Returner Recap and Latest News: Week 16

Footballguys Staff's Returner Recap and Latest News: Week 16 Footballguys Staff Published 12/22/2015

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 there.

Week 15 Recap

The top of the rankings for Week 15 were filled with players who rarely have appeared there in the past. Benny Cunningham led the league with 4 kick returns for 188 yards for the Rams, while Kaelin Clay made an argument that Tampa Bay should have at least held onto him past training camp as he picked up 180 combined return yards for Baltimore. Quan Bray was best amongst the punt returners with 4 punts returned for 67 yards in a Colts loss to the Texans, and was 6th overall for the week.

Seahawks returner Tyler Lockett retook the lead for the season as previous leader Cordarrelle Patterson was generally kicked away from in the Vikings game against the Bears. With four players over 900 total return yards there should be a number of players who break the thousand yard mark this year, though the overall leader may not reach some of the heights we have seen in past seasons.

All Week 15 Returners

Below are all returners for Week 15.

RKPLAYERTEAMKick RetKR YdsKR TDPunt RetPR YdsPR TDTotal YdsTotal TDs
1 Benny Cunningham STL 4 188 0       188 0
2 Kaelin Clay BAL 6 153 0 2 27 0 180 0
3 Raheem Mostert CLE 5 159 0       159 0
4 Deonte Thompson CHI 5 153 0       153 0
5 Lucky Whitehead DAL 5 131 0 2 18 0 149 0
6 Quan Bray IND 3 80 0 4 67 0 147 0
7 Ameer Abdullah DET 4 123 0       123 0
8 Josh Huff PHI 5 118 0       118 0
9 Jeff Janis GNB 4 108 0       108 0
10 Tyler Lockett SEA 4 91 0 1 5 0 96 0
11 Taiwan Jones OAK 4 92 0       92 0
12 Keshawn Martin NWE 1 75 0       75 0
13 Bruce Ellington SFO 1 34 0 6 40 0 74 0
14 Joe Webb III CAR 3 64 0       64 0
15 Kerwynn Williams ARI 3 62 0       62 0
16 Nick Marshall JAX 3 62 0       62 0
17 Antonio Cromartie NYJ 3 61 0       61 0
18 Quinton Patton SFO 2 53 0       53 0
19 Marcus Thigpen BUF 3 51 0 1 0 0 51 0
20 Rashad Ross WAS 3 50 0       50 0
21 Damien Williams MIA 2 49 0       49 0
22 Markus Wheaton PIT 2 49 0       49 0
23 Devin Hester ATL 1 24 0 4 21 0 45 0
24 Javontee Herndon SDG       6 44 0 44 0
25 Ted Ginn Jr CAR       3 44 0 44 0
26 Reshad Jones MIA 2 43 0       43 0
27 Brandon Tate CIN 2 46 0 2 -5 0 41 0
28 Bobby Rainey TAM 2 38 0       38 0
29 Danny Amendola NWE       4 36 0 36 0
30 Jordan Norwood DEN 2 29 0 1 4 0 33 0
31 Dwayne Harris NYG 1 19 0 3 11 0 30 0
32 C.J. Spiller NOR 1 24 0       24 0
33 Micah Hyde GNB       2 24 0 24 0
34 Antonio Brown PIT       3 23 0 23 0
35 Stefon Diggs MIN 1 22 0       22 0
36 Golden Tate DET       2 21 0 21 0
37 Keith Mumphery HOU       3 21 0 21 0
38 Odell Beckham NYG       1 21 0 21 0
39 Knile Davis KAN 1 19 0       19 0
40 Andre Caldwell DEN 1 18 0       18 0
41 Harry Douglas TEN       1 18 0 18 0
42 Fozzy Whittaker CAR 1 17 0       17 0
43 Rashad Greene Sr JAX       2 17 0 17 0
44 Jarvis Landry MIA       2 16 0 16 0
45 Michael Hoomanawanui NOR 1 16 0       16 0
46 Antonio Andrews TEN 1 13 0       13 0
47 Brandin Cooks NOR       2 12 0 12 0
48 Darren Sproles PHI       2 12 0 12 0
49 Frankie Hammond KAN       3 11 0 11 0
50 Joique Bell DET 1 11 0       11 0
51 Tre McBride TEN 1 11 0       11 0
52 John Kuhn GNB 1 9 0       9 0
53 Jeremy Kerley NYJ       1 7 0 7 0
54 Patrick Peterson ARI       1 6 0 6 0
55 Perrish Cox TEN       1 6 0 6 0
56 Cole Beasley DAL       1 5 0 5 0
57 Jamison Crowder WAS       2 5 0 5 0
58 Adam Jones CIN       1 4 0 4 0
59 Ed Dickson CAR 1 1 0       1 0
60 Chase Reynolds STL 1 0 0       0 0
61 Juwan Thompson DEN 1 0 0       0 0
62 Jeremy Ross OAK       2 -3 0 -3 0

Returners Year to Date

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

RKPLAYERTEAMKick RetKR YdsKR TDPunt RetPR YdsPR TDTotal YdsTotal TDs
1 Tyler Lockett SEA 29 746 1 34 220 1 966 2
2 Dwayne Harris NYG 22 631 1 32 329 1 960 2
3 Ameer Abdullah DET 31 944 0 0 0 0 944 0
4 Cordarrelle Patterson MIN 30 933 2 0 0 0 933 2
5 Bobby Rainey TAM 19 469 0 26 288 0 757 0
6 Bruce Ellington SFO 22 545 0 18 137 0 682 0
7 Rashad Ross WAS 27 665 1 0 0 0 665 1
8 Benny Cunningham STL 22 652 0 0 0 0 652 0
9 Jeremy Ross 2TM 17 432 0 22 205 0 637 0
10 Eric Weems ATL 15 403 0 19 221 0 624 0
11 Jarvis Landry MIA 13 321 0 31 298 1 619 1
12 David Johnson ARI 22 599 1 0 0 0 599 1
13 Quan Bray IND 17 477 0 15 113 0 590 0
14 Keith Mumphery HOU 14 338 0 32 243 0 581 0
15 Taiwan Jones OAK 23 563 0 0 0 0 563 0
16 Marcus Murphy NOR 12 300 0 28 261 1 561 1
17 Marc Mariani CHI 15 371 0 26 178 0 549 0
18 Brandon Tate CIN 17 384 0 23 163 0 547 0
19 Knile Davis KAN 20 529 0 0 0 0 529 0
20 Dexter McCluster TEN 13 285 0 24 217 0 502 0
21 Darren Sproles PHI 1 20 0 36 446 2 466 2
22 Omar Bolden DEN 15 342 0 5 123 1 465 1
23 Damien Williams MIA 21 457 0 0 0 0 457 0
24 Marcus Thigpen 2TM 18 330 0 19 119 0 449 0
25 Danny Amendola NWE 8 172 0 23 276 0 448 0
26 Lucky Whitehead DAL 12 367 0 15 72 0 439 0
27 Jacoby Jones 2TM 18 413 0 11 15 0 428 0
28 Kaelin Clay BAL 8 192 0 16 230 1 422 1
29 Josh Huff PHI 18 418 0 0 0 0 418 0
30 Adam Jones CIN 10 235 0 16 179 0 414 0
31 Jeremy Kerley NYJ 0 0 0 43 382 0 382 0
32 Raheem Mostert 3TM 12 380 0 0 0 0 380 0
33 De'Anthony Thomas KAN 6 138 0 29 227 0 365 0
34 Jeff Janis GNB 12 359 0 0 0 0 359 0
35 Dri Archer PIT 14 354 0 0 0 0 354 0
36 Deonte Thompson CHI 11 352 0 0 0 0 352 0
37 Justin Gilbert CLE 12 339 0 0 0 0 339 0
38 Antonio Cromartie NYJ 13 334 0 0 0 0 334 0
39 Griff Whalen IND 9 244 0 12 85 0 329 0
40 Micah Hyde GNB 8 187 0 24 142 0 329 0

Week 16 Outlook

Job Changes

Marcus Thigpen was released by Buffalo this week. The Bills could go back to Leodis McKelvin for punt returns, or could look to one of their younger receivers to get involved on punts and possibly kickoffs. Walter Powell and Greg Salas could be possible returners for them this week.

The Raiders put a healthy Taiwan Jones back on kick returns, but Jeremy Ross continued on as the punt returner. Ross only managed 2 returns for -3 yards, while Jones handled 4 kickoffs for 92 yards.

The Panthers went into Week 15 with a running-back-by-committee approach to fill in for Jonathan Stewart. While Fozzy Whittaker was mentioned prominently in that mix, he received only 2 carries during the game. Meanwhile, Carolina had Joe Webb III handling a number of the kickoffs, perhaps expecting Whittaker to be busy in the running game. 

Stefon Diggs had the only kick return for the Vikings in their Week 15 game against the Bears. Cordarrelle Patterson was still back as a returner on all of the kickoffs, but on the kick that Diggs returned the Vikings had 3 returners deep with Patterson in the middle. The kick went to the corner of the end zone where Diggs was waiting. This was possibly a response to an earlier kickoff that also went into a deep corner which Patterson was not able to reach in time. 

INJURIES OF NOTE

Cecil Shorts was forced to leave the Texans' game with a groin injury. Early comments from the coaching staff were not optimistic about his chances of playing Week 16. Keith Mumphery took back over on punt returns with Shorts out.

Danny Amendola is dealing with a knee injury that may keep him out this week for the Patriots, even if only to keep him healthy for a playoff run. Keshawn Martin would be a likely choice to take back over punts should Amendola be out. 

Andre Roberts was in a timeshare at best as a returner, but his season is ending as Washington sends him to injured reserve. Jamison Crowder continues to handle punts while Rashad Ross has handled kickoffs whenever he has been active.

Omar Bolden suffered a hamstring injury that did not heal in time for him to play in Week 15. Jordan Norwood was the beneficiary of Bolden's absence when it came to kickoff returns. He and Andre Caldwell split time though Norwood saw the bulk of the returns.

Photos provided by Imagn Images
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