DLF’s Weekly Impact Events
The 2012 fantasy football regular season is winding down. You have to pay close attention to everything in order to stay on top of your dynasty league. For most of us, we do well to steal some time away from our families and jobs to watch the games on Sunday. It becomes difficult to monitor the daily happenings around the league and even more demanding to process how that news affects your dynasty team.
That’s why we’re here!
Each week there are many news items that are important and helpful in the day-to-day managing of your fantasy team, yet have little affect on the dynasty value of players. Because of this, I will not be mentioning those here.
Here is a quick look at the events of the past week and how they impact the players on your team:
Mark Sanchez and Tim Tebow, QBs NYJ
Things are simply going from bad to worse for the Jets as some anonymous teammates have been quoted as saying Tebow is “terrible.” Â This was promptly followed up by Shonn Greene apparently being quoted (or misquoted) as saying the team needed to make a change at quarterback. Regardless, there seems to be a division within the locker room and the Tebow experiment has obviously not gone to plan as many could have predicted.
Woody Johnson has come out and publicly stated Sanchez is the team’s franchise quarterback, but it remains to be seen how long he makes it this year. At 3-6, the Jets are looking up in the standings and they really need to figure out if their true franchise quarterback is on the roster.
Dwayne Bowe, WR KC
Bowe has come out and publicly stated he wants to finish his career with the Chiefs. While this may be his desire, it’s unlikely to be a choice he has to make on his own. While he may get a lucrative offer to stay, he’ll certainly be a prized free agent and highly coveted by a number of teams in the off-season. Add to that the turmoil surrounding the Chiefs who will likely have a new GM, Head Coach and quarterback next year and his future as Chief is anything but guaranteed.
Darren Sproles, RB NO
Sproles made his return to practice and will play this week, barring any setbacks. While that’s good news for his dynasty owners, it remains to be seen what his role will be. While Chris Ivory, Pierre Thomas and Mark Ingram have played well without him, it’s all but certain Sproles will come back initially with at least a third down and passing game role in the offense. He’s quite possibly the most dynamic weapon the Saints have, so don’t be too concerned. While they may ease him into the offense over the next couple of weeks, he’s one running back who will undoubtedly get his touches in the long run.
Pierre Garcon, WR WAS
Garcon looks to be close to his return to the Redskins lineup, though he’s coming with a pretty significant risk of his foot injury being a problem during the game. It may be best to see him make it through a full contest before trusting him again. Regardless, he could give a contending team a nice late season boost if he is, indeed, healthy again.
James Starks, RB GB
Starks has been named the starter for the Packers as they come out of their bye. In related news, I just yawned. In all seriousness, expectations for Starks should be low as he’s never shown much consistency and the Packers seem content to pitch it around the yard all game with Aaron Rodgers at the helm.
Cedric Peerman, RB CIN
We’ve listed Peerman as a sleeper more than a couple of times this year and it looks like the coaching staff of the Bengals wants to get him more involved. You could do worse on a deep roster if you’re looking for a late season running back flyer.
Chris Wells, RB ARI
Beanie confirmed he’s on track to come back and play when he can come off the IR list on week twelve. While it remains to be seen if he actually hits the field, it’s positive news. The unfortunate part to this story is the fact he can’t stay healthy or be productive consistently. Wells could very well be auditioning for his job next year during the last month or so of the season. At this point, it would surprise nobody to see the Cardinals just go completely in a different direction in regards to their running backs. There’s little doubt Ryan Williams has the best chance to stick.
Adrian Peterson, RB MIN
The renowned Dr. James Andrews came out and said Adrian Peterson’s knees looked like those of a newborn when he operated on him. In a related story, Peterson will be playing himself in the next Terminator movie.
Alex Smith, Jay Cutler, Michael Vick, QBs
It was concussion Sunday for all these players this week as each of them sustained head injuries that knocked them out of their games. If it wasn’t scary before, it’s really getting there now. Of all the backups to watch this week (if none of these players can suit up), Colin Kaepernick and Nick Foles are by far the most intriguing in dynasty circles.
Robert Meachem, WR SD
Meachem is now healthy, but he’s lost his job to Danario Alexander. While it may seem easy to cut Meachem and proclaim him this year’s dynasty bust, keep in mind that Dr. James Andrews would take a look at Alexander’s knees and proclaim they looked a lot like Benjamin Button’s.
Ben Roethlisberger, QB PIT
The scariest injury of the week (and that’s saying something with all the concussions) was easily Roethlisberger’s shoulder and rib ailment. He has a dislocated rib that could damage or puncture his aorta. Big Ben is tough, but don’t expect to see him any time soon. This is a huge blow to teams who have the underrated Roethlisberger as their QB1 and contenders need to make a difficult decision on playing their QB2 or making a last minute trade to go all in.
Bobby Rainey, RB BAL
In a move only dynasty league owners would care about, Bobby Rainey was put on IR this week by the Ravens. If he’s dropped in your league, he’s worth picking up in super deep leagues. He showed well in the preseason and you never know what could happen in the off-season. While Ray Rice is the unquestioned man in Baltimore, talented running backs always get a chance eventually – Rainey showed enough to pique some interest around the league, even if he’s not with the Ravens next year as expected.
Steve Slaton, RB FA
Slaton had a workout with the Jets this week and saw Kahlil Bell signed instead. If you ever wanted the final red flag on a player, there you go.
Darren McFadden, RB OAK
It’s been revealed that Darren McFadden may be out until week 12 or 13 this year. It’s simply looking more and more like yet another lost season for the talented, but injury prone running back. Meanwhile, Marcel Reece has solidified himself as a decent flex option in PPR leagues.
Jarius Wright, WR MIN
Wright broke out with 65 yards and a score for the Vikings in their week ten game against Detroit this week. While he was obviously the beneficiary of Percy Harvin’s absence, his line shouldn’t be completely discounted. Wright is a player to monitor and stash at the end of your bench for the moment – flashes like this sometimes come before players emerge in future seasons.
Ken is on Twitter at DLF_KenK
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