Returner Recap and Latest News

Photo: Matthew Emmons, USA Today Sports

UPDATES

The Browns have said Fozzy Whittaker will continue as the primary kickoff returner this week, with Travis Benjamin also getting some touches.

Ace Sanders is healthy enough he will be resuming his role as punt returner for the Jaguars.

Week 7 Recap

Top Performers

While Trindon Holliday amassed 139 total return yards in Week 7, the punt return touchdowns scored by Devin Hester of Chicago and Marcus Sherels of Minnesota pushed them ahead of Holliday in most fantasy scoring systems. Hester had the second most yards with 125 despite Washington kicking away from Hester so much that he had only two of his team's seven kickoff returns.  Quintin Demps also had an active day returning kicks in Kansas City, where he took 4 returns for 123 yards.

All Week 7 Returners

Here are the top returners sorted by total yards for Week 7:

Top THIRTY to Date

Here are the top thirty returners for the year based on total return yards.

Job Changes

The Colts have been using David Reed as the primary returner, but left him inactive in Week 7 despite being healthy. Cassius Vaughn handled most of the returns in Reed's place. Whether this signals a long term change, or was done to allow for an extra defensive back against the potent Broncos passing game bears close watching.

Fozzy Whittaker landed in Cleveland after having been cut by San Diego earlier in the season. The Browns immediately put Whittaker to work where he split return duties with Travis Benjamin. Greg Little is still listed atop the Browns depth chart with Whittaker second, though Little did not have a return in the game. The resulting situation is murky and any of the three could end up with returns in Week 8.

Tampa Bay claimed Bobby Rainey from waivers and likely will have him backup Eric Page.  Page is handling all of the return duties, including the kickoffs that would normally go to the injured Jeff Demps.

As mentioned last week, the Jets signed Josh Cribbs to handle kickoff returns, though when they took the field on Sunday the team also used Cribbs on punt returns. The former elite returner managed only a single kickoff return for 17 yards, but had punt returns of 8, 15 and 21 yards. He also ran the wildcat on offense and participated on kick coverage.

Jacoby Jones continued to handle kickoff returns while Tandon Doss took care of the punt returns for the Ravens. Doss continues to play well and looks like he may hold on to the punt return job for the rest of the year.

INJURIES OF NOTE

In a week when many key offensive and defensive players suffered serious injuries, the returners seem to have made it through without adding any significant injuries.

Week 8 Team Return Projections

Week 8 Player Return Projections