RADIO
This is not the time for fantasy football owners to put their faith --- and their playoff hopes --- into players they cannot trust. Fantasy leagues are entering the final quarter of their regular seasons. Every lineup and waiver pick decision is crucial. Every mistake can cost a fantasy owner a playoff spot and/or money, trophies, and bragging rights over the blowhards in their league. That means fantasy owners should go with the players they trust the most when making out their starting lineups during this important juncture of the season.
There are players who are maddeningly inconsistent, are not being used correctly by their NFL teams, or have incompetent teammates that drag them down. So which players are going to give fantasy owners the most headaches coming down the homestretch? Here are four players you cannot trust down the stretch --- these are The Untrustables!
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Players That May Disappoint Owners When It Counts Most
DeAndre Hopkins, Houston Texans (WR)
I have never seen a man targeted so often yet unsuccessfully since Jason Bourne. Hopkins was targeted 47 times over Houston’s past four contests, yet he only caught 23 passes. Consider Brock Osweiler’s aim as poor as the villains who shoot wildly at Bourne.
Fantasy owners have been patiently waiting for Osweiler and Hopkins to click. Well, keep waiting. Things have not gotten better as the season has gone along. Hopkins has 199 yards and zero touchdowns in his past four games. He now has no chance of duplicating the numbers he had in 2015 when he torched defensive backfields with 111 receptions for 1,521 yards and 11 touchdowns. If you chose Hopkins instead of Atlanta’s Julio Jones, New York’s Odell Beckham, or Cincinnati’s A.J. Green during your fantasy draft, you now look dumber than Jeff Fisher does for sticking with Case Keenum as his starting signal caller for so long in Los Angeles.
There is no reason for fantasy owners to think Osweiler will start throwing tight spirals and pinpoint passes now, and with Houston in first place there probably will not be a quarterback change. That means Hopkins is hopelessly stuck with an inaccurate quarterback and will be constantly double teamed because the rest of his receiving corps does not scare secondaries. Using him from here on out in big fantasy games is going to be dicey.
Devonta Freeman, Atlanta Falcons (RB)
Freeman had his chance to solidify himself as Atlanta’s top tailback when Tevin Coleman was out nursing a bad hamstring. But this powerful pipsqueak blew his opportunity like the San Diego Chargers blow leads on a weekly basis.
Freeman touched the ball as much without having to share playing time with Coleman than he did early in the season when the pair was splitting the carries Third-stringer Terron Ward took the place of Coleman as the man to steal Freeman’s yards and curb his fantasy worth. Freeman scored two times in his first game without Coleman around but went without a trip to Touchdownville in his last two contests. His 186 combined yards during that pair of weeks was nice but did not win his fantasy owners any games.
Coleman is slated to come back next weekend after Atlanta returns from their bye, so look for the Falcons to take a Ginsu knife to Freeman’s carries again and allow the explosive Coleman to return to his role as the home run hitter in the offense. Freeman’s fantasy value will still be solid, but not spectacular, so using him as the number one back in a fantasy lineup is risky.
Latavius Murray, Oakland Raiders (RB)
Murray is two games removed from best performance of the season (114 rushing yards and three touchdowns against Denver). So this means all signs point to Murray being a fantasy powerhouse over the last six weeks of the campaign, right? Right? Well, right?
Murray leads the Raiders' backfield in rushing attempts and touchdowns, but he is harder to figure out from week-to-week than Bill Belichick’s game plans. Because Oakland’s offense normally rides the hot hand when running the ball, and the coaches like to divvy up the carries between three-to-four different backs, there are games where Murray only carries the ball 8-11 times. It has happened four times out of the seven games Murray has suited up this season.
You would think Murray would be Oakland’s main man in the rushing attack since he is the team’s most solid option at RB. When the Raiders are battling for a playoff berth and a division title, why would they rely less on Murray and more on Jalen Richard and DeAndre Washington? But fantasy owners are going to have a difficult time trusting Murray and putting him in their lineups when he does not get a consistent workload on a weekly basis.
Ryan Tannehill, Miami Dolphins (QB)
Tannehill has been playing his best ball over the past month as he has not thrown any interceptions while tossing six touchdown passes. His pass attempts and yardage totals are down during that period because he has been handing off to sudden superstar Jay Ajayi 20-25 times per game, so he has not exactly been fantasy gold, but at least his numbers have been worthy of being a No. 2 QB on a fantasy team and an occasional spot starter.
But Tannehill’s schedule has me more worried than getting a colonoscopy. During the upcoming six-game span he has to face Arizona at home and the Los Angeles Rams, New York Jets, Baltimore, and Buffalo on the road. Those are some pretty solid defenses there, defenses that could wreak havoc on his stats. Expect a couple 175-yard games with one touchdown and two picks.
Counting on Tannehill in big fantasy spots is like counting on my fiancée to remember the name of every kicker I have had on my fantasy teams over the last three years. Tannehill should only be trusted against poor defenses (Week 12 against San Francisco for example) or if your only other option at QB is one of the Cleveland Browns' quarterbacks.
