Each Sunday brings in a barrage of surprisingly good and bad
performances. I want to take a moment
today to offer some perspective on the bad ones.
At QB, Ryan Tannehill was one of my bold QB1 predictions. Yet after a solid fantasy start to the
season, he’s been abysmal—essentially, benchable—the past two weeks. While I still believe he can turn this season
back around, another bad outing next week would solidify many people’s thinking
that he’s simply not a guy Miami will want to keep investing in.
Around the league, Brock Osweiler and Eli Manning are what I expected
they’d be: QB2s at best. Of the two, Eli
is more talented and is more likely to somewhat turn things around. But for years I’ve viewed him as Jay Cutler
with two Super Bowl rings. Although that
might not be a fair assessment, I’ve found him to be one of the NFC’s mentally
weakest QBs, prone to heaping bad decisions on bad decisions. He’s a great buy-low option in 2-QB leagues,
and I’ll leave it at that.
My favorite unpopular running back this preseason was Jeremy Hill. Yesterday gave me more reasons to join the
bandwagon. Gio Bernard played more and
looked better than his backfield counterpart.
In fairness, Hill was battling a chest injury last week and re-injured
himself in the third quarter. But let’s
face it: one great game out of five puts him in the RB3/4 camp until/unless he
climbs back out of it. His odds are
below 50-50.
A couple of weeks ago I warned that Lamar Miller was on pace for near-record-setting
carries and touches, and that something had to give. Yesterday in Minnesota, it gave. I still want to trade for Miller, but only at
RB2 value. Houston’s offense is a mess,
and beyond next week against the Colts, the franchise RB’s schedule is
relatively tough.
And after busting out against Carolina Week 1, C.J. Anderson has
averaged only eight fantasy points per game.
Meanwhile, Devontae Booker nearly out-touched him yesterday. Anderson is a sell-high guy if you can get a
top 10 RB or WR for him, making the case that “he’ll come around; just you wait”
while quietly hoping your opponent doesn’t catch a whiff of desperation.
The boom-bust saga of DeSean Jackson continues, with two solid
performances and three invisible ones. This
is who he’s been for years, and who he’ll continue to be until he’s no longer a
starter in this league. Meanwhile, the
usually dependable Julian Edelman didn’t join in the Tom Brady Return party on
Sunday, causing many owners to wonder if their seemingly reliable WR2 is
overrated. Well, he is and always has
been. Unlike past season, the Patriots
are chock full of playmakers, thanks to the additions of Martellus Bennett and
Chris Hogan. The Gronk-and-Edelman show
is no more. If you can trade him to a
Pats fan and land a reliable weekly starter in return, I’d do it.
Finally, in my research this morning I was surprised to see that Alshon
Jeffery entered Week 5 tied for 46th in WR targets. Averaging six per game, this is a guy who in
his last three seasons averaged over nine per game. That’s a monumental difference when you
consider how nearly every other top 20 WR is being targeted. Even with Kevin White out for the year,
Jeffery will be lucky to post WR2 numbers most weeks unless he gets back up
into the 9-10 target range.