Week 12: Bargain Hunter
First and foremost, Happy Thanksgiving everyone from all of us at FFToolbox! I hope that you all have a great holiday with your family and friends and that everyone celebrates responsibly and stays safe. We all may live in a fantasy world all season, but reality and time with our loved ones is much more important, so enjoy your Thanksgiving and don't worry about your lineup, trust me it will be okay for one weekend. Thats why you have us on your side.
This Week 12 Bargain Hunter column is designed to give salary cap owners (and standard fantasy owners to a lesser extent) an edge by helping them find the best bargains in all of salary cap football. All of the dollar values used in this column are based off Yahoo! Salary Cap leagues.
Once again, like I say every week, FFToolbox.com is the ultimate resource to help give yourself the best chance to win in fantasy football. I am a company man afterall. The site has everything, from up to the minute player news throughout the week and on Sunday morning, to weekly rankings that you can customize to your league's scoring system, to strategy articles (like this one) that are designed to give you an edge in your league. Another great feature that FFToolbox provides is the weekly podcast, which is availble to download on ITunes. With the Tuesday podcast already in the books, we will not have another show this week due to the holiday, but you can get at us with your lineup questions on Twitter, at @fftoolbox or you can follow me @GeorgeBissell to have all of your fantasy football questions answered.
This Week 12 Bargain Hunter article features -- Chad Henne, Colin Kaepernick, Bryce Brown, Marcel Reece, Ryan Broyles, Dallas Clark and Marcedes Lewis. --
QB Chad Henne, ---
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Chad Henne experienced one of, if not the most, significant one-week jump in value of any player in salary cap football this season, seeing his price increase $8.07 in the last week to $13.26 in Yahoo! Salary Cap leagues. Despite the massive increase in price, Henne still remains a nice bargain for salary cap owners, especially if he can even come close to repeating his Week 11 performance in which he had 354 yards and four touchdowns against the Houston Texans.
With Blaine Gabbert placed on injured reserve, Henne will be the Jaguars starter for the remainder of the season. With several up-and-coming weapons at his disposal in wide receivers Cecil Shorts, Justin Blackmon and tight end Marcedes Lewis, a solid finish to the season is not out of the question for Henne, especially when you look at the remainder of the matchups on paper. Over the final six games, Henne will face just one top-10 pass defense (New York Jets) and will benefit from matchups against Buffalo, Miami, New England and a pair of contests against Tennesse. Henne is poised for a monster finish to the season if he can stay healthy.
Salary cap owners looking for a nice sleeper this week should consider using Henne against the Tennessee Titans, who are ranked 26th against the pass and have allowed the fifth-most fantasy points per game to opposing quarterbacks this season.
QB Colin Kaepernick, ---
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Colin Kaepernick was featured in last week's Bargain Hunter column and he did not disappoint, putting together a nearly flawless performance against the Chicago Bears on Monday Night Football. Kaepernick threw for 243 yards and a pair of touchdowns in the 49ers' victory and even with Alex Smith back healthy, he has been named San Francisco's Week 12 starter against the New Orleans Saints. Fantasy owners couldn't ask for a better matchup on paper (the Saints are the second-worst pass defense in the NFL this season) for essentially a rookie quarterback making just his second career start.
While it is a small sample size, Kaepernick has been impressive to say the least. It's hard to envision a better bargain for salary cap owners this weekend than Kaepernick, who not only boasts an outstanding matchup, but is the 37th most expensive option at quarterback in Yahoo! Salary Cap leagues, valued at just $8.11.
RB Bryce Brown, ---
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While it is still early in the week, all signs point to rookie Bryce Brown getting the start for Philadelphia in place of LeSean McCoy, who suffered a concussion last weekend. Any NFL starting running back has significant fantasy value and right now there isn't a cheaper option for salary cap owners than Brown, who is valued at just $4.05 in Yahoo! Salary Cap leagues. If Brown is the Eagles starter, he should benefit from a tasty matchup against the struggling Carolina Panthers, who are ranked 20th against the run this season.
RB Marcel Reece, ---
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Marcel Reece has been one of the most productve fantasy options at the running back position in recent weeks, eclipsing 95 total yards in each of the last three weeks. Last weekend alone, Reece racked up 193 total yards (103 yards rushing, 90 receiving) on 23 touches. Despite his impressive production, Reece's value in Yahoo! Salary Cap leagues has yet to take off. Considering the fact that he is producing at an elite level, paying just $8.46 for Reece in a decent matchup against the Cincinnatti Bengals (who are ranked 18th against the run this season) is an excellent value for salary cap owners, especially with the Raiders fantasy stud running back Darren McFadden likely out once again this weekend.
WR Ryan Broyles, ---
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When the injury to Nate Burleson occurred a couple weeks ago, Ryan Broyles was the player I believed would see the biggest jump in fantasy value. Broyles scored a pair of touchdowns in back-to-back weeks, but has since cooled off, catching just three passes in the last two weeks combined. However, with Titus Young suspended, Broyles should see an increase in targets on Thanksgiving when the Lions take on the Houston Texans. I've touted Broyles, the NCAA's All-Time leader in receptions during his collegiate career at Oklahoma, before in this space so needless to say, I believe he has the talent to succeed as a slot receiver for the Lions. Valued at just $6.03 in Yahoo! Salary Cap leagues, Broyles is worth a look in salary cap leagues going forward as a bargain priced option.
TE Dallas Clark, ---
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A blast from the past, Dallas Clark is back on the fantasy radar after reeling in a season-high seven passes for 58 yards and a touchdown against the Carolina Panthers last weekend. Clark (who has scored in back-to-back weeks) doesn't have the upside that some of the other options at the positiion offer due to his limited role in the Tampa Bay offense, but as long as he can keep scoring, it makes him a worthy sleeper play in salary cap football leagues. Valued at $7.75 in Yahoo! Salary Cap leagues, Clark is a solid bargain that salary cap owners should consider using, especially if they lost Rob Gronkowski. It also helps that Clark has an extremely favorable matchup against the Atlanta Falcons, who are allowing the fifth-most fanatsy points per game to opposing tight ends this season.
TE Marcedes Lewis, DEN
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We had the discussion on the FFToolbox podcast this week that the most irreplaceable player in the entire fantasy universe may have been Rob Gronkowski. He isn't the most valuable player -- that would have to go to an elite quarterback like Aaron Rodgers or a stud running back like Arian Foster, but let's say either one of them got hurt: You would be able to find a quality replacement on the wavier wire that would most likely make up for a large percentage of that lost production. That simply is not the case when it comes to replacing Gronkowski, who had scored seven touchdowns in the last four games before breaking his forearm on New England's final extra point last weekend.
One option for both fantasy owners and salary cap owners (as if I haven't talked enough about the Jacksonville Jaguars already) is Marcedes Lewis. Lewis had one magical season back in 2010 in which he set career highs across the board with 58 catches for 700 yards and 10 touchdowns. Lewis has scored just four touchdowns in the last two seasons combined with half of that production coming last weekend. With Chad Henne under center, Lewis has the potential to at least be a solid red-zone threat over the final six weeks of the season and at just $8.57 in Yahoo! Salary Cap leagues, he isn't a bad bargain at all.