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Booms and Busts: Colin Kaepernick is damn good again (really)

Colin Kaepernick is a fantasy stud again
Colin Kaepernick is a fantasy stud again

A year ago, Colin Kaepernick was a punchline to any joke you wanted to tell. A few months ago, he was a conservation-starter in a Social Studies class.

In the waning days of November 2016, the story has gone retro. Once again, Kaepernick is simply a darn good fantasy football player.

The 49ers fell one touchdown short in Miami on Sunday, a 31-24 loss, but don’t pin the blame on Kaepernick. He jitterbugged for 113 yards on 10 attempts, and he added 296 passing yards and three scores through the air. And he did this against a Dolphins defense that entered the day No. 7 in the Football Outsiders DVOA rankings.

Kaepernick’s monstrous Week 12 return needs historical context to be fully appreciated. It’s just the fourth time a quarterback has run for over 100 yards and attempted more than 40 passes (Cam Newton did it twice, Donovan McNabb once). And it’s just the fifth time someone has run for 100-plus yards and chucked for 275 or more (Newton has three of those, Russell Wilson one).

Kaepernick’s spike isn’t completely out of nowhere — entering Week 12, he ranked as the overall QB9 since he took over the Niners starting job. Despite this, no one in the Yahoo crew saw Kaepernick as Top 12 material this week, and he currently sits unclaimed in about three-quarters of Yahoo leagues.

Let’s get to work on both of those things. I’ll fix the rank, you fix the ownership. Kaepernick’s going to get his on the ground every week, and the passing has been much better than expected. I know the list of San Francisco receivers is enough to give anyone the vapors, but it doesn’t matter. You get quick pace, you get a lousy defense on the other side, everybody wins. And Kaepernick has just enough rapport with his receivers; he’s getting by.

There’s nothing daunting on the schedule to come. Chicago next week, that’s a fun date. The Jets and Falcons don’t scare anyone with their defense. Welcome back to relevance, No. 7. Thanks for the stats, Chip Kelly. Keep the garbage pail handy, just in case.

Brandin Cooks uninvited to Superdome party

The Saints are known for playing pinball in their home games, so it was no surprise to see a 49-21 laugher over the Rams. It was one of those days where any New Orleans angle you liked came through. Drew Brees threw for four touchdowns. Mark Ingram had one score by air, one by land, and 167 total yards. Timmy Hightower scored. Willie Snead threw a touchdown pass. Michael Thomas, the de-facto No. 1 target, went for 9-108-2. Even both tight ends were reasonably active.

Brandin Cooks, you ask? Not so fast. Somehow Cooks was completely missing in this stat parade, despite playing his normal package of snaps. The Saints attempted 37 passes; none of them were in No. 10’s direction.

It’s probably a fluke and something that will be ironed out down the road — wideouts are high-variance players, we all know this. But Thomas sure looks like the monster receiver in this offense, the guy who can run everything in the tree. And given that New Orleans rolled to a 28-point victory here, it’s not like they’ll return to practice in fix-it mode. At least a leaky secondary, Detroit, is on the week 13 schedule. Cooks looms as a risk-reward pick for the rest of the season.

— Justin Tucker, too good to be true

This will be the week the common media finally gets around to its “holy crap, Tucker is unbelievable” columns. Fantasy owners are far ahead of the curve there. Tucker nailed four more field goals in Sunday’s 19-14 victory over Cincinnati, with three of the hits from outer space (52, 57, 54 yards).

Tucker’s been, in a word, perfect. Perfect as in 27-for-27 on field goals this year, and 15-for-15 on extra points. He’s only missed one boot inside of 40 yards for his career — astounding when you consider how many outdoors games and cold-weather games he’s had to endure. Seven of his makes this year have come from 50-plus.

Not too shabby for a kicker who went undrafted out of Texas. It looks like Tucker won’t be needing his music degree (or his operatic voice) for a while. He’ll be kicking Baltimore opponents to the curb for many years to come.

— Julio Jones, locked down

There are very few players I put on the “always start” list, but Jones is in that group. While I certainly respected the draw against Patrick Peterson this week, I didn’t radically adjust Jones. The Atlanta wideout moved down just an eyelash, to No. 6 on my weekly board.

Score this bout to Peterson. Jones was targeted seven times and secured just four of them, for a paltry 35 yards. The Falcons didn’t seem to mind Jones getting wiped out — Matt Ryan found other ways to move the football. Taylor Gabriel went for 102 total yards and two scores — he looked like the good version of Percy Harvin, think Minnesota and University of Florida. Check your waiver wire on Gabriel; he’s owned in just four percent of Yahoo leagues.

If you can get into the playoffs, Jones still could be a league winner. He gets the Rams, 49ers and Panthers in the three final weeks.