Returner Recap and Latest News: Week 17

Footballguys Staff's Returner Recap and Latest News: Week 17 Footballguys Staff Published 12/24/2014

Individual returner projections for each week are included in your MyFBG projections and rankings automatically. My returner projections are included in the default projection set with David Dodds' offensive predictions. Choose David as the source, and then choose a scoring system in which you have included points for return yards.

The base return projections for a week can be seen on this page. You can also go to the content for the week and use the Returner Projections link to get to that page.

Week 16 Recap

Top Performers

Players like to excel when facing a former team and Jacoby Jones managed this in Baltimore's Week 16 game in Houston. Jones returned 4 kickoffs for 122 yards and had a 45-yard punt return to set up a Ravens score. Adam Jones also came up big despite splitting returns, amassing 157 total return yards against the Broncos. Danny Amendola of the Patriots picked up 63 total punt return yards to edge out Rams returner Tavon Austin's 61 yards for the weekly lead amongst punt returners. No returns found the end zone this week, though Jalen Saunders took a kickoff return 99 yards before finally being tackled just short of the end zone.

For total return yards for the season, Jacoby Jones still trails the 1261 yards that Devin Hester has picked up for Atlanta, though Jones managed to cut the gap to 29 yards. Hester leads the league in kickoff return yards while Philadelphia's Darren Sproles is a full 100 yards ahead of second place Tavon Austin in punt return yards.

All Week 16 Returners

Below are all returners for Week 16.

RankPLAYERTEAMKick RetKR YdsKR TDPunt RetPR YdsPR TDTotal YdsTotal TDs
1 Jacoby Jones BAL 4 122 0 1 45 0 167 0
2 Adam Jones CIN 3 134 0 2 23 0 157 0
3 Danny Amendola NWE 5 91 0 3 63 0 154 0
4 Jalen Saunders NOR 2 120 0 1 0 0 120 0
5 Chris Davis SDG 4 106 0 0 0 0 106 0
6 Bruce Ellington SFO 3 71 0 3 34 0 105 0
7 Omar Bolden DEN 2 102 0 0 0 0 102 0
8 Andre Roberts WAS 4 95 0 0 0 0 95 0
9 Benny Cunningham STL 4 83 0 0 0 0 83 0
10 Marcus Thigpen BUF 3 65 0 3 11 0 76 0
11 Marc Mariani CHI 3 74 0 0 0 0 74 0
12 Markus Wheaton PIT 3 70 0 0 0 0 70 0
13 Fozzy Whittaker CAR 3 65 0 0 0 0 65 0
14 Josh Huff PHI 3 65 0 0 0 0 65 0
15 Josh Cribbs IND 2 57 0 1 7 0 64 0
16 Tavon Austin STL 0 0 0 3 61 0 61 0
17 Perrish Cox SFO 2 60 0 0 0 0 60 0
18 Ted Ginn Jr ARI 3 60 0 0 0 0 60 0
19 DeAnthony Thomas KAN 2 45 0 2 9 0 54 0
20 Devin Hester ATL 2 49 0 2 2 0 51 0
21 Brandon Tate CIN 0 0 0 1 49 0 49 0
22 Cordarrelle Patterson MIN 2 47 0 0 0 0 47 0
23 Knile Davis KAN 2 46 0 0 0 0 46 0
24 Jarvis Landry MIA 3 45 0 2 0 0 45 0
25 Leon Washington TEN 1 12 0 4 27 0 39 0
26 Shaun Draughn CLE 1 39 0 0 0 0 39 0
27 Jeremy Kerley NYJ 0 0 0 3 35 0 35 0
29 Dwayne Harris DAL 0 0 0 3 29 0 29 0
28 Bobby Rainey TAM 1 29 0 1 0 0 29 0
30 Jordan Todman JAX 1 29 0 0 0 0 29 0
31 George Winn DET 2 28 0 0 0 0 28 0
32 Paul Richardson Jr SEA 1 27 0 0 0 0 27 0
33 T.J. Graham NYJ 2 26 0 0 0 0 26 0
34 Keshawn Martin HOU 0 0 0 4 24 0 24 0
37 Travis Benjamin CLE 0 0 0 2 24 0 24 0
35 Preston Parker NYG 1 24 0 0 0 0 24 0
36 Quinton Patton SFO 1 24 0 0 0 0 24 0
38 Jeremy Ross DET 0 0 0 3 22 0 22 0
39 George Atkinson OAK 1 21 0 0 0 0 21 0
40 Quintin Demps NYG 1 21 0 0 0 0 21 0
41 Emmanuel Sanders DEN 1 19 0 0 0 0 19 0
42 Percy Harvin NYJ 1 19 0 0 0 0 19 0
43 Brenton Bersin CAR 0 0 0 2 17 0 17 0
44 Travis Carrie OAK 0 0 0 3 16 0 16 0
45 Wes Welker DEN 0 0 0 3 14 0 14 0
46 Anthony Sherman KAN 1 13 0 0 0 0 13 0
47 Jerome Felton MIN 1 13 0 0 0 0 13 0
48 Justin Trattou MIN 1 13 0 0 0 0 13 0
49 Ace Sanders JAX 0 0 0 2 11 0 11 0
50 Darren Sproles PHI 0 0 0 2 10 0 10 0
51 Chase Thomas SFO 1 8 0 0 0 0 8 0
52 Tim Barnes STL 1 7 0 0 0 0 7 0
53 Micah Hyde GNB 0 0 0 2 2 0 2 0
54 Randall Cobb GNB 0 0 0 2 2 0 2 0
55 Bryan Walters SEA 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
56 Tim Lelito NOR 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Returners Year to Date

Here are the top 40 returners for the year based on total return yards.

RKPLAYERTEAMKick RetKR YdsKR TDPunt RetPR YdsPR TDTotal YdsTotal TDs
1 Devin Hester ATL 42 1021 0 18 240 1 1261 1
2 Jacoby Jones BAL 31 957 1 29 275 0 1232 1
3 Jarvis Landry MIA 30 847 0 25 204 0 1051 0
4 Dwayne Harris DAL 28 687 0 28 263 0 950 0
5 Jordan Todman JAX 37 939 0       939 0
6 Benny Cunningham STL 32 883 0       883 0
7 Cordarrelle Patterson MIN 34 871 0       871 0
8 Andre Roberts WAS 28 649 0 26 193 0 842 0
9 Adam Jones CIN 19 596 0 20 239 0 835 0
10 Bruce Ellington SFO 24 614 0 23 188 0 802 0
11 Percy Harvin 2TM 32 778 0       778 0
12 Knile Davis KAN 27 774 1       774 1
13 DeAnthony Thomas KAN 14 428 0 30 336 1 764 1
14 Jeremy Ross DET 18 458 0 31 270 0 728 0
15 Leon Washington TEN 26 598 0 6 37 0 635 0
16 Ted Ginn Jr ARI 19 368 0 24 255 1 623 1
17 Chris Williams CHI 24 579 1 4 30 0 609 1
18 Danny Amendola NWE 20 482 0 14 109 0 591 0
19 Griff Whalen IND 15 379 0 26 187 0 566 0
20 Josh Cribbs IND 16 478 0 16 85 0 563 0
21 Travis Carrie OAK 15 362 0 26 195 0 557 0
22 Solomon Patton 2TM 18 416 0 10 112 0 528 0
23 Brandon Tate CIN 18 397 0 16 119 0 516 0
24 Darren Sproles PHI 1 15 0 37 491 2 506 2
25 Preston Parker NYG 18 441 0 8 53 0 494 0
26 DuJuan Harris GNB 22 456 0       456 0
27 Marc Mariani CHI 17 422 0 7 29 0 451 0
28 Markus Wheaton PIT 18 442 0       442 0
29 Latavius Murray OAK 19 429 0       429 0
30 Philly Brown CAR 12 273 0 16 153 1 426 1
31 Tavon Austin STL 2 19 0 35 391 1 410 1
32 Marcus Thigpen 3TM 10 212 0 13 198 1 410 1
33 Chris Davis SDG 16 410 0       410 0
34 Josh Huff PHI 13 386 1       386 1
35 Marcus Sherels MIN 4 110 0 26 266 0 376 0
36 Travaris Cadet NOR 15 364 0       364 0
37 Travis Benjamin CLE 12 246 0 14 112 0 358 0
38 Chris Polk PHI 11 340 1       340 1
39 Paul Richardson Jr SEA 14 324 0       324 0
40 Marlon Moore CLE 13 322 0       322 0

Week 17 Outlook

Job Changes

Jalen Saunders handled kickoff returns for the Saints, and with one of them going for 99 yards he stands a good chance at seeing more work in Week 17. Saunders has been handling punts since Brandin Cooks was lost for the season to an injury.

The Raiders put both Travis Carrie and George Atkinson III deep side by side on kickoff returns in Week 16. If this continues it will cut into Carrie's fantasy value as a returner.

INJURIES OF NOTE

Percy Harvin is dealing with a rib injury that may keep him out Week 17. The Jets have split returns between Harvin and T.J. Graham while Harvin has dealt with injuries.

Bruce Ellington suffered a hamstring injury in the 49ers game against the Chargers. Carlos Hyde and Perrish Cox have handled kickoff and punt returns respectively when Ellington has been out before, though Hyde has an ankle injury that should be watched for his Week 17 status.

Photos provided by Imagn Images
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