Fantasy Football Fix July 31st 2010
Arian Foster is getting a lot of love from the Houston Texans and this backfield picture just got more murky. A month or two ago everyone and his mother was assured Ben Tate would be the feature back to open the season but a hamstring injury to Tate changed that and Arian Foster is currently the starter in training camp. Tate has an uphill battle to climb but should be featured by mid-season. Foster on the other hand is also a very talented back who is Tate was not on this roster would be getting plenty of love from all fantasy avenues. It is now time to bump Foster up your cheat sheet as a temporary early-season play; a good strategy may be to pair him with a running back who has more potential in the 2nd half like Ben Tate, C.J Spiller or Montario Hardesty. Coach Gary Kubiak is full of praise for the 2nd year back and said that Foster is going to be tough to unseat atop the Texans depth chart at running back.
Montario Hardesty has twisted his knee and will miss a few weeks of training camp. This is valuable time Hardesty is missing and maybe 2009 sleeper James Davis will get a chance to shine in front of Holmgren and Mangini. Hardesty and Davis are the most talented and complete backs on this team but Jerome Harrison is the player the average fantasy player knows. Harrison will be getting the 1st team reps to himself and has a chance to create some early season separation. With that said the Browns are a smash-mouth team and Hardesty is the smash-mouth back, draft Harrison as a bench player only there is still too much talent in the backfield for Harrison to overcome all season.
Ramses Barden of the New York Giants is being pushed by coaches to take over the spot vacated by Dominik Hixon. Barden is a true physical specimen at 6’6 and will be quite the difficult cover when he gets the playbook down pat. Ignore in fantasy drafts, but this is a name you may want to put on your watch list as an injury to one of the Giants top three receivers will thrust Barden into some serious playing time.
Training camp injuries; the following players suffered various ailments today: DeSean Jackson, Percy Harvin, Chaz Schilens, Louis Murphy and Malcom Kelly.
Johnny Knox is the only Chicago Bears receiver to already be named a starter, a distinction he earned in the off-season during OTA’s. Knox is said to have the ability to keep his speed during his cuts and he is the most physically similar receiver to Mike Martz’ Greatest Show on Turf receivers Torry Holt and Issac Bruce. He has been the most impressive in practice and has been getting the majority of the targets. Knox should be the 1st wide receiver from the Bears off the board and should be a decent WR3 for most of the season.
