Buying or Selling Fantasy Football's Most Disappointing Stars in 2014

As the calendar turns to October and we get ready for the fifth Sunday of the 2014 NFL season, more than a few fantasy owners are pulling their hair out.

Their teams sit circling the drain at 1-3 or 0-4, in many cases due to high draft picks who just haven't been getting it done.

It leaves those fantasy owners in quite the predicament. With no margin for error those teams can't afford to keep putting duds in their starting lineup, but no one wants to be the guy who traded a player the week before that player put up a huge performance that turned their season around.

Well, we're here to help with a look at some of this year's biggest disappointments in fantasy football.

Who will turn it around? Whose days of fantasy relevance are done?

Read on and find out!

Cam Newton, QB, Carolina Panthers

Gail Burton/Associated Press

Current Fantasy Ranking: QB23

Entering the 2014 campaign, Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton had never finished a season lower than sixth in fantasy points at his position.

At the rate things are going, Newton isn't coming anywhere near those numbers in 2014.

Through four games this year, Newton ranks well outside the top 20. Taking his absence in Week 1 into consideration and judging Newton on a points-per-game basis doesn't help much either.

The fourth-year pro jumps all the way from 23rd to 22nd.

Zoom!

The biggest reason for Newton's lack of production this year hasn't been hard to see. A huge part of Newton's fantasy value has always lied in his ability to pick up yardage with his legs.

This year, with Newton nursing ankle and rib injuries, he's been a non-factor running the ball. Through four games last year, Newton had 16 carries for 98 yards and a touchdown. This year, it's a measly 33 yards on eight totes.

Newton recently admitted to Joseph Person of The Charlotte Observer that his offseason ankle surgery was a bigger issue than he thought it would be:

"

We kind of teased about it a couple weeks ago, how the doctor kind of downplayed how the surgery was going to go. I just thought this was a surgery just to clean up the ligaments and what not. But after reading a lot of reports from you guys, hearing about so much of ligament repair and this major ankle surgery that may hold Cam Newton off for a couple months, that’s when I started scratching my head like, man, this may be bigger than I thought. And something I thought may have a cast on for a couple weeks end up to be a couple months.

"

It also hasn't helped that the Carolina running game, usually one of the league's best, has been ravaged by injuries this year. With the Panthers unable to run the ball, defenses can sit back in coverage and force Newton to beat them with his arm.

There's hope that as Newton and the Panthers' backs get healthy things will improve, enough to keep the former first overall pick on rosters. But, Newton has no business being in staring lineups right now.

Unless, that is, you're angling for a high pick in next year's draft.

SELL

Tom Brady, QB, New England Patriots

Charlie Riedel/Associated Press

Current Fantasy Ranking: QB27

Oh how the mighty have fallen.

It wasn't that long ago that Tom Brady was the top dog where fantasy quarterbacks are concerned. Back in 2007, Brady was the top-scoring fantasy quarterback by over 100 points in NFL.com default scoring.

Now, with the Patriots floundering on offense and Brady ranked outside the top 25 at his position in fantasy scoring, many experts are wondering aloud whether the 37-year-old is even worth a roster spot.

In fact, ESPN's Matt Berry, the king of all things fake football, went them one better—he's moving on:

"

This is not a case of a slow start and "he'll turn it around." If I own Brady, I'm actively looking for a replacement. I don't even think he's own-able in a standard 10-team league. As bye weeks approach, or for people in two-QB leagues, deeper leagues, dynasty leagues or even if you just want a Brady replacement, three guys made their 2014 debut on Sunday: the Vikings' Teddy Bridgewater, the Jaguars' Blake Bortles and the Buccaneers' Mike Glennon. Maybe I'm crazy, but I thought all three looked pretty good on Sunday.

"

Berry isn't crazy.

The problems go much deeper than Brady alone. Sure, the Golden Boy may not be the player he once was. But, it's not his fault the Patriots have a grand total of zero receivers capable of stretching a defense. Or that the New England offensive line has been absolutely pathetic this year.

It's hard to believe things got this bad this quickly, but here we are.

It's time to let go.

SELL

LeSean McCoy, RB, Philadelphia Eagles

Matt Rourke/Associated Press

Current Fantasy Ranking: RB23

There isn't a player in the National Football League giving fantasy owners more sleepless nights right now than Philadelphia Eagles running back LeSean McCoy.

After leading the NFL in rushing in 2013, the 26-year-old was the first overall pick in more fantasy football drafts at My Fantasy League this year than any other player.

So far this year, those fantasy owners have been rewarded with a whopping 2.7 yards per carry from McCoy. He has as many touchdowns and 100-yard rushing efforts in 2014 as I do.

Things have gotten so bad that Eliot Shorr-Parks of NJ.com reports McCoy and head coach Chip Kelly had words during a practice this week:

"

The talk came after the first team offense ran a drill. It isn't clear what set off the talk, but it appeared to be more than just an instructional conversation.

At one point during the talk, Kelly made a motion for McCoy to calm down, and quarterback Nick Foles briefly joined in.

The two walked down the field together, with Kelly's arm over McCoy, and the running back laughed as he ran off to another drill.

What was said isn't yet known, but given the current status of the running game, it isn't hard to imagine what the two could have been discussing.

"

McCoy's 192 yards on the ground is his lowest amount after four games since his rookie year, but he told Shorr-Parks on Wednesday that he remains confident that things will turn around: "I got Lane (Johnson) back (from suspension), and Todd (Herremans) is back at guard. It helps. I am so used to those guys, and I know how well they block. I'm confident. I know what I can do. It doesn't really bother me that much. At times it can be frustrating, but I know who I am."

McCoy hit the nail on the head. His early struggles have been a perfect storm of some iffy matchups, questionable play-calling, injuries and less than stellar effort.

McCoy didn't just forget how to run the football, and with improvement likely in each of those categories beginning this week against the St. Louis Rams, McCoy's fantasy owners need to just take a deep breath and relax.

Of course, if McCoy struggles again against the Rams' 30th-ranked run defense, it will be a different story.

BUY

Montee Ball, RB, Denver Broncos

Jack Dempsey/Associated Press

Current Fantasy Ranking:  RB37

Now, some will no doubt say that Montee Ball's fantasy ranking is artificially deflated by the fact that the Denver Broncos have already had their bye, and that the second-year pro deserves some slack in that regard.

However, Ball hasn't fared much better on a per-game basis, ranking 30th at his position.

Ball was a trendy breakout candidate in the backfield this year. Taking over for Knowshon Moreno (a top-five fantasy option in PPR formats a season ago), the belief was that Ball was a good bet to finish in the top 10 in 2014.

To date, Ball has given little indication that prediction will be even close to accurate. Through three games, Ball is averaging a pedantic 3.4 yards a carry, and he's yet to rush for even 70 yards in a game this year.

Things probably aren't getting better Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals, who are fourth in the NFL in run defense in 2014.

And that makes the early part of next week a great time to target Ball in a trade.

Granted, Ball himself admitted to Andrew Mason of the team's website that the team's run game needs to improve: "Right now, we need a lot of work in it. It starts up front, it starts with the tight ends, and especially with the running backs too. Collectively, we all need to sit down and really focus on it. And we will."

With that said, it's worth pointing out that three of Denver's first four games came against teams that rank 11th or higher in the NFL in run defense.

The schedule isn't going to stay that difficult, and Peyton Manning and the Broncos passing attack means lot of six-man fronts for Ball as the season wears on.

And that should lead to the Ball bouncing in the right direction with a lot more regularity moving forward.

BUY

Demaryius Thomas, WR, Denver Broncos

Jack Dempsey/Associated Press

Current Fantasy Rank: WR56

Montee Ball isn't the only member of that (alleged) offensive juggernaut in Denver that has fantasy owners wringing their hands heading into October.

Had you taken a poll before the season, I'm guessing the percentage of people who thought a healthy Demaryius Thomas would rank outside the top-50 fantasy receivers four games into the season would fall somewhere between zero and negative infinity.

That's crazy talk, they would have said.

Well, strap on a strait jacket, because while newcomer Emmanuel Sanders has posted top-15 fantasy numbers, Thomas has managed only 13 catches for 143 yards and a touchdown.

By weight of comparison, Sanders had 11 catches for 149 yards in Denver's last game.

Thomas has also struggled with dropped passes, and the fifth-year veteran placed the blame for his slow start squarely on himself while speaking with Mark Kiszla of The Denver Post: "I know I ain't playing at my highest potential right now. And I do get down on myself I had the most drops in these first three games that I've had my entire career. I don't know what it is. I don't know if I'm thinking too much."

There's no debating that Thomas hasn't played especially well, but we are talking about a receiver who has topped 1,400 receiving yards and scored double-digit touchdowns each of the past two years.

Throw in that Thomas is playing for a new contract and sprinkle in some of the extra defensive attention that Sanders is bound to start getting if he continues lighting it up, and you have all the necessary ingredients for Thomas to get things back on track.

All he has to do is catch the ball.

BUY

Larry Fitzgerald, WR, Arizona Cardinals

Rick Scuteri/Associated Press

Current Fantasy Rank: WR81

Heading into their matchup in Week 5, Nicki Jhabvala of The Denver Post asked Demaryius Thomas to rank Arizona Cardinals wideout Larry Fitzgerald and his place in NFL history: "I don’t rank receivers myself, because I feel like I’m one of the top, but Larry’s a great receiver. I watched him coming up; he was one of my idols as a rookie. I used to watch his film. So I still think he’s great at what he does. I can’t rate anybody, but he’s good at what he does."

Of course, it's Fitzgerald's past that makes the present so hard for his fantasy owners to stomach.

The Cardinals may be undefeated, but through three games Fitzgerald has been a complete afterthought. His 10 grabs for 107 yards look a lot more like the stat line for one game from the 11th-year veteran than three.

It isn't just that Fitzgerald isn't putting up stats. He's just not being targeted. For the season, Fitzgerald has been thrown at only 20 times, less than such luminaries as Andre Holmes of the Oakland Raiders and Allen Hurns of the Jacksonville Jaguars.

And that's the killer. There's no way for Fitzgerald to break out of his slump if he isn't given the chance to, and to date, there's been zero indication from the desert that the Redbirds are going to make an effort to get Fitzgerald more involved.

Quarterback Carson Palmer lauded Fitzgerald's professionalism in that regard while speaking with Darren Urban of the team's website. “Everybody’s a little bit different, especially the receiver position, but Larry doesn’t care about anything other than the scoreboard,” Palmer said. “He’s not worried about a stat or a target or whatever you want to call it.”

That's all well and good for the Redbirds, but it's a kick in the teeth for Fitzgerald's fantasy owners.

SELL

Jason Witten, TE, Dallas Cowboys

USA TODAY Sports

Current Fantasy Ranking: TE16

Over the past seven years, there hasn't been a more dependable tight end in fantasy football than Jason Witten of the Dallas Cowboys. Dating back to 2008, the 32-year-old has finished no lower than sixth in fantasy points in leagues that award a point for receptions.

This year it's been a different story. Witten has only 15 receptions for 156 yards, hasn't found the end zone and ranks well outside fantasy starter territory in most leagues.

As Rainer Sabin of The Dallas Morning News points out, the drop-off in stats has nothing to do with a fall off in Witten's skills on the gridiron: "He’s the team’s elite tight end, playing a position with a malleable job description. Because of his unique skill-set, Witten can be whatever the coaching staff wants him to be. And consequently, the philosophical direction governing the offense is often illustrated by what he does on the field."

Right now, that direction has Witten functioning as a de facto sixth offensive lineman.

The Cowboys have morphed into a running team in 2014, and whereas Witten would have been running routes last year, this season he's staying in to block.

Quite well, I might add.

The problem, of course, is that fantasy points don't generally get awarded for blocking.

In 2013, only two tight ends (Jimmy Graham of the New Orleans Saints and Tony Gonzalez of the Atlanta Falcons) were targeted in the passing game more than Witten.

This year Witten ranks 10th, and would be even lower had six teams not been on a bye last week.

There's no reason to expect that to change, and while Witten's playing as well as ever from an NFL perspective, his days as a fantasy stud appear to have come to an end.

SELL