Brandon Marshall Must Be in Fantasy Lineups vs. Panthers Despite Ankle Concerns

Over the course of the past two weeks, Chicago Bears wideout Brandon Marshall has been both hobbled and disappointing from a fantasy standpoint.

That seems set to change in Week 5, so there should be no hesitation by owners to keep him in lineups.

Marshall is unique in that he is one of an elite few at his position who can only be stopped by poor health. That has been the case during a dry spell due to an ankle ailment, but Marshall himself, after a full week of practice, says things are mostly back to normal, as captured by Rich Campbell of The Chicago Tribune:

Look, the knee-jerk reaction is to be skeptical when it comes to any wideout with some form of a leg issue. Further making that attitude understandable is the minimal production on what turned out to be a major gamble:

WK	OPP	REC	YDS	TD	PTS
1	Buf	8	71	1	11
2	@SF	5	48	3	22
3	@NYJ	1	6	0	0
4	GB	2	19	1	7

Still, we know given Marshall's past track record that smaller weeks of production are few and far between. Using last year as an example, he posted nine games in double digits and only once had back-to-back weeks with less than 10 points.

Again, the fact Marshall was able to practice in "full" signals the issues are mostly over, as explained by Bleacher Report's Dave Siebert:

In other words, Marshall should be relied on as his usual matchup-proof self.

But in no way does it hurt that Marshall has himself one heck of a matchup this week.

In past years, owners would surely groan when one of their offensive players encountered the Carolina Panthers, but this year's iteration of the Luke Kuechly-led defense is downright dreadful against the pass.

So far, top-flight receivers have mostly feasted against the porous Carolina secondary. It surrenders the 10th-most points to the position so far. No. 1 wideouts such as Calvin Johnson (eight points), Antonio Brown (21) and Steve (25) and Torrey Smith (11) have found little in the way of resistance.

Those still on the fence will smartly point out that a receiver coming back from injury who shares the target workload with a talented player such as Alshon Jeffery is a gamble perhaps best worth avoiding for another week.

Charles Rex Arbogast/Associated Press

But ponder this—all 10 of quarterback Jay Cutler's touchdown passes have come in the red zone this year. Nine have gone to just two players—tight end Martellus Bennett and, yes, Marshall. For a quarterback-receiver relationship that spans multiple teams, this should come as no surprise.

Based on numbers compiled by Ken Daube on ESPN.com, Marshall has the third-most targets in the league in the red zone, an area where head coach Marc Trestman elects to call a passing play a whopping 73 percent of the time.

Based on what we know, Jeffery is not a non-factor, but Cutler clearly has his priorities. Bennett may not be as big of a factor this week in Carolina against a defense that has relatively held up well against tight ends, coming in at No. 10 overall against the position.

Those seven points last week while hurt? Not ideal, but if that is the minimum on a bad week against a sound defense, this week should turn out much better. 

Marshall is too consistently productive to not be in the starting lineup in all leagues, and he has earned a bit of leeway in terms of off performances. Marshall is set to get back to being the Marshall owners drafted him for in the first place against a miserable defense.

Again, no hesitation this week, owners.

All scoring info courtesy of ESPN standard leagues, as is points-against info. Statistics courtesy of ESPN.com.