Fortunes rise, fortunes fall. One minute your up a billion dollars in soy beans and then next, boom, your kids don’t go to college and they’ve repossessed your Bentley. Ok, maybe that’s a little extreme but it is a good quote from the 1983 classic Trading Places with Dan Akroyd and Eddie Murphy. Now that the non sequitur is out of the way, let’s take a look at the Burgundy and Gold stock that’s on the rise.
Kendall Fuller
A good free agent signing? Yeah, I think so. After sitting out the first two games, Fuller has stabilized the secondary and snagged two interceptions against the Ravens. In the last two weeks, he’s seen 5 targets, and allowed one catch to go with the INT’s according to Pro Football Focus. He has a coverage grade of 83.7, that’s third best in the league. He’s quickly turning into a shut down corner for a defense that hasn’t had one in years.
Antonio Gibson
To quote Bud Fox’s friend Marvin in Wall Street, “the stock’s going to Pluto, man.” That’s Gibson in a nutshell. He may not be the running back on the field the first snap of the game or the guy on the chyron when the announcers introduce the unit but Antonio Gibson is Washington’s RB1. Gibson got 13 of the team’s 22 carries for 46 yards. Not great, but he also racked up another 82 yards on 4 receptions including a 40 yarder. That’s 122 total yards and, oh yeah, he scored too. Gibson is fast becoming an explosive playmaker, something Washington lacks outside of Terry McLaurin. Speaking of which….
Terry McLaurin
Scary Terry is just that. S-C-A-R-Y. It is now a fact of life. Defenses will scheme every week to shut down Terry McLaurin. It appears they can’t. The Ravens defense is no joke. It’ held DeShaun Watson, Odell Beckham, Jarvis Landry, Kareem Hunt and Nick Chubb all in check this year. As for McLaurin; 14 targets, 10 catches, 118 yards. The numbers say it all.
Dwayne Haskins
You read that correctly. At this point, the Haskins stock is more of a hold than a mover to the plus side but he showed something last week. Ron Rivera challenged him to be better than he was in Cleveland and he responded. Although most of the passing game consisted of quick hitters and screens, Haskins still hit 70 percent of his passes and racked up 314 yards (a career high). He also hit McLaurin on a 39 yarder in the 4th quarter to set up Washington’s second touchdown. Yes, it was a three score game at that point but it still shows incremental growth. Now he just has to keep it going. Against the Rams this weekend, he has a chance to build.