The intern is back, hold your boos. You thought you got rid of me that easily? No way. After spending last Saturday eating questionable Thai food, I had the opportunity to spend two days on the toilet. I couldn’t bring together enough energy to toss the scientists’ findings in the Roto Street Journal lab into paper form, so I had to take a week off.
The good news? Everything they projected was right. You’ll have to take my word for it.
If you’ve somehow made it through the first five weeks of the season unscathed- big congratulations. If you are like me and have had some (most) players find themselves injured on your team, making sure you buy into players at the right time and not at the peak of their hype is paramount. Below are some players to pay attention to their hype moving forward and what confidence level you can put on that rise/fall in hype.
Hunter Henry, TE New England Patriots

After weeks of poor tight-end performances, the past two weeks are a beacon of hope that production can come out of your tight-end slot. A new name in the bin of “”an get you 10 points and have high upside” “tight ends emerged this week in Hunter Henry. With the recent flip from Jacoby Brissett to Drake Maye, pass catchers of the New England Patriots find themselves with a better opportunity for success in the Alex Van Pelt run offense. But the question still needs to be answered: where will the ball go? The scientists think the ball could consistently go Hunter Henry’s way.
Looking back at Maye’s college stats, he constantly targeted the tight end position. Last year with the Tarheels, two of Maye’s top six pass catchers ended up being tight ends Bryson Nesbit (41-585-5) and John Copenhaver (18-279-4). In running the numbers, this means that 23% of Drake Maye’s passing yards and 37% of his passing touchdowns went to the TE position, nothing to sneeze at!
Another thing to consider is using the Tight End position in the AVP offense. Under the direction of AVP, the Browns never had a season in which a Tight End finished outside the top three in targets on the team, including last year’s TE5 David Njoku. Taking a step back, you will now see that we have the recipe of an offensive coordinator who draws up schemes to target the tight end, a Quarterback with a college record of targeting the tight end, and a tight end who has had success in the past.
Don’t get me wrong— he only finished with 5 targets, three receptions, and 41 yards for a touchdown. But, as Maye settles into this offense, look to Henry to be the security blanket for Maye as the offensive line couldn’t stop a stiff breeze.
Drake Maye to Hunter Henry 🔥
— B/R Gridiron (@brgridiron) October 13, 2024
His 2nd TD throw of the day
(via @NFL)pic.twitter.com/XyE101pvF4
The scientists in the labs are highly confident that Hunter Henry will be a weekly starter in fantasy lineups. The Wolf has yet to buy in, still ranking Hunter Henry as his TE21.
Demario Douglas, WR New England Patriots

Two Patriots players in the same column? Never thought I’d see the day. But here is why: Drake Maye completed 20 of his 33 passes for 243 yards and three touchdowns. The 243 yards thrown by a Patriots quarterback only happened thrice last year, and three touchdown passes only happened twice. With a newly found chance of success for Patriots pass catchers, nearly all Patriots WRs are sitting on your waivers with the opportunity to help you with some bye-week/injury decisions.
Demario “Pop” Douglas comes in as a second-year WR in a receiving corps of unknown commodities. Back in June, CJay covered the 2024 fantasy outlook of Douglas as a solid draft stash, and if owners were patient, they might have a solid breakout on their hands. Maye favored Douglas over players like Ja’Lynn Polk and Kendrick Bourne, as Douglas finished with nine targets for six receptions, 92 yards, and one touchdown.
DEMARIO DOUGLAS HOUSE CALL
— B/R Gridiron (@brgridiron) October 13, 2024
Drake Maye throws his 3rd TD of the day 🔥
(via @NFL)pic.twitter.com/97HML5xU3U
In the past four games, Douglas has finished with nine targets three times and has finished with over fifty receiving yards in those three games. The scientists are excited about the opportunity Douglas has ahead of him, and getting him off your waivers now could save you some FAAB after his matchup against the putrid Jacksonville Jaguars next week.
Calvin Ridley, WR Tennessee Titans

They warned you, and you didn’t want to listen. Before the season started, the scientists were hard at work in the lab, making sure to warn you of Calvin Ridley’s bust potential. Even better, their recommendation was to take WR Terry McLaurin over him! But here we are, heading into week 7 with Calvin Ridley as the WR68 and getting pissed.
“Shit, I need some [targets] in the beginning of the fucking game too…shit’s getting fucking crazy”
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) October 13, 2024
Calvin Ridley is begging for the football
pic.twitter.com/QeOrHNBlB9
Will Levis is worse than I ever imagined. The argument against Ridley was focused on the fact that Ridley couldn’t get it done with Trevor Lawrence and going from one sub-par quarterback to an even more sub-par quarterback was not the recipe for success. But Levis is worse than sub-par. Levis is “going to get benched for Mason Rudolph” type of bad. Ridley finished week 6 with eight targets (hey, that’s pretty good!) and *checks the stat sheets* ZERO RECEPTIONS FOR ZERO YARDS.
In 5 games played this year, Ridley has not eclipsed four receptions in a single game. His quarterback has finished with under 200 yards passing in three of the four games he has completed. Look to pivot from Ridley if you can bundle him with another player for an upgrade at any position. If you need an open bench spot to pick up someone like Kimani Vidal, please drop Ridley.
Brian Thomas Jr., WR Jacksonville Jaguars

Brian Thomas Jr. looks to be one of the marquee breakout rookies of the 2024 season. A couple of weeks ago, Duck tried to talk you into buying into Brian Thomas Jr. before it was too late, and if you did, you got a 20-point game out of the first year Wide Receiver. I now come back to you with some uncertainty about his future outlook, which comes in the form of a 66’3 “240 lbs Tight End named Evan Engram. Yes, the same Evan Engram, who was the TE2 last year, finishing 2023 with 114 receptions for nearly 1,000 yards.
Although Thomas Jr. found himself with a career-high 79% snap rate, we saw him finish with a season-high 27 yards and a season-high 9 YPC. Don’t get me wrong, he was a drop away from having a better stat line.

The scientists in the lab are trying to get you to come down from the hype of the rise of this player and to believe in him more as a low-end WR2 than a WR1 (currently the WR9), and to be open to trading if other people in your league want to invest.