3 Fantasy Football Players Sending Out Warnings Signals in Week 4

Players That Are Making Me Nervous For Week 5

Tom Brady has been mentioned in this piece now 3 weeks running. On Monday night's moderated chat with Zach, I mentioned that I thought the Chiefs would win the game and that would cement Brady's lost season. Well, it happened and Jimmy Garopollo made Brady look pretty bad in the process. If I was a Brady owner I'd be selling for pennies on the dollar.

But this isn't the "What has Tom Brady" done lately article. It's a weekly column about players who are making me nervous with either their personal lack of good play or their teams. Let's begin shall we?

Cam Newton (QB, CAR)

92% owned on Fleaflicker

Misery loves company so Cam Newton went to join his fellow QB Tom Brady in the category of "elite QBs who make their owners throw things against a wall". Just to give you an idea how terribly Cam has performed so far-E.J. Manuel has more points in standard fantasy leagues.

Yes, that E.J. Manuel who was just replaced by Kyle Orton for the Bills.  Also Geno Smith. Yes, that Geno Smith who may be replaced by Michael Vick very soon. That's not good company to have around you, let alone players to have ahead of you.

Granted, Newton did miss the first week due to his rib injury but he hasn't performed well since returning. He had a fine showing against Detroit in week 2, but in his other two contest he couldn't even manage 13 points in standard league scoring formats. When Newton can run, he is one of the most valuable quarterbacks out there. When he can't, well, I'm not sure how many of his Clark Kent touch down moves we'll see Cam pulling.

This upcoming week Cam has a nice match-up against the Bears who are giving up the 7th most points to opposing quarterbacks so far. If we don't see marked improvement from Cam in this game it might be time to sell on his name value. However, if you were in a dynasty league, I'd recommend buying Cam. This is probably the cheapest you can acquire him in any sort of long term league, and I still believe he has great value in those circumstances.

Pierre Garcon (WR, WAS)

96% owned on Fleaflicker

Pierre Garcon has a very boom or bust type of year so far. In standard leagues the only week where he played to expectations was week 3 against the Eagles. Other than that, he was very bad in week 2/week 4 and was only ok in week 1. A lot of this can be attributed to the quarterback issues since neither RG3 or Kirk Cousins are exactly lighting things up, but Garcon has to take some of the responsibility too. Why? Well because in week 2 he was targeted 4 times, and only hauled in 1 pass for 12 yards. In week 4, he was targeted 6 times and only hauled in 2 passes for 28 yards.

The weeks where he has done well he has hauled in the majority of his passes, but that catch rate is a bit concerning. Couple that with the fact that Washington has collectively looked terrible dating back to last season, and you have valid reasons to be legitimately concerned about Garcon. Things aren't going to get easier for him this week either. The legion of boom is coming into town, and I don't think they're going to be very friendly to monsieur Garcon.

Given how everyone struggles against Seahawks, this may not be the best litmus test of whether it's time to move on from Garcon. Neither are the Cardinals since they have a top corner in Patrick Peterson, but at some point you need to evaluate what Garcon is really worth to your team before it's too late. If someone is willing to pay you a middle-to-high end WR2 price for Garcon hit accept immediately.

Cordarrelle Patterson (WR, MIN)

90% owned on Fleaflicker

Coming into the year many experts such as yours truly salivated over the big play ability of Cordarelle Patterson. He tantalized us in the first game with his usage in both the passing and rushing game against the Cardinals. However, since then he hasn't really done much of anything.

Enter Teddy Bridgewater who was supposed to lead Cordarelle Patterson owners to the promised land! Unfortunately, someone forgot to tell Teddy that. Teddy targeted his second string buddy Jarius Wright a total of 10 times compared to Cordarelle's 4 times. Greg Jennings got 4 targets as well, and made Patterson look bad for not doing more with his 4 targets.

I wouldn't be hitting the panic button quite yet if I was a Cordarelle owner but I would be looking to trade him if possible. Next on the docket is a nice match-up against Green Bay, but you do have to keep in mind that so far he has been the definition of boom or bust. Also if Teddy manages to come off his ankle injury to start this game I expect to see even more targets to Wright. It was Wright who demonstrated he knows how to play with his Teddy last week and not Cordarelle. Try to sell other owners on Cordarelle's big play ability, especially if he goes off against Green Bay.

Closing Thoughts On Week 4

The further we get into the season the more I expect to see Cam Newton improve. If we don't see that from him soon, I'd start panicking but only in re-draft leagues. Pierre Garcon has a terrible situation with his quarterbacks and I don't see it getting markedly better. Teddy is so fun to watch isn't he!? Oh right this is about Cordarelle. He's the definition of boom or bust. Keep him around only if your team can manage the risks associated with that type of player.