I’m back after a couple weeks off and probably too much turkey but it’s all good. With fantasy relevant players dropping like flies it seems more critical now more than ever to grab handcuffs. There are many fantasy relevant storylines/players to note this week. Let’s get started with a couple of the more fantasy emerging players after the week 13 games.
Christian Ponder is a player I have been writing about in recent weeks and is now making strides as evidenced by his huge week 13 performance of 29-47-381-3-2 with a fumble and 12 yards rushing. It is clear that Percy Harvin is a big reason why Ponder has been having success and they should be good for another big game in week 14 against the Lions. There is some concern over Ponder’s 2 INTs and 1 fumble in week 13 but turnovers are a lot more meaningless in fantasy football, just ask Cam Newton owners. As long as the Vikings are playing from behind, and they should be due to that horrific Vikings secondary, Ponder should continue to be forced to air it out. I’m considering Ponder a low-end QB1(rank 10-12) play for week 14. He is a must add at this point in dynasty leagues pretty much. Marion Barber is a player who was already getting significant touches even before primary RB Forte got hurt. Barber is a capable handcuff behind Forte and should be considered at least a RB2 in most games that he is the primary RB going forward this year. Demaryius Thomas is another player I have been writing about in recent weeks, he just seems to be the type of WR that Tim Tebow could really use. Thomas broke out for a 4-144-2 line in week 13. Now that was against a bad Vikings secondary so be sure to temper your enthusiasm. Still, Tebow seems to be improving as a passer and should be given more chances to throw. I will not get too excited with my chances since John Fox is their coach though. There were a number of other players who made significant strides in their fantasy value in week 13. C.J. Spiller, Toby Gerhart, Michael Crabtree, Roy Helu, and Brandon Saine all had performances or situations worth mentioning. One IDP to consider – DT Linval Joseph put up 9 solo tackles in the Giants’ first game without Umenyiora, it’s just one game but the Giants always seem to have 2-3 DL churn out DL1 type stats no matter who they have in there.
Here are some interesting players I have my eye on for week 14 and beyond:
Denarius Moore (69% owned in Yahoo!) has become one of the primary drops in a lot of Yahoo! leagues this past week as fantasy team managers look for guys they can cut. D-Moore could easily be a good pickup this week 14 as the Raiders visit the Packers, only if he is healthy though.
Roy Helu is owned in 73% of Yahoo! leagues. Yet, he is coming off of back-to-back 100 yard rushing games. Can Mike ‘mind games’ Shanahan strike yet again and pull Helu for Torain one more time? I think even Shanahan will have a hard time pulling Helu at this point when he’s averaging 4.7 YPC, you never can be too sure with Shanahan though. Stay tuned. Carson Palmer (65% owned in Yahoo!) is probably going to be playing from behind against the Packers in week 14 and so will be forced to throw more. Palmer has been without his top-2 WRs in Ford and Moore the past couple weeks. Odds are he should have at least one of them back, if not both. Palmer projects as a low-end QB1 this week if he were to have Moore and Ford back, with higher end QB1 output a definite possibility, again with his primary targets healthy and ready to play. Brandon Saine (1% Yahoo! owned) is a sleeper RB candidate for this week with James Starks looking like he’s not going to play. Saine holds even more value in PPR formats. Saine appears to be a short term play but an arguably decent flex play while Starks is out.
As always, be sure to scour your waiver wire for good FAs. This is the time of year teams are making more valuable player cuts they usually wouldn’t make until now. Good luck in week 14 you fantasy leaguers!