RADIO
There's always the inevitable weeks where most of the major storylines coming out are injury-related. Unfortunately, Week 5 was one of those week's as one of the biggest fantasy stars was lost for the season. But it didn't stop with Odell Beckman. The Giants also lost Brandon Marshall for the year, Rob Gronkowski was surprisingly declared inactive at the last second on Sunday, and Travis Kelce and Stefon Diggs were both pulled from their games respectively with future status up in the air. Oh, and then the Cardinals traded for this Adrian Peterson guy.
So yeah, you could say that Week 5 was a big one when it comes to fantasy implications. If you are sitting at 0-5 or 1-4, now is the time to make a big move. Trade multiple starters for a consistent superstar, go after someone coming off a slow week like Carlos Hyde, take a chance on Adrian Peterson – but most importantly, you need to act now. This isn't a secret, but keep in mind that you aren't out of contention just yet.
Also consider this a friendly reminder that Teddy Bridgewater is eligible to come off the PUP list next week. If you're in dire need of QB help in a deeper league and have a roster spot available he might be worth a stash, but it's a situation worth monitoring regardless given how Sam Bradford looked on Monday Night in Chicago.
Editor's Note: Our incredible team of writers won two writing awards and received 12 award nominations by the Fantasy Sports Writers Association. A big congrats to our very own Byron Lindeque (Golf) and Jordan McAbee (NASCAR) for both winning Writer Of The Year awards! Be sure to follow RotoBaller's analysis and advice all year long, and win more. Win More With RotoBaller!
Week 6 Mailbag - Q&A
Thanks again to everyone who reached out with questions for this week's mailbag! The response has been great and this will continue to be a weekly feature throughout the entirety of the season. Please continue to direct any/all questions by using #RotoBallerMailbag on Twitter or by emailing [email protected].
What's the outlook for Indy's running game? Obviously there are issues with the passing game without Luck. Is it a timeshare for the foreseeable future with Gore, Mack, and Turbin?
This is a good question, but I'll start by saying that Jacoby Brissett has actually done a halfway-decent job at QB for the Colts. He's not Andrew Luck obviously, but TY Hilton is back to WR1 status. As for the running game, it's certainly trending towards more of a RBBC situation. Frank Gore is exactly who he is right now. In four of the five games played this year, he carried the ball 10-14 times for between 40-50 yards. Sometimes he scores, sometimes he doesn't, and he's good for 1-2 catches a game. But outside of the occasional positive game flow where he gets 20+ carries (see: vs. Browns Week 3), his upside is definitely limited. Marlon Mack saw a season-high 10 touches on Sunday and flashed some big-play potential, so I expect a larger workload like that to continue. Gore is still the lead back for now, but I like Mack's outlook for rest of season. Robert Turbin will vulture the occasional goal-line touchdown, but that's it.
First I lost Allen Robinson for the season, and now OBJ. What do I do?
First off, take a deeeeeep breath. It's going to be okay. Robinson and Beckham were probably two of your three top picks, so obviously the situation isn't ideal, but that doesn't mean there aren't bargain options out there who can help you out. If you have a losing record and need help now, see if you can go get John Brown on the cheap. His numbers and questionable health will have his owner very willing sell, but his targets are strong and I think he has a chance to be a WR3 once he gets going. If you are a top team with a winning record, maybe go grab David Johnson and stash him on your bench until he returns. It's tough to put a value on him, but if you think you could make the playoffs with what you have right now, DJ can be a championship winning stash.
Jerick McKinnon or Alvin Kamara rest of season?
This is a really tough one because both guys have a positive outlook. McKinnon was clearly better than Latavius Murray on Monday night and may have the inside route to be lead back, but it's been just one week and who knows what's going on with Minnesota's QB situation. On the flip side, the Saints trading of AP only opens the door for more snaps/touches for Kamara, who has been super impressive thus far in his rookie year. When push comes to shove though, I'd consider McKinnon as an RB2 for now and Kamara more of a FLEX in PPR leagues, but they're both good ROS options that might be available.
Is Aaron Jones an every week RB2 now?
Another tough one, mostly because Jones is not going to all of a sudden dethrone Ty Montgomery as the lead guy in Green Bay. Lucky for Jones though, Montgomery is a WR by trade who was converted into a RB based on need. I don't think that means Ty Mont is all of a sudden going to take no snaps out of the backfield, but they can move him around and find somewhere for him whether or not Jones is on the field. I think the real guy that suffers the most here is Randall Cobb, because it's probably going to cut his snaps down. As for Jones, I have him as a FLEX going into Week 6, but he has a low-ish floor until we see how Mike McCarthy is going to handle the situation with a healthy Montgomery.
I can start AP right away now... right?
I am going to keep this one short, but yes you can start him if you need him as an RB2 or FLEX. I'd tread a bit carefully given that he hasn't seen much game action this year and the Cardinals offensive line isn't very good, but they are already listing him as the starting RB and he's going to have plenty of opportunities. If you went out and grabbed him, obviously you needed a running back in the first place.
Kicker alert, which one you like better ROS: Gano (Panthers) or Gould (49ers)?
Our first kicker question of the year -- what a moment! I tend to stick with kickers on good teams because they are going to have more opportunities to score, so I'd prefer Graham Gano here. There is something to the thought process of kickers on bad offenses have more opportunities to kick field goals because their team stalls out in field goal range, but a bad offense could just as easily never be in field goal range and putting up a goose egg in the kicker column could lose you a week.
