Normally I start these buy/sells off with a buy. I like to get you excited about getting ‘that one guy’ for cheap like I hope I did with Alfred Morris last week. Then I slowly ease you into what may be a call that you disapprove of or just don’t wanna hear. But this whole partially torn plantar fascia business is too big to ignore in my book and so I’m here to tell you to push the sell button on Jimmy Graham. The reason I say sell now can be summed up with a number: 18. That’s the amount of snaps Graham was in to play on on Sunday. Want more numbers to back up my stance? Cool, how about three. That’s the amount of targets he got in the game. Brees threw the ball 34 times in week 8. So Graham was a product of only 8.8% of Brees’ work on Sunday but no one cares because touchdowns. Specifically two of them. That saves a 3/37 day every time. Throw on the fact this game was after a bye week, do you want to hang your hat on that kind of production week in and week out? Our beloved Tehol mentioned a TE a couple of years ago who struggled through a similar injury. His name? Antonio Gates. Though statistically it wasn’t a bad year for Gates in 2010, he ended up only playing 10 games and bowed out during the time his owners needed him most: the playoffs. Now I’m not telling you the situation is exactly the same but do you really want to count on Graham to play through it and perform at the level you’re used to? Do you want to count on the Saints not sitting him at the end of the year if they have their division wrapped up to make sure he’s good to go for the playoffs? Basically, as a Graham owner you got a Joseph Fauria-type week and it masked a lot of things to be fearful of. He’s still a top 10 to 15 player so I’m saying you get out while the value is still there. I’d look to do a 2-2 trade where you take the ‘lesser’ TE and upgrade at another position in this scenario unless you have Reed or a player like him just waiting to take over for him on your team. Either way, I’d be getting out while the gettin’s good. In other buy/sell news for 2013 Fantasy Football…
BUY
Zac Stacy – Most of what I need to say I already said about him in my MNF review of my Zac Stacy Fantasy. Read it like I was bathing in a pool of whip cream with strawberries being rubbed all over my body by beautiful women and you’ll get why I called it my fantasy of him. Kid’s good. RB2 good. If the owner doesn’t trust, take advantage.
Rishard Matthews – Um, who Sky? Yeah, I would’ve called the podcast with him as a waiver option but was too drunk completely spaced I needed to do so on Sunday night. Mea culpa. With Brandon Gibson out for the year, someone needs to fill the role of ‘person who’s not Mike Wallace’ to catch passes in Miami. Consider him a low upside PPR play for now who may see his role in the offense expand if he does well.
Broncos & Lions – As the great band Living Colour once sang, ‘Everyone loves you when you’re bye’. I don’t get how the rest of the song ties into appreciating bye weeks but that’s besides the point. Bye weeks can create funny trades. This team needs a player this week but has 2 major Broncos and a Lion on their roster. What to do? They can’t take the loss, they have to move on. I can’t make promises that it’ll work but you know how good those offenses have been this year. This might be your chance to get a small discount on it.
Marques Colston – I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I still eat olives directly from the jar and pull them out with my fingers. I don’t care how unsanitary it is, it’s how I roll! Oh and I still believe in Colston and given the disgust he’s created amongst his owners, he’ll be going even cheaper now. With the Graham issues I spoke of, those targets should get spread around and Colston nearly did have a 40 yard TD last week negated by a tremendous defensive play. I’m simply saying it’s been bad statistically but I believe Marques will have a Marquess end to the year.
Trent Richardson – Let me take this moment to read to you an email from a league mate concerning our friend T-Rich. Better yet, let’s pretend it’s H. Jon Benjamin. Let’s begin. Subject: TRich Must Go – I’m so sick of this giant sucking sore on my roster. Still got hope for him? Send me an offer. Pocket lint, stale Cheetos, whatever you got…it qualifies in my book. Best offer wins the “prize”. In other words, ‘Free Lottery Ticket’. I can’t and won’t make any promises with Trent at this point. The Colts haven’t put him to his best use yet – especially in the passing game – but hopefully he comes out of the bye week strong with a better approach.
LaVon Brazill – Deep league call for a deep threat kinda guy. Wayne’s down and I fully expect Hilton to take over the reigns as WR1 in Indy. DHB isn’t much of…well he isn’t much of anything really but he’s also not a field stretcher and Brazill is. Plus let’s not forget how poor DHB really has been in the passing game so far. It’s not a far-fetched idea to think Brazill could sneak above him and become a secondary target for Luck if he performs.
