When news broke late yesterday that both Malcom Floyd and Antonio Gates would miss Thursday night’s game against the 49ers, I immediately bumped Vincent Jackson up to #13 in my WR rankings, figuring he was a fringe WR1/great WR2 play for Week 15. I was hesitant to move him up any further (though a few other pundits did) because he hadn’t done anything to that point and had been battling a calf injury since his return to action. I try not to overreact to news like that as it tends not to pay off.
All Jackson did was catch five passes for 112 yards and three TDs on just seven targets.
But did anyone start him? According to ESPN’s fantasy football data, only 16.8% of his owners had him in their starting lineups. So either a) they were asleep when the Floyd news broke or b) they didn’t feel comfortable starting a guy who hadn’t done anything all season. It’s possible (though unlikely) that owners had two or three better, more trustworthy options at WR, but I suspect most owners were gun-shy. It’s understandable, but those owners with V-Jax on their bench are going to be kicking themselves if they lose this week.
For those that did start him, it has to be sweet relief. All of the patience it took to allow him to eat up a roster spot with no promise of quality production, and then the guy comes out and posts the kind of fantasy line that could single-handedly swing the outcome of a fantasy semifinal…talk about clutch.
