Each week I have been walking through the Twitterverse extracting some of the best commentary from trusted fantasy football minds and delivering to the general
public. Twitter can be overwhelming with the amount of information that streams live, but it also proves to be one of the fastest and easiest ways to communicate.
In 140 characters or less you can learn something about a player you would have never thought to analyze. Trends, stats, analysis and simple suggestions pour out weekly after the NFL action is completed and below are some of the highlights to consider when hitting the waiver wire or seeking trades to win your fantasy championships this season.
Danario Alexander, Chargers – Josh Moore (@4for4_Josh) highlighted Alexander’s week 14 performance stating, “Alexander excelled in a tough matchup. 7-88-2 on 11 targets. He’s a WR1 as long as he’s healthy. 30-494-5 last 5 games.” Averaging 15 fantasy points per week over the last 5 in standard leagues, Alexander has proven himself a valuable fantasy asset and weekly start.
Jeremy Maclin, Eagles – Despite his 9 catches, 104 yards and a TD in week 14, Maclin would not be in my starting lineups for the fantasy playoffs. A short week and the Bengals will most surely drop Maclin down to an unreliable fantasy start. As C.D. Carter (@CDCarter13) wrote, “More than anything, Jeremy Maclin’s Week 14 resurgence shows that every WR deserves consideration against that awful Bucs secondary.” I would be looking Lance Moore’s way this week.
Joique Bell, Lions – Brad Evans (@YahooNoise) offered a little week 15 roster advice to consider tweeting, “Great to see Linehan get Joique Bell more touches. RB averaging re-donk 6.9 yards per touch on season. Flexy sexy option at ARI in WK15.”
Ryan Mathews, Chargers – Mathews has been one of the most disappointing fantasy players this season. The extents of his failures were underscored best by Josh Moore (@4for4_Josh) sarcastically stating, “Ryan Mathews 25 touches, 6.5 fantasy football points. All he needed was the touches!” Josh went on to explain, “Jackie Battle (62) & Ronnie Brown (82) combined for 144 touches & 105 fantasy football points. Mathews has 95 (fantasy football) points on 216 touches. Now this is just amazing. Both Ronnie Brown (4.7/7.8) & Jackie Battle (4.1/7.5) have higher YPC & YPR than Ryan Mathews (3.8/6.8) in 2012.” I present Josh’s thoughts and stats more as something to remember before next season’s drafts. Mathews was thought of as a top 5 overall pick before his preseason injury and might actually get hyped again after Norv has departed, but Ryan is one player I will likely be avoiding.
Aaron Rodgers, Packers – The struggles of the elite QBs has been mentioned before in this weekly article, and Jim Day (@Fantasytaz) emphasized this trend even more when he tweeted, “There were 12 QBs who scored 20+ fantasy points in Wk 14 & didn’t include Brees, RG3, Peyton, Rodgers, Dalton, Freeman & Luck.” Jim went on to focus particularly on Rodgers stating, “Over the last month Aaron Rodgers is the 15th best scoring QB & didn’t top 20 fantasy points. #FantasyPlayoffKiller.” If you made it to the playoffs with Rodgers congratulations, the rest of your team must have been really good.
Brandon Marshall, Bears – Marshall sits atop the fantasy WRs through fourteen weeks. Chris Wesseling (@ChrisWesseling) highlighted an amazing stat that should possibly gain Marshall some real-life MVP attention of his own, “Only 8 WRs have 1,075+ yards this season. Brandon Marshall has 1,086 more receiving yards than the next closest Bears player.” When you get it done despite being the only threat you deserve some recognition.
Kenny Britt, Titans – Josh Moore (@4for4_Josh) tweeted, “Titans made a point of getting Kenny Britt involved. Season high 8 receptions & 143 yards on 9 targets. Jets, Packers, Jaguars next.” With the recent news regarding Cook being out the remainder of the season, Britt could see even more targets come his way. Britt is a fantasy playoff flex worth considering.
Cam Newton, Panthers – Newton was struggling earlier this season and most likely getting benched in fantasy leagues. Evan Silva (@evansilva) shows why for fantasy you just need to be hot at the right time stating, “Cam Newton is on a fantasy football team-carrying tear. Last 6 games: 15 TDs, 2 turnovers. 308.2-yard avg. NFL’s hottest QB west of Foxboro.” Hopefully you either still own Cam or are not playing against him.
Aaron Hernandez, Patriots – Hernandez is another player who is coming on strong just in time for the fantasy playoffs after a mid-season injury. Rumford Johnny (@RumfordJohnny) presented this takeaway from Monday night, “Hernandez was expected to be the main target, and he didn’t disappoint- 8/58/2TDs.” Despite playing the 2nd toughest defense against the tight ends in the 49ers this week, Hernandez should be starting for you if you own him.
Jets RBs – Watching the Jets play is not advised, but flexing their running backs might still be a viable option as Chris Wesseling (@ChrisWesseling) notes, “Your wild-card contending Jets have a pair of top-20 fantasy RBs over the past 5 weeks, Powell (15) + Greene (18).”
The below players are simply names and thoughts looking forward to 2013 fantasy drafts.
Josh Gordon, Browns – From Josh Moore (@4for4_Josh), “Season high 12 tgts & 8 recs for Josh Gordon. Volume + big play. Big-time sleeper in 2013. Fringe WR1 upside.”
Jacquizz Rodgers, Falcons – From Mike Clay (@MikeClayNFL), “Rodgers played more snaps than Michael Turner for the fourth week in a row – could Turner be offseason cap casualty? (Due $5.5 mill)” Rodgers may never be a workhorse RB, but a starter in the Falcons offense could net solid fantasy points on a weekly basis.
Pierre Garcon, Redskins – From Grant Paulsen (@granthpaulsen), “Pierre Garcon’s been targeted 26 times in his last 3 games. It’s unbelievable how different WSH’s offense is w/ him on the field.” Garcon may be a guy who slips in drafts because he did not play most of the season. Don’t let him slip too far as he has top 10 fantasy WR potential.
Vernon Davis, 49ers – From Josh Moore (@4for4_Josh), “Vernon Davis with 3 catches for 19 yards, no TDs on 6 targets… over his last 3 games. 13-169-4 his first 3 games of season.” With Kaepernick as the QB Davis has not been involved.
All of the above information and tweets came across the News page of my website, Fantasy Football Aggregator. Twitter can be overwhelming for most, but the FFGator News feeds take out much of the noise and provides the ability to search on specific players as well. News from top sources and fantasy football analysts are aggregated in one place, so if you enjoyed the above breakdowns, check out the site for even more. If you are on Twitter I also suggest following all of the above for great fantasy football analysis and commentary.
Follow Luke Wetta on Twitter @FFGator
      
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