Returner Recap and Latest News: Week 5

Photo: USA Today Sports

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.

UPDATES

Tavon Austin is again Questionable for the Rams' game this week. Austin has not played since Week 2.

De'Anthony Thomas looks like he will play this week for Kansas City, though we have heard that before. If he plays, Frankie Hammond has done well enough on punt returns that he might retain a share of the workload.

Saints safety and backup punt returner Jairus Byrd has been placed on Injured Reserve.

Ace Sanders is expected to be active for the Jaguars and should be handling at least some of the punt returns.

Week 4 Recap

Top Performers

Kickoff and punt returns in 2014 are down league-wide compared to the last two seasons. This may change over the course of the season as factors such as colder weather impacting the distance a kicked ball will travel begin to play a role.

The Jaguars are fielding kickoffs quite regularly, resulting in 6 kick returns for Jordan Todman and 174 yards that were enough to lead the league in both kick returns and in total yards. Todman now moves into a tie with Jarvis Landry of Miami for most return yards on the year. Other kick returner standouts for Week 5 included Latavius Murray's 5 returns for 112 yards, and Cordarrelle Patterson picking up 86 yards on only 2 attempts.

Darren Sproles was the only returner to find the end zone in Week 5 as his 3 punt returns for 86 yards included an 82-yard touchdown for the Eagles. Other than Sproles it was a quiet day for punt returners. Placing after Sproles were the 39 yards picked up by Marcus Sherels of the Vikings on 2 punt returns, and the 2 returns for 29 yards picked up by Solomon Patton for Tampa Bay.

All Week 4 Returners

Here are all returners for Week 4.

Returners Year to Date

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

Week 5 Outlook

Job Changes

Though Jarvis Landry is tied for the league lead in total return yards, the Dolphins have signed LaMichael James. Landry is performing very well on kickoffs, but has fumbled twice on punt returns and has only a 5.7 yard average. It remains to be seen if James will be worked in as a returner, but if so it will probably be on punts.

Rookie punt returner Jalen Saunders was released by the Jets, who turned to Walt Powell in Week 4 to handle the punt returns. New York has signed Chris Owusu and T.J. Graham, both of whom are potential returners and could cause a shakeup in the returner depth chart in weeks to come.

Though Griff Whalen handled most of the kickoff returns, fantasy significant wide receiver T.Y. Hilton saw some return opportunities in the second half of the Colts' Week 4 game. Hilton's first chance had he and Whalen side by side in the end zone, though later in the game Hilton was the only returner deep. Each kickoff, however, resulted in a touchback.

Though a low number of kick returns for Houston suppressed his yardage, Damaris Johnson was one of returners in the league who handle both kickoffs and punts. That may be changing. Houston turned to Keshawn Martin to handle punts in the second half of their game against Buffalo, though 3 returns for 10 yards did not do much to lay claim to the punt returner job. On kick returns, however, Danieal Manning was used in place of Johnson and was able to pick up 41 yards on the one returnable kickoff he saw. Johnson continued to see time at wide receiver, so it would seem to be a change related to lack of production rather than an injury.

Ace Sanders has finished serving his suspension, but his level of conditioning may determine whether he suits up for Jacksonville's Week 5 game. Mike Brown has been handling punts in the absence of Sanders, and while his 7.4 yards per return is not spectacular, it is nearly 2 yards better than what Sanders did last season.

INJURIES OF NOTE

The Chiefs have lost running back Joe McKnight for the season as McKnight ruptured his Achilles tendon. With Jamaal Charles back in the lineup, Knile Davis again handled kickoff returns even though he saw a lot of time at running back as well.

Despite two weeks in a row of talk that De'Anthony Thomas might play, his hamstring again kept Thomas on the sideline. Frankie Hammond has done well on punt returns in the meantime, with 13 returns for 152 yards and a respectable 11.7 yard average.