RADIO
Welcome to Disaster Recovery, where each week I'll examine why your studs played like duds. This isn't a place to find out why you should have benched a player for somebody on your bench. Disaster Recovery is to examine the guys who you didn't think twice about benching, and deciding if you should be panicking at all about their value moving forward.
The players covered in this column will usually have to be in the RotoBaller top-10 at their respective positions, but it may vary depending on the status of the players each week.
With plenty of studs on byes in Week 6, the players listed here may have been extra disappointing for some owners.
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Week 6 Duds
Michael Thomas (WR, NO) (#5 WR)
What Happened: Thomas was held to just 11 yards on three receptions in one of 2017's highest scoring games.
How Did It Happen: This was one of the strangest games in recent memories. In a game where the Saints scored 52 points, Drew Brees had less than 200 yards passing. The Saints rushing attack mustered up 193 yards and two touchdowns while the defense scored three themselves. The Saints have put up massive scoring outputs many times in the Drew Brees era, but I can't remember the last time they did it like this. Ted Ginn's 66 yards was the highest output by a Saints receiver on the day.
Panic Meter: Low. Thomas was settling into a nice pace in the previous three weeks, averaging 7 receptions for 88 yards and finding the end zone twice. While Thomas hasn't been quite as good as his ADP would make him out to be, he's still doing better than he was at this time last season. I'd expect him to return to the form he achieved in recent weeks moving forward. This game was bizarre.
CJ Anderson (RB, DEN) (#6 RB)
What Happened: Anderson was held to 17 yards on nine rushes and failed to catch a pass against the Giants on Sunday night.
How Did It Happen: In Week 6's second strangest game, the Giants dominated the Broncos in primetime without most of their offensive weapons. Denver had 46 rushing yards total on the day and was forced to throw the ball 54 times. Anderson didn't receive a single target and was out of the mix in the passing game. There wasn't any opportunities for him in this game.
Panic Meter: Medium. There isn't much to make of this weeks game, but I have concerns about Anderson. He's only scored in one game this season and has two games where he failed to reach 50 total yards. He isn't going to lose his job as the workhorse back on the ground, but the amount of action he receives in the passing game varies week to week. He hasn't seen more than four targets in a game this season. When you aren't able to find the end zone often, seeing some action in the passing game is critical for a back that isn't putting up insane yardage totals, especially in PPR leagues. Anderson is still a very valuable fantasy player and should be a fine play this season, but he's not must-start in all formats.
Travis Kelce (TE, KC) (#3 TE)
What Happened: Kelce had four receptions for 37 yards in a tough loss to the Steelers.
How Did It Happen: The Chiefs offense had their worst game of the season in their first loss. Their only touchdown came on a 57 yard catch by DeAnthony Thomas. Kareem Hunt only carried the ball nine times for 21 yards and neither Kelce nor Tyreek Hill crossed 40 yards. It was one of those games for the Chiefs.
Panic Meter: Medium. At the end of the third quarter, Kelce has one reception on three targets for -2 yards. There is an alternate reality where this game ended after three quarters and Kelce's combined total yards from weeks 3 and 6 was -1. Kelce saved himself with a few decent catches in the fourth quarter.
Due to the lack of anything offensively from the Chiefs this week, the panic meter stays at medium, as it was when I covered Kelce in this column three weeks ago. Kelce is a guy that will be an every week start for the rest of the season. He reminded us why with a total of 209 yards and a touchdown in the two weeks before this. But Kelce has three games this season with 40 yards or less and no touchdowns. Tight end is the weakest position in fantasy and no Kelce owner should be sifting through the wire to find a replacement. I'll ride or die with him for the rest of the way. I'm just not going to act like I won't be panicking that he'll appear in this column a few more times this season.
Julio Jones (WR, ATL) (#3 WR)
What Happened: Jones caught six passes for 72 yards and failed to find the end zone for the fifth consecutive week.
How Did It Happen: Jones actually led the Falcons in yards this week. In PPR leagues, he scored 13 points, which is passable.
Panic Meter: High. Do we really want to see "passable" performances from Julio Jones? Is this what we signed up for with a guy who was a consensus top five draft pick? The Falcons have serious offensive problems without Kyle Shanahan. According to Pro Football Focus, this was Matt Ryan's best performance of the season. He only passed for 248 yards and one touchdown. This is a completely different Falcons offense than last season.
Here's the tougher question: could this be a different Julio Jones as well? This is the lowest total receiving yards he's had through five games since 2012, and in 2o12 he had five touchdowns through five games. Anyone who has owned Jones in the past knows he's prone for a dud performance every now and then. Last season he opened the year with two games under 30 yards and without a touchdown in his first five games. The difference was he had a touchdown in the other three games and had 300 receiving yards in one of them. The Falcons started out 3-0, but their Super Bowl hangover has kicked in over the last two weeks. They look completely different on offense than they did last year. There are huge concerns regarding Jones moving forward.
The unfortunate truth is that if you own Julio Jones, you have to play him. He's way too talented and even this year has been producing somewhat decent. He just simply isn't going to be the elite WR1 you drafted him to be.
