John Beck takes over under center for the Dolphins.
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Injuries to the two primary
running backs, another back explodes onto the scene and could we have a
cornerback be the Defensive Rookie of the Year? All this and more in this week’s edition of the Rookie Report.
Quarterbacks
John Beck, Miami
Dolphins
Stats: N/A
Last Week: N/A
Ladies and Gentlemen, it is John
Beck time. Beck performed most of the first-team drills during the portion of Dolphins practice open to the media Wednesday and will take the field with said team during week 11. You can bet that Marty Booker
is happy, and hopefully it helps the abovementioned Ginn’s case a bit. Cleo Lemon
is a quicker quarterback, but there is no time like the present to get your
future ready.
Trent Edwards,
Buffalo Bills
Stats: 80-121, 790 yds., 1 TD, 5
INT, 69.9 PR
Last Week: N/A
While it was originally thought that Edwards would be back by now, he’s not going to take the field until next
week at the earliest with J.P. Losman
getting another start. Lee Evans owners have to be happy, but it
is not like the Bills haven’t been winning with J.P. at the helm. Good news for Edwards is that the Patriots
will make Losman look like he’s throwing with the wrong hand on several
occasions, so the rookie may get his job back sooner than later.
JaMarcus Russell,
Oakland Raiders
Stats: N/A
Last Week: N/A
The Sacramento Bee reports that
Russell may see the field this week as the Raiders take on the Vikings. While this should be a telltale sign that
the Vikings defense should be started in all formats, it is also not good for Daunte Culpepper who will have to pull out
a miracle just to stay on the field for the whole game. The NFL Network thinks that Russell will be
used in special packages where he only runs plays he’s comfortable with. Plan accordingly.
Running Backs
Adrian Peterson,
Minnesota Vikings
Stats: 169 car., 1081 yds., 8 TD;
15 rec., 220 yds., 1 TD
Last Week: 11 car., 45 yds., 0 TD;
3 rec., 14 yds,, 0 TD
Just when the world is riding high
with Peterson’s record-breaking week, he gets injured against the Green Bay
Packers – likely forcing him to miss multiple games. Peterson is obviously the future of the Vikings, and the future
is not worth gambling at this point in the season. Chester Taylor would regain the majority of the carries, but in
the meantime, Peterson may be on the cheap now if you are in a keeper
league. Throw out some feelers. It can’t hurt.
Marshawn Lynch,
Buffalo Bills
Stats: 196 car., 751 yds., 6 TD;
15 rec., 120 yds., 0 TD
Last Week: 19 car., 61 yds., 1 TD;
3 rec., 24 yds., 0 TD
Peterson was not the only rookie
running back to get injured last week.
Lynch left the game early with an ankle injury, but managed to put up a
respectable line beforehand. Take that,
Peterson! Thankfully for owners, there
was a chance that he wouldn’t be started this week against the Patriots, so
missing this week isn’t a huge deal.
Anthony Thomas and (fellow rookie) Dwayne Wright will split the carries
for week 11.
Ryan Grant, Green
Bay Packers
Stats: 72 car., 305 yds., 1 TD; 17
rec., 90 yds., 0 TD
Last Week: 25 car., 119 yds., 1
TD; 5 rec., 20 yds., 0 TD
Who would have thought that of the
rookie running backs to go off last week, it was Ryan Grant against a vaunted
Vikings run defense? Grant put up at
least 20 points for most owners, and even more when you consider his five
receptions. He’s the clear cut back in
Green bay right now – even to the point where the team is running the ball 25
times after starting the season off in pass-only mode. He’s startable in all formats from here out,
and may even phase Brandon Jackson out completely.
Michael Bush,
Oakland Raiders
Stats: N/A
Last Week: N/A
Bush will not have a spot on the
Raiders this season, but those in a keeper or dynasty format may want to snoop
around their waiver wire to check on his availability. LaMont
Jordan is about as good as gone in the Bay Area and do you think Justin Fargas is a long-term option? Bush is clearly in the plans for the team’s
future and should be treated as such.
You could do a lot worse as an end-of-bench fantasy option going into
next season.
Selvin Young,
Denver Broncos
Stats: 62 car., 331 yds., 1 TD; 21
rec., 177 yds., 0 TD
Last Week: 20 car., 109 yds., 1
TD; 3 rec., 20 yds., 0 TD
Travis Henry is out and Selvin Young puts up numbers that warranted him
being nominated for the Fed-Ex ground player of the week. Unfortunately for Young is that Henry will
be back this time around as the Broncos take on the quietly good Tennessee
Titans. It won’t be worth starting
Young as there is a probability he stumbles out of the gate and gets
benched. Keep an eye on the carries as
Henry is a court hearing away from falling out of fantasy relevance.
Wide Receivers
Dwayne Bowe,
Kansas City Chiefs
Stats: 38 rec., 604 yds., 3 TD
Last Week: 9 rec., 105 yds., 0 TD
Okay, he didn’t find the end zone,
but nine receptions for over 100 yards is pretty darn good. The Chiefs are switching up quarterbacks yet
again, but this shouldn’t impact the talented rookie as he seemed to gel well
with both under center. Those that
wasted a middle-round draft selection on Calvin Johnson are likely very unhappy
with their choice as Bowe has pulled away from the rest of the pack.
Calvin Johnson,
Detroit Lions
Stats: 21 rec., 357 yds., 2 TD
Last Week: 3 rec., 37 yds., 0 TD
Speak of the devil. Mike Martz continues to harp on the fact
that Cal J will see an expanded role, but until that happens we wouldn’t even
start the rookie. Obviously, Roy Williams is the main pass-catching
option in Detroit and with the emergence of others, Johnson’s targets have taken a nose dive. Don’t go dropping him just yet, but he simply cannot be relied on as anything more than a WR4.
Laurent Robinson,
Atlanta Falcons
Stats: 21 rec., 193 yds., 0 TD
Last Week: 5 rec., 32 yds., 0 TD
Welcome to the show, Laurent. Robinson
got the starting nod over veteran Joe Horn and racked up five receptions –
albeit for only 32 yards. While Derrick Mason would be proud, this simply
isn’t something you should be acquiring someone over especially with Roddy
White and Michael Jenkins ahead of him in terms of options. He’s someone to keep an eye on, or even
scoop up in dynasty leagues, but for now he’s just another rookie receiver
that’s better than Ted Ginn, Jr.
Dwayne Jarrett,
Carolina Panthers
Stats: 3 rec., 34 yds., 0 TD
Last Week: 2 rec., 28 yds., 0 TD
May we have the next Mike
Williams? Possibly. Teams are focusing their defensive efforts
on Steve Smith. And while Smith still
finds the end zone, no one else on the team is stepping up as an offensive
option for the Panthers. Jeff King has
come close, but clearly Carolina needs another receiving threat. Think they regret getting rid of Keyshawn
yet?
Tight End
Greg Olsen,
Chicago Bears
Stats: 21 rec., 255 yds., 2 TD
Last Week: N/A
It looks like Rex Grossman is back. This isn’t the best of news for Olsen who
was targeted frequently by Brian Griese. It remains to be seen how the Bears utilize
Olsen, but unless he’s prepared to run under 50-yard prayers, it may be a long
rest-of-season. We don’t think he will
lay another goose egg, but you may want to find another option for the
remainder of the year.
