(Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
It’s hard to believe we’re in Week Five, but for fantasy owners it means one month’s worth of trend data. We now have enough data to notice some legitimate trends. It’s important to follow them to sell high on some players and buy low on others while deciding who to release and who to keep. What did I see and notice from Week Four and earlier heading into Week Five?
Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers showed us Monday night he could be one of the league’s best quarterbacks statistically and probably have more wins if the offensive line could keep him off his back! He has been taken down 20 times so far, which breaks down to five sacks per game. He’s four sacks “ahead” of the next quarterback, the Buffalo Bills‘ Trent Edwards. C’mon, man! Give Rodgers the protection he needs or consider your Super Bowl dreams lost!
Can A-Rod stay upright?
Washington Redskins running back Clinton Portis (calf, ankles) is still an adequate fantasy performer, but he’s done as a high-end fantasy back. You can’t waive him, nor can you bench him most weeks. What you need to do is be practical with him and look at him as no better than a No. 3, flex, or bye week or injury fill-in fantasy player. As an analogy, Bengals running back Cedric Benson is a must-play every week now. However, the first few weeks we looked at the matchups to decide whether to play him. Sadly that is the category Portis now falls into. Don’t expect anything more, and if you can trade him for something valuable, try to, because I believe he’ll get worse as the season progresses.
Kansas City Chiefs running back Larry Johnson is performing worse than almost anyone expected. Sadly, I did expect his current production but stupidly took him in one league, and as soon as I took him I knew I would regret it. The team is utilizing him as best they can in the first four weeks with 12, 28, 19 and 23 touches, respectively, along with 10 total red zone touches – but he isn’t producing! His yards-per-carry averages are horrific (1.8, 3.3, 2.0 and 2.9, respectively, in the last four games), and his yardage is pathetic with 47.25 rushing yards per game. At what point do we dump him? I was ready to this week until I realized he was still the best of the worst on the waiver wire for running backs. That is, his utilizations keep me from dropping him, but I don’t think he will improve much, if any. He’s a horrible fit in Kansas City, and the team needs to explore trading him for anything right now! The Cleveland Browns did a great job of trading baggage, and the Chiefs should, too.
Stuck with LJ?
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