Mining for Paydirt: Week Fourteen
The players we focus on here are owned in less than 35% of myfantasyleague.com leagues – they are your blue collar workers. I’m not going to give you names like Roy Helu or Joique Bell – those aren’t the droids I’m looking for. I want the players who are on the radar of only the realest of degenerates. Players you wouldn’t think of owning in a million and one years. These will strictly be for injury and bye week fill-ins based on match-ups and situation. Some may stick, some won’t. It’s the nature of the beast and I’ll be thrilled to get one or two correct a week.
The playoffs are here! Finally, all the hard work you’ve put into your fantasy season is about to payoff…hopefully. From browsing pre-season rankings, drafting your squad and scouring the waiver wire each and every week, it’s all culminated to this exact week.
Just making it to the playoffs isn’t good enough. No, it’s crucial for most owners to win their first round matchup in hopes to be “in the money.” After all, some of us do this for not only the fun, but for the monetary gain as well.
As always, don’t get cute with your lineups – start your studs. The names listed below are for only the most desperate of degenerates this time of year. With that said, let’s find some miners…
Andre Holmes, WR OAK @ NYJ (5% owned)
Shameless plug, but I recommended grabbing Holmes last Friday as a stash in dynasty after his Thanksgiving Day breakout performance: https://dynastyleaguefootball.com/2013/11/30/andre-who/
I don’t like to piggy back off a career day, but times are desperate and here we are.
Holmes and the Raiders get the New York Jets this week. If you have to watch it, I will pray for you – no one’s eyes should endure this.
Denarius Moore looks like he might come back off a two week injury vacation and Rod Streater will most likely man the slot. That leaves Jacoby Ford and his 13-99-0 season line as the odd man out. I’m surprised he’s still a thing anymore.
What’s even more encouraging about Holmes is the fact he played the most snaps of all the active wide receivers last week (53 of 62) and flourished.
Coming off a 7 catch, 137 yard day, Holmes faces a defense that has given up 311 yards and 2.5 touchdowns per game over their last six contests. That bodes well for Matt McGloin as he’s shown no fear when throwing up 50/50 balls for his receivers to make a play on – and Holmes is exactly the kind of downfield threat a quarterback like McGloin needs.
I wouldn’t count on another 7-136 kind of day, but I do look for Holmes to redeem his almost-touchdown last week into one this week.
Da’Rick Rogers, WR IND @ CIN (8% owned)
For me, there hasn’t been a more disappointing rookie wide receiver than Rogers this season. In the preseason, I thought he’d not only catch on with the Bills, but be someone who was in their lineup on game days. After a poor preseason, Rogers was waived and signed by the Colts to be on their practice squad. Funny thing is, this is a much better situation for Rogers in terms of dynasty… so I still hold out hope.
Rogers was finally active last week and drew a defensive pass interference on his only target. Darrius Heyward-Bey is still dropping everything thrown his way and LaVon Brazil has been meh. Rogers only saw 13 of the team’s 69 snaps last week, but head coach Chuck Pagano hinted a change was imminent.
During his post-game press conference, Pagano said this: “We’ve got four guys that are up at the receiver position, so we’re going to do what’s best for this team and gives us the best chance to win moving forward.” He also went on to add, “When you saw Da’Rick come off the line of scrimmage and run right by a pretty damn good corner and draw that flag, you get excited about what the future holds for all those guys.”
That may be a motivator for DHB moving forward, but we’ve seen how this movie ends, right? Rogers is most likely stashed in your dynasty leagues, but this is the time to move in on him for the cheap.
The Colts are playing the #9 ranked pass defense in the Bengals this week, so temper expectations. This is more of a suggestion to add Rogers if he’s available, but I do think he has a decent game if the playing time is there.
If you’re in a 16 team league and need a Hail Mary, Rogers is your guy.
Honorable mention goes to ‘Baby Hawk’, Andrew Hawkins. He only played 14 snaps last week (most he’s played since returning from injury), but he managed to catch three passes for 65 yards – including a 50 yard run-and-catch. The Colts give up the tenth-most points to fantasy wide outs and Hawkins was a guy you could count on in a pinch in 2012. Both Marvin Jones (a Mining for Paydirt MVP) and Mohammed Sanu have done nothing of note this past month, so I expect the little squirt to get more run as the season progresses.
Good luck to all of you in the playoffs, that is, unless you’re playing me.
“May the odds be ever in your favor.” – Hunger Games
