Giving Thanks

Another week goes by in the NFL and another group of NFL players hit the infirmary. I can only imagine how thankful the healthy players are at the time of year. Of course, I always read that no starter is ever "healthy" at this point in the year. It is always a matter of how much pain you can put up with. As fans, we complain when a player slides or runs out of bounds or the refs call a personal foul on an inadvertent shot to the head. However, it doesn't take much to ruin a career. Just look at Jahvid Best. He suffered a concussion on 10/16/2011...over a year ago... and he is not back. I can't imagine the frustration of not being able to use your talents due to an injury, especially when you look up at the TV as see no-talent hacks like Jon Cryer or whoever the people are on The Big Bang Theory getting paid. Hell, that frustrates me and I am as healthy as a middle-aged doughboy can be.

There are only a few weeks left before fantasy football league playoffs start, so you want to add some depth to protect against injury or replace non-performers or recently-injured players. There seems to be a nice selection of available players on the waiver wire right now:

QB: Jake Locker (TENN) – Locker is back at the helm for Tennessee and has a great matchup in line for this weekend. The job is his so I would rather start him over Colin Kaepernick (SF) since Harbaugh could easily split reps between him and Alex Smith or start Smith.

RB: Ronnie Hillman (DEN) – Before the season, we expected Hillman to replace McGahee at some point this year. It took a lot longer than we imagined. Due to the duration, he ended up on many waiver wires so grab him like the last beer at a tailgater.

RB: James Starks (GB) – Cedric Benson is still a few weeks off from returning, so, for immediate help, it appears that the Packers are going to Starks full time.

RB: Jalen Parmele (JAX) – The Rashad Jennings experience is on hold. He looked so good in pre-season and has done so bad during the season. Marmele looked very good last week against a solid Texans run defense. MoJo will be back soon, so this is a short-term fill-in.
 WR: Ryan Broyles (DET) – Broyles was recommended here last week and his stock shot further up after Titus Young was inactivated for at least this week due to a bad attitude. If you have Young, I recommend dropping him as Mike Thomas is now above him on the depth chart.

TE: Dustin Keller (NYJ) – The Jets are just terrible offensively. However, they know that Keller is integral to their offense and a matchup for New England is the perfect spot to re-introduce him to those who forgot about him. If you need to replace Gronk, going Gang Green is your answer.