Ian Allan answers your fantasy football questions. In this edition. Will D'Onta Foreman show up and save fantasy teams? Is it time to pull the plug on Dalvin Cook? And the danger of trading away Tyreek Hill.
Question 1
There's a growing buzz among the likes of FFI contributor Justin Eleff and Rotowire pundits that surrounds the projected return of one D'Onta Foreman. It would seem as though Lamar Miller and Alfred Blue are vulnerable, but what sort of value would this former Longhorn offer to those in a PPR format? By the way, I'm a combined 7-3 this season thanks in large part to your work. Heaven help the foes.
ERIC DEGERMAN (Richland, WA)
D’Onta Foreman tore his Achilles last year and hasn’t practiced since. He didn’t put football pads on at all this summer. He’s on the PUP list, so the team potentially could start working him into practices next week. That could happen – probably will. Bill O’Brien made a few comments during the summer about Foreman making good progress. Once Foreman starts practicing, the team has three weeks to either add him to the 53-man roster or declare him out for the year. I expect he’ll be dressing for games in a week or two, and he’s got a little more upside then their other backs. He’s a big, fast man, and that can be hard to get on the ground once he builds up a head of steam. In limited playing time as a rookie, he had 31- and 34-yard receptions, and 25-, 34- and 39-yard runs. But I don’t believe he’s got much chance of being a top-20 running back during the second half of the season. The Texans have a couple of other backs, and while they don’t have as much raw talent, they both have a lot more experience. Reasonably, I would expect that before long, they’ll start giving Foreman a half-dozen touches per game and see what happens. If he starts running like Earl Campbell, he’ll take over the backfield. I suppose that’s worth parking on a fantasy roster in typical leagues. But that could be a three-back backfield. They’ve been using Alfred Blue for most of their short-yardage work. He’s carried the ball 5 times when they’ve needed 1 yard to either score or keep a drive alive; Lamar Miller hasn’t carried the ball at all in those situations. All all of those backs are working against the reality that the Texans have one of the worst offensive lines in the league.
Question 2
I need to drop a running back. Either Adrian Peterson or Dalvin Cook. Minnesota has had offensive line problems and Peterson is coming off an injury. Tough call. I would appreciate any help.
GEORGE BIEDERMANN (Shingle Spgs, CA)
Looking forward to November, Washington’s first two games that month are against Atlanta and Tampa Bay. It would be nice to have Peterson at that time. But you say that one must go. I will stick with Cook. I still believe that once he’s healthy, he’ll be a top-15 back. He’s had a couple of runs this year where I have seen the talent. He’s a young LeSean McCoy, contributing as both a runner and a pass catcher – he went over 50 receiving yards in both of their first two games. It’s just a matter of getting him healthy and fine-tuning that offensive line. Cook practiced fully on Thursday. It wouldn’t surprise me if he showed up in a big way on Sunday against an Arizona defense that ranks next-to-last against the run (allowing 142 yards per game).
Question 3
This has probably been asked before so I apologize ... but help me understand when you rank a player like Marvin Jones this week. For example, You’ll have him at something like 9.8 points (if active) and 8.5 points (current). I don’t understand. He’s either going to play or he isn’t. So if he plays, he’d be the 9.8 points, if he doesn’t he’d be 0.0 points right? What am I missing?
Brett Wills (Morton, PA)
Suppose with a player, there is some question if he will play. The “if active” ranking shows where he’ll be on Sunday morning when it’s 100 percent certain that he’s going to be active and in his usual role. But until that time, it is reasonable to slot the player behind some similar players who aren’t quite as good but who come without the potential of maybe not even playing. The “current” ranking shows where I have the player right now. The “if active” ranking shows where I expect I will have him ranked on Sunday assuming he checks out OK. In general with this style of listing, one of the rankings is always of the “current” variety. Some may need to make their decisions before the start of the Thursday night game. The secondary ranking is typically contingent on the player being healthy and active on Sunday.
Question 4
A lot of Kenyan Drake talk last week. Disappointment. In a keeper (dynasty, whatever league), who would you pull the plug on to take a preemptive strike on picking up D'Onta Foreman: Drake, Dion Lewis, or Yeldon?
JOHN MACHO (Elko New Mrkt, MN)
Adam Gase is bipolar. There are stretches when he just completely forgets about the running game. They stay in three wides, and they don’t really even try to run it. That’s how they’re playing right now. But Gase has been the head coach there the last two years, and there have also been some stretches where he’s suddenly turned to the ground game. I think of 2016, when the Dolphins for the first month of the season played very much like they’re playing now – passing way too much and opening the season 1-4. But then they started feeding the ball to Jay Ajayi. He went over 200 yards three times and they won 9 of their next 10 games. At the end of last year, they put Drake in the starting lineup and he averaged 89 rushing and 30 receiving yards in the last five games. I will guess there’s another Gase flip-flop coming later this year. There’s nothing wrong with the offensive line – they have everything they need to have an above-average run game.
For fantasy purposes, it’s troubling that this season, there are two layers to work through. You need Gase to make more of a commitment to the running game, and you also need for him to move away from giving a good share of the workload to Frank Gore. So if you’re ditching one of those backs, Drake is probably the guy who should go. Dion Lewis appears to be the best of the three. T.J. Yeldon is probably the weakest, but he’s a full-time back for now with Leonard Fournette having a hamstring injury. Yeldon definitely is starting this week, and he could have a couple more full-time games in him.
Question 5
I am in a 1 point PPR keep 8 league. I have been offered Tyrek Hill and George Kittle for Joe Mixon and Kyle Rudolph. I know you are very high on Hill. Would you make this trade? Is Hill worth that much more than Joe Mixon? I believe the TEs are a wash.
Damon Duhon (Baton Rouge, LA)
Hill is a lot better than Mixon, in my opinion. With that big-play ability, he’s the best big-play threat in the league, and he’s a key piece in an offense that’s putting up pinball numbers. Hill is on a three-week lull right now, but I think he’s going to score a lot of touchdowns. And with how Kansas City is using him, he has a playing style that’s friendly to PPR – they’re getting him the ball on a lot of short, cheap throws at the line of scrimmage.