The New York Jets will be without wide receiver Adonai Mitchell for the third straight game. An injury originally thought to be minor, Mitchell's finger continues to keep him sidelined. Garrett Wilson will have to carry a huge target share once again, with the sidekicks of Kenyon Sadiq, Isaiah Williams, and Sterling Shepard.
We now have a two-game sample size of the Jets' passing offense without Mitchell. Over that span, the following are the team splits.
| Player |
Targets |
Target % |
Receptions |
Yards |
Route % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Garrett Wilson |
17 |
30% |
13 |
134 |
97% |
| Kenyon Sadiq |
12 |
24% |
7 |
105 |
60% |
| Isaiah Williams |
5 |
10% |
3 |
94 |
90% |
| Jeremy Ruckert |
5 |
10% |
5 |
39 |
37% |
| Braelon Allen* |
5 |
10% |
5 |
11 |
47% |
| Breece Hall* |
3 |
6% |
3 |
23 |
21% |
| Sterling Shepard |
2 |
4% |
2 |
3 |
52% |
| Jelani Woods |
2 |
4% |
2 |
31 |
21% |
*Each played one total game of the last two as the Jets starting running back.
Okay, let's go one by one here. First, Garrett Wilson will be a monster. He will get unlimited snaps, and my projection against the Browns' 6th-worst defense against wide receivers puts Wilson at WR15: 11.0 targets, 7.6 receptions, 78.7 yards, and a 35.6% touchdown probability.
Final injury-adjusted projections will go live on Saturday afternoon.
The Jets WR2, Isaiah Williams, has risen to WR38 overall. He projects 6.4 targets, 4.0 receptions, 55.4 yards, and a 24.0% touchdown probability. Williams' above shares are a bit inflated given a huge garbage-time touchdown in Week 4. Nonetheless, his route share is very high, and he will be heavily involved.
Of course, no other Jet wide receiver is fantasy viable. Shepard is WR90, averaging a 52% route share, yet he is being targeted well under the expected 10%. That may rise in his third game with this offense, but it still remains undesirable.
Sadiq has improved his snap rate week by week. His route rate is 60% over the past two games, but Sadiq ran 80% in Week 4. I expect big things for Sadiq, who is projected as the TE15 in Week 5: 5.8 targets, 4.0 receptions, 39.3 yards, and a 22.1% touchdown probability. The Browns rank 21st against tight ends in fantasy football.
Breece Hall will miss Week 5 . As a result, Allen gets all of that work out of the backfield. Combining Hall and Allen's statistics over the past two weeks, the running back position has about a 15% target share. Allen had most of that with 5 targets/receptions in Week 4.
Against the Browns, Allen projects as the RB15 in fantasy football: 19.5 rushing attempts, 84.4 rushing yards, 2.6 targets, 2.0 receptions, 14.9 receiving yards, and a 33.8% touchdown probability. The five-target stat line in Week 4 was flawed, as the Jets trailed and struggled to get anything going on offense, playing abnormal, desperate football.
Nobody else is remotely viable in fantasy football. Ruckert has gotten a respectable workload, but it is not enough to make him a sleeper. Ruckert is the TE30 in my Week 5 projections.
A vital note: Omar Cooper Jr. will be on the Week 6 waiver wire. You can add him early. If Mitchell remains out beyond Week 5, Cooper Jr. steps into the WR2 role. In which the target share can be immense. He leaves the IR following Week 5 and is expected back in the lineup right away.
Mitchell injured his finger during practice between Weeks 2 and 3. There was originally optimism that he would miss no time, but that quickly changed.
The Jets have not said that Mitchell had surgery, but he cannot play. It is peculiar. Jeff Mueller, PT, DPT, is confident that surgery occurred , but suggests Mitchell should be back soon, just not in Week 5.
The Jets' depth chart will be a bit unpredictable once Mitchell returns, hopefully in Week 6. Mitchell will rejoin after about a month away, and Cooper Jr. will return as well. Sadiq's role has changed significantly since then, as the team is also without Hall. Fantasy managers need to stay tuned to reports beyond Week 6 to see how things pan out.
This article was originally published on www.si.com/onsi/fantasy as Fantasy Football Injury Impact: Adonai Mitchell's Week 5 Absence Molds Isaiah Williams' Big Break .
