Some Notes and Some Fantasy Hints
By daveskins
The Redskins signed Reche Caldwell today. And, of course, to make room for Caldwell, the Skins placed Jon Jansen on IR.
The Caldwell signing is one of those great low risk, medium reward kind of signings. While it is highly unlikely that Caldwell will supplant Moss, Randle-El, or Lloyd, he will likely surpass Thrash as soon as he’s up to speed with the playbook. Caldwell is a big target with some experience. Don’t expect him to stake a major claim here, but he’ll add depth for the season.
Jansen will be missed, no doubt. But I like Wade (who will start Monday) and Heyer as potential replacements, and we added an another o-lineman to the practice squad for extra depth today. Hopefully we won’t need any more of it.
So, I’ve now watched a ton of this weekend’s action and purused the box scores and I would liek to offer some fantasy advice based on the first week’s action. In most cases, if you play in a tough league, most of these players are on the back end of someone’s bench. They mostly won’t be free agents, but they are people I suggest you keep if you have them, and consider quietly adding as “throw in” in the back half of a trade.
Marshawn Lynch- Duh. I don’t actually put him here because I think you don’t know him. I just wanted to tip my cap to the rook. There were three occasions in the Bills game where it appeared Lynch had been stopped cold but when the linebacker in question stepped up to make the actual tackle, Lynch absolutely leveled the tackler and kept moving. This resulted in a 4th and 1 conversion and a TD. His pass protection was awful which might mean he stays on the bench on 2nd and long and most 3rd downs. At any rate, if you drafted him, keep him. And if you drafted him in your keeper leagues, be thrilled.
Braylon Edwards- This is a guy most people identified as a sleeper as the season started. He’s the right age, and he’s very talented. Why do I mention him again? Because he caught just 3 balls for no scores. In a couple of weeks of jerking around with Derek Anderson at QB, Braylon Edwards owners will be ready to drop or trade him. This is when you jump in and grab him before Brady Quinn is finally named the starter. Start greasing the wheels for a trade right now. Whenever you are around the guy who owns Edwards in your league, talk about how you own him “in another league” and hate him. You’re getting tired of him being “all hype and no success.” Another bad week, and then you strike by trading for someone else on his team and getting him to throw Edwards in.
Sammy Morris- Laurence Maroney owners probably have already handcuffed him in your league. But there are many leagues on CBS and ESPN that have Morris unowned. It is a must given Maroney’s injury history and sore shoulder that you get Morris. And strangely enough, despite sucking his entire career, Morris actually had a significantly high avg/carry than Maroney (3.6 vs 4.9).
Lendale White- Yes, you read that right. I did not select Chris Brown who ran for a bazillion yards last week. There are two reasons. First, any idiot can read a box score and figure that out. Second, White ran the ball 18 times for 66 yards. That is very respectable. And most importantly, Chris Brown has never been able to play 16 games in a season. He came close only once. If White is available, he’s the perfect sneak pick up. Hold him and wait for Brown to break.
Adrian Peterson (Bears)- One game is a small sample size, but so far it looks like Cedric Benson is not the answer at RB. Benson averaged 2.4 yrds/carry to Peterson’s 5.4. Now, Peterson only ran 7 times, and usually at times when the Chargers didn’t truly expect it (3rd down draws for example) . It is possible that they both stink. But Peterson might be worth a flier.
That’ll work for now. More Redskins and fantasy news as we go.
-DW