The Incentives Train

On this edition of Fantasy Corner, we will be looking at players who will be playing for incentive bonuses this week. They will be valuable players for fantasy, as most of these guys will be getting the ball.

The first guy up is Mike Evans. He is 85 yards away from hitting his 11thconsecutive 1,000 yard receiving season. He needs 5 catches and those 85 yards to receiver $3M in incentives. I know Tampa Bay will be looking to secure their playoff spot, but they’re also going to be working the ball to their star receiver. They’re not going to let this record slip after 10 seasons and being just 85 yards short.

Kyler Murray is next up on the incentive train. Murray is currently sitting at 550 rushing yards and 5 rushing TDs on the season. He needs to hit 600 rushing yards and 6 rushing TDs to earn his money, so he sits just 50 yards and 1 TD shy from earning an extra $750k. I can’t imagine Murray is going to let his money go just one game off from the end of their season. Maybe no playoffs, but some extra money will make it go down easier.

Now we have Courtland Sutton, who is quietly having a career year. By career year, I mean he is having one of the better seasons in his career. He sits 983 yards receiving with 7 TDs on the season, which will probably end up being his second most productive season in terms of these numbers alone. In this game against the Chiefs, if Sutton gets 82 yards receiving, he will receive an extra $500k. If he scores 3 more TDs, he will earn another $200K, but I think that incentive is a little out of reach. At the minimum, he’s getting a fair amount of targets this game.

DHop has not been the dominant threat we once knew him to be, but he is still a factor out there. He has had some success joining the Chiefs, and they are on their way into the playoffs again, but he has a chance to earn some extra money this week. Hopkins needs 6 TDs on the season to trigger a $500k bonus, and he currently sits at 5 TDs. He will be the most dominant form of offense out there this week, I can imagine he’s going to be seeing the ball.

Finally, we have Zach Ertz and the Commanders. This one is going to be a little bit tougher. Ertz needs nine more receptions to receiver a $250k bonus. He also needs 90 receiving yards and 2 TDs for an additional $250k. It’s a hard incentive to reach, but the Commanders will not be resting their starters this week. They’ve made it clear they want to win. Ertz has been a factor all year, and while he did score 2 TDs last week and it is less likely he’ll do it again, I still think he’ll suction in a lot of targets and catches this week.