One of last year’s feel-good fantasy football stories, Tyrod Taylor rose to prominence as a solid matchups-based starter in shallow leagues and a weekly lineup fixture in deeper leagues. He got the big money this offseason and was taken as a low QB1, high QB2 that would be a platoon starter for owners. Unfortunately, that plan seems to have derailed rather quickly, as Tyrod and the Bills had one of the least inspiring offensive performances you could muster this side of the Rams on Monday Night Football against the Ravens.
The matchup against the Ravens was not supposed to be that difficult for Taylor, as they were middle of the road against the last quarterback position by fantasy points per game, but the scheming did in Tyrod’s value. Taylor managed just 122 total yards as the Ravens’ zone defense kept him bottled in all day.
Baltimore’s game plan was to let Tyrod complete his short passes and not let them beat them with his exceptional deep ball or legs. It worked. The Bills offense was completely disjointed and broken as the Ravens forced them into accepting short plays that ended up going nowhere. To wit: Taylor completed an exceptional amount of his 22 passes (68.18%), but he only netted five yards an attempt.
Not only was Tyrod bad last game, but rumors are swirling that superstar wide receiver Sammy Watkins may be out for the Thursday Night Football tilt, as well. Reports initially came out that a foot injury threatened to keep Watkins out for an extended period (and maybe the season). Now Watkins has come out and said that his foot would be fine for Thursday Night Football.
Even if Watkins plays, which is no guarantee, the only real, viable target for Tyrod will be hobbled? If he’s out? It’s going to be a disaster. There will be nowhere to go for Taylor, and things could spiral out of control in a hurry.
The Jets will do everything they can to ensure that things spiral quickly for Taylor. Last week against the stout Bengals’ offensive line, they managed seven sacks and were consistently putting Andy Dalton on his back. The Jets’ strength on defense is their D-Line, and it chewed through the Bengals’ like the linemen weren’t even there. The Ravens crushing the Bills’ offensive line was a major issue, with Taylor and LeSean McCoy getting hardly any time to think before running for his life. Even if everything were going well for Taylor, the Jets defense would make his day a nightmare. And nothing is going right so far for Taylor.
Much like Eli Manning, Tyrod Taylor was taken as a platoon fantasy football QB1/QB2 that you would rotate in based on matchups. Given Tyrod’s performance week one and the performance of his opposition, it is highly likely that you are going to want to look elsewhere this week for production. You could even drop Taylor from your roster entirely to facilitate this.