Fantasy Fallout: Tom Brady joins elite group, Todd Gurley rolls along
— -- With 29 fantasy points Sunday, Tom Brady is tied for the lead among quarterbacks in Week 7 entering Monday. It's the second time this season he has led his position, and not once in any of his six games has he finished lower than sixth.
Brady is also only the fourth player since 1960 to manage six consecutive games of at least 20 fantasy points to begin a season. All four players, by the way, were quarterbacks: Aaron Rodgers in 2011 (12 straight), Peyton Manning in 2014 (nine) and Steve Young in 1998 (six). Each of the previous three finished those seasons with at least 300 fantasy points: Rodgers 385, Manning 307 and Young 353.
Only 10 players, in fact, had previously managed a streak of at least six games with 20-plus fantasy points within a single season (11 instances, as Peyton Manning is on the list twice); Brady is now the 11th player to do it. Here's a look at those 12 instances, as well as how the 11 previous to do it finished those campaigns:
To look at it from another perspective, Brady now has 153 fantasy points through his New England Patriots' first six games. That made him only the ninth player since 1960 to reach the 150-point plateau in that few team games. Here are the top 10 scorers through six team games during that time span, including their final fantasy point totals:
Let's consider Brady's own history: He has averaged 16.5 fantasy points per game in his Patriots' final 10 scheduled regular-season team games in his career. In his best finish, in 2007, he averaged 23.4 fantasy points in his final 10 contests. Last season, meanwhile, he averaged 18.2 fantasy points during the Patriots' final 10 games, and in the past five seasons, Brady has averaged 19.6 fantasy points in his final 10.
The era of the young wide receiver
What a time to be a young wide receiver in the NFL.
Sophomore Mike Evans (22 fantasy points) of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and rookies Amari Cooper (19) of the Oakland Raiders and Stefon Diggs (16) of the Minnesota Vikings finished among the top six scorers at the position through Sunday, while sophomore Martavis Bryant (11) of the Pittsburgh Steelers put forth a second consecutive healthy fantasy point total to begin his season.
That placed all four players among the leaders at the position at similar stages of their careers. Consider:
? Evans now has 207 fantasy points through his first 20 career games. That's tied for the ninth-best fantasy point total by any wide receiver through his first 20 NFL contests since 1960.
? Cooper now has 64 fantasy points through six career games. Only 10 wide receivers since 1960 had more through that many contests.
? Diggs now has 36 fantasy points through three career games. Only 14 wide receivers since 1960 had more through as many contests.
? Bryant now has 136 fantasy points through 12 career games. Only five wide receivers since 1960 scored more through their first 12 games.
And they're not the only four rewriting the history books. Odell Beckham Jr., whose three fantasy points Sunday were tied for his second-worst single-game total of his young career, still has 270 fantasy points through 19 games, which is the most by any wide receiver through that many games. He also needs to score only two fantasy points in his next game to have the most through 20 games.
Run, run, Rams rookie
St. Louis Rams rookie running back Todd Gurley might be one of the most captivating commodities in fantasy football right now, and on Sunday he rewarded his owners handsomely with 27 points, tying him for fourth place overall (entering Monday).
Perhaps more important, that gave Gurley three consecutive games with at least 15 fantasy points, all of them accomplished at the age of 21. He is, in fact, the second-youngest player since 1960 to do that; Jamal Lewis was one day younger than Gurley when he accomplished the feat in 2000.
Two other players came close, however: The aforementioned Evans was four days older than Gurley when he did it in 2014, while Clinton Portis was nine days older when he did it in 2002.
Miscellany
? Miami Dolphins running back Lamar Miller managed Sunday's best fantasy point total, a whopping 35 to follow up his 17-point Week 6. Those 35 points tied Miller for the eighth-best single-week score in Dolphins history.
Most remarkably, Miller scored all 35 of his fantasy points before halftime. That made him one of only 12 players to score that many before halftime since 2001.
? Though his string of consecutive games with at least 25 fantasy points ended at four, Atlanta Falcons running back Devonta Freeman scored a respectable 12 fantasy points Sunday. That gave him 181 through his team's first seven games, which is the most by any running back through that stage of the season since LaDainian Tomlinson scored 193 through seven San Diego Chargers games in 2006.
Tomlinson, incidentally, scored a record 410 fantasy points in that season.
? Is this the end for Arian Foster? Before tearing his Achilles on Sunday, Foster amassed 23 fantasy points, good for the third-best score among running backs in Week 7 (entering Monday). That boosted Foster's career fantasy points per game mark to 15.8, which is the second-best rate for any running back with at least 10 games played since 2001. Only Priest Holmes (19.7) had better.
