Projo Fantasy Sports Blog

By Michael Salfino

After this week our precious season, which still seems showroom fresh, will be more than half over. The fantasy football season, of course, will be more than two-thirds of the way gone, unless you're skilled enough to make your playoffs. With trade deadlines fast approaching, these calls take on even more urgency.

Upgrade

Ryan Grant, RB, Packers: DeShaun Wynn hurt his shoulder on his first carry Monday night and is out for the year. Discount Grant's 104 yards versus the Broncos, whom everyone runs on. But the Packers have expressed a commitment to running. Grant has as good a chance to be productive as just about any other second- or third-tier RB. Keep him and package your other bigger names for a championship-level upgrade.

Jets Passing Game: Kellen Clemens can threaten all areas of the field. He'll make some terrible decisions, like all young QBs, but that just means more playing catch up and more passing. Jerricho Cotchery gets the bigger upgrade, because Laveranues Coles has been very useful all year in all formats. The Jets' rotten defense helps by forcing the offense to play catch up.

Browns Passing Game: Huge win for everyone invested in the Browns. At 4-3, Brady Quinn is far, far off in the distance (as he should be anyway). Derek Anderson doesn't seem to have any fleas to me. He's got pocket awareness, makes all the throws and moves quickly through his progressions. If Quinn was playing like this, they'd be sculpting his statue already outside Cleveland Browns Stadium. Anderson (18 TD passes) is all of 24 years old.

Reggie Brown, WR, Eagles: Didn't score but was very involved, with 100-plus receiving yards, versus a bad Vikings pass defense. He also had an 89-yard day versus the Jets a couple weeks ago. This is a 1 and 1A receiving situation in Philly. Where that once played into the hands of those buying Kevin Curtis, it now pays to speculate on Brown.

Selvin Young, RB, Broncos: The 120 total yards were useful last week. Young also had a 48-yarder wiped out by a ticky-tack penalty and was the goal-line back in one key series. Travis Henry (ribs) is fighting a one-year suspension for failing a league drug test, dragging the process out longer than anyone imagined. But insiders expect the NFL to prevail and for Henry to be done in about two more weeks.

Jesse Chatman, RB, Dolphins: He's a tough runner with a little burst who continues to perform when given snaps. He's also seeing some third-down action. And he's built for the goal line, at 5-8, 225. Players can always be had for a discount the week of their bye. He's a top-20 back going forward (not saying much this running-back poor year). Forget about Ricky Williams getting another chance in Miami.

No Change

Plaxico Burress, WR, Giants: Burress needs to heal over the bye week. But it's very likely his injured ankle will take months to be close to 100 percent. Not practicing during the week isn't a big deal. But he's lacked any burst in recent weeks and his production has suffered (7 catches, 57 yards the last two weeks).

Brian Griese, QB, Bears: The good news for Griese is 7.0 yards per attempt and nine TD strikes in five starts (at least one in each game). The bad news, of course, is the 10 picks. Fortunately, those don't count in most scoring formats. Normally, they do get your QB benched when they come with this kind of frequency, but the Bears are not going to jump from the frying pan back into the fire with Rex Grossman.

Andre Johnson, WR, Texans: Normally, I'd advise to buy a superstar talent like Johnson a week before everyone expects a return from injury. But this knee sprain has lingered to the point where it must have been a pretty serious partial tear; how Johnson will perform once he gets back is total guesswork. Given the severity of the damage, there's greater risk of reinjury. Plus, the QB he had such great September chemistry with, Matt Schaub, is battling hip, ankle and head injuries.

Downgrade

Najeh Davenport, RB, Steelers: More importantly, a Willie Parker upgrade. Davenport suddenly is now going to get goal-line carries only if Willie Parker fails to convert "the first one or two" according to coach Mike Tomlin. Parker scored on a one-yarder last week with time about to expire in the first half. Expect more of the Parker who scored 16 TDs last year and less of Davenport: Goal-line Ghoul.

Kenton Keith, RB, Colts: The problem with believing coaches is that sometimes they lie, or simply change their minds. But what else can we do? Tony Dungy gives Keith half the carries in Week 7, and then says that "more and more I think … keeping those guys fresh is going to be good for our running game." But last week's 23-6 split in favor of Addai (who also had two catches) is nowhere near a true committee. Rock-solid feature backs get 80 percent of the carries. Addai last week got 79 percent.

---