While most fantasy ballers may have their lineups ready to go Sunday morning, there have been several players going into the week questionable or ruled out that may leave you scrambling for a guy to plug into your lineup. It's looking like Mendenhall, Alex Smith, Maclin, Donald Brown, Pierre Garcon, and Sproles will be starting, letting some of us breathe a sigh of relief. But through the week, it looks like we've lost, (in addition to Vick, Roethlisberger, Cutler, DMC, and MJD among others) Aaron Hernandez, Ben Tate, Heyward-Bey, Antonio Brown and Coby Fleener. DeMarco Murray won't be back this week, Michael Turner is hurting, and Ryan Matthews, Owen Daniels, and Brandon Lloyd will all be game time decisions. Let's take a peek at some guys you can probably add in a pinch and plug into your lineup.
1 - Dwayne Allen TE IND - We actually used Allen in a league two weeks ago when Gronk was on a bye week and Fleener listed out in a game time decision. He posted up a very respectable 6/75/0 line, and helped us seal the win. Allen is a great option again this week, as he looks to start one more time, this week vs. the Patriots. The Pats/Colts game should settle in as a showdown between the wily veteran Brady, and the young gun Luck. Look for Luck to spread the wealth again as NE is planning on double teaming Reggie Wayne for the game. Allan is a very good bet to match, or beat, his week 9 line of 6-75. Pick him up should you be a scrambling Hernandez, Daniels, or Fleener owner.
2 - Brandon Myers TE OAK - We wrote about a Myers breakout roughly seven weeks ago, after catching his first 15 targets through the first three games (he put up a stinker 1/22/0 that week,) and he has continued that success by climbing into the top 100 Y! rankings, and currently sits as the 12th fantasy TE (probably one of two undrafted TEs in the top 12 - the other being Scott Chandler of Buffalo.) Carson Palmer is leading the AFC in yards (which is a surprise in itself without DMC and DHB most of the season,) and should continue to use Myers in a big way. Look for some major points this week vs. New Orleans. I'm hard pressed to find 10 TE's I'd rather start than Myers week 11. Y! has him as the 26th TE - behind the likes of Fleener, Dreessen, Tony Sheffler, and Tom Crabtree to name a few. Dig deep and plug in the 38% owned Myers ahead of most TE's this week. You could cash in with a 7-70-1 line.
3 - Julian Edelman WR NE - When I say deep sleeper, I certainly mean it with Edelman. While he is a fairly risky play this week, I see some deep league FLEX value in a pinch. The Patriots released Deion Branch yesterday, Aaron Hernandez is out, Brandon Lloyd is going to be a game time decision, and Wes Welker is banged up. That leaves Gronk and Edelman as the two healthy, starting receivers for Tom Brady to use in what should shape up as a shootout. Edelman only has 24 catches over his last three seasons - but don't let that scare you. 6 of his 13 catches this season went for a first down and one of them went for a score. Even if Welker and Lloyd both start this week, Edelman will be the third receiver on the roster until Greg Salas is ready to go. We're not predicting much here, but 4 or 5 catches with 50 yards and the possibility of a score is not out of question. Edelman's only owned in 1% of Y! leagues - so he's most certainly available.
4 - TY Hilton/Donnie Avery WR IND - We'll stick with the Pats/Colts shootout theme here. The Patriots will be double covering Reggie Wayne most, if not all of the game today, and Coby Fleener is out. That leaves both Hilton and Avery as very nice checkdown options for Andrew Luck as he will look to keep pace with Tom Brady. Hilton is owned in just 21% of Y! leagues, and Avery 26%, so they should both be available in your league. Both players are deep threats with the ability to miss tackles and find paydirt. Avery has 9 catches for 173 yards in the past two weeks, and Hilton put up a 6-102-1 line two weeks ago. Look for both players to approach 6 catches and 80 yards, and gamble on one of the two to score.
5 - Ronnie Brown RB SD - We'll call Brown the other Marcel Reece this week. With Ryan Matthews (surprisingly) hobbling around this week, and looking like a game time decision, we think that Brown could bust out with some points for your FLEX spot. And should Matthews be downgraded to out today, Brown will certainly mop up some points @DEN this week. Former PFS friend Jackie Battle has just 10 touches since week 6, and Brown has at least 3 catches in every game this year. Even if Matthews is the starter, we envision Brown leaching some totes from him in an effort to keep him from breaking again. You could do much worse than Brown in a desperation play should you need some help at your RB3 or FLEX spot this week, especially in PPR leagues. We think a line like 6 carries for 30 yards, 5 catches for 40 yards with the possibility of a score is about right.
1 - Dwayne Allen TE IND - We actually used Allen in a league two weeks ago when Gronk was on a bye week and Fleener listed out in a game time decision. He posted up a very respectable 6/75/0 line, and helped us seal the win. Allen is a great option again this week, as he looks to start one more time, this week vs. the Patriots. The Pats/Colts game should settle in as a showdown between the wily veteran Brady, and the young gun Luck. Look for Luck to spread the wealth again as NE is planning on double teaming Reggie Wayne for the game. Allan is a very good bet to match, or beat, his week 9 line of 6-75. Pick him up should you be a scrambling Hernandez, Daniels, or Fleener owner.
2 - Brandon Myers TE OAK - We wrote about a Myers breakout roughly seven weeks ago, after catching his first 15 targets through the first three games (he put up a stinker 1/22/0 that week,) and he has continued that success by climbing into the top 100 Y! rankings, and currently sits as the 12th fantasy TE (probably one of two undrafted TEs in the top 12 - the other being Scott Chandler of Buffalo.) Carson Palmer is leading the AFC in yards (which is a surprise in itself without DMC and DHB most of the season,) and should continue to use Myers in a big way. Look for some major points this week vs. New Orleans. I'm hard pressed to find 10 TE's I'd rather start than Myers week 11. Y! has him as the 26th TE - behind the likes of Fleener, Dreessen, Tony Sheffler, and Tom Crabtree to name a few. Dig deep and plug in the 38% owned Myers ahead of most TE's this week. You could cash in with a 7-70-1 line.
3 - Julian Edelman WR NE - When I say deep sleeper, I certainly mean it with Edelman. While he is a fairly risky play this week, I see some deep league FLEX value in a pinch. The Patriots released Deion Branch yesterday, Aaron Hernandez is out, Brandon Lloyd is going to be a game time decision, and Wes Welker is banged up. That leaves Gronk and Edelman as the two healthy, starting receivers for Tom Brady to use in what should shape up as a shootout. Edelman only has 24 catches over his last three seasons - but don't let that scare you. 6 of his 13 catches this season went for a first down and one of them went for a score. Even if Welker and Lloyd both start this week, Edelman will be the third receiver on the roster until Greg Salas is ready to go. We're not predicting much here, but 4 or 5 catches with 50 yards and the possibility of a score is not out of question. Edelman's only owned in 1% of Y! leagues - so he's most certainly available.
4 - TY Hilton/Donnie Avery WR IND - We'll stick with the Pats/Colts shootout theme here. The Patriots will be double covering Reggie Wayne most, if not all of the game today, and Coby Fleener is out. That leaves both Hilton and Avery as very nice checkdown options for Andrew Luck as he will look to keep pace with Tom Brady. Hilton is owned in just 21% of Y! leagues, and Avery 26%, so they should both be available in your league. Both players are deep threats with the ability to miss tackles and find paydirt. Avery has 9 catches for 173 yards in the past two weeks, and Hilton put up a 6-102-1 line two weeks ago. Look for both players to approach 6 catches and 80 yards, and gamble on one of the two to score.
5 - Ronnie Brown RB SD - We'll call Brown the other Marcel Reece this week. With Ryan Matthews (surprisingly) hobbling around this week, and looking like a game time decision, we think that Brown could bust out with some points for your FLEX spot. And should Matthews be downgraded to out today, Brown will certainly mop up some points @DEN this week. Former PFS friend Jackie Battle has just 10 touches since week 6, and Brown has at least 3 catches in every game this year. Even if Matthews is the starter, we envision Brown leaching some totes from him in an effort to keep him from breaking again. You could do much worse than Brown in a desperation play should you need some help at your RB3 or FLEX spot this week, especially in PPR leagues. We think a line like 6 carries for 30 yards, 5 catches for 40 yards with the possibility of a score is about right.
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