Fantasy Football Twitter Reactions – Week 3

Each week I will be walking through the Twitterverse extracting some of the best commentary from trusted fantasy football minds and delivering to the general public.  Twitter can be overwhelming with the amount of information that streams live, but it also proves to be one of the fastest and easiest ways to communicate.  In 140 characters or less you can learn something about a player you would have never thought to analyze.  Trends, stats, analysis and simple suggestions pour out weekly after the NFL action is completed and below are some of the highlights to consider when hitting the waiver wire or seeking trades to win your fantasy championships.

Jamaal Charles, Chiefs – Everyone expected an uptick for Charles in the passing game with Reid, but Adam Levitan (@adamlevitan) shows how valuable he could be tweeting, “Charles is on pace to catch 96 passes for 805 yards this season.”  Jamaal is averaging 23 touches a game so far and is PPR gold.  The conservative offense is working wonders for his fantasy value.

Week 3 Madness – I am pretty sure no one guessed right in fantasy this week as Rich Hribar (@LordReebs) offers, “Think WR’s are volatile? Santonio, Sidney, S Hill, Ginn, Avant, Avery, LaFell & Thompkins were all top 12 yesterday.”  One crazy week should not change your fantasy course.  Start your studs and hope your opponents don’t hit the lottery with players no one could have predicted to break out.

Underperforming RBs – Send this nugget from Patrick Daugherty (@RotoPat) out to your league and watch the trade offers fly.  “David Wilson, C.J. Spiller and Stevan Ridley's combined Sunday? 32 carries for 83 yards.”  2.6 yards per carry is not good in case math was not your strong subject in school.  You might be able to trade Nate Burleson for these guys (Disclaimer: I know he broke his arm).

Colts Receivers – The Trent Richardson trade and overall philosophy of the Colt’s coaches may not be good for fantasy owners as Sigmund Bloom (@SigmundBloom) points out, “Unfortunately for us FF types, football gods smiled on #colts going smashmouth yesterday. FF stock of whole passing game trending down.”

Jordan Cameron, Browns – So Hoyer might not be fantasy death for the Browns as Denny Carter (@CDCarter13) stated, “Hoyer attempted 54 passes yesterday. I don't think that'll prove to be an anomaly.”  Being behind and needing to throw may be common, but they also won’t be playing the Vikings secondary every week.  Either way as Adam Levitan (@adamlevitan) points out, “Jordan Cameron is on pace to catch 106 passes for 1434 yards and score 21 touchdowns.”  This is unlikely to happen, but a top 5 TE the rest of way is. 

Chris Johnson, Titans – Some fantasy advice from Rotoworld’s Evan Silva (@evansilva), “One RB I'd be trying to bail on = Chris Johnson. No GL carries or pass game work and murderer's row upcoming Run D sked: NYJ, KC, SEA, SF.”  Carries are there, but TDs are not.

Giovani Bernard, Bengals – Bernard will likely be a weekly fixture in this piece as his fantasy value continues to rise with each passing week.  John Paulsen (@4for4_John) showed why your window to buy might be already shut tweeting, “14 touches, 99 yards, TD for Gio Bernard; 10 touches, 29 yards, TD for BJGE. Gio led in snap % 54% to 41%.”  Gio’s percentage of plays as increased weekly and while BGE won’t ever go completely away, he likely won’t stop Gio from being a reliable weekly start either.

Bilal Powell, Jets – Might be a better time to try and sell on the Jets RB rather than expect more of the same as Mike Clay (@MikeClayNFL) relays, “Before you get excited about Bilal Powell, 5 things: (1) He's on Jets (2) Mike Goodson back in 2 weeks (3) Ivory is better (4 and 5) Jets.” 

Ryan Mathews, Chargers – Mathews’ fantasy value is likely capped in this offense with Woodhead and Brown.  Also as Josh Moore (@4for4_Josh) concludes, “Ryan Mathews purely a situational runner on obvious rushing downs. Not much value on 12-16 rushes per game with limited red zone work.”  Mike Clay (@MikeClayNFL) noticed the same tweeting, “Ryan Mathews is getting the Mark Ingram treatment. Chargers ran the ball on 17 of his 19 snaps.”  No one wants to be compared to Mark Ingram.  Expect more 5 – 8 point games from Mathews with an occasional TD splashed in.

Cecil Shorts, Jaguars – You would not expect the return of a QB from injury to be a negative, but the boys from Rotoworld did not miss a beat on what Gabbert’s return could mean for Shorts’ fantasy value.  Evan Silva (@evansilva) tweeted, “Nice knowing ya, Cecil Shorts,” while Patrick Daugherty (@RotoPat) made me spit out my water stating, “Your move, Cleveland.”  Shorts has been more garbage time maven the last two weeks with Henne, but Gabbert is simply garbage.  Back to the bench.

DeAngelo Williams, Panthers – More great fantasy advice from Sigmund Bloom (@SigmundBloom), “Sell DeAngelo Williams high to an RB needy team. Stewart on track to come back soon & goal line carries just aren't going to come for him.”  He is on bye this week so might be hard to move, but 8 points a week will be the norm and possibly the ceiling if Stewart gets back in the mix.

Josh Gordon, Browns – Gordon came out of the gate like a rocket and as Davis Mattek (@DavisMattek) pointed out, “Despite the 19 targets, Gordon only received 1 RZ target while Cameron had 5. I expect Gordon's % to rise, while Camerons decreases slightly.”  If he can average 10+ targets per game he has the makings of a surefire WR2 with WR1 upside on a weekly basis.

Fantasy Defenses – So what round did the 49ers go in your draft?  Anything higher than the 2^nd to last round is too high for the 27^th best defense through 3 weeks.  Don’t bring up the Seahawks either because the Chiefs are looking like a great weekly add and I know they weren’t drafted until the last round.  Just remember this for next year, please.