Twitter Thursdays – Week 8

Twitter Thursdays!

That’s right folks , it’s midseason mailbag time!

With the huge influx of twitter activity over the last few weeks, I figured it was the perfect time for @iconfantasyJoe to start a  mail bag full of tweets and answer  5 tough  #fantasyfootball questions every Thursday!

Here it is: Enjoy and don’t forget to share with friends!

1 @Feendog2000 writes:  Hey @iconfantasyJoe w/ A-Rodg on bye. Should I pick up: Beck, Dalton, Bradford, or Ponder?

The one that sticks out like a sore thumb in that pile is Bradford. One he is injured and two he is terrible; Lloyd will help , but the offense looks inept – so he is out. Beck looked good at times vs Carolina last week , but he loses Santana Moss and Tim Hightower as a dump off threat in the same week – so he is out. Ponder looked good early last week , but after re looking at the stats he was 13-32 with 2 interceptions. Harvin has been non-existent this season and Michael Jenkins is their top receiving threat and because of that he is out. Leaving you with the one and only choice for your Bye week replacement as Dalton. AJ Green is already an elite WR , Gresham is turning into a very solid possession and redzone TE. Scott and Leonard replace a suspended Benson and offer more receiving capability and Simpson got busted for 4 billion pounds of weed.

VERDICT: Start Dalton this week and hope the defense catches a contact high from Simpson.

2 @SportsnutStu writes: My man @iconfantasyJoe – Yes or no. Colston for Decker, VJackson, and TOwens?

Ahh , the old one great guy for a decent guy and some junk trade. Normally I would say , decline this trade and send a nicely worded email to the gent who offered this deal to you. But, this is not your normal 3 for 1 deal because Vincent Jackson is a buy low candidate right now. So let’s break this down:

Terrell Owens holds no value in this deal , he should not be rostered , waivered  or traded for;  so I will not discuss him at all because he is an afterthought. Decker is falling off many fantasy rosters with Tebow’s inaccuracy ruining what could have been a break out season for the youngster. Vjax is struggling , but that’s because Gates has been out , Rivers has been below average and his hammy is slowing him down; he will get better. Colston has been dynamic so far when healthy. However , he has his own questions and will not be able to keep this pace up.

VERDICT: Keep Colston because he is better than Vjax by a large margin right now and Decker is only a replaceable bye week fill-in who comes with too many questions to make it worth giving up the best WR in the deal. TO is a non-factor in this deal and should be given no air-time.

3 @markl30680 writes: Yo @iconfantasyJoe – in my  TD only league I Need a WR – Pick 1 L Fitzgerald, B Lloyd or R Wayne. Who to Start?

This one is simple: Lloyd has 0 Tds this year and comes over to the Rams who barely score the ball when Bradford is 100% healthy. Wayne has shown zero chemistry with Painter and has not scored a TD since week 1 against Houston when Collins was at the helm.  Fitzgerald has a tough matchup against Baltimore, but he is their only TD threat with Wells most likely missing the game. If you are going to score on the Ravens it will be through the air and Kolb looked better last week vs the Steelers. Fitz has 2 Tds this year so far which is more than both of the other two options combined and is your safest bet regardless of opponent to score each week for you.

VERDICT: Start Fitzgerald this week , weather the tough matchups and stick with your tier 1 studs.

4 @ldg028 writes – Yo dude bro @iconfantasyJoe – Rank the following WRs for the rest of the season.M.Crabtree,Dem.Thomas,D.Heyward-Bay, A.Brown,M.Manningham,M.Jenkins, E.Doucet,J.Simpson! Thanks!

Ok , I answered this one to you on twitter , but I wanted to give it some more thought and re-work the ranks I sent you.

1 Heyward-Bey OAK- He is the quintessential 3rd year WR. He was horrible his first two years and all of a sudden is running great routes , flashing top end speed , and is creating separation from the defense while showing strength with the ball in his hands. He get’s the #1 spot from this motley crue as long as Palmer cooperates.

2 Manningham NYG – He is still getting the targets , but not getting the TDs , I tried to warn everyone and anyone that would listen that he reached his ceiling last year and that he was being overdrafted this summer. That being said , he is under-performing right now and is due for some better games the rest of the season. Cruz is not going to over take him , as Eli still loves Mario and Coughlin is steady when it comes to keeping his players in their proper fantasy position. He is the anti-Shannahan.

3 Crabtree SF- With Josh Morgan out and Gore reclaiming his position amongst the running back elites , Crabby has a chance to be a decent WR3 the rest of the way. Alex Smith has improved , but let”s face it  , he had nowhere to go but up. Crabtree seems to be healthy and needs to shed the image as primadonna sissy who can’t play through pain; a few 7 catch weeks will help.

4 Dem. Thomas Den- Tebow really did look his way a lot last week and it ended with a score for Thomas. Demaryius is a talented WR who has been oft injured so far in his short career. Tebow seems to prefer Thomas to Decker so far and because of that , he gets the nod over the other weekly fill-ins to hold and improve his stock the rest of the way.

5 A. Brown Pit- My intial assessment had Brown at the bottom and I felt that was a clear mistake. After he blew up last week albeit against the Cards, it is time to give him a bit of love. Ward has regressed since his good game about 3 weeks ago and Brown is becoming an interesting play against horrible defenses like the Pats this week. He is young enough and strong enough to hold his value and improve it the rest of the way.

6 Doucet Ari- 6-8 is where these WRs decline. Doucet gets the nod over the other two because he has a more clear role with a better WR across from him that demands double and triple teams. Also after this week the Cardinals schedule lightens up and he should be a decent play going forward if you’re in a jam.

7 Simpson Cin- The guy comes equipped with great size , great speed and great amount of drugs. He gets the nod over Jenkins simply because there is a chance he could give someone a contact high that is guarding him man to man which could result in a long TD catch any week.

8 Jenkins Min- Ponder to Jenkins for a TD! Yea I can’t envision myself saying that many more times this year, can you?

VERDICT: None of these players are going to be WR1’s in fantasy football , but many of them may help you win a game during the season. Ranking these types of players are what sets apart the men from the boys in all of your fantasy leagues.

5 @catzfan4life writes: yo my dude @iconfantasyJoe gimme some help on this one: J. Starks and B. Tate are available, which one should I add to bench?

This one is a bit trickier than it seems. The untrained eye would snatch up Starks in a second saying “Oh Mah Gawd , dat Arian Foster guy is too good!” But lost in that shuffle last week was Tate busting the hell out of the defense as well. Starks has an even bigger threat in front of him than Foster and that’s Aaron Rodgers. Rodgers will continue to throw the ball all over the place and rightfully so. He will also steal TDs on the goal line a few more times this year. Grant is not really a factor right now in GB and yet Starks is still only getting 10-12 carries a week.

ALL THAT BEING SAID: The packers are undefeated – Rodgers will slow down because of that , and come the end of the season Starks will start to get an increased workload to save Rodgers and prep for the playoffs.

VERDICT: Even – with a shade toward  Tate for now because they both get 10-12 carries per week and Tate does more with his touches. If Foster goes down his value  sky-rockets and Stark’s value won’t dramatically increase like that until week 15 when the Packers clinch their playoffs birth.

My question to you @catzfan4life:  Can you get both of them? I have to believe there are 2 cuts worth of roster space on your team  for both of these young potential studs as they offer more value than most wr3’s and 4’s.

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That’s it for this weeks mail bag

get your questions in early next week @iconfantasyJoe to make it onto the blog and get featured on twitter thursdays!

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