Week 5 Pass Catchers Report: Darius Slayton Bounces Back

Welcome to the first-ever edition of the pass catchers report! This article is pretty simple. I’m looking at pass catchers all around the league to see who is underperforming, who is overperforming, and who is performing as they should be given the advanced analytics. Throughout this article, I use advanced analytics like air yards. Here's a quick definition of what air yards are. 

Air Yards

Air yards can be divided into two categories, completed air yards and uncompleted air yards. Completed air yards can simply be calculated with receiving yards minus yards after the catch. Completed air yards is all the yards a player would get if they caught the ball and fell straight to the ground, sort of like 2020 A.J Green. Incomplete air yards are yards from targets that are not caught. If you add the two together you have total air yards. 

Without further ado, let’s get into some players who are in a great bounce-back spot for week five. 

Stock Up 

Darius Slayton, WR, New York Giants

You couldn’t draw up a better get right game for the Giants and Darius Slayton. Slayton crushed his 2020 debut on his way to six catches, 102 yards, and 2 TD’s against a stout Pittsburgh defense. However, he has failed to get going since then. Since his 28.2 point week one performance, he has only totaled 31.4 PPR points over the last three weeks. But the Cowboys offer the perfect smash spot for the second-year receiver. The Cowboys have allowed the fifth-most points above a player’s average to wide receivers, per Mike Beers. The Giants-Cowboys matchup also has the second-highest projected point total this week at 54 points. There should be plenty of passes and touchdowns to go around for a bounce-back performance from Darius Slayton in week five. 

Marquise Brown, WR, Baltimore Ravens 

Marquise Brown had a pre-season fan club, coming off a solid rookie campaign and a full recovery from last year’s injury. However, Brown has disappointed thus far, even though it’s not all his fault. Only 73.1% of his targets have been catchable this year, 70th in the NFL per PlayerProfiler. The Ravens also face off against the Bengals this week, who have allowed the opposing WR1 to finish as WR19 (Odell Beckham Jr.), WR14 (Greg Ward), and WR3 (D.J. Chark) in the last three weeks.  Brown is the unquestioned top receiving option on this team, eating up 44% of air yards and 26% of the targets. Brown could easily smash in this matchup and offers WR1 upside in week five. 

Hold

Robert Tonyan, TE, Green Bay Packers

Robert Tonyan was the only reliable non-RB pass catcher for the Packers last week, and he absolutely blew up. He finished as the overall TE2 on the week with 33.8 points, right behind his workout partner George Kittle. Tonyan is currently the overall TE2 on the season in PPR despite not catching a pass in week one. When Davante Adams re-enters the lineup, his target share will take a hit, but he has developed a good rapport with Aaron Rodgers, and that is not to be underestimated. 

Robby Anderson, WR, Carolina Panthers

Robby Anderson is looking like one of the best late-round draft picks in fantasy football this year. Personally, I was not interested in Robby Anderson, as I thought he would mainly be used as a deep threat for a team that was not looking to air the ball out that much. However, Robby Anderson has outplayed D.J. Moore to this point. Anderson leads the Panthers in targets, receptions, and yards while operating in the role that Moore occupied last year while Moore is more of a deep threat. You have to hold Anderson while he is steadily pumping WR2 numbers unless a lucrative trade offer arises. 

Stock Down

A.J. Green, WR, Cincinnati Bengals 

Fantasy analysts have been all over the map on A.J. Green. I feel comfortable with selling A.J. Green for the right price at this point. Green ranks third in air yards but 100th in receiving yards and just third on the Bengals, trailing Tyler Boyd and Tee Higgins. Green is just a shell of the receiver that posted five consecutive 1,000-yard seasons to start his career. These next two weeks, the Bengals have their two toughest games of this young season. So if Green could not get it going against weaker competition, there is no reason it should start against the Indianapolis Colts or the Baltimore Ravens in weeks five and six.  

Hayden Hurst, TE, Atlanta Falcons

I was excited about the potential breakout season for Hayden Hurst following his trade out of Baltimore into a team that loves to throw to tight ends. However, Hurst has not seized his opportunity. Even in week 4, with no Julio Jones for most of the game and Calvin Ridley hauling in zero catches on just five targets, Hurst saw just a 15% target share. On top of that, the Falcons have a tough slate of matchups for tight ends on the horizon. The Falcons don’t have a good matchup for tight ends on paper until week 11 when they face the New Orleans Saints. I wouldn’t drop him at this point because tight end is not a very deep position and any free agent tight end outside of Robert Tonyan will probably not fix your issue, but I am not comfortable with starting him anymore.