Written By: Eric Olinger
In the Dynasty Leagues, most of our investments are in rookies. This year has been extremely difficult due to the lockout. Players weren’t allowed to practice, get the playbook, or develop any chemistry with teammates. Would things have played out differently for some of our high hope LBs and DEs? Would Aldon Smith have been producing like this from week 1? Would Mason Foster have had a better grasp of NFL speeds? Would the Eagles have wasted 3 games with the Casey Matthews experiment? Who knows? But now we’re starting to see the talent of this year’s draft class rise to the top and sort of get a better feeling for who are going to be key IDP assets for the future. Every rookie has his ups and downs, trying to predict them is like predicting the weather. Last week Aldon Smith didn’t record a tackle against a team that gave up 10(!) sacks the week before. Am I panicking? No. Did it suck for fantasy owners? Absolutely. Every rush OLB or DE has the potential to give you a goose egg. Dwight Freeney has annually been the prime example of this. My “Buys” this week focus on 3 rookies and a veteran coming off an injury. The rookies are guys on the upswing who I feel should be added if you have an extra roster spot after all the bye weeks or a declining veteran. So let’s get to it.
BUY
Robert Quinn- DE- St. Louis Rams
I loved this guy coming out of North Carolina and I loved it even more when he was drafted by St. Louis and Coach Spags. I knew he would be a great Dynasty stash but I also know it wouldn’t pay off immediately. Spags brings his rookies along slowly. They often don’t even dress until they know the playbook forwards and backwards. Recording a sack in his first career game made me that much more excited. Then he kinda disappeared on us. Well, he’s back. He’s recorded a sack in each of the last two games and he’s seeing more snaps in the line rotation. In a Dynasty league, great DE’s are the hardest to find and often come out of nowhere. Quinn is special. Most Dynasty leagues have larger rosters to be able to invest in players like this. I feel that he is a must add.
Brooks Reed- OLB- Houston Texans
Reed was compared to Clay Matthews Jr. on draft weekend, unfairly setting the bar too high for anyone. Reed was expected to be a situational pass rusher his 1styear, coming in on obvious passing downs to bookend Mario Williams. But instead Williams goes down with a season ending injury and Reed is forced into a full time role replacing him. In the 4 games since taking over, Reed has at least 1 sack in 3 of those games, including a 2 sack effort this past week vs. Cleveland. As any rookie, especially OLB, Reed will have his ups and downs but his play these past few weeks show why he was compared to Clay Matthews Jr.
Mason Foster- MLB- Tampa Bay Bucs
Foster was expected to step in as a rookie and fill the role vacated by Barrett Ruud. Foster played well the first couple games, got dinged up, and looked lost. Foster was definitely a lockout victim. He has the skills to be a 3-down LB and since sitting out the London game and having his bye in week 8 to get healthy, he appears back on track. Besides a tilt with GB in week 11, Foster will face a heavy dose of running teams the rest of the year. I like his chances to finish the year very strong.
Justin Tuck- DE- NY Giants
This one baffles me to no end. We constantly get asked if people should drop “Player x” because someone dropped Justin Tuck and/or Trent Cole. I understand anytime the neck is involved it’s a scary situation, but the Giants and Tuck were very smart not rushing him back. JPP, Tuck, and Umenyiora form the nastiest DE rotation in the league. For the rest of the year and beyond there are probably only 5 or 6 DE’s I would rather have on my roster.
SELL
Rolando McClain- LB- Oakland Raiders
McClain is a guy that people often talk about as if he’s an IDP asset. He’s not. He gets dinged up, lacks sideline to sideline speed, and is probably better suited for ILB in a 3-4 system. With the line in front of him he should have to fight through garbage but he fails to make an impact. Oakland is a very bad defense. There are 10 McClains on the waiver wire at any given time.
Aaron Curry- LB- Oakland Raiders
I talked about Curry before and after his trade from Seattle to Oakland and was excited to see him with a fresh start. Evidently it wasn’t a scheme thing in Seattle, it was a Curry thing. We’ve seen the same ol’ Curry in Oakland. He might be a serviceable NFL LB, but he does not belong on a fantasy roster.
Keith Brooking- LB- Dallas Cowboys
Even if Sean Lee is sidelined for an extended period, Brooking is not on the IDP radar. I was very curious to see how this situation played out this weekend. After watching the game I can say without any doubt that Brooking is now too old and slow to be an effective full time player. If Lee can’t play, Rob Ryan will be giving a crash course to Bruce Carter getting him up to speed. When you let Marshawn Lynch rip off 100+, you better figure out a plan B quickly.
Bart Scott- LB- NY Jets
The perfect player for Rex Ryan and the Jets, he exemplifies everything about the Jets. All talk and no production. Scott might be the vocal leader of this defense, but he’s a fraud. He doesn’t make big impact plays and his tackle numbers are never among the league leaders. Scott is a plug and play LB to be used for bye weeks and spot starts to fill in for injured players. Ryan calls him his “Ray Lewis of this defense”…not quite.
Good luck this week everyone. Thanks for reading! Comments, suggestions or questions are welcome below or by email at ericolinger@idpguru.com. You can also follow my active Twitter feed @Olinger3781.
Last Updated: November 11, 2011
