Fantasy Football Powwow: Week 8 Pickups of the Week (POWs)

Get Them While You Can

Ryan Fitzpatrick, QB, Buffalo Bills – 5.2 percent

Nick – Ryan Fitzpatrick has to be considered a must pick-up at this point.  He just had his third straight 20-point performance against a tough Baltimore defense, finishing with 28 points. 

That mark tied for most points in Week 7 among all QB’s along with Carson Palmer.  The most impressive part about Fitzpatrick’s performance is that he is outscoring Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees and Peyton Manning with a terrible offensive line, no receivers and very little run game support.  If he played for anyone but the Bills, he’d be considered a top 12 QB.  Get Fitzpatrick while you can.

Buddy – Ryan Fitzpatrick is starting to remind me of another former Chan Gailey QB, Tyler Thigpen. Thigpen was not a great real life QB, but was one heck of a fantasy QB. His worst fantasy performance since taking over the Bills starting job was 14 fantasy points. He will continue to perform and will be a top 10 QB the rest of the way. Get this guy well you still can.

Kenny Britt, WR, Tennessee Titans – 66.2 percent

Nick – Normally I shy away or am hesitant to pick up players who haven’t performed at a high level consistently but blow up one game because who knows how they will perform the following week but 225 yards and three TD’s is way too productive to ignore or push to the side. 

Britt has now shown that no matter who the QB is, he is the No. 1 receiver and that is a role he has embraced.

Buddy – Kenny Britt has now caught a touchdown in five straight games. And after last week’s 225 yard three TD performance look for the Titans to look him way more and more. He has clearly established himself as the Titans No. 1 receiver and will be a good WR2 fantasy option the rest of the way.

Might Be Worth a Look

Jon Kitna, QB, Dallas Cowboys – 0.2 percent

Nick – I would almost consider Jon Kitna under Get Them While You Can because of Dallas’ high-octane offense but he hasn’t thrown a meaningful pass in quite some time so we’ll have to wait and see what Kitna brings to the table but because of the high-powered offense, Kitna is an above average play as long as Romo is out.

Buddy – Kitna takes over a high powered offense that likes to throw the ball a lot. He has been a successful fantasy QB in this league before but that was a while ago.

My Biggest concern with Kitna is how long Dallas decides to have him starting. Already at 1-5 at some point this season they will want to see what they have with a young Stephen McGee, rather than the 38 year old Kitna.

LaGarrette Blount, RB, Tampa Bay Buccaneers – 1.1 percent

Nick – LaGarrette Blount has looked more impressive so far this season than Cadillac Williams and as the season progresses, I expect Blount to see more and more touches. 

Let’s face it, Tampa won’t be anywhere close the playoffs this year so it would be smart for them to experiment with a Freeman, Blount, Williams trio to see how the offense operates with all three in starting roles.  If Tampa does go this route, Blount will definitely need to be considered a starter at the flex.

Buddy – LaGarrette Blount looked very impressive last week averaging nearly seven yards per carry. Look for the Bucs to start giving him more and more carries and his fantasy numbers to increase.

Hold Your Horses

Donald Brown, RB, Indianapolis Colts – 56.5 percent

Nick – I wish I could rank Donald Brown higher but he hasn’t proven he can stay healthy and he’ll be splitting carries with Mike Hart and then will be back to nearly irrelevant depending on when Joseph Addai comes back, Donald Brown’s already low fantasy value decreases.

Buddy – Donald Brown cannot stay healthy and will split time with Mike Hart. I just don’t see him putting up fantasy numbers that warrant a roster spot. If you want one of the Colts backs while Addai is out, I’ll take Mike Hart for my money.

David Gettis, WR, Carolina Pathers – 0.2 percent

Nick – I’m going to take what I now have named the “Steve Johnson approach” to David Gettis.  If you didn’t read the Steve Johnson paragraph, I mentioned how after a TD and a decent showing for someone no one had heard of; I stated Johnson is someone to watch out for. 

David Gettis was a very little known WR prior to his big week so instead of just writing him off as a fluke, Gettis might be worth a look depending on your WR situation.  He is listed under Hold Your Horses because his performance is based off of that of Matt Moore so that isn’t exactly comforting.

Buddy – David Gettis has passed two rookies that were drafted higher than him and is now starting in Carolina. But the Panther’s offense has been so terrible prior to last week that I need to see more consistency before I own anyone of the Panthers receivers not named Steve Smith.

No Go’s

Matt Moore, QB, Carolina Panthers – 1.2 percent

Nick – Here are Matt Moore’s point totals from the beginning of the season until now.  Week 1: Points – four.  Concussions – one.  He had five points in Week 2. 

Jimmy Clausen replaces him for two games.  Moore gets the starting job back and finished with -3 points.  Then, a bye week followed with an 18 point 300 yard performance.  So yeah, Matt Moore is another guy I don’t trust.

Buddy – I mentioned before I don’t trust the Panther’s offense. Typically, the quarter back has a pretty big role in a team’s offense. Stay away from Matt Moore.

Check out the full list of POWs at fantasyfootballpowwow.com