You know what's worse than having one of your best players hurt and unable to play? Having them stay in your lineup and act like they're not playing.
You know things are bad when you're jealous of a Jamaal Charles owner a couple weeks after his injury. Hurt or not, at least owners know when they need to use a fill-in. When he's out, you put in a backup. When he's active, you play him and watch him torch the Patriots. Easy.
But if you have LeSean McCoy, what do you do? He sits in your lineup but pretends he's on the bench. The guy who could provide a week's worth of points on one drive in 2013 has trouble avoiding a goose egg in 2014. And his Eagles 3-1.
Brandon Marshall should be in the same boat. He gets hurt, but guts it out and plays. As a result, he's caught just eight passes in the last three games. Eight. You don't hear as many complaints about it, because half of those catches have gone for touchdowns. But even the Bears are starting to take his injury more seriously, and his status for this weekend is up in the air. He might sit this coming week.
Too bad the Lions didn't do that with Calvin Johnson last Sunday. His stat line showed two catches for 12 yards, and fantasy owners were lucky to get that. After the game he admitted he wasn't close to being at full speed.
If you have one (or more) of these guys on your team, help is probably on the way. This is about the time trade offers will come flooding in. You might get two or three players in return, and all you have to do is get rid of that headache in your starting lineup.
Don't you do it. I know the numbers don't look good. In the last two games, McCoy has 29 carries for 39 yards. My calculator says that's bad. He also has no catches. Did you expect two full games of production where McCoy wouldn't catch a single pass? He was only targeted twice during that span, too.
Johnson is hurting. Marshall is hurting. Eddie Lacy's pride is hurting. And if you trade them way, you'll be hurting later in the year. Unless it's a great offer, it makes no sense to get rid of those guys.
And it's not about where you drafted them. That doesn't matter. Its about trading a high ceiling for a low one. It's about getting rid of your playoff chances for a little stability over the next few Sundays. It's about giving up too early in the year.
Yes, I know that it's easy to say but hard to do when you're sitting at 0-4 or 1-3. You might be tempted to take something decent for your players and move on. I've been there. But the truth is that those guys will get healthier. They'll play better and they'll score more points. And the guys you're being offered, those waiver wire stars? They'll regress, and won't be as dependable as they look right now. In week 12 or 13 you'll be sitting with a mediocre team trying to make the playoffs, when you know you'll get creamed even if you get in. You might get decent players for your stars, but "decent" rarely wins titles.
Or maybe I'm wrong. Maybe your players will be terrible all year and those waiver wire gems will keep chugging along all season. It could happen. Remember Patrick Jeffers? I do. He won me a title I probably didn't deserve. On the other hand, Eddie George probably lost me a title I could have had. Sometimes things stay bad all year long.
But that doesn't happen very often. Good players usually play well. Okay players usually play okay. If you're disappointed in a weak first month, imagine how you'll feel when they turn it on the last two or three months for someone else. Feel free to listen to trade offers, and counter with your own ideas. But unless you're getting guys who can help you win a title, you're making a big mistake. Your opponents are just trying to make a crummy low-ball offer.
And by all means, if you don't have one of those players, make a crummy low-ball offer for them. Why not? Maybe someone is ready to throw in the towel, and they don't read this column. Let their losses be your gain. Maybe this week was the one that broke their spirit.
I'm fine with that, as long as it's not you. Let someone else get rid of their best players. You've got to try and ride it out. Unless someone is offering you real difference-makers, hit that reject button and focus on this weekend. I feel your pain. Good luck.
What are you doing with those disappointing picks? Are you trading them, or trading for them? Share your thoughts below.