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When an incentive is front of you no matter how minor it is, you’re going to strive for it. In grade school if the teacher had to pull out candy to get students to answer a question, you raised that hand. If at work you’re involved in a contest for a day off or incentive laden performance goal, you put in the extra effort to try and reach it. The NFL is no different and fantasy owners should take note of the current 2013 players that are in contract years.

These are all considered under achievers for the most part and should have money on their mind each game, instead of before the game on Friday’s when they collect a team check.

Josh Freeman, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The talent has to still be there. When Freeman threw for 25 touchdowns and six interceptions he had me glowing as I had selected him in a dynasty rookie league draft. He was stashed behind Peyton Manning. So when Manning went down for 2011, I thought I was all fine and dandy with Freeman for 2011. Boy was that a rough year for my dynasty league team as Freeman threw just 16 touchdowns to go along with 22 interceptions. He recovered somewhat last year, and he is in a must-prove situation now. I’d classify Freeman as a sleeper as he has about as great a cast around him offensively as a quarterback could hope for, with Doug Martin, Mike Williams, and Vinny Jackson. Remember Doug Martin did not fully emerge for the Bucs offense until after week eight. Look for the offense to flow more running the ball first and then through the air.

Darren McFadden, Oakland Raiders
The storm has occurred via Shaun King for McFadden. King blasted McFadden’s preseason effort on air during week two of the preseason. Obvious reaction to those comments would cause high alert and alarm for fantasy draftees. Maybe he is a bit out of shape and has an injury prone history, but McFadden has shown when on the field he is one of the better backs in football. Sure he truly has only had one great season, but you can say that for other running backs including Doug Martin and Trent Richardson. McFadden is in a contract year which means he may play through a few nagging injuries this season.

Ben Tate, Houston Texans
The injury concerns of Arian Foster may have been just out played by the media. What can not be outplayed is the fact that Foster has been an old school workhorse back the last three seasons. Wear and tear has proven to rear its head and not go away to the detriment of backs like Foster. He may be a year or two away from a decline. For insurance, Houston will likely increase Tate’s carries slightly and figure out if they want to retain him as the complimentary back in 2014.

Donald Brown, Indianapolis Colts
Indianapolis just never seems to be able to get a grip of their running back situation since Joseph Addai hit the wall. Donald Brown was drafted and never took off, then Delone Carter who was recently traded, and last year Vick Ballard. Ballard has the keys right now. How long that will last is what gives Brown another chance to take another crack at the role. The Colts have always fluctuated in the backfield and I think that has more to do with the fact that they love to air out the football than anything else. Brown the former first round pick has shown flashes but needs to stay healthy.

Kenny Britt, Tennessee Titans
Injuries and non-discipline have turned Britt from a big surprise to a dud instantly. The former Rutgers receiver is who he is. A tall target that can stretch the field from time to time. Teams know what he is capable of as Britt’s offseason market value is already established. I don’t expect him to do anything abnormal with his season coming up.

James Jones, Green Bay Packers
All fantasy football owners should know that Jones touchdown totals and season as a whole were and will be his career year. Jones role in Green Bay is best suited for the third wide receiver role that can spring a few big games a season. As far as an every down receiver he probably can do it for stretches. Having the drops that he does though lowers his on the field value from a coaching standpoint and fantasy standpoint. He benefitted for stretches last season with injuries at receiver to Green Bay and may get that opportunity again.

Golden Tate, Seattle Seahawks
Tate is a Seattle guy and Seattle receiver. Can you remember the last Seattle Seahawks receiver that had significant fantasy football value? Seattle has not had a 1,000 yard receiver since Bobby Engram did it in 2007. Quite awhile, but Seattle has a team identity and does not worry about satisfying stats. Tate does his job and will only continue to be a mediocre bench fantasy producer.

Brandon LaFell, Carolina Panthers
Sooner or later you would expect LaFell to have a breakout season. It seems as if Steve Smith has been the only Carolina Panthers receiver to don the uniform with value in quite awhile. Where is Wesley Walls when you need him, so the Panthers can run double tight end formations with Greg Olsen. It sounds funny, but Carolina has failed mightily to get Smith an opposite threat. It looks like LaFell will be the latest. I do not expect him to be back in a Panther uniform. This time next year he will be fighting to make a roster in the preseason.

Darrius Heyward-Bey, Indianapolis Colts
Oakland execs and the rest of the NFL new that the Raiders made a horrific high selection pick with Bey. Maybe if he would have been drafted in the third round, his mediocre seasons in Oakland would look better. Possessing speed is still his main asset. Being brought to Indianapolis to be the third receiver seems to be a better suited role for Bey. He was in a poor situation in Oakland, so maybe he can make the most of his one year as a Colt. I’d consider him as a bench fantasy receiver with a sleeper annotation. Reggie Wayne is aging, and teams know what TY Hilton is all about after his season a year ago.

Ed Dickson, Baltimore Ravens
Dickson gets likely his last shot at being a tight end number one for an entire season because of a season ending injury to Dennis Pitta. In a league that blossomed and transformed tight ends overnight, Dickson is going to have a hard time fitting GM’s new mindset on a starting tight end. He will find a role if the Ravens do not re-sign him, but it’ll be a developmental non-significant premier role. Value for this season on the other hand is promising. Stash him as your tight end two for now, and plan on using him only for a bye week or injury issues.

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What type of fantasy owner are you when it comes to receivers? Three roster starting spots are vital on a given week, and you need to plan accordingly. But do not be one of those owners that has drafts to have limitless options. You do not want to have six or seven receivers on your fantasy roster. Draft to fulfill needs and draft strong but try to keep your wide receiver depth at five. That way you are not being burden with too many tough decisions for your third receiver starting spot on Sunday. If you have to pick out of four receivers to select for your third starting spot on Sunday, that’s just a 25 percent chance of picking the right guy.

I’d rather have to make that decision between three guys. You can analyze the matchups better and should make more of an appropriate decision. Nothing is worse than having one of your bench wide receivers go off on a given weekend. It just creates more of an indecisive move for you the following week. Automatically inserting that receiver the next week causes a tailspin of inputting the wrong receiver as he puts up a dud performance. Stick with your guns and limit your options. You’ll get a better result and if worse comes to worse, do a proper trade to upgrade instead of working with poor depth.
Here are updated wide receiver rankings for August 23rd.

1. Calvin Johnson
2. AJ Green
3. Dez Bryant
4. Larry Fitzgerald
5. Julio Jones
6. Brandon Marshall
7. DeMaryius Thomas
8. Andre Johnson
9. Randall Cobb
10. Reggie Wayne
11. Victor Cruz
12. Roddy White
13. Mike Wallace
14. Torrey Smith
15. Hakeem Nicks
16. Danny Amendola
17. Dwayne Bowe
18. Eric Decker
19. DeSean Jackson
20. Jordy Nelson
21. Marques Colston
22. Steve Smith
23. Antonio Brown
24. Pierre Garcon
25. Mike Wallace
26. Wes Welker
27. Greg Jennings
28. TY Hilton
29. Cecil Shorts
30. Golden Tate
31. James Jones
32. Stevie Johnson
33. Michael Floyd
34. Miles Austin
35. Tavon Austin
36. Lance Moore
37. Chris Givens
38. Josh Gordon
39. Sidney Rice
40. Anquan Boldin
41. Emmanuel Sanders
42. Alshon Jeffrey
43. Mohamed Sanu
44. Kenny Britt
45. Brian Hartline
46. Rod Streater
47. Reuben Randle
48. Santonio Holmes
49. Brandon Gibson
50. Jacoby Jones
51. Justin Blackmon
52. Andre Roberts
53. Malcolm Floyd
54. Darrius Heyward-Bey
55. Brandon LaFell
56. Denarius Moore
57. Riley Cooper
58. Ryan Broyles
59. Kenbrell Thompkins
60. Aaron Dobson
61. Cordarrelle Paterson
62. Robert Woods
63. Greg Little
64. Kendall Wright
65. Keenan Allen

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The fact that Le’Veon Bell went down to injury is noteworthy. Now that it has been classified as a mild sprain, fantasy owners can prepare for the Steelers backfield over the course of the first four to six weeks of the regular season. It’s not like owners have not seen it before. This has occurred frequently in the Pittsburgh backfield since Rashard Mendenhall went down a few years ago, and never could overtake the position last year.

Offensive worries for the Steelers should be more focused on the offensive line and protecting Big Ben. Todd Haley’s offensive play calling will be in serious question if the Steelers continue to get over ran in the trenches on the offensive line. They need to perform better as a unit or it will not matter if Tim Tebow is in the backfield for crying out loud.

Let’s pick apart the current Steelers backfield of Isaac Redman, Jonathan Dwyer, and LaRod Stephens-Howling on who will be the main threats for fantasy points. I do believe all will pay a vital role, as Todd Haley coordinates the offense more around a tailored power game, until the offensive line shows more cohesiveness.

Biggest Threat:
LaRod Stephens-Howling is one of those scat backs that has developed over the years as a suitable guy out of the backfield in third down situations. When injury woes last year in Arizona to Beanie Wells and Ryan Williams occurred, Howling showed that he can do more than be a situational down athlete. He had two one hundred yard rushing games last year. On a poor Cardinals offense he was still under-utilized. The Steelers saw value in him and I believe they’ll tinker with using his skills more with Bell out. Quick screens to keep the defense honest is always a key play to have. That’s not a possible play to run with Dwyer or Redman

Best Option:
Jonathan Dwyer’s break away speed and burst through the hole may be dead last in the NFL, but Dwyer is a big body that defenses have a hard time bringing down. He averaged four yards a carry last year but never really grasped a hold of the tail back position like the Steelers would have liked. Based on his preseason thus far and compared to Redman, Dwyer looks like the guy the Steelers would lean on. He needs to find his way into the end zone more to be of fantasy significance, as putting up DeAngelo Williams/Jonathan Stewart rushing yards is not going to cut it. By the Steelers drafting Bell that should have been a wake up call for Dwyer. I think he’ll respond and exceed fantasy expectations the first month of the season.

DOG HOUSE FANTASY OPTION:
Fumbleitis does not go away in the minds of head coaches. Isaac Redman may be a contracted Steeler but neither Todd Haley or Steelers Head coach Mike Tomlin is going to lean on Redman after his three fumbles on just 110 carries last season. Quite frankly the Steelers would have leaned more heavily on Dwyer if he had the versatility as an all-around back. Now that Stephens-Howling is in the fold, and barring Howling’s health, I do not believe Redman will see the field nearly as much as fantasy owners are with Bell out.

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A turnover in football is always unexpected and the vast majority of the time causes chaos on the field. Delayed reaction from coaches to challenge the play, turns into referees going to the monitor for an extended amount of minutes to see if the play was correct or not. Once the call is upheld or over turned that delay turns into an instantaneous move on your stat tracker. Minus two to such and such a player occurs, and can derail momentum for your fantasy player.
On the field that turnover produced by your fantasy player could mean a negative impact the rest of the game. Maybe he got hurt on the play, or his head coach may decide he needs to alter the runs or throws that player is doing. Occasionally that player may even be told to take a seat or he may see his carries reduced heavily the rest of the game.

Unfortunately in fantasy football your bench is non-existent when it comes to being interchangeable on game day. With all the advents in scoring and league changes, I would not be surprised to see leagues that allow roster moves live. There’d be kinks to it, but a move of a player could only happen with a player that is ahead on the game clock in terms of quarters to be allowed to be substituted for a player. Seemingly you would not be allowed to sub an athlete out that scored four points in three quarters for one that’s playing in the late game.

I’ve seen it all too often where an athlete has eight to ten fantasy points and then a turnover rattles them to the point they’re ineffective the rest of the way. You have to know who are the prone athletes to turning the football over. Here are fantasy worthy positional players that were at the top of the league in fumbling and interceptions last season. Quarterbacks I have showcased both interceptions and fumbles.

QB INTS QB Fumbles RB Fumbles WR Fumbles TE Fumbles
Romo 19 Rivers 7 Chris Johnson 4 B. Brown 3 D. Thomas 3 Pettigrew 2
Brees 19 Vick 5 McGahee 4 Morris 3 Megatron 3
Luck 18 Luck 5 Redman 4 McCoy 3 Colston 2
Stafford 17 Cutler 4 Jackson 4 LeShoure 3 Amendola 2
Rivers 15 Rodgers 4 Spiller 3 E. Sanders 2
Ryan 14 Stafford 4 Charles 3

At quarterback you see two names linked to both interceptions and fumbles. If they’re not considered a tier one or two fantasy quarterback I left their names void on this list. We’re only considering starter stats that affect your results in fantasy scoring. Matt Stafford and Philip Rivers were both in the top six for fumbles and interceptions, and each drove their fantasy owners crazy a season ago. Stafford owners more than Rivers because of the notoriety that came with selecting Stafford as a high round draft pick. Linking Stafford to such non-illustrious fantasy weeks is easy now that we see the turnover issues. Not only was he forced to throw the football too many times, but defenses were able to unload with pressure because they knew the Lions were throwing the football. Even though Rivers is a downgraded fantasy player these days, you have to wonder if a revamped change in coaching may help protect Rivers a bit more.
Running backs main goal on the football field is to protect the football. A coach does not care if it’s for a one yard pile plunger, or an open field burst. The ball carrier is taught to protect the football, and it is harped on every day in practice. Punching the football out and gang tackling to produce a fumble is becoming more of a skill by defenders. All in all fumbles are going to happen but they need to be analyzed versus the amount of carries a back has received.
Fred Jackson and CJ Spiller combined had seven fumbles on the season in 2012. That’s not acceptable from a backfield that is supposed to try and aide their new rookie quarterback. When news broke out of Le’Veon Bell’s foot injury many would think Isaac Redman has a solid chance to reclaim a role like he had a year ago. He may get a few carries in the mean time but the Steelers will likely look elsewhere after Redman’s four fumbles on just 110 carries last season.

At wide receiver and tight end the fumbles are not as worrisome. One they’re handling the football on a much less of a ratio than a quarterback or running back. Secondly, if a fumble occurs with a receiver or tight end they are more than likely flying down the football field. If the ball pops out chances are they’re close to the sideline, or in the open field. Further away from the line of scrimmage increases the opportunity of a recovery by the offense because the defensive lineman and linebackers usually are not down the field.

The only player I’d be concerned about would be Marques Colston. His total fumbles were only two but four were forced on him. He is a taller body that never necessarily had speed coming into the league. Ball protection will be heightened for emphasis when it comes to Colston by his coaching staff.

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When talent evaluation occurs for NFL prospects an area of focus tends to be an athlete’s forty yard dash speed. Al Davis was notorious for heightening the speed at combine’s and over reaching for athletes in the NFL draft. He wanted speed on the field and when a match occurs with talent, it’s deadly on the football field.

For us in the fantasy sports world there are scales of receivers that have speed, but are they worth drafting? Year after year the draft occurs and some of these names may have fallen off your rememberance track. Get them back in your fantasy view.

Tavon Austin- St. Louis
In college Austin was a mismatch seemingly as soon as he stepped onto the field. Years from now people may forget the link of Austin to quarterback Geno Smith, but Austin had a lot to do with Smith’s success. St. Louis and Sam Bradford are hoping the same will translate to the NFL. His size at just 5’8, and near 180 pounds could be a cause for alarm.

Calvin Johnson- Detroit
Yes Megatron is who he is, and will appear on almost every freak list, because he is just that. He possesses the strength, speed, and leaping ability to destroy secondaries with what ever weapon he chooses to.

Travis Benjamin- Cleveland-
The second year pro had a semi-decent rookie year with the Browns adjusting to a new quarterback and running back. By bringing in Norv Turner, Benjamin could see even more of a spike in production. He is primarily a speed threat, but Turner will figure out a way for Benjamin to have a niche in his offense.

DeSean Jackson- Philadelphia Eagles
One has to wonder if at this point in Jackson’s career if he would be better suited to be a wide receiver two in the NFL. With McNabb and Vick years ago, Jackson could get away with the deep route plays against almost any corner in the league. Nowadays it’s tougher for Jackson and that diminishes his value on the football field, and hurts the offense. From a fantasy perspective, Jackson has to be looked at as a WR3, due to his unreliability on a week to week basis.

Mike Wallace- Miami Dolphins
Wallace got his payday with Miami in the off-season. Watchful contract eyes will now be on Wallace. Will the payday cause a retreat in his performance on the field, or will he catapult the young Ryan Tannehill to another level? Wallace’s average yards per catch is sky-high and will not go away. As long as Wallace does not disappear in games and can catch around 70 to 80 balls, he will be a constant in the top twenty and likely shoot closer to the top ten/twelve fantasy wide receivers.

Others With Speed, but Not Fantasy Football Worthy
Jacoby Ford- Oakland Raiders
Trindon Holiday- Denver Broncos
Darrius Heyward-Bey- Indianapolis Colts

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DETROIT HAS A SLIGHT ONE POINT EDGE AT HOME FROM THE VEGAS ODDMAKERS AND OFF-SHORE BOOKS. TIME TABLE OF PLAYING TIME AMONGST STARTERS FIGURES TO GO PAST THE FIRST QUARTER AND LIKELY WELL INTO THE SECOND. THAT’S ENOUGH OF A LIGHTNING ROUND TO PLEASE TOM BRADY, WHO HAS SHOWN GREAT EFFICIENCY WHILE ON THE FIELD IN PRESEASON. THUS FAR THROWING FOR THREE TOUCHDOWN STRIKES WHILE GOING 18 OF 20 IN BOTH GAMES COMBINED. A STELLAR PERCENTAGE THAT GROSSLY COULD FIND ROOM TO BE EVEN BETTER VERSUS THE DETROIT DEFENSE. I THINK THAT’S WHERE VEGAS FIGURES TO GIVE DETROIT A SLIGHT EDGE, AS THE DEFENSIVE STARTERS MAY STAY ONTO THE FIELD INTO THE SECOND HALF, WITH HOW POOR THEY’VE BEEN IN TWO GAMES IN THE PRESEASON.

WHILE DETROIT DOES HAVE TREMENDOUS DEPTH IN THEIR BACKFIELD THAT WOULD LEAD YOU TO TIP TO THEIR SIDE FOR A SECOND HALF COME BACK, I JUST THINK THE PATRIOTS FIRST UNIT AND EVEN THEIR SECOND UNIT WILL GET THE PATRIOTS A DOUBLE DIGIT LEAD. WITH TIM TEBOW’S JOB AS QUARTERBACK AND ROLE UNDEFINED LOOK FOR BILL BELICHICK TO RESORT BACK TO USING RYAN MALLET FOR MOST OF THE SECOND HALF SERIES. MALLET WILL BE THE DIFFERENCE, AND I WOULD NOT EXPECT TEBOW INTO THE GAME UNTIL THE LAST PORTION OF THE FOURTH QUARTER.

THE PATRIOTS GAVE TEBOW THE ENTIRE SECOND HALF A WEEK AGO TO AUDITION FOR A QUARTERBACK POSITION, AND THAT IS ALL THEY NEEDED TO SEE FOR THE CAPPING FACT THAT HE WILL NEED A REDEFINED ROLE AS A PATRIOT OR ELSEWHERE IN THE LEAGUE.

TAKE THE PATRIOTS +1