Rashard Mendenhall has seemingly passed the first fantasy hurdle. Posting two solid performances with an increased workload has earned him more carries in Pittsburgh’s backfield. How many more is still unknown. Willie Parker has watched Mendenhall the past two weeks and knows he needs to get back on the field soon or he will lose his job. In fact, I’d be surprised if Parker does not play this week regardless how his toe feels. Read MoreThe Steelers face the Cleveland Browns this weekend. Parker, and the casual fantasy owner, realizes Mendenhall is in line for a nice day. The key for Fast Willie is just getting back on the field and letting the coaching staff know he deserves some carries too. Mendenhall owners should think about selling high if the price is right. More likely, you will just have to let the situation play out.
Unfortunately, I think Mendenhall’s time as a premium fantasy option will be suspended following this week. Do not cast him aside. He should get enough carries to remain a useful RB2 in deeper leagues and flex option in shallower formats.
Parker is no sure bet to remain healthy making Mendenhall’s upside appealing to his faithful followers. Parker could come back too quickly from an injury that does have a tendency to linger. Worse, Parker could come back and not be as productive as Mendenhall. At this point, consider Mendenhall a top option against the Browns for week 6 and downgrade him to RB2 status moving forward. If you can afford to stash him on your roster he is an investment that could pay dividends by the time your league’s playoffs begin.
After having a few “trade situations” arise in more than one of my leagues, I felt inspired to discuss the topic further. There is no right or wrong way to trade but there are different approaches. My approach is outlined over on FFToday if you want to take a gander.
The last thing I want to touch on today is how to cope with a goose egg. A handful of players found in starting lineups simply provided little or nothing to their respective owners. Calvin Johnson and Jerricho Cotchery’s day were affected by injury. However, Derrick Mason, Chris Cooley, Randy Moss, DeSean Jackson, Mike Sims-Walker, Dustin Keller and Laveranues Coles dug craters in many lineups. I wasn’t burned as badly as others but you can’t take it too hard. All you can do when managing your team is put your best guys out there and hope for the best. Did you really have a better option? Outside of Coles and Keller everyone else I mentioned should have been in your lineup. It’s unfortunate and unlucky, but it happens.
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