NFL Barometer: Lost Lions

RISING

Latavius Murray, RB, OAK

Murray might miss this upcoming game against St. Louis due to the concussion he suffered against Kansas City on Thursday, but this guy needs to be owned in pretty much every league type. At 6-foot-3, 220 pounds with 4.4 wheels and the ability to catch passes, Murray has all the athletic and skill set traits you look for in a high-level fantasy back, and Oakland would be even more foolish than usual to not feed Murray after he torched the Chiefs for 112 yards and two touchdowns on four carries. Darren McFadden and Maurice Jones-Drew have both proven that they have nothing left, and Murray just might be their best player on offense.

Odell Beckham, WR, NYG

You've presumably seen enough of Beckham and his impossibly good playmaking skills to know the deal by now, but a quick recap is in order to fully frame just how effective he's been so far in his rookie year. After catching 10 of his 11 targets against Dallas on Sunday night for 146 yards, two touchdowns and perhaps the best catch ever, Beckham is up to 41 catches for 609 yards and five touchdowns on just 59 targets. That's a spectacular average of 10.2 yards target and a catch rate of 69.5 percent. Victor Cruz will not challenge Beckham for the No. 1 WR role in New York next year. Also, this video clip is mandatory viewing: https://twitter.com/MazzESPN/status/536710701986111489

Charles Johnson, WR, MIN

Greg Jennings and Cordarrelle Patterson are losing ground, and Johnson is the one gaining it. After securing six of seven targets against Chicago two weeks ago for 87 yards, he caught three of 11 targets for 52 yards and a touchdown against Green Bay on Sunday, his former team. Johnson is worth owning in leagues of 12 or more teams, and he's probably worth starting this week in leagues that start 36 or more wide receivers, as the Vikings get a home matchup against a weak Carolina defense that has allowed 20 passing touchdowns through 11 games, and 27.3 points per game.

Dan Herron, RB, IND

It's not hard to look efficient in comparison to Trent Richardson, but Herron was effective relative to any standard against the Jaguars on Sunday. The former Ohio State star bolted for 65 yards on 12 carries, adding another 31 yards on five catches. While it previously looked like Richardson might get most or all of the touches that used to go to Ahmad Bradshaw (leg), it looks like Herron has a chance to fully inherit Bradshaw's previous workload. The Colts ought to give it a shot, anyway, as reminded everyone of his futility with just 42 yards on 13 carries against Jacksonville, though a touchdown saved his fantasy effort.

Ryan Mathews, RB, SD

Mathews is still being eased back into the San Diego backfield as he regains his footing following an MCL sprain that cost him eight games, but the early returns have been quite promising. Receiving 28 carries combined against the Raiders and Rams, Mathews burned his first two post-injury opponents for 175 yards (6.3 YPC) and a touchdown. He ought to see his workload slowly increase each passing week, and it's reasonable to think he might turn into a borderline RB1 type or producer by the time the fantasy playoffs start, health permitting.

Donte Moncrief, WR, IND

Moncrief is more of a bench stash at the moment than a plug-and-play option, but he's still worth adding in many scenarios after playing more snaps than Hakeem Nicks, outplaying the stumbling veteran 30 snaps to 26, according to ESPN.com. Moncrief has been better than Nicks all year, and he showed it again Sunday by catching all four of his targets for 38 yards, while Nicks made a 16-yard catch on just one target. It also doesn't hurt Moncrief that starting wideout Reggie Wayne hasn't shown much this year, totaling just 50 catches for 605 yards and two touchdowns on 90 targets. Moncrief has been consistently explosive, on the other hand, totaling 21 catches for 256 yards and a touchdown on just 29 targets. The Colts would be smart to escalate his role as the playoffs approach.

FALLING

Bishop Sankey, RB, TEN

His offensive line isn't the greatest and he probably isn't seeing the most favorable defensive fronts with a rookie sixth-round pick starting at quarterback, but it's nonetheless difficult to rationalize Sankey's persistent failure to this point. After running for just 37 yards on 10 carries against Philadelphia on Sunday, losing a fumble while he was at it, Sankey was left with just 435 yards and two touchdowns on 113 carries, which equals an average of just 3.9 yards per carry. That's only slightly better than Shonn Greene's average of 3.8, and you won't find anyone defending him.

Jonas Gray, RB, NE

Gray received zero touches against the Lions on Sunday, one week after taking 37 carries for 201 yards and four touchdowns in a momentous road victory against the Colts. The general narrative is that this occurred because Gray overslept for practice Friday. But really, how can we safely conclude that the events are at all related? Bill Belichick has long shown a borderline belligerent method of spreading the workload among his running backs, and it's hard to believe that the shock would have been much greater Sunday if Gray hadn't overslept. The point here is that you can never know what to expect from the Patriots backfield going forward. It might be safe to say that Shane Vereen's pass-catching skills make him the team's go-to option in catch-up situations and two-minute drills, but even that might be an ambitious presumption. The only thing you can expect from the New England backfield on a regular basis is frustration.

Eric Ebron, TE, DET

It's too early to make any definitive judgments on Ebron, but he so far looks like he wasn't at all worth the 10th overall pick in the 2014 draft, particularly when far superior pass catchers like Odell Beckham (12) and Kelvin Benjamin (25) went at later picks. Ebron's tendency to drop passes carried over from college to the pros, and he reeled in just 16 of his 31 targets so far this year for 148 yards and one touchdown. That equals a ghastly average of just 4.77 yards per target, which might have been excusable if Ebron were one of the best blocking tight ends of all time, but he's not. He probably can't get any worse than he has been, but his early trajectory is very concerning.

Matthew Stafford, QB, DET

He'll bounce back this week at home against a weak Chicago defense, but it more than ever appears as if Stafford just isn't anything more than average as a starting quarterback, and might even be less than that. Since his 41-touchdown season in 2011, Stafford has thrown just 62 touchdowns compared to 46 interceptions, failing to complete 60 percent of his passes in each season and averaging just 7.1 yards per pass. It seems fair to say that Stafford is unable to post above average numbers if his circumstances are anything less than ideal – even with arguably the league's best wideout duo (Calvin Johnson and Golden Tate) at his disposal, Stafford has just 727 yards (6.3 YPA), two touchdowns and three interceptions against Miami, Arizona and New England over the last three games, and just 13 touchdowns compared to 10 interceptions on the season. Now in his sixth season, it's difficult to find any evidence that Stafford will ever be better than he already is.