Daily Haze: Miles Austin, Rashard Mendenhall Claim Starting Roles

(Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

Congratulations to fantasy owners of Miles Austin and Rashard Mendenhall . You just won the fantasy football lottery.

Those of you lucky enough to pluck these two off the waiver wire at some point during the last few weeks now own a pair of the league's newest starters.

Austin officially moved into Dallas' No. 2 wide receiver spot this week on the heels of his breakout performance against Kansas City in week five. Within 24 hours notice of Austin's ascension, Pittsburgh head coach Mike Tomlin anointed Mendenhall the starting running back despite Willie Parker's return to the field last weekend versus Cleveland.

So long, Patrick Crayton. Adios, Fast Willie Parker.

Crayton, a perennial fantasy football mystery, saw his job as a starter go up in smoke with the rest of the Chiefs' secondary last weekend. Playing without No. 1 receiver Roy Williams, Austin stole the show with a eye-opening 10-catch, 250-yard, two-touchdown performance.

The Mendenhall move was alluded to a few weeks ago after his breakthrough performance against the Chargers. Filling in for the injured Parker, Mendenhall strung together a couple of nice games albeit against a pair of lowly run defenses (Chargers, Lions).

The duo shared carries against the Browns in week six but Mendenhall (19 touches) dominated the workload against Parker (eight touches). Although both players fumbled during the course of the game, Mendenhall got the nod from the coaching staff going forward.

Fantasy owners should consider both Mendenhall and Austin as fringe-starters in standard leagues depending on the match-ups.

Parker owners should stash him on the bench in case something were to befall Mendenhall (continued fumble issues, pass-protection issues, injury). Crayton owners can give him the axe and try to find the next winning fantasy football lottery ticket.

Here are today's great reads:

Need a distraction from a struggling fantasy football team? Consider joining The Hazean's Fantasy Basketball challenge . [The Hazean]

Steve Slaton and Tom Brady were buy low candidates last week; This week, it is Matt Forte, who should have a big game this weekend . [Fantasy Football Xtreme]

Crunching the target numbers from week six . Threatening Dwayne Bowe's playing time and job security seems to work pretty well for Todd Haley. [Roto Arcade]

If you spend a ton of time on Twitter and feel like it is wasted time, consider trying out this Twitter-based fantasy football game . [Fantasy Ethos]

Fantasy football trading season is about to heat up with deadlines around the corner and teams jockeying for playoff position. [CBSSports.com]

Now that he is spending a significant amount of time on the sidelines for the second straight season, has Darren McFadden lost almost all of his keeper value ? [Fantasy Football Fools]

Waiver wire advice for those of you in individual defensive player leagues. [Kilroyz Krystal Ball]

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