October 5, 2017

RotoBaller's Brittany Smith looks at players sending out warning signals that you should be concerned about heading into Week 5 of the fantasy football season.

With a quarter of the season already complete, it is time to take a hard look at some of the players you have been holding on to hoping for a change. The season is still young, but with byes kicking off this week and 25% of your fantasy season in the books, we are quickly heading towards the point when continuing to hold on to underperforming players does more harm than good. We still aren’t quite at the point where it might be time to bail on your big name studs, but fantasy owner’s patience is undoubtedly wearing pretty thin.

This week we will take a look at four players that have been struggling mightily in their efforts to repeat their success from a year ago, and as always we will check back in on some of the problematic players from last week.

Let's get right to it.

Heed the Warning Signs

Ben Roethlisberger (QB, PIT) – Medium Concern

So far this season, Ben Roethlisberger has yet to record a 300-yard passing game, and has only thrown multiple touchdowns in two of his four matchups. The Pittsburgh Steelers offense has been stuck in the mud to start the season, and for some reason they have not been in the end zone nearly as much as they should be to this point. Not only have Roethlisberger’s road stats been as bad as advertised, but his numbers in the Steelers’ lone home game against the Vikings weren’t overwhelming either. The Steelers are also undergoing a period of in-house disorder that has played out pretty publicly. One can’t help but wonder if the lack of unity that seems to have overtaken this group is causing them to underperform, and even if the dominance of their “big three” will soon be coming to an end.

Whatever the case may be, the chances of Roethlisberger completely turning it around aren’t dead yet. He has quite a few favorable matchups left on the schedule, and he is an elite quarterback that has arguably the best skill players in the league surrounding him. However, for owners that are so concerned about his home and road splits that they will only play Roethlisberger at Heinz Field, a schedule that offers only two back-to-back home game stretches this season isn’t the best news. With Le’Veon Bell finally gaining his traction, he will begin dominating entire games and will see many 30+ touch outings as well. Roethlisberger will take on the Jaguars next, which could be a surprisingly difficult matchup for him, but here’s hoping that returning home cures what ails the Steelers passing offense.

Jay Ajayi (RB, MIA) – High Concern

The worry here isn’t necessarily with Jay Ajayi and his individual play; he has looked fine with a modest amount of touches and doesn’t appear to be slowed down by his knee issues. Unfortunately, though, there has been so much drama surrounding the Miami Dolphins to start the season, they haven’t quite been able to gain their footing on the field. After having their schedule rearranged due to the hurricane, they have spent very little time in Miami and have opened the season on the road for three straight weeks, with a “home” game in London. All of the upheaval the team has experienced so far does perhaps explain why the offense has looked so sluggish in the first few weeks. The Dolphins have surprisingly been playing from behind in the majority of their games this year, and with Ajayi gradually losing third down work his volume has been severely capped. With Jay Cutler not performing up to expectations so far either, the likelihood that Ajayi will have to face more and more stacked fronts is increasing as well.

Perhaps even more concerning is the fact that Ajayi will have no bye week for the rest of the season. If he has anything that lingers he won’t have an opportunity to rest it, and owners might not have an Ajayi that is 100% for the rest of the year. We will have to keep a close eye on the Miami offense as a whole over the next couple of weeks, but if they continue to look ragged and get behind early, Ajayi will not have the opportunity to wear teams down in the same way that he did last season.

Amari Cooper (WR, OAK) – High Concern

Through four games this season Amari Cooper has scored just once and gained only 110 yards, with well over half of that yardage total coming in Week 1. On top of his already dreary performance, the prospects for improvement aren’t looking much better with quarterback Derek Carr expected to miss anywhere between 2-6 weeks with a back injury. The Oakland Raiders offense has looked very average as a whole this season, and so far the offensive line has not been able to replicate their top-five success from a year ago. But even with all of the issues the Raiders offense has had as a unit, Cooper has been independently unproductive, and has continued to play second fiddle to both the efficiency and fantasy production of Michael Crabtree.

There are two schools of thought about how Cooper will perform over the next few weeks without Derek Carr under center. With EJ Manuel at the helm, Cooper is looking at an opportunity to have a “fresh start” of sorts with another quarterback, and might be able to testablish a rhythm for himself that continues when Carr returns. On the other hand, his production could sink even further, which is a very real possibility when considering his output so far. If Cooper is going to start trending upward, he will have to find a way to eliminate the drops and be more efficient in general with the volume that he has seen so far this season.

Hunter Henry (TE, LAC) – Medium – High Concern

The thought process for the owners that took a shot on Hunter Henry was that as soon as fellow San Diego Chargers tight end Antonio Gates made his way into the record books, the production and volume would start swinging towards the second year prospect. Unfortunately, not only has this not happened, but this offense seems to have gone away from the tight end position in general. Both of the Chargers’ tight ends combined have only seen 17 of Phillip Rivers’ 150 pass attempts go their way, and in two of his four games Henry actually went without a target altogether.

The good news is that Henry has caught all but one of his 10 targets so far this year. The bad news is that he only has 10 targets so far this year. The offensive line has had more struggles than anticipated, and Henry has been asked to block a lot more than last year. Additionally, Keenan Allen has started the year playing incredibly motivated, Tyrell Williams is showing that his production last year was no fluke, and highly touted rookie Mike Williams will soon be back in the fold as well. Even after head coach Anthony Lynn plainly stated ahead of their Week 4 matchup that Henry needed to be more involved, he still only saw 3 targets, and owners were fortunate enough to have the fantasy day saved by a touchdown that came late in the fourth quarter. Henry could still have some decent outings, but the chances of this happening aren’t great. With his complete lack of involvement in the passing attack for whole games at a time, he likely won’t be a reliable start at many spots during the season even with a favorable matchup.

Updates From Last Week

Cam Newton (QB, CAR) – Same Warning Level as Last Week

Cam Newton boomed against the New England Patriots in Week 4, but owners should still be weary of where his production will go from here. While this game was clearly a step in the right direction for Newton, don’t be sold that he has turned the corner just yet. In digesting Newton’s performance, it would be neglectful to not mention the fact that the Patriots are running one of their worse defensive units since Bill Belichick arrived 18 seasons ago. The arrow indeed looks like it could soon be pointing up for Newton, but approach the next few weeks with caution to see if this version of Newton is here to stay.

C.J. Anderson (RB, DEN) – Lower Warning Level Than Last Week

It appears that even with all three backs in the mix, C.J. Anderson will be the lead guy in Denver most weeks. Devonta Booker, who is admittedly still working his way back, saw only 3 carries. Jamaal Charles was also out-touched by Anderson by a wide margin at 24-6. In the Broncos three wire-to-wire wins, Anderson has had 20, 25, and 20 carries, and has comfortably controlled the snap counts as well. As long as the Broncos’ defense dominates and allows the offense to play with a lead, Anderson will be a key cog in the team’s game plan.

Eric Decker (WR, TEN) – Higher Warning Level Than Last Week

Eric Decker again had a very quiet outing tallying just 13 yards on two catches, and still hasn’t shown fantasy owners much of anything through four weeks. Even more concerning is the fact that Marcus Mariota could potentially miss time and the Titans’ could be forced to roll with Matt Cassel as the starter for a couple of games. This could cause Decker’s already putrid production to drop even lower, if that’s even possible. For those that still have faith, Decker is best-suited on your bench, and could certainly be considered a prime drop candidate over the next couple of weeks if not sooner.

Martellus Bennett (TE, GB) – Same Warning Level as Last Week

Despite seeing seven more targets in Week 4 and nearly getting in the end zone for the first time this season, Bennett’s fantasy output has not changed. It is worth mentioning again that Bennett will definitely have some huge games, and his increasing efficiency with his targets over the past two weeks has been encouraging. However, continuing to play the guessing game with his production is not a favorable spot for fantasy owners. He is still a valuable weapon on a high-octane offense so keeping him on your team makes all the sense in the world, but he should be left on the bench until he is able to string together something meaningful for a couple of weeks.

More Week 5 Lineup Prep