Studs Are Duds

The old mantra about starting your studs is ignored quickly in fantasy football. Look at the week 3 performances of players with the top ADPs, such as C.J Spiller, Arian Foster and Ray Rice,  and you’ll cringe. Then look at the top overall performers from week 3 and you’ll see players such as Jake Locker, Johnathan Franklin and Jordan Cameron filling up the stat board. These are the kind of weeks that occur every year and have pushed me to play in multiple leagues so I can vary my team lineups.
 
How in the world does Minnesota play so well in Chicago in week 2 and then return home and lose against a Cleveland team starting backups at QB and in the backfield with a starting WR just off a 2-game suspension? Consistency in the NFL is about as reliable as intelligence from a Kardashian and almost as watchable at times. You can safely predict the performance of 3 teams right now; Denver, Seattle and Jacksonville.

How many self-proclaimed elite QBs are winless on the year and have suffered the league’s only shutout? It is criminal that Eli has more rings than Peyton and Peyton has gifted him with millions in endorsements that his non-personality never would have won on his own. It is a fun time in NYC when the Yanks fail to make the playoffs and Geno Smith and the Jets are making the Giants look like an FBS team. The NBA can’t get started soon enough for Big Apple sports fans.

With Bye weeks setting in for the next 9 weeks, the waiver wire is becoming more valuable for replacing players on Bye, injured or underperforming. As usual, there are a host of players to roll the dice on this week and hope that they don't crap out.

QB: Mike Glennon (TB) - somewhere around week 12 last year, Josh Freeman became Chuck Knoblauch and hasn’t been able to throw since. The Bucs were smart enough to grab a solid QB in the draft to grow into the position. Well, it has been a short growth season as he has been plucked and inserted into the starting position this week. He has some nice weapons, albeit a bit dinged up weapons, in Vincent Jackson, Mike Williams and Doug Martin, came from a pro-style offense, is 6’7” and has a cannon for an arm, so he could put together a nice season. 

RB: Jason Snelling (ATL) - with Steven Jackson out for a few more weeks and a few dinged up WRs, Atlanta decided that they should employ a thunder-and-lightning approach with Snelling and Jacquizz Rodgers and did so with great success. Grab him and start him if you have a RB hole to fill this weekend.

WR: Donnie Avery (KC) - KC's short-pass offense is a perfect fit for Avery. With Alex Smith preferring to look his way over Dwayne Bowe, Avery will rack up catches and yards until he gets hurt. It is hard to expect many TDs though.

WR: Ryan Broyles (DET) - Broyles found a little chemistry with Matthew Stafford last season just before his season ended with a torn ACL. Though the Lions have a running game this year, Stafford is still putting plenty of balls in the air. Nate Burleson is out for a substantial amount of time and no TEs are factoring into the gameplan, so Broyles has a great opportunity to find that chemistry again.