courtesy of: CBS Sports
I’m back! After a multi-week sabbatical, the clamoring from my hoards of fans has finally reached a roar so deafening, I can no longer ignore it. So motivating, I can no longer avoid it. So…what do you mean “who is this?” Alright, I get it, you’re mad at me. Has your team fallen apart since I’ve been away? Have you made some poor roster decisions because you just didn’t have all the information? Are you…what’s that? You’re in first place? Ok. This isn’t exactly going the way I thought it would. I’m just going to get right to the fantasy stuff and we’ll pretend this opening never happened, k?
Whether you are currently sitting atop your league standings, or precariously positioned somewhere near the bottom, what’s done is done. Your points, both for and against, don’t matter. Your wins and losses don’t matter. What you’ve done the past seven weeks don’t matter. Obviously, these statements are a bit dramatic; but they drive home my point which is that we have to look ahead. We’ve crossed the halfway point in the fantasy regular season but there is still much to be done.
If you’ve been rolling along and have already all but assured yourself of a playoff spot, now is not the time to put your roster on cruise control. Take a look at every player on your team; what does their schedule look like going into the fantasy playoffs? Are they playing through an injury that could possibly lead to time off towards the end of the season? Has their role in their team’s offense changed, for better or worse? Do not be content; continue to make your team better.
If you’ve struggled all season due to injury, underperformance, or simple bad luck; remember that the season is not over. Until you are out of it, you are not out of it. Examine your roster for the major weakness(es) that hold it back. Do you have depth at at least one position that you could afford to trade away a “stud” for multiple players that could help your overall starting lineup? Is there a player on an incredible hot streak that could fetch a king’s ransom? Sometimes the hardest thing for a struggling team to do is give up the one player that the owner perceives as “holding his team together.”
As we head into week 8, it seems as good a time as any to go “lightening round” on you and hit as many fantasy relevant issues as we can. Some of these are geared towards the league leaders, others may be more helpful to the cellar dwellers. No matter which category you fall under however, there’s info here to help you. Let’s get to it!
– Calvin Johnson is practicing this week. Is he playing? Who knows; my guess is probably not. But the Lions are on bye next week giving him a full week of rest before week 10 when I expect he’ll be back permanently. If you can acquire him from a disgruntled owner, do it. His schedule for the fantasy playoffs include home games against TB and MIN and a road tilt against CHI.
– On a related note, the window for selling Golden Tate as a WR1 is closing fast. I think he’ll remain productive upon Calvin’s return, but his value will never be higher than it is now.
– The running back carousel continues to spin and we continue to be introduced to guys with names like Storm and Tre and Jonas. Beware the curse of the “next man up” theory. Just because he gets the start doesn’t mean he’s going to produce. Many of these guys were on the practice squad for a reason.
– If you are desperate at RB and need to take a flyer on some of these guys, my preferences would be Anthony Dixon due to the likely stability of his touches and Denard Robinson. Neither have great week 8 matchups, but frankly they appear the best of the bunch.
– If Jerick McKinnon, Ronnie Hillman, or Isaiah Crowell are still available in your league; I’d take any of them over the two I mentioned above.
– As far as rest-of-the-way schedules go, QBs with the most friendly schedules for scoring points would be Tony Romo, Colin Kaepernick, Cam Newton, Eli Manning, Russell Wilson, and Carson Palmer (to name a few).
– QBs with dangerous schedules going foward include Jay Cutler, Tom Brady, Matthew Stafford, Joe Flacco, and Drew Brees.
– We all know that Demaryius Thomas and Antonio Brown are target monsters and as consistent as any WRs in the game for fantasy production, but did you realize that guys like Vincent Jackson, Mohamed Sanu, TY Hilton, and Sammy Watkins are all in the top 10 for targets per game? Sanu will continue to see targets even with AJ Green coming back; so will Hilton and Watkins who are absolute stars. Jackson is my one concern of the group due to the inaccuracies of his QB.
– Another reason to love TY Hilton is that only 5 teams in the NFL throw the ball more when they get into the red zone than the Colts. So lots of targets plus propensity to throw in the red zone equals fantasy goodness!
– No team throws less in the red zone than the Cincinnati Bengals; not exactly a recipe for success for Andy Dalton believers. This makes me love Gio Bernard even more…and Jeremy Hill.
– Sell Julius Thomas? Sell Julius Thomas! Caveat here; make sure you have a serviceable TE or are getting one back. “The other Thomas” in the Denver passing attack has been propped up thanks to his crazy TD pace set early in the year. But take away his week 1 performance, and you have a guy averaging 4.5 catches per game for under 40 yards. Use his TDs to net you a solid replacement and another player that can help sure up a week spot in your lineup.
– Buy Greg Olsen…if you can. He’s the best TE in football from a consistency standpoint and his lack of flash and excitement might enable you to get him for less than he’s actually worth.
– I don’t think there is a single defense that I would not be willing to drop if they have a bad matchup. This year, maybe more than any year I can remember, has produced more terrible defensive performances than great ones. There is no dominant defensive unit. Stream away!
– On a related note; if this year doesn’t prove why it makes zero sense to spend anything higher than a 15th round pick on a defense, I don’t know what will.
Finally; don’t forget to set your lineups Saturday night or early Sunday morning…the NFL is across the pond again this week (meaning if you own Calvin Johnson, you might as well pull an all nighter waiting for that last minute decision).
Good luck to everyone here in week 8. We’ll be back next week for more fantasy goodness and remember to send in your specific roster or trade questions to our mailbag or tweet me @Wordslinger_81 or @thesportscolumn and use #TSCFantasy.
