Ladarius Green is big, strong and fast. He's a freak athlete, there's no doubt. He just had a future Hall of Famer in his way in Antonio Gates. When Pittsburgh signed him to a four-year, $20 million contract, the fantasy community was giddy with excitement.
Then this bombshell: Green is still on the PUP with recurring headaches, not an ankle injury, as reported by NFL Media's Aditi Kinkhabwala. The situation is so severe that Green is considering retirement according to a report from Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio.
Hopefully, Green gets healthy and does what is right for himself and his loved ones. If that means walking away, so be it.
From a purely football standpoint this stinks. Green had the ability, it was just a matter of a getting a chance. This was supposed to be his breakout campaign, possibly launching him into stardom. Now we're not so sure.
If he's out for an extended period of time, this also hurts Ben Roethlisberger's stock. The team is already without the services of Martavis Bryant and now possibly another tremendous athlete in Green will also be gone. Antonio Brown is still there, but then who else? The offense needed someone who could stretch the field and as much as they'd like Sammie Coates to now be that guy, his spotty hands will make that a 50/50 proposition at best.
Pittsburgh's Jesse James is potentially next up on the depth chart but is obviously the deepest of deep (Danger Zone!) sleepers.
On to more news:
NEWS: Jimmy Graham is activated off the PUP list.
- Fantasy spin: It's crazy how fast life in the NFL moves. Two seasons ago we were watching Jimmy Graham go largely at the end of the first or early second round. Today he'll go largely in the double-digit rounds if he's drafted at all. Last year, even before the injury, Graham was a round peg trying to fit into a square hole. It wasn't a good fit. With the well-established chemistry between Russell Wilson and Doug Baldwin, and with Tyler Lockett expected to see an expanded role, the prospects for Graham are pretty bleak. He's being drafted as a late-round TE with upside and that sounds about right ... except for the upside part.
NEWS: Kelvin Benjamin has packed on muscle to help re-establish his number 1 status in Carolina's offense.
- Fantasy spin: As Jeffery Chadiha noted, "Benjamin actually packed on so much muscle at one point that Rivera said, 'He looked like one of our defensive ends when you were walking behind him.'"
Just as a reminder Benjamin as a rookie racked up 1,000 receiving yards and NINE touchdowns. Cam Newton is in his prime and at the height of his powers, expect him to connect with Benjamin early and often especially when the team is in the red zone. Benjamin is currently being drafted in the late sixth round on NFL.com mock drafts but going in the late third of other mock draft sites. KB absolutely has the potential to go for 1,100-plus yards and double-digit touchdowns. Ted Ginn had 10 scores last year, for goodness sakes.
NEWS: Victor Cruz sidelined with groin tightness.
- Fantasy spin: Cruz hasn't seen the field since Never-uary with a torn patellar tendon and with this (minor?) setback he becomes just about as undraftable as it comes. If Cruz is not right, it opens up even more opportunities for rookie Sterling Shepard who owns a skill set very similar to Cruz. He's a great route runner and was crazy productive at Oklahoma. A 1,000-yard, six TD rookie campaign would surprise zero percent.
NEWS: Tyler Boyd has lived up to the hype thus far in Cincinnati, is expected to work out of the slot in the Bengals offense.
- Fantasy spin: With Marvin Jones and Mohamed Sanu gone and with Tyler Eifert dealing with another injury, it's not unreasonable to think the talented second-round rookie can make some serious statistical noise. Boyd is 6-foot-1, about 200 pounds and ran a decent 4.58 40-yard dash at the combine. He's known for his hand strength and ability to make contested catches. We don't know exactly how the offense will look now that Hue Jackson is gone but a 1,000-yard, seven-touchdown season is absolutely within reach for Boyd.
Shameless cross promotion:
"The Franchise" Matt Franciscovich wrote a piece hyping the bejeezus out of Seattle's Christine Michael (again). The opening line? "The Truth is out there." Fire up your X-Files music, sit back and enjoy.
Speaking of making a case for disappointing backup running backs ... the Terrance West hype train is building up steam somehow in Baltimore. I was utterly dismissive of it but our Matt Harmon explains why a West resurgence is feasible. He has a good breakdown of West's chances this season here.
Also, it's not too late to play against the NFL Fantasy Live Podcast crew in our favorite fake game. We've got three leagues going, the OG League (Gelhar, Grant), the Bearded League (Franchise, Harmon) and the Danger Zone! League (Rank and yours truly). All you have to do is subscribe, rate and review the podcast. The iTunes link is here or you can find us on our website here. Once you've subscribed, rated and reviewed, hit me up on Twitter to let me know and BOOM you're in the running. We still have like 30ish spots to fill up. Good luck!
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James Koh is the host of NFL Fantasy LIVE and the NFL Fantasy LIVE podcast. Follow him on Twitter @JamesDKoh.
