Fantasy Football: Play Bench

Each week in this space I will review players who are ranked outside the top 10 for QB’s and TE’s and top 20 for WR’s in the weekly ESPN rankings.  This is who I think will flourish and who will disappoint this upcoming week.  I do not review those ranked higher since they are probably highly drafted and unable to be benched.  Last week was an average week, I went 5-4 in the Play them and 8-2 in the Bench them.  We have our 1^st bye week with the Packs and Panthers being off.  Let’s get to this week…

Play Them

Philip Rivers (14) –  He has had a great comeback in the McCoy offense and only the Rams made Dallas look good on defense.

Jay Cutler (15) – The Lions pass defense continues to be average at best plus Cutler is playing the best QB in years

Bilal Powell (20) – He got 29 carries and with Ivory injury he is the only option.

Bernard Pierce (26)-  Ray Rice may be back but is not close to 100%, I would take a chance here.

Jason Snelling (35) – He had a 55/45 split with Rodgers last week and will be the goal line choice.

Cecil Shorts (24)- He is the kind of garbage points plus gets a great matchup versus the Colts who will have a letdown this week.

Denarious Moore (31) – He has a ton of talent and finally broke out last week, if Terelle Pryor plays; get him in your lineup as well as Pryor.

Coby Fleener (12) – This is more of a hunch but the Jags are below average against Tight Ends and I can see Luck hooking up his college teammate.

Bench Them

Russell Wilson (11) –  He is going on the road where his effectiveness does down plus faces a very tough defense in Houston.

Eli Manning (17) – He has a tough road matchup and I can see them dialing back the pass attempts, stay away from all Giants other than Victor Cruz until this gets straightened out.

Lamar Miller (22) – He is in a 50/50 split with no inside the 10 carries, not enough volume.

Steven Ridley (22) – Unless I had no one else there is no way I would start him in his current 3-way job share.

Joique Bell (28) – Reggie Bush is back and 100% and he is due to fall off that cliff soon.

Josh Gordon (21)- He will not replicate 19 targets and now with film expect teams to roll all coverage his way.

Julian Edelman (21) – He is a decent play in PPR but at 7 yards a catch there should be better options.

Dwayne Bowe (24) – Alex Smith is not looking his way at all, need a decent game before putting him back in my lineup.

Brandon Myers (14) – The Chiefs have the 2^nd best defense against Tight Ends, look elsewhere.

Thanks for reading and please free to ask any questions on Twitter.

Mike Dietrich

Mike Dietrich is the fantasy football columnist for JetNation.

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