It’s hard to say goodbye. You’ve gone through so much together after all. Wins. Losses. Injuries. Lineup changes. More injuries. Projections. Waiver claims. Even more injuries. Seriously, what’s with all the injuries this year?
It’s been rough, but sometimes, you have to let a player go, especially at this time of the year when he may not return in time to help your team. Below, I’ll help you with that difficult decision between saying goodbye and perhaps saying hello.
Buy: Andrew Luck
I don’t think it’s time to give up on Andrew Luck just yet.
No, he didn’t practice Wednesday and likely won’t be back in action until Week 15 at the earliest. But that means you could be getting Luck back for your playoffs and getting him back for matchups against the Houston Texans, Miami Dolphins and Tennessee Titans (if your league plays into Week 17). Those teams rank 16th, 21st and 26th, respectively, in fantasy points allowed to opposing quarterbacks per game.
And remember, before Indianapolis’ Week 10 bye, Luck had compiled 20 or more fantasy points in three of his last four games.
A healthy Luck is a very dangerous commodity. If he somehow becomes available in your league, snag him.
Sell: Peyton Manning
There’s no change on this front. Manning had just one game of 20 or more fantasy points when he was Denver’s starter, and there’s no guarantee he’ll even start again when he returns from injury. Brock Osweiler hasn’t been great as the team’s starter, but he hasn’t lost, either.
Cian Fahey of Nerdy Football broke down the differences between the two:
Of course, Manning is just now starting to get back into the swing of things.
“Depending on how things go, we start to throw, we start to do a little bit on the field, [that] type of stuff, working toward some football things this week,” Kubiak said of Manning’s recovery Monday, per the team. “But it has been a good weekend for him, and I know he’s feeling better.”
However, Kubiak made sure to add, “Nothing will change this week, as far as Brock’s our starter.”
Manning was hardly worth owning before he was lost to injury. That’s not going to change now.
Sell: Marshawn Lynch
It’s starting to look more and more as though Marshawn Lynch will not be returning anytime soon. He certainly won’t be back for Week 14, as head coach Pete Carroll said Monday, per Sheil Kapadia of ESPN.com:
The report’s that he’s doing really well. He’s left Philadelphia now, so we’ll see how it goes the next few weeks, see how he comes around. It’s so much to ask him to jump back after three weeks. I don’t even know how we could think that way. This is Week 3 starting up, so we’ll see how it goes.
The Seahawks don’t need to rush him back, either, given how well Thomas Rawls has played in his stead. While a healthy Lynch will always be a focal point of Seattle’s offense, Rawls has earned a bigger share of the carries when Lynch returns, meaning the Seahawks could choose to platoon the players.
And Lynch may not even return for the regular season. At this point, you can safely drop Lynch if you need the roster spot.
Sell: Andre Ellington
Andre Ellington isn’t playing Thursday night, per Darren Urban of the Arizona Cardinals website. But even if he was, the presence of David Johnson probably would render Ellington fairly fantasy irrelevant.
Johnson was excellent as the team’s starter last week, compiling 120 yards from scrimmage and a touchdown. Ellington has been a major disappointment for fantasy owners this year, and if you are holding onto him for some reason, cut ties.
Sell: Rishard Matthews
Here’s what we know.
- Matthews missed Week 13’s game due to injury and is unlikely to play in Week 14, according to Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald.
- After a strong start to the 2015 season, Matthews hasn’t scored double-digit fantasy points in standard leagues since Week 7.
- His replacement, DeVante Parker, has seven catches for 143 yards and two touchdowns in the past two weeks.
Starting to see how this is going? Matthews is probably nothing more than a WR4 when he returns from injury, so he doesn’t need to be owned at this point.
Buy: Rob Gronkowski
If, for some crazy reason, someone in your league has dropped Gronk, snag him immediately. No, we don’t know when he’ll return to action. But it doesn’t matter. There aren’t many, if any, fantasy commodities more valuable than Gronkowski.
All fantasy stats, ownership percentages and points-against totals via ESPN standard leagues. You can find Timothy Rapp on Twitter and on Twitch.
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