Each week, we’ll offer up the very best of the NFL for a given week, kind of like the fantasy football team you wished you had.
We’ll pick one quarterback, two running backs, two receivers and a tight end – OK, this is sounding a lot like a super-hindsight fantasy football team – as a way to look back on the weekend that was.
An unlikely running back returns to the team, while wide receiver features two players who are ascending to stardom:
QB: Drake Maye, Patriots
The second-year quarterback already has four multi-touchdown games in six weeks this season – Sunday was 18-for-26 for 261 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions, and he led the Patriots in rushing with 28 yards.
New England is off to a 4-2 start after finishing 4-13 last season. Few quarterbacks in the league have less to work with at receiver, with two touchdowns Sunday to Kayshon Boutte and a third to DeMario Douglas. Maye now has the third-best season passer rating in the league, behind only Jared Goff and Sam Darnold.
RB Rico Dowdle, Panthers
Again? Really?!
Dowdle took it to his old team, leading Carolina to a 30-27 win over the Panthers and rushing 30 times for 183 yards, plus another four catches for 56 yards and a score. He has totaled 473 yards from scrimmage in the last two weeks, an incredible stretch for a backup who hadn’t shown much in the first four weeks of the season.
The Panthers are 3-3 and showing life on offense. Dowdle has been an unexpected spark, but he did rush for more than 1,000 yards last year in Dallas, so it can only be so surprising.
Panthers’ Rico Dowdle: ‘Playing with that chip on my shoulder’ after win over former team, Cowboys
Carolina Panthers running back Rico Dowdle said he was “playing with that chip on my shoulder” as he helped power a win over the Dallas Cowboys, his former team.
RB: Josh Jacobs, Packers
You can make a good case for rookie Cam Skattebo in Thursday’s Giants win over the Eagles, but Jacobs absolutely carried the Packers in their win over the Bengals. He ran for 93 yards and two touchdowns and had another 57 yards to lead the team in receiving. Only the Colts’ Jonathan Taylor has had more total touchdowns than his six this season.
We should also mention Miami’s De’Von Achane, who rushed for 128 yards and two scores. Had Miami held on for the win, we could have swapped him in for Jacobs.
WR: George Pickens, Cowboys
The cost of re-signing Pickens to avoid him becoming one of the NFL’s biggest free agents in March continues to rise for the Cowboys.
Pickens reset a career high with nine catches Sunday and had the second-most yards of his young NFL career with 168 in Dallas’ loss to the Panthers. He also caught his sixth touchdown pass of the season, matching the Lions’ Amon-Ra St. Brown for the league lead there. He now ranks third in the league in receiving yards, too.
How long will the Cowboys wait to try to extend him, seeing how well the waiting game has gone with other top talents? Can they afford to pay two receivers that much with CeeDee Lamb already on the books?
WR: Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Seahawks
He’s on here again, going off for eight catches for 162 yards and a touchdown in Seattle’s win over the Jaguars. With the Rams’ Puka Nacua dealing with injury, he now takes over the NFL lead with 696 yards in six games, which puts him on pace to challenge Calvin Johnson’s 2012 NFL record of 1,964 yards, set in 16 games.
JSN’s connection with Sam Darnold continues to grow, as he’s topped 100 receiving yards in four of their six games together.
TE: Dallas Goedert, Eagles
Yes, Philadelphia lost, but a lot of the best tight end showings this week were in losing efforts. Goedert had nine catches for 110 yards and a score. He now has five touchdowns in six games, matching his career best for an entire season. The catches and yards both rank in his personal top five.
Goedert is arguably the only Eagles offensive player who can really be happy with his production through six games this season. Five touchdowns in four weeks is quite a heater by 2025 Eagles standards.
Greg Auman is an NFL Reporter for FOX Sports. He previously spent a decade covering the Buccaneers for the Tampa Bay Times and The Athletic. You can follow him on Twitter at @gregauman.
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