Fantasy Football. That rare gem of a pastime that provides us with an opportunity to experience a myriad of emotions throughout a condensed 4 month period of time. Emotions that range from happiness, joy and a feeling that we may quite possibly be the best fantasy football manager to ever grace the earth…to despair, disgust, and a general feeling of hatred towards not only our players but ourselves (WHY did I leave 45 points on the bench last week?!). We are going into week 5 of the regular season. I was the league champion last year. This year, I am 1-3 with really no upside to my team at this point in the season other than the return of Antonio Gates. The relationship I have with some of my players is strained at best. And so I am beginning what will be a weekly vent session for not only myself, but all frustrated fantasy football owners – The Fantasy Rant. Feel free to lay your frustrations out there in the comments section. It will make you feel better, I promise.
Granted, this season has presented us with some rather disabling injuries – Tony Romo, Jay Cutler (this one is debatable in my opinion), Ben Roethlisberger, Dez Bryant, Jordy Nelson, just to name a few. We also saw some major trades during the off season. DeMarco Murray and Demaryius Thomas come to mind immediately. We were also without Adrian Peterson for the entire 2014 season so that has to be factored into the below analysis. However, let’s take a look at the 2014 season leaders compared to the 2015 season-to-date leaders. It’s quite interesting.
2014
RBs:
DeMarco Murray – 1845 yards
Le’Veon Bell – 1361 yards
LeSean McCoy – 1319 yards
Marshawn Lynch – 1306 yards
Justin Forsett – 1266 yards
WRs:
Antonio Brown – 1698 yards
Demaryius Thomas – 1619 yards
Julio Jones – 1593 yards
Jordy Nelson – 1519 yards
Emmanuel Sanders – 1401 yards
QBs:
Drew Brees – 4952 yards
Ben Roethlisberger – 4952 yards
Andrew Luck – 4761 yards
Peyton Manning – 4727 yards
Matt Ryan – 4694 yards
2015:
RBs:
Adrian Peterson – 372 yards
Matt Forte – 367 yards
Chris Ivory – 314 yards
Jamaal Charles – 306 yards
Chris Johnson – 302 yards
WRs:
Antonio Brown – 478 yards
Julio Jones – 478 yards
Larry Fitgerald – 432 yards
A.J. Green – 417 yards
DeAndre Hopkins – 409 yards
QBs:
Philip Rivers – 1248 yards
Matt Ryan – 1202 yards
Andy Dalton – 1187 yards
Carson Palmer – 1155 yards
Tom Brady – 1112 yards
CJ Anderson, one of said players who I have a very strained relationship with at this point in the season, has been abysmal. I know there was a coaching change and I know the passing game isn’t what it was last year, but he has 117 yards and 1 TD through 4 games. Andrew Luck is a shadow of his 2014 self. DeMarco is essentially a non-factor. Don’t these guys realize that there are fantasy teams out there who need consistency? Who need them to perform week after week, game after game, year after year so that we can take home the coveted prize of being a fantasy football league champion and all of the bragging rights that go along with it? Why is my team so terrible this year?!
Whining session over.
So where do we go from here?
If you’re in a league with a healthy waiver wire, here are some options going into Week 5 which is the first real bye week for a lot of us. If you’re in a league like mine where teams stockpile players and the only available guys are backup kickers, suck it up Nancy, your season may just well be over barring some injuries that bring your sleeper WR5 to the top spot. Or start praying to the football gods that Colin Kaepernick finds his happy place.
Sam Bradford (QB, Philadelphia) – If you’re one of the unlucky teams to have lost your number one QB and you’re looking to fill the void, Bradford is a viable option. He had 270 yards and 3 TDs in his last outing. The Eagles face a Saints team in Week 5 who gave up 300-plus yards to both the Cardinals and Panthers so this isn’t a terrible matchup.
Leonard Hankerson (WR, Atlanta) – Julio is far and away the top WR for the Falcons but given that the majority of the defense’s attention goes towards Jones, Hankerson is a solid option. He has 241 yards and 2 TDs on the season, including 103 yards last week. The Falcons face the Redskins this week.
Kamar Aiken (WR, Baltimore) – With Steve Smith, Sr. reportedly suffering broken ribs (pleural) during last week’s game, Aiken could see the bulk of the work in Week 5. He had 77 yards and a TD in last week’s game and the Ravens face the Browns who have allowed 6 touchdowns to WRs this year and over 200 yards in the last two games. I just picked him up so we shall see if he appears in next week’s rant.
Ronnie Hillman (RB, Denver) – I picked up Hillman a couple weeks ago when I saw the trend emerging in Denver. He has looked MUCH better than CJ Anderson this year, including a 72 yard touchdown run on Sunday which put up some impressive numbers on my bench. I don’t like the Denver offense at all right now, but if you need a RB, he’s not a terrible option.
Duke Johnson, Jr. (RB, Cleveland) – Johnson not only provides an exciting run option for the Browns, but he’s also one of their top receivers. He put up 116 yards and a deep touchdown last week against the Chargers. This week the Browns face the Ravens which isn’t a perfect matchup, but I like the way this guy plays.
Best of luck this week. I’m going to go stare at my roster and cry.
