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Carson Palmer

Carson’s played in two games now and appears to be healthy. I had big concerns over his lingering shoulder issue that caused him to miss a length of time. But treatments seem to have hi in order. The offense has not been as explosive as people would think. Yet, Palmer is putting up solid numbers without his costly interceptions. This offense should spike up as more momentum builds with Carson on the field

Tre Mason

Those that didn’t take the advice on scooping Mason up last week have found themselves in the mix of every other owner in league. Depending on your bid system you’ll certainly have to risk a heavy amount on Mason. St. Louis has done a fine job over the years on plugging in backs and Mason looks like the next in line.

Bryce Brown

I’m not a big fan of Brown’s but he does have a prime opportunity with CJ Spiller out for eight weeks and Fred Jackson out for at least a month with a groin injury. The Bills offense is not a wide open attack like the Eagles had for him last year. I believe he’ll struggle a bit and don’t be surprised if Anthony Dixon steals some of his thunder.

Bishop Sankey

There are some fantasy owners that drew impatient with Sankey’s lack of carries early on in the season. But at the midway point of the season now the Titans need to see what type of back they drafted in Sankey. His sixteen carries last week didn’t spark a fantasy outbreak but the high load should warrant solid attention.

DeNard Robinson
Robinson will be a classic one week wonder but I’ll profile him anyways for deeper leagues. Robinson ran up against a Cleveland Browns defense that had key injuries along it’s defensive line. Robinson took advantage of that but only carries the football in one primary way. Just like in college he can hit the hole in between the tackles. Defenses will catch up to this and see if he can run to the edge and show he is more than a north and south runner.

Doug Baldwin

It’s no shock that Baldwin is flourishing with Percy Harvin traded. Golden Tate was Russ Wilson’s other big target but he signed with Detroit. That left Baldwin to fill the primary role for Seattle and he should perform like he has in the past. The problem for owners that pick him up now is waiting for his next big game. They usually come one every three to four games.

Post Week One Waiver Wire

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Did you over draft to get Zach Sudfeld and took a goose egg for his performance? That may be an over reaction searching for a new tight end starter already. But a fantasy season is short and moves need to be made quickly not in contemplation. If the depth on your roster is mediocre or you had a mediocre draft there were plenty of ahtletes that shined in week one that can boost your roster’s overall value.

Quarterbacks

Terrelle Pryor
No one had more of a booming impact in week one than Terrelle Pryor. Often times quarterbacks that teams have slim game film on are able to get off to a solid career start. That has happened for Terrelle Pryor who the Raiders used to his skillset perfectly. They rolled him out for throws, and mixed in designed quick throws to keep his confidence up. That won’t go away in future weeks. Either will the threat he has with his legs which is Pryor’s biggest fantasy asset.

Carson Palmer
You have to be careful with Palmer because he is who he is. His poor moments typically turn into poor games. But when he is on he can be a lethal quarterback. He connected week one on a couple of nice deep ball throws against the Rams. With Michael Floyd, Fitz, and Andre Roberts opportunities to air out the football won’t go away. If his health can remain entact than Palmer is a viable fantasy backup.

Running Backs

Le’Veon Bell
Pittsburgh’s offensive woes revolve around numerous issues. One of the main ones is that the do not have a factor back to hand the football too. If people in your fantasy drafts were scared by the platoon of Steelers backs or Bell’s injury, now is the time to capitalize. He’ll be back sooner than later and should spark some momentum in a dead offense.

*Note Vereen will miss up to four weeks with a broken bone in his wrist. He is still a high value pickup, if he is available.

Shane Vereen
Vereen rescued the Patriots from a loss week one to the Bills. With the passing game suffocated by the Bills secondary in the second half, the Patriots reshuffled their game planning after several three and outs. That game plan shifted to Vereen who responded with several back to back chunk yardage gainers. You wouldn’t think he is available in leagues but he is available in near 20 percent of Yahoo fantasy leagues.

Wide Receivers

Michael Floyd
The aerial threat for the Arizona Cardinals has re-arrived. Something that was missing for three years since Kurt Warner’s retirement. It may take awhile for things to really heat up for the Cardinals offense but it’ll continue to blossom over the course of the season. Attention on Larry Fitzgerald is not going to go away. It appears that Floyd is ready to overtake the second receiver role and fill it appropriately.

Jerome Simpson
Simpson’s speed has came back after strugglin with minor injuries and inconsistency last year. Minnesota looks like they want to attempt to develop the passing game, even though it resulted in many poor decisions by Christian Ponder Sunday. The positive of it though was Simpson, who made a couple of diving stellar catches. One was on the end of a near fifty yarder in which he outstretched his arms perfectly to haul in the pass.

Brandon Stokely
With Jacoby Jones out for an expected four to six weeks, Joe Flacco is going to need to find another target to seek. Stokely is the best option as he has the experience and better route running than Marlon Brown. Though Brown did have the better week one, that was largely due to Flacco chucking the football with the Ravens down big. In conventional close games it will be Stokely who is more involved.

Jordan Cameron, Tight End
There were two tight ends that were trumped by fantasy analysts as must needs. One was Zach Sudfeld who was held without a catch Sunday. Cameron was the other and he continued to shine with the best tight end performance of any tight end Sunday. Good luck to the fantasy owners pursuing Cameron this week in the twenty one percent of leagues he is available in.

Julius Thomas, Tight End
Thomas exploded onto the fantasy radar Thursday. Anyone and everyone that doesn’t have a tight end named Gonzalez, Gronk, Graham, or Witten will be purchasing a bid on Thomas. Peyton Manning has never been known to develop too many fantasy one week wonders in his time. If he considers a player an asset than he will be a contributor all season long.

Harry Douglas
The Falcons offense only scored 17 points Sunday. That may end up being their season low on the year. They’re loaded and Matt Ryan is one of the best quarterbacks on his home turf. They’re are a couple of variables that make adding Douglas to your team a possibility. Teams are going to pay more attention to Tony Gonzalez, and Roddy White is playing through a high ankle sprain right now.

Kellen Winslow
Winslow is hoping to have a successful comeback after years of failed stops with different teams. He is healthy now and looked sharp against the Buccaneers, one of his former teams, Sunday. He was Geno Smith’s safety valve several times on the lone drive in which the Jets scored a touchdown.

Brian Hartline
Until Mike Wallace shakes the home run or nothing label, Hartline is going to continue to reappear on the fantasy football spectrum. He had a great week one debut. These type of performances are not out of the ordinary for Hartline. Last year he had a few big games but that was with a weaker Miami receiving corp. Keep an eye on how the Miami passing attack evolves with newcomers Gibson and Wallace. Hartline should hold value with with a tight end option not there for the Dolphins.

Kenny Stills
Stills shined in the preseason with a few dazzling catches. Marques Colston has exceeded anyone’s expectations after bein a 7th round draft pick. Age and injuries are catching up to Colston. A receiver like Stills can help alleviate the pressure of Colston being a number one receiver on the decline. Expect Stills to overtake Colston as the primary target before the year is over.

Julian Edelman
Falling in love with new names on high scoring offenses is a trap many fantasy owners fall for. It was Edelman that outshined Danny Amendola and the slew of rookies elevated to bestow fantasy levitation instantly. Edelman looked great in the slot and that is where Brady is comfortable throwing the football. Two touchdowns don’t hurt either.

By Zack Cimini
notjustagame23@gmail.com

Remember the days when Carson Palmer looked like he could be and played like an elite fantasy quarterback? Questioning Palmer now boils around several areas. He is on a talented team with a nucleus that’s been building forward. Additions have been made that should bolster this team and propel them for not just divisional contention but a strong playoff push. Yet, the majority of questions circling this Bengals team point at Palmer.

Palmer has declined in a plethora of areas. Maybe he has never fully recovered from apparent elbow issues from a few years ago. Early season rust? Possibly. Some of the throws Palmer has been making though are just down right third string quarterback level. He is firing into areas of the field he has no business. Against the Panthers this past weekend he was lucky he was only intercepted twice. Numerous throws were errant and dropped by the Panthers defense. For quite a while the Panthers remained in the game against the Benglas. Even though they were starting Jimmy Clausen who was having a typical rookie quarterback nightmare debut.

With a current quarterback rating of 71, the front office has to be taken note. We see them looking to either bring in a quarterback via free agency or through the draft to give Palmer some pressure.

The Bengals were able to side step Palmer’s struggles last season by basically flipping their offense from prior years. Instead of gunning the football they became one of the top teams in the league at rushing the football. Cedric Benson had games were he carried the football 37, 34, 36, and 29 times. A very high amount compared to most starting backs in the league. Palmer’s career average of yards per game also was a paltry 193 yards.

Fantasy owners were disappointed last year in Palmer’s productions and are realizing that is not going to change. Can he turn it around once he develops a better feel for rookie Jordan Shipley and veteran Terrell Owens? We highly doubt it. Whatever is going on with Palmer it seems that he has hit that ugly Jake Delhomme wall. He has the ability to make an array of throws but consistency will never be a path he can take. He’ll deliver a dandy of a pass to Chad Johnson and two plays later throw a pick directly to a middle linebacker. Defensive schemes don’t change up enough for Palmer to not recognize the disguises and what’s going on out there. He has to regain confidence and get this team clicking offensively. If not there season could get real ugly.

At this point, Palmer should be considered as a fantasy backup quarterback with little upside. Until he proves he can limit his interceptions he should never start unless it’s a prime matchup. His yardage numbers are not there and you can’t anticipate him having a game of multiple touchdown passes. It’s a sad day when Palmer is rated on the same tier level of a Ryan Fitzpatrick or Bruce Gradkowski. That’s reality, as Palmer has done a 360 in the wrong fashion of where people thought he would be at this point in his career.