Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Week 5: Is Curtis Painter Worth an Add?

Curtis Painter made his first NFL start Monday night in the Indianapolis Colts' 24-17 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. While at first glance his numbers weren't horrible, you shouldn't come close to considering him a worthwhile fantasy add.

Painter finished the night completing 13 of 30 passes for 281 yards, with two touchdowns. At first glance, those numbers don't look horrible, but if you watched the game you know it could have been much worse.

While Painter didn't throw an interception on the night, it wasn't for lack of trying. He threw several passes directly at defenders, and on one Aqib Talib should have gone for six the other way. His quarterback rating last night ended up being 99.4, but his play was nowhere near that level. 

In addition to that, the Purdue grad also lost a fumble and both of his touchdowns came on long plays to Pierre Garcon (87 yards and 59 yards) and were the results of blown coverages and bad tackling.

Painter clearly has a pretty good arm, and threw some really nice looking spirals. That said, he has terrible footwork and his timing with the team's receivers is clearly not there. Painter has also shown horrible decision-making so far in his career.

He is more mobile than Kerry Collins, which might become a factor as to who plays in the coming weeks, thanks to a porous offensive line, but Painter shouldn't be expected to add anything on the ground.

There is no good reason to pick up Painter in any league right now. If he does get more comfortable in the team's offense he might be able to help some of the Colts players improve their fantasy stock, but don't expect the third-year quarterback to improve dramatically.