Fantasy Football 2012: Tom Brady Is a Good 'Buy Low' Candidate

Chances are there's an owner in your fantasy football league who is getting frustrated with quarterback Tom Brady.

Brady, who was most likely one of the first few quarterbacks off the board, is having a mediocre season up to this point.

He has failed to break the 20-point mark in ESPN standard scoring leagues. That's not what is expected from a first or second round fantasy pick.

The usually reliable fantasy beast was ranked by ESPN as the No. 2 fantasy quarterback heading into 2012. He is currently the 11th ranked fantasy quarterback. Brady has thrown for four touchdowns and 887 yards on the season.

Through three games, Brady has had a solid statistical season. However, his numbers have just not been good enough for fantasy owners who drafted him with ambitions of 300-yard games and three or four touchdowns every week.

In the first three weeks, Brady has accumulated 17, 14 and 17 fantasy points. With just 48 points on the year, Brady falls behind the likes of Carson Palmer (51 points), Andy Dalton (51 points) and rookie Andrew Luck (49 points).

There's no doubt that Brady's 2012 fantasy season has been a disappointment to this point. That being said, he's still Tom Brady.

Savvy owners would be smart to take advantage of his slow start. Frustrated owners may be willing to part with him for less than what would normally be demanded.

The Week 3 game against Baltimore gave us signs of the old Brady.

He threw for 335 yards and a touchdown, hooking up with his old reliable target Wes Welker. Welker, who had not been a big part of the offense in the first two games, caught eight passes for 142 yards.

If Welker can continue to play a big part in the New England offense, look for Brady's numbers to rise.

Brady gets a chance in Week 5 to give fantasy owners what they have hoped for.

The Patriots play Buffalo, a team that Brady has owned over the past few seasons. Brady has five 300-yard passing games and a total of 25 touchdowns against the Bills.

One has to think that Brady will figure it out and get back to putting up the huge numbers that we are used to seeing. If you are intrigued by Brady, contact his owner and get a feeling for what would be expected in return.

The time to snag Brady on the cheap may be drawing near. A huge Week 4 game could put everyone at ease and slam the door on the opportunity to steal him away.

Take a chance while you still can.