Fantasy Football Struggling Wide Receivers: Should They Start Or Sit For Week 3

Eric Stashin

Sep 25, 2010

There are some big name players who have clearly failed to live up to expectations over the first two weeks of the season. Let’s take a look at some of the wide receivers who have struggled and determine how to view them, both for this week and the remainder of the season:

Michael Crabtree - San Francisco 49ers
Preseason Ranking - 16
Two Week Stats - 3 receptions, 44 yards, 0 TD
This is one of the most public struggles in the NFL. We all know that he has the talent to be an elite wide receiver in the league, but are the problems in the 49ers offense too much for him to overcome? There has been a lot of talk of issues with the offensive coordinator getting the plays in, as well as questions about Alex Smith’s ability to lead the offense.

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Regardless, Crabtree needs to step up and make plays and, at this point, he hasn’t done that. Depending on your other options, it certainly makes sense to move him to your bench and wait for him to show some flicker of hope. The talent is too high to completely cut bait, however.

Dwayne Bowe - Kansas City Chiefs
Preseason Ranking - 15
Two Week Stats - 5 receptions, 58 yards, 0 TD
We all expected so much more from him, as the numbers are a far cry from what we saw in his first two years in the league. It’s easy to point to Matt Cassel, who has been terrible despite the Chiefs 2-0 record. He’s thrown for just 244 yards and 1 TD over the first two weeks of the season. Maybe he’s not a long-term No. 1 NFL QB, but he’s better then this.

Don’t panic and do something hasty with Bowe, I would expect the Chiefs top receiver to start putting up better numbers in the not too distant future so keep on using him for now. This week he goes against a 49ers' defense who is good, but has allowed four touchdowns vs. just one interception thus far. This could be the week he gets on the board, something you don’t want to miss.

Percy Harvin - Minnesota Vikings
Preseason Ranking - 20
Two Week Stats - 6 receptions, 44 yards, 0 TD
The injury to Sidney Rice thrust him into WR1 status for the Vikings, but the offense has been a complete mess to date. Harvin has struggled with injuries of his own, however, as he has dealt with problems to his hip as well as migraine headaches.

He should take the field and, with the Lions on the schedule, now seems like the perfect time for the Vikings offense as a whole to finally explode.

Keep him active for another week.

Pierre Garcon - Indianapolis Colts
Preseason Ranking - 24
Two Week Stats - 4 receptions, 54 yards, 0 TD
We all knew that the shear number of options in Indianapolis could limit everyone’s value, and Garcon right now appears to have taken the brunt of it.

Now, you couple that with a hamstring injury that has caused him to miss some practice time and left him listed as questionable for the upcoming week. For this week, the only place he should be is on your bench, but with what we’ve seen from him in the past, we know he has the potential to blow up in any given week.

What are your thoughts on these players? Who would you start this week? Who have you given up on completely?

Make sure to check out the rest of our Week 3 Rankings:

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