Fantasy Football Downgrades
Three Players With Declining Values
After a month’s worth of NFL games, you can begin to figure out which players might not provide the bang for your buck that you thought they would at the onset of the season. Listed below are three players that fit that bill for me. They came into the campaign looking like they could be fantasy world-beaters, or at least serviceable citizens. But it is turning out that they could just be on the wrong teams and in the wrong systems, and that now is the time to sell them before their worth drops any lower than it already has.
Vernon Davis, 49ers: Mike Martz is a pass-happy offensive coordinator, yet part of his philosophy is not including his tight ends in his aerial attack. Tight ends were ignored when Martz presided over the "Greatest Show on Turf" during the St. Louis Rams’ glory days, and Detroit’s tight ends were endangered species when Martz made the game plans for the Lions for a couple seasons. Now ultra-talented enigma Davis has been ostracized in San Francisco like he is the ugly girl at the high school dance. Davis only has five catches for 87 yards in four games, and Martz is not showing any signs of calling more plays for Davis anytime soon. Davis started the season as a top-10 fantasy tight end. He will be lucky to end the season as a top-30 tight end at this rate.
Chris Perry, Bengals: When serial underachiever Cedric Benson gets called in to be your backup, should you really fear losing your job? Probably not, but tough times might be ahead for Perry. Without Carson Palmer to keep defenses honest with his passes, defenses can stack up against Perry and Cincinnati’s running game. That is what happened last week when a mediocre Cleveland defense held him to 28 yards on 12 carries. Perry is not even averaging 3.0 yards per carry on the season, so he has not been explosive, nor has he had much room to run. Cincy claims the Benson signing was because Perry’s backups are banged-up, but it wouldn't be surprising if this is a signal that the Perry experiment might be shut down shortly.
Selvin Young, Broncos: Denver head honcho Mike Shanahan believes he can turn any running back into Terrell Davis because of the Broncos’ zone blocking schemes and because of his eye for underrated talent. Well, Shanahan missed the boat on Tatum Bell, and now Young is not being used as frequently as Olandis Gary or Mike Anderson were when they were 1,000-yard backs for the Broncos. Young seems to be running well judging by the stats – 37 carries for 228 yards (6.2 ypc) and a touchdown. The problem is he is splitting the rushing attempts in a three-pronged attack where backup Andre Hall is doing a decent job as a changeup back and veteran Michael Pittman has been good in the role of the third-down/short-yardage back. Not helping matters for Young is that Denver has transformed into a pass-first offense because of how hot quarterback Jay Cutler has been throwing the ball in the early going. Young can run as well as he wants. If he only averages 10 carries a game it is not going to do much for his fantasy owners.
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