Ian Allan answers your fantasy football questions. In this addition. When do we pull the plug on Marshawn Lynch? Whatever happened to Ray Rice? And is it the perfect time to sneak Markus Wheaton into a lineup?
Question 1
With the mind-numbing number of injuries at running back this season, why are we not hearing much (anything) about teams being interested in Ray Rice? I would think there would, at least, be some unfounded rumors popping up. Rice might be somewhat radioactive, but not from a talent/performance perspective. Has he not been keeping himself in shape?
PHIL KEIL (Pottsville, PA)
Rice was pretty dreadful in 2013, averaging only 3.1 yards per carry. He says he put on weight that year, hoping to be a more physical runner, but it instead just made him too slow. He might be done, and it might be that most teams don’t see enough upside to outweigh the distraction and negative publicity that come with him. But he’s 28 years old, and I think he might have something left (if he’s in shape). Heading into the 2014 season he had moved his weight back down, and I thought he looked pretty good in the preseason – 5 carries for 38 yards. So I believe he might be able to help a team. The Patriots just lost LeGarrette Blount; it would be interesting to see how Rice might play in that offense. But that’s not going to happen. Robert Kraft said (in September 2014) he would be shocked if any team was willing to give Rice a chance. But we'll see. Michael Vick got a second chance.
Question 2
Marshawn Lynch? My playoffs run through week 17, I have Rawls and I'd love dump Lynch if I could find ANYTHING saying he was for sure done for the regular season. Do you have any thoughts?
Ellis Kilgore (Von Ormy, TX)
He’s definitely not playing this week. I would say he’s very unlikely to play in Week 16. He’s not at the facility and there’s been no mention of him perhaps showing up and testing things out next week. If they get him on the field for their final game, I would think it would be in a tune-up type capacity – get him a couple of carries before their playoff opener the next week. But that’s never really been his style. He’s had 5, 3 and 2 carries in the last three preseasons. I would think the correct move is to release Lynch and grab one of the prospects off the waiver wire.
Question 3
Great work this season as always. Just a note on Greg Olsen … you've listed him quite a few spots down in the Weekly, but your write-up says he's going to do well if he plays. The Giants are giving up a lot of yards and fantasy points to tight ends. It's also a home-coming game for Olsen,who went to Wayne Hills High School in Wayne, NJ, about 5 miles from Metlife Stadium. Chris Olsen, his father, coached Wayne Hills for years, is a legendary coach in northern NJ, and won a truckload of state championships. There should be a lot of Olsen friends and family in attendance. I'm just pointing out that if he plays, he might have that extra chip on shoulder for this game..not sure it's mailbag-worthy information, but hey, can't hurt to mention it.
Rob Dammers (Ringwood, NJ)
I was not aware of the Olsen connection. Sounds like there are grounds to move him up just a little (especially if you are a fan of Fountains of Wayne; that group gets some air time around here because I'm married to a Denise). Olsen has been in the league since 2007 but I believe this is just the second time he has played at this stadium. In 2010, the Bears played at the Giants and he caught 5 passes for 39 yards. Not a huge stat line, but Olsen caught 5 passes in only two other games that year.
Question 4
What do you think about picking up Wheaton against Denver next week? A similar situation as against Seattle, where Brown/Bryant may be blanketed by great corners and Wheaton is the open man? My flex spot is currently pretty weak.
Craig Rinne (Delray Beach, FL)
I think the reasoning is sound. When I was scouting the Steelers game I came to the same conclusion. Neither Brown nor Bryant was much of a factor at Seattle, while Wheaton caught 9 passes for 201 yards. Derek Carr threw 2 TDs against that defense last week, and one of his touchdowns was to Seth Roberts – their Wheaton. Setting aside the Seattle game, Wheaton has averaged under 2 catches per this year; against Denver, I would expect he’ll catch 5-plus. I wouldn’t start him ahead of Brown or Bryant; those guys are simply too good. But he’s in the mix of candidates for that flex spot. Depends who else is available.
Question 5
Thanks for the great analysis all year. I made the playoffs. However I took some hits at the RB slot. We are a small league and start 3 RBs and get 1 pt for every 20 yds rushing and receiving with standard 6 for TDs. My remaining RBs are Blount, Matt Jones, Murray/Mathews, Stewart and I'm holding on to Lynch. I lost Rawls yesterday. At worst I can start Jones, Stewart and an Eagle but am looking for more touches from my third slot. How would you rank Crowell, Hightower, Denard Robinson, Joique Bell, Theo Riddick, DuJuan Harris for week 15? I'll be number four in the waiver wire so I'm going to likely end up with the third or fourth ranked back.
Phil Eichorn (Rocky River, OH)
Hightower and Robinson, I believe those guys are strong top-10 running backs, given the way they’ll be used and the opponents they’re facing. Those are the first two guys I’d be looking at. I’d start both of them over all of the other backs you mention. Stewart is out with a sprained foot, so I expect the Panthers will replace him with a mixture of Cameron Artis-Payne, Fozzy Whittaker and Mike Tolbert. I went back and re-watched some of the preseason work. Of those three, I think CAP is the most Stewart-like. I think he’ll get the most carries of those guys. But Fozzy and Tolbert should be more involved than usual, and I’m not crazy about any of those guys. Crowell runs hard, but Cleveland should get rolled in Seattle. For the Seahawks, I think they’ll give Bryce Brown and Christine Michael carries and see who emerges, so I don’t think you can bank on either of those guys. The other viable waiver target is probably Brandon Bolden, who should get 15-plus carries and maybe a short touchdown against a bad Tennessee defense.
Question 6
It's week 15 Ian and it's HUGE!!! (as Billy Fucillo says). I'm in the final 4 of a PPR league and I have never ever started 2-3 RB's before, but my custom rankings suggest maybe I should. I have Doug Martin, David Johnson and picked up Denard Robinson. Problem is I also have Fitz, Marshall and Cooks. I can play 1-3 RB's or 1-3 WR's. They're all very close in the rankings and while I don't like to lose I absolutely hate beating myself. Also, in a standard yardage league Championship I need to pick 2 out of Latavius Murray, Fitz and Cooks. Once again all very close in my custom rankings. Thanks for all the hard work you guys do. It's much appreciated! Also congratulations on your marathon performance. Very impressive! I just turned 50 and run a little and can run a 7:20 mile. But not 26 of them! Kudos my friend :)
JOHN RUPPE (Fort Myers, FL)
Thanks for the kind words. I enjoyed the training for the marathon event – nice was to start each day. On the fantasy football front, it’s always difficult making the close calls. For me, I don’t let loyalty factor into these decisions. I don’t care, that is, if a guy has been on my roster all year. I’m just trying to start the right guys. So even though Denard Robinson just showed up this week and is just learning your playbook, I’m still thinking he’ll be one of the starters. He looks like an awfully safe choice against the Falcons. With Brandin Cooks, there were plenty of plays last week where he wasn’t on the field. It seemed to be a true rotation, where he was just kind of on similar footing as Willie Snead, Marques Colston and Brandon Coleman. I wonder if this was connected to Cooks either suffering (or not suffering) a concussion in practice on Wednesday. He didn’t practice on Thursday. In his previous six games, Cooks averaged 80 yards and caught 6 TDs. For the Monday night game, I would expect Cooks to revert to being more of that go-to No. 1 guy.
Question 7
Tremendous job on the McCarron/Brown/Michael writeup today. Excellent stuff! I spent big on grabbing Brown & Bolden off waivers. My RBs are Freeman, Bolden, Brown, Hillman, J. Allen & Langford. Bunched fairly tightly in your Wednesday rankings. In a must-win playoff game, which 3 (2RB & Flex) would you feel the best about? (Also have Marvin Jones that I could plug into that flex spot, which I suddenly like based on your McCarron write up.) Thanks for everything you do.
Scott Anderson (Lakewood, CO)
Freeman and Bolden are definitely starting. If C.J. Anderson is ruled out, I think, Hillman will be your third. If Anderson is playing, than Hillman is definitely nixed. Jones will move in the Friday supplement. After watching more of McCarron, I’m comfortable with him at quarterback, and he seems to be on the same page with Jones – saw the two big completions downfield against the Bears in that preseason game, and Jones caught 6 passes against Pittsburgh. Tyler Eifert hasn’t been practicing, and if he’s out, it will really be Green and Jones as the main cogs in that passing game. I just wish the game was in Cincinnati. The 49ers defense has been a lot better at home, where no opponent has scored more than 20 points. Langford is just a half-time back on the road against a good run defense. Vikings are getting Linval Joseph back. He’s not in the mix.
Question 8
I'm up in the air as for what QB to play in week 15, between Newton and Wilson. I guess it's a good problem to have ... but who is the best play?
DAVID MARCUS (GLENMOORE, PA)
I’d go with Wilson. He’s hot. I would have no problem starting Newton either, but Carolina is long overdue for a loss and my gut tells me this is the week it will happen.
Question 9
Thanks for all the help this year. First week of the playoffs and am tempted to start Matt Ryan again even though he has not done anything lately. I was wondering if you can see if his struggles are due to bad receiving, bad line, bad decisions, etc. I drafted him as my QB for the whole year thinking he was safe but barely squeaked in to playoffs after losing the last four games. I have picked up Fitzpatrick and Taylor but it seems I keep putting in the wrong one for the last 3 weeks. I need to let one of these 3 QBs go and just have a tough time dumping Ryan.
jim bo ()
Ryan’s going up against Jacksonville, and that’s been a pretty leaky pass defense, giving up 279 yards per game, with 24 TDs – almost 2 per week. Philip Rivers threw 4 TDs against that defense three weeks ago. But in their last two home games, the Jaguars haven’t allowed any touchdown passes (to Marcus Mariota and Matt Hasselbeck). And Ryan hasn’t been playing well enough that you can be confident he’ll get the job done. But there are questions with those guys as well. I think they’re all kind of in the same tier this week. As for the cause of Ryan’s off year, I think it’s system based. Either he’s having problems picking up and running that system – doing things in a slightly different way than what’s worked in the past – or the offensive structure is simply flawed. Opponents perhaps have adjusted to what they’re doing and the Falcons haven’t responded. I’m not sure which. In general I would be starting Fitzpatrick and Taylor over Ryan nowadays.
