Is Hunting Season Open?

With a switch to quarterback Zach Mettenberger for the Tennessee Titans, is hunting season open? Big play wide receiver Justin Hunter may have a new found value for fantasy.

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Justin Hunter has had an up and down season so far for the Titans. From being made to wear a jersey in the preseason that read JAG, which stood for just a guy, in practice by coach Ken Whisenhunt, to sporadic production during the regular season. So far in the tumultuous 2014 campaign for the Titans there have been 2 starting quarterbacks, and this weekend they will add a third. There has been a lack of consistency for the offense, and Charlie Whitehurst was not going to be a guy to do a lot more than manage the Titans to closer losses than if they put a tackling dummy in at quarterback. It seems quite likely that there could be some better days ahead for Hunter and the Tennessee offense.

In college at Tennessee Hunter didn't do a whole lot in his first 2 seasons. As a freshman he was a big play guy, catching 16 passes for 415 yards, scoring on 7 of his receptions. His yards per catch was 25.9 during that season. As a sophomore in 2011 Hunter caught 17 balls in the 3 games he played before tearing his ACL. The big breakout season was in 2012 as a junior where hunter caught 73 passes for 1083 yards and 9 touchdowns. The per catch numbers came down, but the sustainability of 25.9 yards per catch was ultimately unrealistic.

Hunter has great size at 6'4 and great vertical and broad jump abilities, measured at 39 1/2 inch vertical and 136 inch broad jump, both best performances at the combine for wide receivers. His 33 1/4 inch arms and 9 3/8 inch hands give him the reach and hand size needed to be able to control the ball. The Titans took him in the second round (34th overall) of the 2013 draft. Paired along side of Kendall Wright and Nate Washington, with Delanie Walker at tight end, the Titans were set up to have a good receiving corps. The inconsistent play at quarterback, and inability of Jake Locker to stay healthy, has cost the Titans. Along with the inconsistent play from their signal callers, the Titans have struggled to put together a running game to take the pressure off of their quarterbacks.

Now enter Mettenberger. A 2 year starter at LSU, Mettenberger has shown a propensity to get the ball

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down the field. His senior season Mettenberger had an average yards per attempt of 10.4. That is a huge number for average yards per attempt. In recent history some now NFL quarterbacks had smaller numbers for down field attempts. Blake Bortles had an average yards per attempt of 9.4 his senior year. Andrew Luck had an average of 8.9 yards per attempt over his 3 seasons at Stanford. Robert Griffin III had 10.7 his senior year, but an average of 8.7 during his college career. And even Austin Davis, known as a bit of a gunslinger, had an average of 7.1 yards per attempt during his time at Southern Mississippi.

The desire and ability of Mettenberger to push the ball down the field is a great thing for the Titans offense overall. This will allow playmakers like Hunter and Wright to get down field and make plays, and in turn could take some pressure off the line of scrimmage for the run game. All of these factors could open up the entire offense for the Titans for the rest of this season. A fairly favorable schedule also awaits the Titans passing game for the remainder of the season. The rest of the year the Titans only play one top 10 passing defense in the Colts in week 17, and if your playoffs don't include that week you get to skip their worst match up. The whole rest of season average pass defense to be faced by the Titans is 20th. They face only 3 teams in the top half of pass defense rankings the rest of the year. If Mettenberger can lead this offense and pick up the speed of the game, the Titans may be able to finish on a high note.

If you are inclined to gamble a little on a season that is sitting at 3-4, you could do worse than to acquire Hunter, or even try to buy low on Kendall Wright, and maybe add Mettenberger to your team and put your wager on the Titans being able to take advantage of their good schedule for the rest of 2014.

A Case Of The Dropsies

Today we will take a look at some guys that you can safely drop from your fantasy rosters. After 6 weeks of the season injury or lack of performance make these guys expendable in the ever changing fantasy landscape. As you head into the waiver wire tonight, these are some players to drop when making your moves for week 7.

RB

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Chris Johnson (NYJ) has done basically nothing this year. Amassing only 200 yards rushing in 6 games this season and 40 yards receiving on 10 catches, Johnson is merely taking up a roster pot that would be better filled by a player with more potential. 

Montee Ball (DEN) has a pretty severe multi-week groin injury. In his first week out of the lineup Ronnie Hillman had a solid performance rushing for 100 yards on 24 carries. If Hillman continues to run well, it may be difficult for Ball to find his way back into the lineup. His value while playing is negligible, and goes down with every solid play from Hillman and Juwan Thompson.

Terrance West (CLE) was a healthy scratch in week 6. The tide has shifted in Cleveland for West. With Ben Tate returning from injury and Isiah Crowell taking on the backup and chnage of pace roles for Cleveland, West is no longer a good use of a roster spot.

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Cordarelle Patterson (MIN) is averaging just 2.8 catches per game and 34 yards per game, Patterson has been a major disappointment in his second season. Even when he did put up a good fantasy game, he did it by breaking one long running play in week 1. Patterson is getting targets, but not making the catches. Undoubtedly you can fine a better option at wide receiver to fill out your bench.

Markus Wheaton (PIT) had a fantastic start to his career in week 1 this season, making 6 catches on 7 targets and 97 yards. Since then his numbers have declined severely. In the 5 weeks following, Wheaton has highs of 57 yards and 5 catches, in different games, and has yet to find the end zone. Looking preseason like he may have some good potential, Wheaton is now eminently dropable in all formats.

Shonn Greene (TEN) has a hamstring injury, and a paltry 31.6 yards per game on the ground. The Tennessee running game has been abysmal throughout the season, and Greene may have lost his job to the rookie Bishop Sankey. In a soon to be lost season for the Titans, Greene has minimal value left to his fantasy owners.

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Toby Gerhart (JAC) missed the Jaguars the game in week 6. The Jags are now 0-6 and are likely to take a long look at Storm Johnson the rest of the season. Gerhart wasn't putting up stellar numbers in his 5 games this year, averaging just 24.6 yards per game and 16.6 yards per game receiving. A foot injury sustained in week 5 opened the door for Johnson to get the start. I can't say that it is all on Gerhart, watching the tape on the Jaguars week 6 game, they are not good at blocking.

CJ Anderson (DEN) was rumored to be the backup to newly anointed starter, but after being a healthy inactive in week 5 and not receiving a touch in week 6, you can safely assume that Anderson is not going to have a role in the Denver offense barring another injury. Juwan Thompson is the new backup for Hillman for the time being. Getting 8 carries and widely considered to be the better pass blocker, make that trade in personnel if you can.

Maurice Jones-Drew (OAK) has seen his best days. Playing in only 3 games so far this season, Jones-Drew has only 42 yards rushing and 24 yards receiving this season. At this point for a hapless raiders team, you might be better served making a speculative addition of Latavius Murray in case the Raiders decide to take a look at their young running back talent.

Clear off those wasted roster spots, add some depth and emerging talent, and go get 'em this week.

The Resurgence of Steve Smith

 Steve Smith has been in the NFL for quite a long time. He played for the Panthers from 2001-2013. This year signing with the Ravens as a free agent. It seems that his new team is allowing him an opportunity to shine once again as a fantasy receiver.

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After posting his worst numbers since 2010 last year in the Panthers offense, making 64 catches on 110 targets for 745 yards and 4 touchdowns, Smith is having a resurgent year in his first season in Baltimore. Through his first three games in 2014 he has 18 catches on 32 targets for 290 yards and a touchdown. His yards per catch is tied for the third highest in his career so far this season at 16.1, and his yards per game are also the third highest in his career at 96.7.

Smith had an average draft position on ESPN fantasy football of 111. This being the case, he would be someone to target in a trade for either another wide receiver, a mid level running back, or a tight end if his current fantasy team needs some help at that position. His upcoming schedule has some very nice match ups with the likes of the Panthers in week 4, Colts in week 5, Bucs in week 6, and Falcons in week 7. Having a late bye in week 11 is a positive as well. If you trade for him now, you would get 8 serviceable weeks before having to take him out of your lineup for his bye.

The schedule also sets up nicely for smith as the fantasy playoffs begin. The Ravens play the Dolphins in week 14 who have given up 5 passing touchdowns through the first 3 weeks of the season. In week 15 they play Jacksonville who are dead last in passing defense in the league.

Smith would make a nice addition as a wide receiver 2 or flex to a team who is not happy with their current wide receiver situation, with some serious playoff upside.