some time with injury. If there was a question on whether Ingram could still do it, his recent performances have pushed that out of mind. That isn’t limited to inbetween the 20’s either, with Ingram establishing himself as an important part of the team’s plans near the goalline. Even once Kamara comes back, the way the Saints operate, Ingram will still have some touches here.
A.J. Dillon (RB, GB) 19% RZ Touches
Dillon has been an effective complementary piece in the Packers backfield. Moving the ball when needed, and being productive with the touches that has been given. Aaron Jones wasn’t able to finish the game against the Seahawks due to injury, and is set to miss a few weeks with that same injury. Dillon is going to be a big part of this offense now, shown by his nine redzone touches last week.
Tre'Quan Smith (WR, NO) 5% RZ Touches
Smith’s redzone usage is low, but don’t forget a large part of that will be the fact that he missed a large part of the opening half of the season due to injury. Since his return, he has been taking a larger part of the offense. That has been everywhere on the field, including the redzone. As injuries pile up, having Smith as a depth piece should prove to be valuable.
Tyler Conklin (TE, MIN) 10% RZ Touches
Conklin keeps turning up, doesn’t he? Even when he has limited targets, he makes sure that he gets them in the redzone and converts them. The Vikings offense has been passing the ball well this season, and Conklin is a piece of that.
Week 10 Redzone Fallers
Jeremy McNichols (RB, TEN) 6% RZ Touches
I really thought that McNichols was going to be the guy for the Titans after looking effective on limited snaps before Derrick Henry went down with injury. At least he had redzone touches to fall back on previously, in recent weeks he hasn’t been invovled. It feels safe to drop him now if you haven’t already
Adam Thielen (WR, MIN) 12% RZ Touches
Thielen is a risky player to select as a redzone faller, because that is an area that he has historically performed well. There is a reason why he is joint third on his team in opportunities near the goal line. I just don’t want to believe he gets that many looks this week as he faces the Packers this week.
Adam Trautman (TE, NO) 6% RZ Touches
Two risers for the Saints means that there has to be a faller somewhere- and it’s the TE Trautman. The thing with the Saints is that the redzone touches are so heavily weighted to the top, with Alvin Kamar and Mark Ingram accounting for half of the team opportunity. Trautman is a fine TE to roster, but his upside is limited until he sees more looks in the redzone.
So, that’s this weeks edition of Redzone Risers and Fallers for the 2021 season, taking into account the action from Week 10. You can find us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or jump into our Discord server
Image Credit: Jeff Hanisch – USA TODAY Sports
