Fill Your Plate with Fuel for the Playoffs!
There has never been a more difficult season for roster management in fantasy football. A typical season includes one list on which to reserve players for health reasons.
The Reserve/Injured list with a designation to return allowed a team to stash a player for eight weeks. The team would activate the player from IR for a 21-day practice window in which to determine if the player was healthy enough to return to play. The player would commonly need a week or two to recondition before taking the field.
2020 provides not only traditional IR but also short-term IR and COVID-IR. NFL teams are stashing players on short-term IR for three weeks and activating them hours before kick-off.
The Bills activated linebacker Matt Milano Monday afternoon, just hours before their game against the 49ers. This made both Milano and his back-up AJ Klein unstartable for fantasy football.
Teams are equally fickle with the Reserve/COVID-19 list. Making matters more difficult are HIPAA regulations. Teams cannot disclose which players go on COVID-IR for positive tests versus close contacts. Leaked information is leading to questionable reports and highly unpredictable returns to play.
I found a report two weeks ago that Titans LB David Long tested positive and was thus in for a multi-week absence. In part for that reason, I recommended fellow Titan Will Compton in an earlier edition of this column. Long was ultimately activated a day before kick-off, just one week after his deactivation, and split time with Compton, making both irrelevant for fantasy football.
Players who left the field in Week 13 with injuries included Giants’ LB Blake Martinez, Falcons’ DE Jacob Tuioti-Mariner, Jets’ safety Ashtyn Davis, WFT’s safety Kamren Curl, Eagles’ CB Darius Slay, and Steelers’ LB Robert Spillane. Several more players suffered injuries late in the week, forcing them to miss their Week 13 games and threatening their availability for Week 14. Examples include Saints’ DE Marcus Davenport and Cowboys’ safety Donovan Wilson.
The most frustrating injury to fantasy gamers was a pregame calf injury suffered by Vikings LB Eric Kendricks. The news broke after kick-off and fantasy gamers got goose eggs in their line-ups. Head coach Mike Zimmer gave no assurance that Kendricks would be available in Week 14.
The players recommended below are available in at least two-thirds of IDP leagues on MyFantasyLeague.com (MFL). Recommendations are position-specific for lineups requiring including cornerbacks and defensive tackles (or interior defensive linemen) unless noted otherwise.
Poona Ford, DT – Seattle Seahawks
Third-year nose tackle Poona Ford is emerging as a quality NFL player for the Seahawks in 2020. He has risen quietly due to how little fanfare accompanied his entry into the league. He was neither invited to the NFL scouting combine nor drafted after an All-Conference season at the University of Texas. His lack of stature with draftniks seems entirely due to his, well, lack of stature. He’s 5’ 11”.
The Seahawks further distracted fantasy gamers from Ford by signing Damon “Snacks” Harrison. That hasn’t prevented Ford from earning 60% of snaps as a starting nose tackle. Ford is just now developing his pass rush repertoire to complement quality run defense.
Ford is averaging a modest three tackles per game through his last seven, but he’ll face the Jets and visit Washington in his next two games. Both are opportunities for a defensive tackle to produce for IDP gamers.
Steven Means, DE – Atlanta Falcons
If you follow me on Twitter, you know I advised passing over him in last week’s waiver wire run after his first QB sack of the season. All he did for an encore is collect his second and third sacks of the season versus the Saints. The 30-year-old has now doubled his career sack total in the past two weeks. He’s played almost exclusively on special teams in his career and didn’t make an active roster in 2019.
His improbable rise to relevancy coincides with the beginning of the fantasy football playoffs. He’ll face the Chargers in Week 14, a team the Patriots defense just throttled. The Chargers also lead the league in total offensive snaps, thus allowing more pass-rush opportunities for defenders. The Falcons defense, meanwhile, has become competent over the last three weeks.
It’ll take nerves of steel to rely on Steven Means in an elimination game, but there are worse bets among starting defensive ends in Week 14 of the 2020 NFL season.
https://twitter.com/AtlantaFalcons/status/1335650416953012227?s=20Matthias Farley, SAF – New York Jets
Matthias Farley at safety is an even bigger gamble than Steven Means at defensive end. Farley looks like the next man up in a defense that positions its strong safety to blow up plays in the flats and offensive backfield. Jamal Adams made his name in this role. Marcus Maye and Ashtyn Davis have both produced when given opportunities in this spot.
Farley has been in this system for each of its two years in New York. He’s been a productive strong safety before. Farley collected 98 tackles (four for losses), nine passes defensed, including two interceptions, and three QB hits as a starter for the 2016 Indianapolis Colts.
If you want five or six points in your line-up from a safety slot in Round 1 of your fantasy playoffs, go find a boring deep safety like Dolphin Bobby McCain or Lion Duron Harmon. If you’re swinging for the fences (And you probably should be in the fantasy playoffs), grab Farley.
Todd Davis, LB – Minnesota Vikings
I saved linebackers for last this week because there are no easy answers at the position. If Eric Kendricks can’t go, then Todd Davis looks like a solid option. He replaced Kendricks in the line-up for all 71 Minnesota defensive snaps and collected 11 tackles (8 assisted). There is, however, no guarantee that will happen again after a week of game planning.
In a morass of uncertainty, here are some more lightly rostered players to watch as the week unfolds:
Jermaine Carter, LB – Carolina Panthers. The Panthers placed starting linebacker Shaq Thompson on the Reserve/COVID-19 list Monday, December 7. It could be a false positive. Thompson could be sick. If he misses Week 14, Carter should step into a productive role against a Denver team that will want to run the football.
Tae Crowder, LB – New York Giants. Early indications are that starting LB Blake Martinez isn’t seriously injured. I recommended Crowder earlier this season, and he has a little stand-alone value. If the rookie has to hold down the middle in Week 14, he’d be an attractive fantasy start against the Cardinals.
Jeremy Reaves, SAF – Washington Football Team. Washington safety Kamren Curl was hurt hours before this writing. There’s no word readily available on the severity of the injury and whether it threatens Curl’s availability for Week 14. Jeremy Reaves replaced Curl in Week 13 and would step into a productive role in Washington’s defense. Curl made 37 tackles and 2 sacks in his four previous starts at strong safety this season.
Happy Bidding!
As I wrote last week, mistaking mirage for oasis could end your fantasy season. For this reason, I’ll touch on players I’d avoid in a Twitter thread attached to the publication announcement for this column. I’ve written before in this column about players I’m fading, but I intend also to answer your questions, “What about…?”
Keep an eye out for this column’s drop on Twitter each week at 3 PM eastern time. I’ll follow it up with some thoughts among the box score flashes I’d leave aside. Your thoughts are welcome!
Clemson and Michigan alum…Panthers and Cowboys fan…I try to see both sides of every debate and each trade. Find me on Twitter @DynastyTripp.
