ESPN Insider Article

CFA · 12-17-09, 12:58 PM

Originally posted by LUNT101

Hey guys,

If anyone has access to an ESPN Insider Account and would be willing to post a recent article for me, I'd really appreciate it. My Fantasy team depends on you!

Here's the link:

http://insider.espn.go.com/espn/blog/karabell/index?entryID=4751148&name=karabell_eric_football&action=upsell&appRedirect=http%3a%2f%2finsider.espn.go.com%2fespn%2fblog%2fkarabell%2findex%3fentryID%3d4751148%26name%3dkarabell_eric_football

-LUNT

Bowe is back, but should fantasy owners care?
Thursday, December 17, 2009 | Feedback | Print Entry
Dwayne Bowe is back in the starting lineup for the Kansas City Chiefs, but it doesn't seem to me that a whole lot of people in the fantasy football world have noticed. Should they?
I figured this would happen to some degree. You know the saying, "outta sight, outta mind," and Bowe missed a month serving a four-game league suspension for violating the league's policy on performance-enhancing substances. He makes his return this week, but whereas he was in many cases a certain WR2 for many owners when he left, I doubt he even approaches this status in Week 15, despite a matchup with the awful Cleveland Browns pending.
The last time Bowe played was Week 10, and the "fearsome foursome" of ESPN Fantasy rankers each trusted Bowe in the top 25 at his position, with Christopher Harris placing him ninth overall. I ranked Bowe 23rd among wide receivers. That game was against the Oakland Raiders, a team with arguably the second-best cover cornerback in the league in Nnamdi Asomugha. But our relatively favorable ranking of Bowe was proof we trusted him, even in what had been a disappointing season to date. Bowe caught 91 yards worth of passes, for nine fantasy points. A few days later, he was suspended for four games.
SportsAge/Icon SMI
Dwayne Bowe is back in the Chiefs' starting lineup, but he likely shouldn't be in yours.

This week, Bowe's cumulative ranking of 31 at wide receiver is nearly as telling as the last time we had the opportunity to place him among his peers, but for different reasons. I admit there's an assumption to make that when a player who was initially not in good graces with his rookie coach due to conditioning issues back in the summer is suspended for a month, it's easy to think Bowe comes into Week 15 in a similar state. I mean, the Chiefs are not even close to a playoff team, and we have even more proof after a month that Matt Cassel has been a fantasy disappointment. A star has emerged in that time, and it is running back Jamaal Charles. Maybe Bowe is extremely motivated, but how does he fit in with a team that has focused on a new offensive weapon?
I ranked Bowe 32nd for the week, a few spots after teammate Chris Chambers. This in itself is interesting, since two rankers didn't even bother with Chambers at all, but it's not like Harris and Matthew Berry exalted Bowe to starter status, either. I'm the only ranker who interpreted things this way, that Bowe will start but Chambers remains a fantasy-relevant player. I see the Chiefs and Browns scoring enough points to make fantasy owners smile, but nothing like the Lions-Browns game when Matthew Stafford threw five touchdown passes. And when it comes to Chambers, I believe the threat of Bowe on the other side of the field is a good thing for him and Cassel. Maybe Chambers gets fewer targets, but he'll also get less defensive attention, and now Cassel has another weapon.
Ultimately I didn't rank Bowe as a WR3 because I have no idea how he looks on the field again, how the Chiefs will incorporate him, or anything, for that matter. And I'm a conservative fantasy football player. This doesn't seem like a time to take a chance. Bowe hadn't topped 13 fantasy points in any game in the first place, and now the Chiefs have turned their offensive attention to someone else, someone fantasy footballers are relying on.
By Week 15 it means nothing to me that Bowe was the 12th wide receiver off the board in ESPN standard live drafts. It stopped meaning something to me around Week 2, really. If you're in the fantasy football playoffs, I have to assume you replaced Bowe and moved on, which shouldn't have been too difficult based upon his average production, and the fact so many free agents have come from nowhere from the wide receiver spot. Bowe was dropped in 20 percent of ESPN leagues, and after this week, he gets the Christmas present of facing the playoff-bound Cincinnati Bengals and Denver Broncos, both on the road. Bowe's return seems to be going under the fantasy radar, and I think it should be.

LUNT101 · 12-17-09, 01:03 PM

You're the man!!! THANKS!