Sleeper Saturday: Philip Rivers, Travis Benjamin, Mohamed Sanu, Taylor Gabriel, Bucs DST, Andre Ellington
It's the return of "Sleeper Saturday," highlighting Week 2's little-thought-of players with terrific breakout potential and good players with elite or near-elite potential.
Since that's about half of what my new podcast covers, I've posted the podcast a day early:
https://soundcloud.com/user-780565013/ff4w-2017-09-17
The FF4W Four-Minute, 44-Second Fantasy Fundown runs through 23 of this weekend's biggest bargains/busts. Give it a listen if you have a little under five minutes to spare, perhaps while vacuuming that small room in your house that isn't really a room, because it's mostly open on three sides, but you feel pressure calling it a room because the living room wants nothing to do with it.
I'll discuss two or three players in the podcast right now, as well as some guys who aren't covered:
Philip Rivers is a must-start. Start him over Matthew Stafford. Start him over Jameis Winston. Start him over Aaron Rodgers. Rivers will be a top 5 QB this week and a must-start every week all his core guys are healthy.
Speaking of the Chargers, Travis Benjamin is a weekly TD-dependent WR4/5. Yet he's rostered in only 2.3% of ESPN leagues. Only two years ago he posted a 966/5 line in Cleveland. Granted, that game on 124 targets. But in L.A. prolific offense, the 66th ranked Benjamin (based on 87 national experts compiled by Fantasy Pros) serves as the #4 or #5 option, making him a great plug-and-play if you're weighing him vs., say, Corey Coleman (ranked 38th), Pierre Garcon (ranked 33rd), or Jarvis Landry (ranked 29th). Those three guys might be better this season. But Benjamin is primed to make a bigger impact this week.
Mohamed Sanu is the 54th ranked WR, which is a little better than teammate Taylor Gabriel (62nd). One of these guys is positioned for WR3 production as the #3 or #4 receiving option against a beatable Packers D. While I like Gabriel in DFS because he's cheaper, it's really a coin flip on which guy will do better.
At DST, I like the 14th ranked Bucs rattling Mike Glennon and the Bears; they're my favorite DST streaming option and should be in the top 8.
Finally, if you have a hole at your #2 RB spot, take a flyer on Andre Ellington. That's right: Andre Ellington. He's rostered in only 4% of ESPN leagues because he's part of a three-headed committee allegedly led by Kerwynn Williams. His average Week 2 PPR ranking among RBs is 46th. Why? Because people forget (we're only human) who good this guy as a pass-catcher and in the open field. The deserved knock on Ellington is that he's highly injury-prone. But at his best during his career, he's been an RB1/2. If he can earn 12+ touches tomorrow, he can earn RB1 production.
Crazy? Yes. But crazy steeped in an appreciation for Arizona's precarious situation, where John Brown's expected to miss several weeks, Chris Johnson might not see a snap, Williams is unproven as an every-down back, and Carson Palmer is looking his age. Repeated dump-offs to one of the team's best play-makers sounds like a pretty good strategy.
And in case anyone's wondering, Williams is on my fantasy team, but I wasn't able to land Ellington. These picks are not based on what I hope will happen. They're based on what I think is more likely than not to happen. And I'm prepared to kick myself for not bidding more FAAB on Ellington.
Since that's about half of what my new podcast covers, I've posted the podcast a day early:
https://soundcloud.com/user-780565013/ff4w-2017-09-17
The FF4W Four-Minute, 44-Second Fantasy Fundown runs through 23 of this weekend's biggest bargains/busts. Give it a listen if you have a little under five minutes to spare, perhaps while vacuuming that small room in your house that isn't really a room, because it's mostly open on three sides, but you feel pressure calling it a room because the living room wants nothing to do with it.
I'll discuss two or three players in the podcast right now, as well as some guys who aren't covered:
Philip Rivers is a must-start. Start him over Matthew Stafford. Start him over Jameis Winston. Start him over Aaron Rodgers. Rivers will be a top 5 QB this week and a must-start every week all his core guys are healthy.
Speaking of the Chargers, Travis Benjamin is a weekly TD-dependent WR4/5. Yet he's rostered in only 2.3% of ESPN leagues. Only two years ago he posted a 966/5 line in Cleveland. Granted, that game on 124 targets. But in L.A. prolific offense, the 66th ranked Benjamin (based on 87 national experts compiled by Fantasy Pros) serves as the #4 or #5 option, making him a great plug-and-play if you're weighing him vs., say, Corey Coleman (ranked 38th), Pierre Garcon (ranked 33rd), or Jarvis Landry (ranked 29th). Those three guys might be better this season. But Benjamin is primed to make a bigger impact this week.
Mohamed Sanu is the 54th ranked WR, which is a little better than teammate Taylor Gabriel (62nd). One of these guys is positioned for WR3 production as the #3 or #4 receiving option against a beatable Packers D. While I like Gabriel in DFS because he's cheaper, it's really a coin flip on which guy will do better.
At DST, I like the 14th ranked Bucs rattling Mike Glennon and the Bears; they're my favorite DST streaming option and should be in the top 8.
Finally, if you have a hole at your #2 RB spot, take a flyer on Andre Ellington. That's right: Andre Ellington. He's rostered in only 4% of ESPN leagues because he's part of a three-headed committee allegedly led by Kerwynn Williams. His average Week 2 PPR ranking among RBs is 46th. Why? Because people forget (we're only human) who good this guy as a pass-catcher and in the open field. The deserved knock on Ellington is that he's highly injury-prone. But at his best during his career, he's been an RB1/2. If he can earn 12+ touches tomorrow, he can earn RB1 production.
Crazy? Yes. But crazy steeped in an appreciation for Arizona's precarious situation, where John Brown's expected to miss several weeks, Chris Johnson might not see a snap, Williams is unproven as an every-down back, and Carson Palmer is looking his age. Repeated dump-offs to one of the team's best play-makers sounds like a pretty good strategy.
And in case anyone's wondering, Williams is on my fantasy team, but I wasn't able to land Ellington. These picks are not based on what I hope will happen. They're based on what I think is more likely than not to happen. And I'm prepared to kick myself for not bidding more FAAB on Ellington.