Braylon Edwards made a big splash in his Jets debut. Miles Austin had a monster game against the Chiefs. Roddy White finally lived up to his pre-season billing. Here are all the players moving up and down in value from Week 5.
Moving Up
- Braylon Edwards, Jets – That whole thing about needing to learn the offense apparently doesn’t apply to Edwards. The dropped potential TD pass was ugly but otherwise a sensational performance under the circumstances.
- Brandon Marshall, Broncos – Looks like Josh McDaniels has figured out that Marshall is far and away the team’s best receiver and offensive weapon. Hopefully he doesn’t forget.
- Cedric Benson, Bengals – The first running back in 39 games to put up 100 yards on the ground against the Ravens. Top 5 in the league in total yards. Enough said.
- Miles Austin, Cowboys – First start, first 250 yard receiving game. Maybe the light has come on. With Patrick Crayton struggling since his opening week performance and better suited to line up in the slot, Austin should be in the starting line-up for the remainder of the season.
- Jeremy Maclin, Eagles – Let’s be honest – Maclin benefitted this week because he was a big part of the game plan with DeSean Jackson being used as a decoy and Kevin Curtis out with a knee injury. Jackson is going to get more than 3 targets most weeks but this game marks Maclin’s arrival on the scene and there is no reason to expect the Eagles to move Curtis back into the starting line-up.
- Austin Collie, Colts – His targets are on the upswing (3, 3, 6, 7, 8) and he’s had 3 TD over the last 2 weeks. Collie is getting more targets than Pierre Garcon and now seems like the better bet when Anthony Gonzalez returns from his knee injury.
- Donnie Avery, Rams – Rams quarterback Marc Bulger is back next week and Avery just had his best game of the season with 5 receptions for 87 yards and a TD. The Rams offense is putrid but can’t stay this bad the whole season (at least Steven Jackson owners, myself included, hope not).
- Nate Burleson and T.J. Houshmandzadeh, Seahawks – Apparently the Seahawks duo were energized by Matt Hasselbeck‘s return, each going off for 2 TD and Burleson posting 98 yards to Houshmandzadeh’s 77.
- Roddy White, Falcons – Prime example of why you never give up on a top talent like White. With 17 fantasy points through 3 games, White was looking like a colossal bust. However, he broke out this week with 210 yards and 2 TD against a solid 49ers defense.
- Ahmad Bradshaw, Giants – At some point, the numbers don’t lie. After 5 weeks, Bradshaw has more yards and TD on far fewer touches than Brandon Jacobs, good enough for 14th overall at running back to 27th for Jacobs.
- Visanthe Shiancoe, Vikings – Similar theme here. Last year, Shiancoe had 7 TD and this year he is on pace for 10. Brett Favre loves his TE from inside the 10 yard line.
- Jamal Lewis, Browns – Lewis returned from injury this week to post 117 yards on 31 carries. Supposed phenom Jerome Harrison had 8 carries for 21 yards. Now we know how the Browns coaches rank each player.
- Donovan McNabb, Eagles – McNabb came back strong this week and went 16 of 21 for 264 yards and 3 scores. The 30 rushing yards were a nice bonus. The Eagles offense is solid and McNabb should put up plenty of fantasy points over the remainder of the season.
- Eddie Royal, Broncos – Another example of a player being too good to stay bad for too long. Royal re-emerged this week to put up 10 catches for 90 yards. The 15 targets were particularly encouraging.
- Marshawn Lynch, Bills – The Bills offense can’t score but Lynch is getting the touches over Fred Jackson – 13 to 12 in Lynch’s first week back and 23 to 15 this week.
Moving Down
- Steven Jackson, Rams – 118 touches and no scores. Will he ever find the end zone? He’s on pace for over 1,700 total yards and no TD. Incredible.
- Kerry Collins, Titans – The Titans are 0-5, Collins is 36 years old and the team needs to find out if Vince Young can be their QB in 2010. Collins will be heading to the bench soon and the only reason it’s not this week is because Jeff Fisher doesn’t want to feed Vince Young to the Patriots and their bye comes after this week’s game.
- Derek Anderson, Browns – Just in case you thought he was capable of a renaissance season, he goes out and completes two measly passes.
- Larry Johnson, Chiefs – The Chiefs keep giving him the ball and LJ keeps doing nothing with it. At some point, head coach Todd Haley will read the stats – 93 carries for 226 yards or 2.4 a pop. Plus, the Chiefs need to throw it and LJ isn’t much of a receiving threat. Which begs the question – why is he in there?
- Justin Gage, Titans – In his last two games, Gage has two catches for 22 yards and that was against the Jaguars and Colts. If the team decides to go with Young, Gage and all of the Titans receivers are likely to struggle.
- Laveranues Coles, Bengals – He put up an 0-fer this week and it looks like he is completely washed up. With a number of young receivers waiting in the wings, the Bengals must be losing patience waiting for Coles to reclaim his past glory.
- Fred Jackson, Bills – Despite his fantastic start to the season, Jackson has clearly been relegated to backup duty in Buffalo. With the offense not scoring, his status as a solid flex option has been reduced.
- Jerome Harrison, Browns – Read Jamal Lewis, above.
Not Sold Yet
- Jerricho Cotchery, Jets – Edwards had a huge day in his first game as a Jet and Cotchery seemed to be an afterthought with 4 yards receiving on only 2 targets. However, that was due to a hamstring injury which will likely keep him out this week. It says here that Cotchery will be the Jets top producing wideout down the stretch so he’s a great target in trade talks.
- Sammy Morris, Patriots – With Fred Taylor out indefinitely and Laurence Maroney, well, Laurence Maroney, Morris figures to be The Man in the Patriots backfield. Unfortunately, translating that into fantasy points in your line-up has never been easy.
