Fantasy Football Wavier Wire Pick-ups: Studs or Duds

This past week in the fantasy fooball wasn’t too bad for me. I’m in two leagues one with the writers here at NFLmocks and one with editors from 11 other fansided pages. In one league I’m leading by thirty points heading into Monday night’s game. I have two players going: Joseph Addai and the Buccaneers defense. My opponet has Legarette Blount, Mike Williams, and Adam Vinateri. I should win. Thirty points are not easy to come by for reference 162 yards receiving and a touchdown was worth 22 points. so I’m feeling good.

In my other league I got schlacked. My opponet had Aaron Rodgers and the Baltimore Ravens defense. Those two players combined beat me. Whew doggy. Bad, bad performance in that league. Now lets’ get to who you should add and who you should drop this week.

Quarterbacks:

Studs

Matt Hasselbeck-If he’s still available, pick him up. I was worried when Kenny Britt went down but he keeps playing very well. He’s rejuvenated and spreading the ball all around. This is even before Chris Johnson has gotten his groove back. The Titans look like their offensive system fits Hasselbeck well.

Duds

Colt McCoy

McCoy is going to be one of those players who’s always going to be a better N.F.L. player than he is a fantasy player. McCoy had a huge game on Sunday, but that’s not going to be the norm, at least not until he gets some real dynamic offensive weapons, which the team is currently lacking.

Tavaris Jackson

Jackson had a huge week with 319 yards passing and 3 touchdowns and while Sydney Rice has looked awesome, don’t expect Jackson’s numbers to be this good every week. The Falcons pass defenses is a sieve. Jackson had one good game and he does have really quality receiving options, but I’m leaving him on the waiver wire.

Matt Moore-chad Henne is hurt, but Moore is no good. Leave him there (obviously).

Running backs:

Stud:

Steven Ridley

Ridley was a player many thought was overdrafted by the Patriots when he was selected in the third round of the N.F.L. draft, but he just keeps making plays (once again the Patriots were right? how surprising). He’s already taking away a lot of the “law-firms” carries and I expect that to continue.

Wide Receiver

Stud: Victor Cruz, NYG

This is two weeks in a row that Victor Cruz has had a big game. The first week was with Mario Manningham out. On Sunday though Manning often looked to Cruz in favor of Manningham. Manningham is very talented, but he and Manning are often on different pages. When players are on the same page with Manning he will feed them the ball. Last year Eli Manning made Derek Hagan a quality start in deeper leagues. Grab Cruz and stash him on your bench in good matchups. It has been a magnificent turn around for Cruz who really had a lousy preseason and training camp. He was in danger of losing his job, but it finally looks like he’s on the same page with Manning and he’s being rewarded. At times on Sunday Cruz took over the #2 WR role for Manningham because Manningham was being sloppy with his routes.

Titus Young

The Lions offense is explosive and Titus Young is starting to steal some of Nate Burleson’s targets. If he’s still available stash him on your bench to use during your WR bye weeks. I expect he’ll get better as the season progresses.

Dud:

Laurent Robinson

Robinson had a whopping 116 yards receiving on Sunday, the problem is Dez Bryant is hurting and Miles Austin is out. If you need a quick fix it’s worth the shot because the Cowboys really move the ball well, but Jason Witten and Bryant are the red-zone targers and Miles Austin is going to be back soon. Leave him on the waiver wire.

Darrius Heyward-Bey

Bey has had a copule of nice games, but he’s not worth picking up. He’s too inconsistent as it the quarterback play. Heyward Bey is always a risk to get an 80 yard touchdown pass because he blows by the coverage, but that doesn’t happen with him and thus is not worth the pickup. Think of the WR drafted after Bey in the first round: Crabtree, Maclin, Nicks, and Kenny Britt. Whew! I don’t kill Al Davis as much as others do because I think the players on the Raiders are very talented, they are just missing a franchise quarterback and coaching stability (hopefully Jackson brings that) but that was a huge whiff there.

Tight End:

Stud: Jared Cook

Matt Hasselbeck is having an excellent year. He’s been one of the top fantasy quarterbacks in all of football. The Titans have a great running back, even though he hasn’t hit his stride and the offense his finding a lot of wide open guys. This was the first week that Hasselbeck and the Titans had a full week of practice to put in a game plan, and not surprisingly that game plan featured a lot of Jared Cook. I’m not stating him over Jermichael Finley or anything, but he might be a better option moving forward the Dustin Keller and players of that ilk in bad matchups.

Kevin Boss

The past few seasons the Raiders have featured Zach Miller in the passing game, this year that player could be Kevin Boss. The Raiders love to run the ball in the red-zone, but Boss is a threat in that area of the field as well, and their wide recievers are not. Boss won’t put up huge numbers but if you’re in a deep league he is worth the pickup.

Jermaine Gresham

This is a player you should add if you can. He’s had a very solid season already and his talent is undeniable. On top of that young quarterbacks love tight ends. They are their best friends. If he’s available, add him.

Duds:

Jake Ballard, New York Giants

Ballard had a big touchdown catch as well as another play that was inches away from a touchdown catch, but the Giants are really struggling with their run blocking and want to leave their tight ends to block. On top of that with Cruz emerging (and being a physical WR) he’s likely to see some more touches in the red-zone. I don’t think Ballard will be worth anything moving forward, though he’s no clearly ahead of Travis Beckum who is not looking long for the Giants.

Players to consider bailing on or trading:

Shonn Green and Ahmahd Bradshaw

The problem with Green is that you’re going to be selling low because of his poor start to his season. Green had an opportunity to show that he could be the feature back for the Jets moving forward, but he has been very, very disappointing. The Jets have an identity crisis on offense they want to throw the ball too much. On top of that their offensive line is not as good as it was last year. Nick Mangold’s eventual return will help, but Green is not that good.

Bradshaw

I love Bradshaw the player, but I’m very nervous about the Giants run blocking. Maybe it rounds into form, but its been very bad early and the Giants have struggled greatly in short yardage situations. Bradshaw can often make something out of nothing and will get yardage( from the screen game and such), but his touchdowns are going to be down this year I think. He still has good value so if you can swing him for a good WR consider it.

Buy low

Watch the waiver-wire for a player like Brent Celek. The Eagles eventually here are going to figure out how good of a player he is, right? Right? I think he’s worth stashing on your bench if you can afford it if he becomes available.

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