Who will be a BEAST and who will be a BUST in 2012 fantasy football
With Week 1 of your fantasy league finally in the books, it is important to keep your emotions in check and not make any drastic moves that may hurt your team by giving up on a player too soon or hanging on for too long. There were a handful of players who were drafted very high in a lot of leagues and underperformed or did not put up the type of production that many of their owners had hoped for.
It is my job this week to identify these players and to tell you which ones to hold on to and which ones to drop or trade before their stock begins to plummet. That being said, these are the Busts of Week 1 and my take on whether or not they have what it takes to return to fantasy Beast form or whether you should be looking for the panic button.
Wes Welker, WR, Patriots – Last season, Welker was a PPR machine who was the second best receiver in fantasy behind Calvin Johnson. This season, the diminutive wideout must battle for Tom Brady’s targets with Brandon Lloyd, Rob Gronkowski and a healthy Aaron Hernandez. Against the Titans in Week 1, Welker was held to just three catches for a measly 14 yards. Not exactly the eye-popping numbers you got from him a season ago. However, this may be due more to the fact that offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels opted to go with tight-end heavy sets against the Titans, which won’t be the case every week. Whatever you do, Don’t push the panic button just yet. Wild Wild Wes will face a weak Arizona secondary in Week 2 and should have a big enough game to warrant his spot in your starting lineup.
Verdict: BEAST
DeAngelo Williams, RB, Panthers – With Jonathan Stewart out with an ankle injury, it appeared as if it was finally time for DeAngelo Williams to show what he could do. Instead, Williams’ owners were treated to another disappointing outing, if you can even call it that, with 6 carries for a loss of one yard and one catch. To be fair, the Panthers did not even try to run the ball, instead going with an aerial attack against the Bucs which resulted in a Week 1 loss for Carolina. Going forward, the Panthers are sure to run more with Stewart back from injury, however that does not mean that you should keep Williams even if his production goes up. There are far better options out there. Go after them now.
Verdict: BUST
Trent Richardson, RB, Browns – As a general rule, I usually try to stay away from drafting and starting rookies in my leagues, even if they are getting a majority of the touches such as Richardson on the Browns. The Browns offense looks to be awful this season with their offense relying heavily on two unproven commodities in Brandon Wheeden and Richardson. It also doesn’t help that Richardson has been banged up before the season even started. He got 19 carries and only mustered up 39 yards against a stout Eagles D with one catch. Going forward for T Rich owners, if he has two back to back big games, sell him to the highest bidder and get a more reliable back you can start with confidence.
Verdict: BUST
Michael Vick, QB, Eagles – Those who took a gamble and drafted the oft-injured Vick to be their starting quarterback were rewarded with a horrendous outing against the Browns in Week 1 with 4 INT’s. The only thing that salvaged Vick’s day was the fact that he threw 2 touchdowns and was able to spread the ball around to a number of different receivers. To make matters worse for Vick owners, he faces a Baltimore D that held Andy Dalton in check for most of the game. However, I may be in the minority of people who think Vick was just shaking off the rust from the preseason and will be ready to go now that he has been hit and has gotten more time to adjust to game speed. Although the match ups for Vick may not look favorable, don’t give up on him as he still has the biggest upside of any quarterback in the league.
Verdict: BEAST
That’s all my observations for this week. If you have any topics you would like me to cover, send me a tweet @MikeMital and I will make sure to cover them in my next post. Until then, make sure to follow @FantasyCouch for all your fantasy tips and advice!
