Fantasy Football Sleepers
It took 10 weeks but finally fans of the National Football League have gotten what they wanted — another day of football. NFL fans will agree with me when I say that watching football all day on Sunday is the perfect way to end the week. I’m sure they will also agree that Monday Night Football, as the many commercials for it suggest, doesn’t make going to work on Monday any easier but it does give people something to look forward to. But what are fans of the NFL supposed to look forward to the other five days of the week?
Thankfully, the NFL has an answer for just that question. To help satisfy people’s insatiable appetite for all things NFL-related, week 10 of the season was kicked off with a Thursday night game between the San Francisco 49ers and Chicago Bears. As I was watching the game, two things came to mind.
1) Jay Cutler is a turnover machine.
2) Oh my goodness, it’s week 10. The fantasy football playoffs are just around the corner!
For many fantasy footballers, there are only a few weeks left before the playoffs begin. It is rapidly becoming do-or-die time and if you are on the outside of the playoff picture looking in you might feel that all is lost. To that I say, in the immortal words of Journey, don’t stop believing!
If you have players out due to injury, not playing as well as you hoped, or are the victim of some untimely bye weeks, there is still hope. It ain’t over ’till it’s over and it is still possible to salvage your season. It will take a lot of cunning to pull off the necessary trade(s) and a lot of guts to pickup and start a player that other people in your league may scoff at, but desperate times call for desperate measures.
The following three players — one quarterback, running back, and wide receiver — are either not owned in a decent amount of leagues or should be easy to acquire in a trade. Keep in mind that I am not recommending you start any of these guys over obvious studs. However, if you find yourself struggling at a particular position for whatever reason, the following three guys are worth taking a look at.
QB David Garrard, Jacksonville Jaguars: Garrard has scored at least 12 fantasy points in five of his eight games this year and has scored more total fantasy points than both Donovan McNabb and Matt Cassel. Many owners have been quick to pick up Alex Smith and Josh Freeman the last two weeks to fill their backup QB needs, but I would feel much safer with Garrard now that he has a legit wide receiver in Mike-Sims Walker.
RB Justin Vargas, Oakland Raiders: Thanks to franchise killer JaMarcus Russell the Raiders have been the black hole of fantasy points this season, but Vargas has very quietly put together a nice string of games. In Darren McFadden’s absence over the last three weeks Vargas has put up 9, 8 and 13 fantasy points. It is not stellar by any stretch of the imagination but it makes him a solid RB3/flex, especially in deeper leagues.
WR Mike Wallace, Pittsburgh Steelers: Wallace has put up double digit fantasy points the last two weeks and four of the last six. In fact, during that time span he has put up a total of 58 fantasy points, which is 23 more than Steelers starting wide receiver Santonio Holmes. While opponents continue to focus on Holmes and Hines Ward, you can bet that Wallace will continue to get open looks.
Want more fantasy football or basketball advice? Send your questions to my twitter account, @davidcarrillo.
Image Source: ESPN
in how long and Terrell Owens loves to win. But he, as we all know, loves money too.