Shoulder injury caused Browns WR to miss practice Wednesday
Pettine: Travis Benjamin (shoulder) will be limited at practice today. Did not practice yesterday. (Andrew Gribble on Twitter)
Nerdy Football Analysis: Benjamin missed practice yesterday so his situation needs to be monitored through the weekend. The 49ers rank in the top of FPTs Allowed to receivers making this a decent matchup for Benjamin and the Browns receivers. Brian Hartline will be a sneaky play if Benjamin sits in Week 14.
After coming over from the Bears in an early-season trade, veteran defensive end Jared Allen has been enjoying the ride with the undefeated Panthers, so much so that he apparently wants to finish his career with the team. Retirement is one option this offseason for Allen, who may have to undergo back surgery, but if he continues to play, he wants that to happen in Carolina, as Joseph Person of the Charlotte Observer writes.
“I’m not going to play for another team,” Allen said. “I take every year for what it is. I make assessments after the year on how my body feels. It’s going to be a tough offseason. I’ve got things I’ve got to get fixed. I go through the same process year in and year out. We’ll see what happens at the end of the year.”
Allen, 33, has managed to stay on the field for nearly every game over the last two seasons, even as he battles health issues, but his production has been on the decline. After recording no fewer than 11 sacks in every season from 2007 to 2013, Allen had 5.5 last year for the Bears, and has just two for the Bears and Panthers this year. Pro Football Focus ranks him 85th out of 107 edge defenders in 2015.
The Panthers can live with a part-time role and limited production from Allen this year, since the team is paying him less than $1MM, with the bulk of his 2015 earnings having been paid by Chicago. However, the veteran’s salary jumps to $8.5MM in 2016, the final year of his contract, and Carolina could clear that entire amount from its cap by releasing him. So if Allen is going to return to the Panthers, he’d have to take a pay cut to do so.
Fantasy football owners have to turn around quicker than the recent surge by the Seattle Seahawks to stand a chance this late in the season.
Thursday Night Football, as it has all season, requires owners to take no days off when it comes to researching lineups. Especially this week, though, as Adrian Peterson and the Minnesota Vikings square off with Carson Palmer and the Arizona Cardinals in a game that is sure to provide fantasy fireworks.
In an effort to help owners make the best possible decisions on short notice, here’s a look at value comparisons in table form and start-sit questions that are sure to come up.
QB
Start: Tyrod Taylor, Buffalo Bills (at PHI)
Sometimes starting a quarterback on the road in Philadelphia in the cold doesn’t sound like the best idea.
This isn’t one of those times.
For some borderline inexplicable reason, Tyrod Taylor of the Buffalo Bills sits with an ownership percentage of 54.3—odd considering that over his last two games he posted 25 points or better.
It’s reasonable to expect more of the same when Taylor visits the Philadelphia Eagles, a team allowing the third-most points to quarterbacks. The unit has allowed its last three sets of quarterbacks encountered to total 29 or more points, so Taylor’s in for another huge day.
Sit: Matt Ryan, Atlanta Falcons (at CAR)
Stick a fork in Matt Ryan.
The Atlanta Falcons quarterback looks unreliable at best, having scored just nine and 12 points in his last two outings while tossing two touchdowns to three interceptions.
Ryan’s production just isn’t there this season despite strong running from Devonta Freeman. Now he has to deal with the Carolina Panthers and a Luke Kuechly-led defense surrendering the fourth-fewest points to quarterbacks.
Five sets of opposing quarterbacks have failed to even break 10 points against the Panthers. Ryan might, but that’s not the strongest vote of confidence, is it?
RB
Start: Doug Martin, Tampa Bay Buccaneers (vs. NO)
Owners might hesitate with Doug Martin of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers despite the fact he’s fantasy’s third-highest scorer at the position this year.
Martin has had an off couple of weeks, scoring nine and 13 points his last two times out.
Still, the good far outweighs the bad as Martin heads into a divisional showdown with the New Orleans Saints. The best description fitting the Saints would be the word “mess,” as the unit allows the third-most points to backs.
Martin only totaled seven points against the Saints in Week 2, but New Orleans has done nothing short of deteriorate as the season wears on, having allowed 41, 19 and 26 points to backs over its last three outings.
Sit: Jeremy Hill, Cincinnati Bengals (vs. PIT)
Now for the opposite.
Owners might be high on Cincinnati Bengals running back Jeremy Hill for the first time this year. For good reason, too, considering the Bengals have shown a new commitment to the run in recent weeks and Hill has outings of 16, nine and 15 points to show for it.
Just don’t expect similar production against the Pittsburgh Steelers in a bitter rivalry matchup. Pittsburgh allows the second-fewest points to backs and held Cincinnati rushers to nine total points in Week 8.
Not only is Pittsburgh strong against the run, opposing offenses love to sling it on a miserable secondary. Hill will continue to have a big season down the stretch, but not in this particular matchup.
WR
Start: Jarvis Landry, Miami Dolphins (vs. NYG)
Miami Dolphins wideout Jarvis Landry defined the word “bust” last week.
After a 22-point outburst and quite the favorable matchup against the Baltimore Ravens, Landry posted all of zero points, likely killing any lineup that had him, which should have been all of them.
There’s no reason to go away from Landry, though. He’s still the team’s No. 1 receiver, and even in a miserable game-flow situation, Landry tied for the team high with five targets.
A target hog in the utmost sense, Landry now goes against a New York Giants team that last week allowed 32 to points to opposing wideouts and has allowed 20 or more points seven times, with a high of 57.
Sit: Amari Cooper, Oakland Raiders (at DEN)
Oakland Raiders wideout Amari Cooper has done the opposite of what most would expect from a rookie.
Instead of improving as the season has gone on, Cooper posted four double-digit outings through Week 8, but has just two since.
The reason doesn’t really matter. Over his last three games, Cooper has zero, 11 and six points, respectively. Now he heads into a nightmare matchup against the Denver Broncos, a team allowing the fewest points to wideouts and held Cooper to just four points back in Week 5 during his strong stretch.
Just five entire wideout corps. have scored 10 or more points against the Broncos. Cooper won’t do it on his own.
TE
Start: Benjamin Watson, New Orleans Saints (at TB)
Despite not hitting double digits until Week 6, Benjamin Watson ranks among the top 10 scorers at tight end thanks to New Orleans’ high-flying ways.
Watson has four catches in each of his past two outings, last week being the most impressive as he went for nine points thanks to a touchdown against a tough Carolina defense.
One of Drew Brees‘ favorite targets once again looks like a smooth play thanks to a contest against the Buccaneers. It figures to be a high-scoring affair against a defense that has let up six or more catches to tight ends three of its last four times out.
Tampa Bay doesn’t surrender a ton of touchdowns to the position, but that could change with Brees and Watson in town.
Sit: Charles Clay, Buffalo Bills (at PHI)
Charles Clay gave owners everywhere a positive sign last weekend by reaching double digits for the first time since Week 4, breaking a seven-game skid with six or fewer points.
Owners would be wise to consider it an anomaly, though.
Clay just isn’t a reliable option in a run-first attack with LeSean McCoy, a mobile quarterback like Taylor and a top wideout such as Sammy Watkins. Now sprinkle in the fact he gets the Philadelphia Eagles this week, a team allowing the second-fewest points to the position with just three touchdowns allowed.
A touchdown-reliant producer, owners will want to steer clear of Clay this week.
All scoring info courtesy of ESPN standard leagues, as is points-against info and ownership stats as of December 9. Statistics courtesy of ESPN.
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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.
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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Threw inside for half hour and performed drill work
Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning took his first significant steps toward returning to the practice field Wednesday morning, throwing inside for a half hour and performing drill work. Manning hasn’t practiced with the team since leaving the Nov. 15 loss against Kansas City with a torn plantar fascia in his left foot. (Denver Post)
Nerdy Football Analysis: There’s no definitive timetable for Manning’s return and it appears that Brock Osweiler’s starting job is safe for the immediate future. It’s doubtful Manning would return before the regular season is complete.