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Weekly Twitter Observations

Luke Wetta Posted On February 13, 2015
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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.

Matthew Stafford, QB DET

This past week, Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford took some heat on my Twitter timeline. DLF’s Eric Hardter weighed stating,

Rich Hribar also piled on with some numbers to back up his assessment tweeting,


[inlinead]Since his incredible 2011 performance when he topped 5,000 yards and threw for 41 touchdown passes, Stafford has been on a straight decline finishing 2014 with 4,257 yards and 22 throws for scores. He ranked ninth overall in total yards, 14th in touchdown passes and a mind-numbing 27th in completion percentage. While Calvin Johnson did miss three games this season, the emergence of a true number two receiver in Golden Tate should have meant more for Stafford’s production. Currently the DLF staff has Stafford ranked as the 7th overall QB in dynasty (though he is ranked as low as 10th and 14th by two rankers). While the market is definitely continuing to adjust down, it would seem like 2011 + Calvin + 26 years old is still enough to hold him amongst the top options. When considering Stafford’s fantasy value, another player to compare him too might be Ryan Tannehill. Tannehill is also 26, his stats are trending in the right direction and has the added bonus of providing extra fantasy points with his legs each week. Ryan is almost assuredly still valued less than Stafford by his current owners and getting an additional player or picks in a trade for Stafford may end up being the better long term play.

Jeremy Hill, RB CIN

Entering the 2014 many in the fantasy community were banking on a big year from the Bengals backfield. Most of the expectations were focused on Giovani Bernard and not the eventual star Jeremy Hill. Bernard was coming off a season splitting time with the plodding BenJarvus Green-Ellis and making plays particularly in the passing game. Jeremy was expected to take BGE’s place in the offense and be a backup to Bernard, but as the season progressed the opposite occurred. Gio still was featured in the passing game more, but unlike Green-Ellis who had only four receptions in 2013, Hill caught 27 ball in 2014 with many wondering if he would simply become a three down back for Cincinnati. As Evan Silva tweeted recently, the split situation is expected to continue in 2015 favoring Hill.

Over the last eight weeks of the season, Hill averaged 18 carries and two catches per game and logged 22 or more carries in the final three games of the regular season. During the second half he also piled up 775 rushing cards with an additional 75 in the passing game, which would work out to 1,700 total yards in a full season. Hill was also only one of four running backs with over 100 carries in 2014 to average more than five yards per tote. In split backfield situations fantasy players tend to hedge and lessen expectations for each running back. With Hill I would be buying more than selling and would expect his touches to hit 300 barring injury next season and beyond.

Jonathan Stewart, RB CAR

Another running back trending up (again) in fantasy is the Panthers Jonathan Stewart. Stewart finished the 2014 regular season strong after DeAngelo Williams went down as Rich Hribar displayed.


The performances in the playoffs against two of the best run defenses really turned heads and showed Stewart may still have life in him yet. It has also been hinted that Williams may not be back with the team in 2015 leaving the starting job mainly in Stewart’s hands. The upside is obvious if he could garner 20 touches per game, particularly while still averaging well over four yards per carry. The downside with Stewart though is age and health. As Mike Clay noted, Stewart has a lot of mileage on his tires.

The fact remains that while he only missed two games over his first four seasons, he has missed 20 during the last three. If the Panthers do in fact release DeAngelo, they will most certainly bring in someone to replace him either through the draft or free agency. Personally, I want to get behind Stewart as a fantasy asset, but I feel if anything he may have only one more good run in him so if you are playing for the short term, make a move.

Matt Forte, RB CHI

Matt Forte is coming off a career year rushing for 1,000 yards and catching an incredible 102 passes for an additional 800 yards. Mike Clay shared some amazing numbers in regards to his 2014 usage as well tweeting,


But the lingering question many are wondering now is will he keep it up now that head coach Marc Trestman has been run out of town? DLF’s Ryan McDowell showed where he stood on the issue,


The consistency that Forte has shown has been great, but for a running back turning 30 and with over 2,200 total touches to his name you should start to worry. Another negative was his paltry 3.9 yards per carry this past season, which actually dropped to 3.5 over the final eight games. He also has never been a touchdown maker often failing to convert the short yardage scores. If wide receiver Brandon Marshall leaves the Bears, there will also be one less primary weapon to draw coverage from focusing on the run. Finally, Forte is entering the last season on his contract and set to be paid as one of the top backs in the league. I would not be surprised though if he starts angling for an extension, particularly coming off the year he just had. Overall, the negatives for me are piling up and see him as another short term play for fantasy.

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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Luke Wetta
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