Every week dozens of players stand out and perform exemplary. Today I am going to be highlighting the top 5 players or units that stood out. Also if two players on the same offense or defense both have career games, only one will get top five as they worked off of each other. (The other will most likely be honorable mention)
Honorable Mention: Jerry Jeudy
The Broncos were down 27-0 before storming back to lose 28-34. The offense was ignited in a large party by Jerry Jeudy. The 2020 first round pick previously had six touchdowns in his first 36 games, which is a clean one touchdown every six games. In this one game alone, he went off catching three touchdowns. In the game Jeudy finished with 8 catches for 73 yards and 3 touchdowns, more than deserving of an honorable mention.
Honorable Mention: Trevor Lawrence
Nearly every week, Trevor Lawrence is reminding people that his rookie season was with Urban Meyer and this is the real Trevor Lawrence. This week against the rival Titans, Lawrence put together one of his most complete games as a pro. Going 30-42 for 368 yards and four total touchdowns in a 36-22 win. It was a career high in yards and his sparkling 121.9 passer rating was the second highest in his career. You could easily put him in the top five somewhere but as his teammate also had a career game I felt he deserved the top five nod a little more.
Honorable Mention: Miles Sanders
While I could have easily put Jalen Hurts here, I felt Sanders needed some love. Plus the Eagles blowout over the Giants 48-22 was predicated on the dominance of the run game. Sanders shredded the Giants with 17 carries for 144 yards and two touchdowns. His gaudy 8.47 yards per carry is the highest in his career for a single game with 10 or more rushing attempts. He led the way for an Eagles rushing attack that finished with 253 rushing yards, easily the most of any team this week.
#5 Josey Jewell
The Chiefs blitzed the Broncos in the beginning of the game, going up 27-0. Then the Broncos defense stiffened and they slowly started coming back. While the comeback bid fell short with the final score of 28-34, Broncos linebacker Josey Jewell did everything he could to make it happen. Firstly, he was all around the field being a part of what felt like half of the tackles, in the game he finished with 10 tackles, with eight of them being solo tackles. Secondly, it was the big plays that he forced, intercepting Patrick Mahomes not once but twice to simultaneously stop Chiefs drives and set up the Broncos in good field positions. The five year veteran is having the best season of his career, and this game might be his best game as the interceptions also doubled as his first two interceptions.
#4 Christian McCaffrey
When Christian McCaffrey was traded to the 49ers, the 9ers had a vision to make him the ultimate gadget guy and the center of the offense. Well it is safe to say that they are carrying out the plan to the letter. This last week he ran the ball 14 times for 119 yards and caught two passes for 34 yards, with a rushing and receiving touchdown. His insanely high efficiency of 9.56 yards per touch helped propel the 49ers to crush the Buccaneers 35-7. The last six weeks, since McCaffrey has been fully integrated into the offense, he is averaging 65 rushing yards, 49 receiving yards, and a touchdown. His multifaceted skill set has also helped the 49ers average 28.67 points per game and go undefeated over the last eight games.
#3 Evan Engram
This last offseason, the Jaguars took a chance on Evan Engram hoping that he would get back to playing like he was two years ago, when he made the pro bowl with the Giants. So far this season, the move was not working out like they had envisioned. Engram had only 332 yards, was only averaging 32 yards a game and his season high was 69 yards. Safe to say Engram had his best game of the season. Against the Tennessee Titans, he exploded, recording 11 catches for 162 yards and two touchdowns on 15 targets. Every single stat was not only a season high but also a career high for the six year veteran. Trevor Lawrence constantly looked his way, throwing more than one third of his passes, to Engram’s direction. The game was also the second most receiving yards by a tight end this year and the eighth best ppr fantasy performance by a wide receiver or tight end this year.
#2 Justin Jefferson
Justin Jefferson is pretty good at this whole football thing. This last Sunday he proved it again, exploding for 11 catches for 223 yards on 15 targets. While the Vikings still fell to 10-3, it wasn’t because their wide receiver 1 didn’t show up. His 223 yards are a NFL high for the season and the fourth most receiving yards in a game the last five years. Unsurprisingly, it is also Jefferson’s career high, and that is saying something for a player who is off to a historically good start. The most receiving yards for a player in their first three years is Randy Moss with 4,163 that is until Mr. Jefferson came along. Right now Jefferson is sitting at 4,516 yards with four more games left in the season. Enjoy watching this guy, because even other legends aren’t keeping up with him.
#1 Baker Mayfield
There’s a new Baker in town, and he’s here to cook the Raiders. While that may have been the worst sentence I have ever written, that doesn’t make it any less true. The important context is that on Monday morning Baker Mayfield was on the Panthers, they released him halfway through the day. On Tuesday the Rams, who were the only team to even try to get him, claimed him off of waivers. Two days later, he was playing against the Raiders trying to pull off the upset with receivers who he had barely thrown any passes to in his life. Then, after falling down 3-16, he pulls out back to back touchdown drives with the second one being a 98 yard drive with no timeouts with only 1:45 remaining. As a reminder he had to learn the playbook, the protections, the checks, and everything to go with a NFL offense in two days. Here’s just a glimpse of how complicated just calling NFL plays can be, and that was future NFL guru Chris Simms in a training camp. Now Mayfield only had hours to master it and had to drive 98 yards for the win, and he did it! In the game, Mayfield finished with 22-35 for 230 yards with one game winning touchdown with 10 seconds left and no interceptions. Oh yeah, and it was the longest game winning touchdown drive with less than two minutes left in NFL history. Take a bow Baker, this week is yours.