From a fantasy perspective, I want to take a moment to remind you: The playoffs are meaningless for fantasy football. It doesn’t matter if you are playing in a redraft or fantasy league. Players excel and fail in the playoffs, then next season becomes a “reset”.
Does anyone expect Aaron Rodgers will suddenly play like he did yesterday? All season long? Not every defense will be playing like the 49ers did yesterday, possibly not even the 49ers themselves. Sometimes, teams just come together in the playoffs in a way unlike they did during the season.
As for exceptional performances, NFL history is littered with playoff greats who never matched those performances during a season. Remember the Redskins Timmy Smith? How about Joe Flacco beating the 49ers in the Super Bowl? Trent Dilfer? Brad Johnson? Raheem Mostert? The names of post-season greatness are legend, even when there was little or no regular season greatness to match it.
So enjoy the playoffs. Just don’t read too much into them.
Davis didn’t really do badly this season. As Diggs gets older, don’t be surprised if Davis’s target shares start to climb.
That said, Josh Allen’s performance during the playoffs has been exceptional. I’m not sure he looked that good all season. I wouldn’t count on him to return to his playoff peak during next season, but we can easily consider that a potential upside. If he does, watch out NFL! (and Davis could easily enter the WR2 conversation)
There was a 3 game stretch near the end of the season where Davis had 4 td’s, and that included games against New England and Tampa, as well as Carolina (he was the #4 WR in PPR that week). He just needs targets.
I had added Davis in 2020 already. Had hoped for a 2021 breakout, but Sanders, Beasley and the emergence of Dawson Knox stood in the way of that.
Sanders probably won’t return. Beasley has another year to his contract, but he’ll be 33 and certainly won’t be a target hog. I guess the Bills will draft another mid-round WR and maybe give Isaiah McKenzie a new contract. Still, Davis’ role will most certainly increase.
If it will be enough for WR2 territory remains to be seen. I certainly won’t complain, but at 29, Diggs isn’t necessarily bound for regression yet. And Knox still has room for improvement.
Finally, Davis’ record-breaking performance also had a lot to do with him facing a completely overwhelmed backup safety who had trouble staying on his feet.
Davis is certainly trending up. But I still agree with your original message: let’s not read too much into this playoff performance.
