| Ed McCaffrey is my hero. Not long after
catching a 16-yard TD pass from Brian Griese that rallied my fantasy team to victory, he
suffered a broken leg that will shelve him for the rest of the season. McCaffrey’s
toughness was not lost on anyone, as he held on to the ball despite the gruesome-looking
injury.
For the game, McCaffrey finished with six receptions for 94 yards in another impressive
performance. But his services will be lost until next season, and the Broncos and fantasy
owners everywhere have to adjust. The Broncos likely will look to Eddie Kennison to
replace McCaffrey, but there is plenty of talent on the roster to fill the void.
I am one of the many fantasy owners — and fans for that matter — affected by
McCaffrey’s loss. I selected him with my third pick in our 10-team PFW office league
(first overall pick of Round Three) and was counting on him and Terrell Owens to help lead
me to the playoffs. That plan is out the window.
I considered putting in a waiver claim for Kennison, but I didn’t. I might regret
that decision, but I don’t have a lot of faith in Kennison’s ability. After all,
he’s with his fourth team for a reason. Also, as the Broncos proved last night, they
have plenty of other receiving weapons. So I chose a different tack.
In our league, we have the benefit of carrying two players on a taxi squad from any
position. In that supplemental draft, I selected RB J.R. Redmond and TE Marcus Pollard. I
have since released them to clear room for WRs Johnnie Morton and Laveranues Coles. I
replaced McCaffrey on my active roster with Brandon Stokley.
In other words, I attacked the situation with numbers. The more, the merrier.
This isn’t to say I wasn’t prepared for such a situation. The other three
wideouts on my active roster are Oronde Gadsden, Plaxico Burress and Kevin Dyson. I have
faith in Gadsden, who scored Sunday, but after their teams’ showings in Week One,
Burress and Dyson concern me. So I decided to load up at the position.
I activated Stokley ahead of Morton and Coles — for now at least — because
Stokley is the starting wide receiver for what could be an explosive offense. Granted, he
caught only two passes for 22 yards Sunday, but he had a great training camp and has drawn
the praise of head coach Brian Billick. And with the Vikings next on the schedule, I like
his chances for success.
Morton (five catches, 111 yards) and Coles (38-yard TD catch) also had nice Week One
efforts, but I like Stokley’s matchup the best in Week Two. Though the Ravens’
passing game sputtered out of the gate Sunday against the Bears, it rallied in the second
half and showed some promising signs. Elvis Grbac finished an impressive 24-of-30 for 262
yards in his first Ravens outing.
But all good plans have a backup plan, and mine involves a potential trade. My four
running backs are Lamar Smith, Warrick Dunn, Terrell Davis and Ron Dayne. With Davis
seemingly in good shape and Dayne looking much better than he did last season, I could
look to others for WR help. But I’m always fearful of dealing an insurance policy
because you never know when you’ll need it. At least the option is there.
For now, I’ll utilize a WR-by-committee approach. This week I’ll probably
start Owens, Gadsden and Stokley. But as it likely will be for the rest of the season,
that’s subject to change. |
