AAF Trendspotting - Seven Weeks In
The weekly AAF Trendspotting series takes a look at AAF league-wide trends and the impact on fantasy sports. While much of the game is the same as the NFL, the scaled down league size, developmental roster pools, and coaching tactics can have a huge effect.
Two Week Tuneup
After a small hiatus for the Trendsetting article, we have two weeks of AAF football to dissect. Let’s make up for lost time.
Last time we spoke Aaron Murray looked to be ascending into the ranks of Garrett Gilbert and John Wolford. Fast forward to today and it appears we may have jumped the gun. Over the past two weeks Murray has been hyper efficient completing 73% of his passes, but he has also thrown 5 interceptions over that same span. The Legends have put up a measly 6 points in back to back weeks now and I am curious to see if the Legends mix Matt Simms back in as he saw some action in their Week 7 game.
Keeping it with the quarterbacks, Luis Perez finally had that breakout the Iron had been waiting for in Week 6 against San Diego. Perez lit it up finishing the game with 350+ yards and 3 touchdowns. L’Damian Washington found himself directly on the receiving end of the Perez points as he had his best game to date with 4 catches on 10 targets for 128 yards and 2 touchdowns. Unfortunately his breakout was short lived as he followed up his Week 6 with one target in Week 7. To me, the Iron receiving pecking order ranked in terms of safety still looks like this (Richardson -> Patton -> Washington).
Truesdell Truther?
For almost all of this season, the Salt Lake Stallions’ receiving corps has been a puzzle. We have seen De’Mornay Pierson-El have his breakout weeks. We have seen Brian Tyms be unable to capitalize on target volume. Adonis Jennings has even had his moments. Now, it appears that Nick Truesdell has become a mainstay for Woodrum. Over Weeks 5,6 and 7, Truesdell has caught 15 passes on 16 targets for just over 70 yards per game. He also has touchdowns in 2 out of 3 of those weeks as well.
Truesdell’s price has climbed a bit since his Week 5 outbreak, but he is only $100 off of his Week 7 price for Week 8.
Right Direction
In the spirit of trying to predict future success, here are the receivers who saw there target counts increase from week 6 to week 7.
| Player | Week 8 Price | Week 6 Targets | Week 6 FPTs | Week 7 Targets | Week 7 FPTs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| D. Pierson-El | $6,200 | 8 | 5.3 | 14 | 28.6 |
| M. Jones | $5,900 | 4 | 6.5 | 7 | 19.1 |
| A. Etta-Tawo | $4,100 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 10.1 |
| B. Tyms | $3,400 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4.4 |
| A. Carlisle | $3,200 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3.4 |
| J. Diarse | $3,100 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3.3 |
Nelson Spruce leads the pack this week as he almost doubled his target count from Week 6. The points hadn’t been there in Weeks 5 and 6, but they came in bunches last week as he ended up with 28.6. Spruce continues to be a target hog for the Fleet totaling a whopping 30 targets over Weeks 5,6 and 7.
Malachi Jones has also been a consistent 3-4 target receiver for the Legends this season, but it wasn’t until last week that he finally hit pay dirt.
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