By The Hudsonian, Joshua Hudson
Two 1-2 teams that are looking to get their offenses going. The Bengals started well against the Jets in Week 1, but have sputtered the last few weeks in games against the Steelers and Broncos. Andy Dalton looks like the Dalton that shows up during playoff season. I guess he’s preparing for the anticipated future.
Why do I mention this? Well, as Dalton goes, so do his weapons, mainly A.J. Green. The stud wide receiver who was taken in the first round in many a fantasy draft lit up the Jets in Week 1 and has followed that up with 2 rather pedestrian games. Is a matchup with the Dolphins secondary a recipe to whet the appetite? One can only hope.
As for the duo of Jeremy Hill and Giovani Bernard, no one knows when each will pop. Week 2 was Bernard and Week 3 was Hill. Does that mean it’s Bernard’s turn this week? Who the hell knows? Both may end the season as top 24 options (RB2 status) by both are mere FLEX options weekly because you just don’t know, even by playing the matchup, who goes off. If I had to guess this week, it’s Bernard, but I’m more focused on Green’s potential big day. He’s my number one wide receiver this week.
Dolphins Head Coach Adam Gase was brought in to fix Ryan Tannehill. If he can fix Jay Cutler, then this should be easy, right? Tannehill has talent, there’s no argument there, but the inconsistency is apparent. He looked great in the 2nd half against the Patriots, but they were forced to throw in an attempt to win the game. Last week against the Browns, they were a missed field goal attempt away from an 0-3 start. The team is enigmatic as its quarterback.
The plus side to this offense? You know exactly who is getting the ball. Jarvis Landry is a clear number one fantasy option and his pass-catching friend DeVante Parker is a solid number 2 option. For Landry and your fantasy team. If I’m starting anyone on the Dolphins this week or any week, it’s their wide receivers.
Until Foster comes back, and even after, I would have to be really desperate to start a running back on this roster. With Foster nursing an injury – stop me if you’ve heard that phrase before – the Dolphins had 4 different running backs rotate into the game last week. Jay Ajayi, Kenyan Drake, Damien Williams and Isaiah Pead. The latter two are retreads who have circled the block a few times; Drake is a rookie who was destined to primarily be a pass catcher out of the backfield; and Ajayi is a second year player they don’t trust. If you like migraines, this is your backfield!
I’m starting Green, Landry and Parker from this game. Tannehill has okay value in a DFS tournament paired with Landry and/or Parker. And I wouldn’t want to gamble on either backfield in any of my lineups this week. Or most weeks really.