The injury bug strikes again, and this time it’s a quarterback who takes the beating. Philadelphia will be without the services of quarterback Nick Foles for several weeks after breaking his collarbone in Sunday’s game against Houston. Mark Sanchez, yes he’s still in the league, came in and helped the Eagles the rest of the way to a win over the Texans. So who can you turn to now? Six teams have a bye this week in Houston, Indianapolis, Minnesota, New England, San Diego and Washington. There’s a ton of talent to replace and that’s before we jump into injuries. Let’s get into it and see who you can pick up this week to help your team out…
Quarterbacks
We’ve discussed the virtues of Carson Palmer before and we’ll do it again. Palmer threw for three touchdown passes in the Arizona win over Dallas last week. This week, he takes on a Rams team that stole a win at San Francisco. Look before that 13-10 win, and you see a team that has given up 34,34,31,26 and 34 points in their five games prior. The win over the 49ers is the exception and Palmer should rule over the Rams this week. He’s been consistent this season with two touchdown passes in nearly every game.
What about Mark Sanchez of the Eagles? Foles is out with his collarbone problem and it’s Sanchez’s team to run now. The Eagles host Carolina so the matchup is favorable. The Saints were able to put up 28 on the Panthers last week and still had tons of problems on offense.
Here’s why we’re not recommending you take Sanchez. The Eagles-Panthers game is a Monday night affair. It really paints you into a corner if you pick him and want to use him when a guy like Andrew Luck is on bye. The Eagles have Green Bay in Week 11 and we all know Sanchez can’t keep up with Aaron Rodgers. It’s best to let someone else have the headache associated with the Butt Fumble.
Ryan Tannehill of Miami is someone to check for on your wire. Tannehill looked sharp in engineering the Miami 36-0 mashing of San Diego. The Dolphins travel to Detroit and its tough defense so you might want to temper expectations a little bit. The Dolphins’ starting running back, Lamar Miller, is day-to-day with a shoulder injury so Miami might need to do more passing in the Motor City.
If you’re desparate, Brandon Weeden should be out there and Dallas takes on Jacksonville in London this week. Tony Romo looks like a no-go. Don’t pick up whoever starts for the Jets as they host Pittsburgh. You’d be relying on garbage time points to make your day since the Steelers should have this in hand early.
Running Backs
Go get Jeremy Hill of Cincinnati now. We’ll stop the column while you put your claim in. Meanwhile, I’ll mention that I won again in the Razzball Writers’ League to make it 8-1 with eight straight wins. I have a two-game lead over the entire league with five games to play. Sky’s second at 6-3 and everyone else is 5-4 or worse.
Okay, the reason why you just claimed Hill is two-fold. First, he ran roughshod over Jacksonville last week to the tune of 154 yards and two touchdowns including a 60-yard jaunt. The word out of Cincinnati is that Gio Bernard is not likely to play against Cleveland as he still deals with a hip issue. Basically, it’s this easy.
Hurt Gio + Short Week + Cleveland’s Pathetic Run D = Jeremy Hill Goes Bananas Again. Follow the formula and find success.
Bobby Rainey of Tampa is another player to target since the Tampa backfield is in flux. Doug Martin is hurt, ineffective or both. Charles Sims will cut into the workload a little bit but anyone taking on Atlanta should be fantasy gold at the running back position. The other thing to think about here is the Bucs might be a little pissed after getting their asses whipped 56-14 on that early-season Thursday Night Game in the Georgia Dome. Motivation and opportunity combine perfectly here for Rainey.
Tre Mason of the Rams pulled into the lead on the Rams backfield competition with 19 carries against San Francisco. I’m not sold on adding him since he is taking on the Arizona defense this week. The same defense that limited DeMarco Murray to 79 yards. The good news is that Zac Stacy is pretty much out of the picture and Benny Cunningham was a little factor with four carries in the win.
Anthony Dixon of Buffalo is a good pickup this week. He had 22 carries when the Bills were last on the field two weeks ago and looks to be the lead back in Buffalo over Bryce Brown. True, the Bills face a tough KC defense but Dixon looks like he will get the goal-line carries.
Alfred Blue of the Texans should only be rostered if you have Arian Foster and you had a scare after this week’s game against the Eagles. Foster went off hurt, slamming his helmet into the ground along the way. The early reports indicate he shouldn’t miss time after the Texans Week 10 bye so you may have dodged a bullet.
Pick up Ryan Mathews now and beat the rush when he comes back next week.
Wide Receivers
Josh Gordon comes back Week 12 at the earliest. Get him now or forever regret it.
Mike Evans of the Bucs broke through with a solid 7-124-2 game last week. Vincent Jackson is drawing the coverage and Evans is benefiting from it. If the game against Atlanta like it did last time, the Bucs could be throwing a ton.
Allen Hurns of Jacksonville had another good game with 7-112-2 against the Bengals. But besides his Week 1 outburst, what has he done lately? Not much. Hurns is a risk-reward play and is iffy at best against Dallas in London.
Kenny Britt seems to have taken the top receiver role in St. Louis for now. The Rams take on a questionable Arizona pass defense this week so the opportunities could be there for Britt to steal a score.
Martavis Bryant of Pittsburgh only made three catches but two were touchdowns in the Steelers smackdown of Baltimore. He looks to be a red zone target you can get your hands on if you want a piece of the Steelers this week against the Jets.
Tight Ends
So who replaces Rob Gronkowski this week? Jared Cook of the Rams is a good option if Arizona couldn’t cover tight ends like they didn’t last season. Check and see if Delanie Walker of the Titans is on the waiver wire since he put up solid numbers so far.
Jace Amaro of the Jets could get some looks as the Jets break in a new quarterback and should be down plenty against Pittsburgh. On the other side of that game,
Heath Miller of the Steelers should be able to take advantage of a team that can’t cover tight ends. The Jets allowed their 10th touchdown of the season to the tight end when Travis Kelce scored last week.
The deeper option is Mychal Rivera of the Raiders. Oakland takes on Denver and has played teams rather closely as of late, nearly beating San Diego and Seattle. Rivera looks to be a cog of the offense in the red zone and could score a touchdown.
Kickers
Meh. Pick one.
Defense & Special Teams
Get with the Baltimore DST (at home against the Titans), Cincinnati DST (home to Cleveland on Thursday) or the Pittsburgh DST (against the Jets) should do you well if you stream.
In closing, keep your eyes open for possible double waivers like we mentioned earlier this season.
Who to add in order and I’m stacked at WR do I add AP, Roddy White or Terrance Williams while dropping Michael Crabtree in order please
@Dom B: Roddy over AP since Roddy is more certain to be on the field the rest of the season.
I have 2nd waiver priority… And need a WR3 for bye week fill in (and probably keep them for bench rest of the way)
Who should I take?
Kenny Britt
Doug Baldwin
Martavis Bryant
Thanks!
@Game of Throws: Martavis then Doug
demarco murray, calvin johnson FOR antonio brown/ josh gordon.
keeper league, gordon’s value is $5, calvin’s is$54
@whattoddo: I’ll take the DeMarco-Megatron side regardless of the value.
12 team standard.
Is AP a must add? I have 2nd waiver pick.
Also, Dalton or Sanchez? Luck is on bye for me.
@mguy31: Dalton at QB. And AP is worth a speculative add at this point in the season. You know he won’t be there next week and if it doesn’t pan out, you can toss him back and go to someone else.
how about eddie lacy and kelvin benjamin FOR lesean mccoy?
@whattoddo: You’re overpaying. Don’t do that since McCoy isn’t playing like he did last season.
I just traded for Peyton Manning, drop Newton or Eli? Id only need one in case Peyton went down in the playoffs. 4 PT passing league
@Bob: Dump Eli. Newton and the Panthers have the easiest schedule the rest of the way.
Waiver Wire Wednesday help, please.
My QB’s are Rivers and RGIII. (both on bye this week)
Avail:
Sanchez
Vick
Hoyer
Glennon
Droppable:
Ball
Sproles
M. Bryant
Thanks in advance
@Truffle Shuffle: Orton also available.
@Truffle Shuffle: Drop Sproles for Orton.
Which side do you prefer in a non-ppr league: Gronk + Gordon or Olsen + Mathews? Due to the strength of my RBs and WRs, Gordon/Mathews would each just be a depth player on my bench.
QB: Ryan, Palmer
RB: JC, L. Bell, Gio, Hill, Mathews, Rainey, Gray
WR: Dez, Megatron, Hopkins
TE: Olsen, Donnell
Not trying to be a dick but pretty much every player you mentioned there other than Weeden is not available in any 10 team or any league where people kind of know what they’re doing.
Would you drop Doug Baldwin and/or Vincent Jackson for Martavis Bryant and/or Mike Evans?
Leaning dropping Baldwin for Bryant since I’m starting Roethelsberger this week too. Torn on the TB receivers.
Both are my bench/flex this week anyhow (Start Dez Bryant, Brandon Marshall, and stashed Josh Gordon)
@Crazy old guy babbling in the corner: Baldwin for Bryant
any waiver/FA moves to make for the dreaded std league – vomit vomit vomit
WR: Wallace, Mike Floyd
RB: Ingram, Mason
Flex? prob sims or wright this week unless you like an FA
TE: Gresham
BN: AndreJohnson, Wright, Hawkins, McKinnon, Sims, Stacy, Gray, JCameron,
Waivers/FA: Blount, PT, Devonta, CJ2k, Doug, Starks, Latavius
Britt, John Brown, Davante, Hurns, Landry, Stills, Moncrief, Riley Cooper
Harbor, Rivera
Hey Andrew, just traded Jeremy Hill (with a lil regret) & Dolphins D/ST for my man Josh Gordon… Pretty nervous and excited about it and wanted to see what your thoughts were… Also since Hill won’t be in my lineup for Thursday’s matchup, better FLEX play OBJ, or Andre Willams?
just got offered my ingram for his brandon marshall…keeper league, thoughts??
Everyone loves stafford schedule, should I trade Bradshaw and Hawkins to get Stafford and Donnell. I have Cutler, Bradshaw is starting for me but also have Jennings/leveon/vereen.
1/2pt PPR, 12 man league
Need a TE as Allen is on bye… I have Hunter, Garçon, J. Brown on bench in ppr 12 team league– also have Bradshaw on bench. Clay, Chandler, and Rivera available
Have Ellington, Charles, and Hill.. Can only start 2… Who do u choose?
Thx
Based on my team who to add / drop this week
My RB’s; Gio bernard (injured), jeremy hill, oliver (bye), ahmad Bradshaw (bye), tre Mason, jonas gray (bye), ben Tate.
My wrs; demaryius thomas , Kelvin benjamin , cordarrelle patterson, odell beckham jr, moncrief & martivis bryant
My d is bengals D
— available RBs; theo riddick, terrance west , Matt asiata , Crowell, & Lance dunbar
— available WR’s; jordan matthews, Jarvis Landry, kenny Britt, Allen hurns, taylor Gabriel , kenny stills, Stedman Bailey, tavon Austin, jermaine kearse & paul richardson
It’s .20 ppr, we start 2 rb’s, 3 wr’s & there’s a WR/RB/TE flex
is anybody here in a league that hill was even available going into last week? what about mathews? i’m guessing the leagues that guys like that were available had less than 6 bench spots, or maybe 8 team leagues with normal sized bench spots. and gordon, what % of normal sized bench spots and regular sized leagues is he available in? even if we go back to whatever week earlier in year (4 maybe) when we figured out he’d be back in week 12. i’m guessing within about 4 days of that he was gone from any competitive league free agent pile; i know he was gone in all of mine. Some twit did drop mathews for me last week, but i did immediately waiver him.
@Aubrey Plaza’s Pillow: It’s a thin week this week **shrugs shoulders**
I was just offered his B. Marshall and R. Jennings for my R. Hillman. The guy is desperate for a win and I almost feel stupid to wait on accepting the trade, but what are your thoughts? I’ll list my team below. Only (3) BE spots in this league btw
QB-A. Luck
RB-L. McCoy
RB-R. Hillman
WR-Dez
WR-E. Sanders
WR-K. Benjamin
TE-Gronk
BE-S. Watkins
BE-Gio
BE-R. Mathews
I’ve got a pretty good team and I just don’t know how much of an upgrade the trade would be.
Thanks in advance,
JRJ
@John Rambo Jr: Keep Hillman….Ball won’t get the starting job back when he’s healthy with how Hillman is playing
Sims, Steven Jackson, or Tre Mason for bye week fill in this week.
@Crazy old guy babbling in the corner: SJax has the best chances this week. Not liking Mason against ARI
Hey Andrew, would you start Witten v. Jags or Donnell @ Seattle this week in a 10-team non-ppr matchup? I need major upside, as I’m in 1st, playing the 2nd place team!
Also, do you like my Edelman for his K. Allen in non-ppr? I completed that trade Sunday (he accepted after Edelman returned that punt for a TD) haha…
Thanks!
Witten. I think he’s in a better situation and I don’t trust Eli unless he’s down 28.
Drop Oliver or Ivory to add Rainey in a PPR league?
…and drop either Oliver or Ivory to add FJax?
I dont need any of these guys to play this week, as the team I’m playing stopped paying attention weeks ago.
Thanks for your insight. It has been released that the time table for Foles is 6-8 weeks, probably taking him out for the rest of the season. With that in mind, I have picked up Sanchez…. I am in a one QB league and hold; Newton, RGIII, and Sanchez, which one of them is dropable? And who would you be starting week 10? I am tempted to role out Sanchez, as I have been starting Cam and he has been amazingly frustrating, and RGIII is on a bye.
@Yager:
….Also Martavis Bryant or Mike Evans this week? Who would you trade from this group: Calvin Johnson, Alshon Jeffrey, Golden Tate, Mike Evans, Martavis Bryant, and Andre Holmes?
Who do you like better this week? Talaifero or Sims for RB
Should i give up Kelvin Benjamin for Megatron
any waiver/FA moves to make for the dreaded std league – vomit vomit vomit
WR: Wallace, Mike Floyd
RB: Ingram, Mason
Flex? prob sims or wright this week unless you like an FA
BN: AndreJohnson, Wright, Hawkins, McKinnon, Sims, Stacy, Gray
Waivers/FA: Blount, PT, Devonta, CJ2k, Doug, Starks, Latavius
Britt, John Brown, Davante, Hurns, Landry, Stills, Moncrief, Riley Cooper
Is Odell Beckham Jr a WR 1, 2, OR 3
In a .5ppr would you trade lamar miller for josh gordon? I have Miller Hillman J. Bell D. Robinson Rainey at Rb, Dez, K Wright, Holmes Brown Adams at WR I can put bell or Robinson at Rb2/ flex and replace Kendall wright with gordon at WR2 thoughts?