Ian Allan answers your fantasy football questions. In this edition: Christian Watson's hamstring. Selling high on Raheem Mostert. And the Red Rifle headed back to the starting lineup.
Question 1
I have Christian Watson in my PPR league. In your Labor Day rankings, I think you had him ranked WR-15. He picked up this hamstring issue seemingly out of nowhere. Who knows when he'll be back and so I understand why you dropped him down to WR-32. In my other league (odd scoring system) he's WR-22 and available on the free agency wire. I also have CeeDee Lamb, Calvin Ridley, Tyler Lockett, and Michael Pittman. I also have AJ Dillon who's been a massive disappointment. Should I drop Pittman or Dillon to pick up Watson or should I just stand pat?
Andrew Napoli (Alexandria, VA)
I would grab Watson immediately (as in, before you read the rest of this article). He was talking last week about maybe playing in Week 2. He’s close, and when he comes back, he’ll e in the mix to be a top-20 receiver. There could be a bunch of weeks that you start him ahead of Lockett and Pittman.
I would be inclined to dump AJ Dillon. He just doesn’t seem to have it. He’s come up awfully small in the first two games. At Atlanta, I noticed that they brought in Emanuel Wilson to spell Dillon on the second series. Wilson had a couple of impressive runs in the preseason, forcing his way onto the roster as an undrafted free agent. He’s a big, Dillon-type back. Wilson took a big loss on his first carry but came back later in the game with a good 7-yard power run. Had me wondering if he might have some viable games later in the year (with Jones or Dillon hurt).
Question 2
Would you sell high on Mostert? Like the way they are using him but seems like they would prefer a RB committee and Jeff Wilson will be back.
Matt Morse (Glennallen, AK)
Mostert isn’t a durable back. He was with the 49ers for five years, and he landed on IR in four of those seasons. He’s a leaner guy (5-10, 205), and he’s also 31 years old. With those metrics in mind, I think the Dolphins will be looking to use a one-two punch in most of their games. Jeff Wilson is eligible to return to work a week from Monday (his agent a few weeks back said Wilson will be ready at that time). Mostert and Wilson split time last year, and they’ve also got Salvon Ahmed, who had a pair of 40-yard runs in the preseason. Rookie DeVon Achane is more of a wild card.
So you could logically sell high on Mostert. At the same time, there’s something to be said for having a running back who’s playing well right now. It seems to me that Mike McDaniel is going to do a better job of using the run this year. (And I’m not sure anybody is going to give you much of Mostert via trade.)
Question 3
With Bryce Young out, what do you think Andy Dalton and the rest of the Panthers will do versus the Seahawks. Over the last several years, the Seahawks have not fared well playing against backup quarterbacks.
Eric Scolnick (Redmond, WA)
Seahawks played Stafford and Goff in their first two games. Their streak of playing against quarterbacks who were No. 1 overall picks, apparently, is coming to a close. At the same time, cool to see Andy Dalton starting for a fifth team in five years. I don’t know if anyone has done that before. (Ryan Fitzpatrick, Chris Chandler and Gus Frerotte haven’t; Case Keenum did six cities in six years, but with the Rams playing in both St. Louis and Los Angeles.)
I wouldn’t think anybody should be rushing out to add Andy Dalton to their roster. He had that year with 33 touchdown passes 10 years ago – the season that landed Jay Gruden the coaching job in Washington. But the post-Cincinnati years haven’t been kind to him. Most notably, he underperformed in Dallas in 2020, with good talent around him. He threw 18 touchdowns in 14 starts for the Saints last year. He’s finished higher than 20th in per-game production only once in the last seven years. (On the 2021 season, that’s an estimation – Dalton started less than half of the season for the Bears.)
| ANDY DALTON AS A STARTER | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Team | St | Pass | TDP | Int | Run | TDR | Pts | Rk |
| 2011 | Cincinnati | 16 | 212 | 1.25 | .81 | 10 | .06 | 16.9 | 21 |
| 2012 | Cincinnati | 16 | 229 | 1.69 | 1.00 | 8 | .25 | 20.5 | 14 |
| 2013 | Cincinnati | 16 | 268 | 2.06 | 1.25 | 11 | .13 | 23.6 | 4 |
| 2014 | Cincinnati | 16 | 212 | 1.19 | 1.06 | 11 | .25 | 18.4 | 23 |
| 2015 | Cincinnati | 13 | 250 | 1.92 | .54 | 11 | .23 | 22.7 | 12 |
| 2016 | Cincinnati | 16 | 263 | 1.13 | .50 | 12 | .25 | 20.3 | 20 |
| 2017 | Cincinnati | 16 | 208 | 1.56 | .75 | 6 | .00 | 17.2 | 22 |
| 2018 | Cincinnati | 11 | 233 | 1.91 | 1.00 | 9 | .00 | 20.2 | 21 |
| 2019 | Cincinnati | 13 | 269 | 1.23 | 1.08 | 6 | .31 | 21.1 | 16 |
| 2020 | Dallas | 9 | 229 | 1.56 | .89 | 13 | .00 | 18.9 | 27 |
| 2021 | Chicago | 6 | 218 | 1.00 | 1.50 | 13 | .00 | 16.2 | ~31 |
| 2022 | New Orleans | 14 | 205 | 1.29 | .64 | 4 | .00 | 15.9 | 29 |
| 2023 | Carolina | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Question 4
In a 6 pt per TD for QBs, I was offered Mahomes for Burrow and C. Ridley. My remaining WRs are A. St Brown, Puka, D. Hopkins, Toney, Sutton. Can Burrow turn it around to keep up with Mahomes or should I jump on the offer?
Graham Ginn (Ocean View, NJ)
I drafted Burrow. I sure wish somebody would offer to give me Mahomes. The Ravens game was scary. They’ve got him running a catch-and-throw offense. Everything is in the shotgun, with the ball coming out quick. He can’t move right now (and this was before he aggravated the injury late in the game). I have no confidence Burrow will be healthy and playing his usual style in the next month.