Fantasy Football: Week 14 Recap And A Look Ahead

With another wild week of NFL action behind us with exception of Monday Night Football, let us take a look at how your favorite NFL fantasy stars fared this week.

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Le’Veon Bell completely plowed through this week like a man on a mission for your fantasy team, and if you own him you are likely already setting your roster for round 2 of your playoffs. It is at this point you need to take a look at your team and consider insuring or handcuffing a player that has become that valuable to the success of your team. I mean, after all, what good is having four starting RBs if you can only activate two a week? By this point most successful teams likely have their starting lineups set in stone for the most part, and if something happened and Bell stepped in a hole at practice this week, you don’t want to be caught up running to the waiver wire and hoping you beat your opponent to pick up Dri Archer.

Now, chances are he is not ever going to replicate what Bell has accomplished thus far. You may not even start him, but you sure don’t want to run the risk of not getting him. Even worse, you don’t want your opponent pick him up only to find out he can replicate Bell’s stellar weekly numbers. So whoever it is at this point that is carrying the load for your fantasy team, take a few moments today to see who you might be wise to insure against the inevitable injury that is going to happen.

Dec 4, 2014; Chicago, IL, USA; Dallas Cowboys running back DeMarco Murray (29) runs with the ball during the second half against the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field. Dallas won 41-28. Mandatory Credit: Dennis Wierzbicki-USA TODAY Sports

Lets take a quick look around the league to see who has been hot and who has not. Not far behind Bell is DeMarco Murray, who has been on an absolute tear all season long. Murray is 1000% someone you will want to handcuff, and you might even want to pick up both guys just to be on the safe side as none of us ever really know when it comes to Jerry Jones. Joseph Randle and Lance Dunbar are the pickups here in that order. Now I am not telling you to go and cut a guy who is still performing at a high level and a guy you would start over these handcuffs in the case an injury causes your stud to sit out. However, I would definitely be cutting any lottery ticket type players, extra defenses, or God forbid, you rostered an extra kicker. In that case you might want to simply resign your fantasy sports career and pick up a different hobby like scrapbooking.

At the QB position, Cam Newton turned in his best performance of the year with 4 total TDs, with 83 yards and one of those TDs coming on the ground. That is the Cam Newton we have been waiting on all year. That is the two-in-one fantasy star that we have grown accustomed to when he produces great QB numbers and also better RB numbers than most team’s RB2s. If you have Newton, just keep starting him and hope that he is finally over those nagging injuries that have been hampering him all year. He may even lead you to the fake promised land.

Another at the QB spot that has dazzled over the last 2 weeks is Ben Roethlisberger. Ben tossed for 350 yards with 3 TDs and no picks. Keep him active, and don’t try to get cute and bite the hands that have fed your team all season.

Most of the big name WRs continue to do their thing unless they happen to have a Bronco on the side of their helmet. If you are a Denver fan, you probably just want to wipe this past week completely out of your memory bank and I don’t blame you. As a fantasy owner of any of the Denver studs, I would do the same thing and leave them in your lineups assuming you survived round one of the playoffs and expect Manning and company to right the ship this coming week in San Diego.

Down in New Orleans, something just doesn’t seem to be right. If you relied on Jimmy Graham to get you this far, you might be to the point of picking out your keepers for next year. If you somehow survived though, I suggest you just keep plugging away and stick Graham right back in your lineup unless you managed to snag a top option off the wire along the way. His upside coupled with the price you paid to have him on your team are usually too much to overcome and expect to win. Plus, how sick would you be if he had one of those Jimmy Graham type of days sitting on your bench?

Best of luck to you next week and if you need any help click the follow me button above and hit me up on Twitter at @davefuqua or in the comments below and I will be happy to help you take the title in your league!

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