Weekly Twitter Observations

Luke Wetta

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Each week I will be walking through the Twitterverse extracting some of the best commentary from trusted fantasy football minds. Twitter can be overwhelming with the amount of information that streams live, but it also proves to be one of the fastest and easiest ways to communicate. In 140 characters or less you can learn something about a player you may have never thought of from trends, stats or analysis.

Quote of the Week

A great bit of fantasy history from Adam Harstad here on clearly the greatest wide receiver in fantasy and real life. Just imagine how much fun it would have been to own Jerry Rice in dynasty during this span. What kind of offers would you have turned down for trades knowing how dominant he truly was?

Roy Helu, RB OAK

Normally when looking at Raiders running backs, everyone focus on Latavius Murray and his potential this season as “the guy.” Another name catching buzz because the media will not let him die is Trent Richardson who has reportedly slimmed down and competing for the starting job with Murray. Maybe the third time is the charm for Trent, but I am not buying and if Richardson has a chance to beat our Murray, what about Roy Helu? Helu was brought into Oakland to be the primary change of pace / third-down running back and has shown success as both a runner and receiver throughout his career. Both Karl Safchick and Pat Thorman highlighted Helu in recent tweets

Roy has actually seen continued improvement over the course of his first four seasons (year two he only played three games due to injury). Last season, on limited touches, he was top three in both average yards per rush and reception. When looking at Helu, currently I am mostly interested in his cost in fantasy. DLF ranks have him as the 51st overall running back in dynasty and that seems pretty cheap for a player who could potentially become the starter in Oakland. We have all seen Richardson fail to find a hole and in games where Latavius had double digit carries last season he averaged only 3.8 yards per rush. Everyone remembers the game against the Chiefs where Murray ripped off the 90-yard touchdown run, but outside of that performance he was not a world beater. At worst, Helu should see plenty of targets as the Raiders will likely be behind in most contests and Derek Carr was dead last by a mile in average yards per attempt last season.

Cole Beasley, WR DAL

The below tweet came across my timeline from Jeff Miller and got me to do a little research on a certain Cowboy receiver.


[inlinead]First off I had to confirm Cole Beasley’s middle name was in fact Freaking. Unfortunately, it is actually Dickson, so on to the next point. Where does Cole rank in dynasty coming into this year? Looking at a couple sources, I had to scroll down into the 80’s to find his name amongst all receivers – this struck me as a little odd as the Cowboys’ number two receiver. Now, of course, Jason Witten is the second receiving option on the team behind Dez Bryant. Terrance Williams also runs as the number two on the team with Beasley working out of the slot. But as Jeff indicated, Beasley was out targeting Williams from Week 9 on last year. In the playoffs, Cole also registered more targets, catches and yards than even Bryant. To top off his 2014 campaign Dallas came through with a new four year deal showing they value what he brings to the table. Also, over the last two years Beasley has a 76% catch rate showing his reliability.

I would like to point to Witten’s age and no reliable option behind him as potential for increased looks from injury, but Jason has not missed a game in the last 11 years so that is not the best bet running. Either way, this is Cole “Freaking” Beasley we are talking about who remains an extremely cheap option that could easily provide value this season in deeper leagues. If an injury happens to the other receiving options for Tony Romo, Beasley may also find himself a weekly contributor in all formats.

Ladarius Green, TE SD

The NFL handed down a four game suspension to Chargers tight end Antonio Gates and the fantasy community came out in full force.

Many will point to Green’s impressive body size and measurables as a clear sign to fantasy greatness if only he was afforded the opportunity. Unfortunately over the last two seasons the breakout has yet to occur. Mainly, Gates has seemingly denied Ladarius any chance despite age and twelve seasons of wear and tear. For the first quarter of 2015, the only thing presumably standing in Green’s way is himself. A recent post talked about his upside, speed and mismatch capabilities, but also mentioned the need “to put more tools into his toolbox.” Antonio is not the only reason Ladarius has seen limited action and I fall more on the side of coaches playing the guys they believe will perform and that has not been Green to date. Love him or not, his fantasy value is rising as Ryan McDowell shared.


In regards to his prospects this season, I do not expect him to be much of a factor once Gates returns. The future is harder to determine but if you are not a Ladarius Green truther, I would be looking to move him as his value is definitely moving in the right direction to sell.

Christine Michael, RB SEA

Another player the fantasy community loves from an upside standpoint is Seattle’s Christine Michael. Ian Kenyon also clearly displayed why when looking at Michael’s metrics

As of last week there was news speculating that Christine may be on the roster bubble for the Seahawks and a trade may also be a possibility. Many may look at Michael’s potential move from Seattle as a blessing, but I see this as almost more of a negative. If Seattle would move Christine, it would mean he was beat out by an undrafted rookie free agent in Thomas Rawls. The Seattle coaching staff clearly would not have seen enough potential in him as a runner, so why should you? I think Eric Breeze summed it best when he tweeted


As training camp and preseason games progress and if Seattle truly looks like they might move Michael, I would sell for top dollar to an owner who thinks they are a better scout of talent than coaches who have worked with a player over the past two years.

Special call out to Pro Football Focus’ Premium Stats for providing a great tool to pull some of the data and information in this article.

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