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Fantasy File When in doubt, check out some fullbacks
By James Quintong, CNNSI.com Many fantasy football experts like to talk about drafting two top-notch running backs early to anchor your squad and waiting later to pick up the plethora of similarly valued quarterbacks and wide receivers. But what happens when you lose a starting running back because of a bye or, worse yet, a serious injury? There's obviously the waiver wire to pick up the backups -- remember the rush to get guys like Maurice Smith, Correll Buckhalter, Shaun Alexander, etc.? But if you happened to fall short in the race for all of those running backs, there are still some options that aren't backup running backs hoping for a shot at a starting job. Those options are the fullbacks. Granted, fullbacks these days aren't like Leroy Hoard, who would get some short-yardage carries, tons of goal-line touches and plenty of aggravating touchdowns (aggravating if you owned the halfback on the team like Robert Smith in Minnesota). Instead, with the West Coast offense trying to take hold across the league, fullbacks are used as much as tight ends, catching a bunch of passes underneath and in the flat, and scoring the occasional short-yardage TD mostly through the air. Don't expect tons of big numbers from these guys, but they'll help bolster your bench (especially if your league uses bench points as a tiebreaker) and give you some flexibility should you need an emergency back. Here are a handful of fullbacks who are worth your time and probably available on the waiver wire: Richie Anderson, Jets: He's definitely not the prototypical huge, bruising blocking back. Instead, he's been a great safety valve for Vinny Testaverde coming out of the backfield. The Jets like to throw the ball to the running backs and Anderson (along with Curtis Martin) has benefited from that scheme. Anderson led the Jets with 88 catches last season for an astounding 853 yards. This year, he already has 11 catches and has matched last year's touchdown total with two. Fred Beasley, 49ers: Lots of fantasy owners jumped on his bandwagon early last year thanks to a slew of short-yardage TDs before falling back to earth. He doesn't have many touches this year thanks to Garrison Hearst and Kevan Barlow splitting the time in the backfield, but he'll sneak away with a couple of more scores both through the air and on the ground before the year is out. Larry Centers, Bills: The veteran fullback has 713 career catches -- most ever for a running back -- and has 28 for 203 yards this year. In fact he has as many yards as Cris Carter and more than teammate Eric Moulds. Rob Johnson needs to use him more, especially given his problems getting rid of the ball early. Greg Comella, Giants: Ron Dayne and Tiki Barber get a lot attention, but Comella did sneak through with 36 catches for 274 yards last year. He hasn't done a whole lot this year, but he should come away with a short-yardage TD here or there this year. Patrick Hape, Broncos: The ex-Buc has stepped in nicely as Denver's short-yardage fullback, catching the occasional pass at the goal line. That alone gives him some value if you're really desperate for a back. Jimmy Kleinsasser, Vikings: Daunte Culpepper is learning to use his underneath targets more like Kleinsasser, a converted tight end, as well as starting tight end Byron Chamberlain. Kleinsasser could roll up about 400-500 receiving yards by the end of the year, and if the rest of the running game could do something, he might see some Leroy Hoard-like TDs. Cecil Martin, Eagles: Ron Dayne's blocking back at Wisconsin made a name for himself in the season opener by catching a couple of short TDs. Donovan McNabb has done a good job of using all of his players in the passing offense, although the emergence of Todd Pinkston and James Thrash could cut into Martin's numbers, not to mention Chad Lewis and Duce Staley. Tony Richardson, Chiefs: He might miss a couple of more weeks with a shoulder injury, but when he returns, he'll be a major part of the offense. Priest Holmes did have an enormous game a couple of weeks ago against the Redskins, but no one is expecting him to continue that production the rest of the way. Richardson is a good runner and receiver who hardly fits any of the descriptions of a fullback.
Monday's BestKurt Warner, QB, Rams (29-37, 291 yards, 3 TDs): Despite a few minor errors here and there, St. Louis had their way with the mediocre Detroit defense and it showed. He didn't break the 300-yard barrier as many might have expected, but it didn't really matter. It was one of those games where if you had a Ram on your team, you probably did well.
Monday's WorstJohnnie Morton, WR, Lions (4 catches, 40 yards): After two 100-yard games to start the season, Morton was shut down on Monday night. However, it's really hard to fault him. Both Ty Detmer and Charlie Batch seemed to thrive on the short passes all night, resulting in nice completion percentages but not much yardage. The relative ineptitude of the Detroit offense so far has definitely hurt James Stewart, who had impressive numbers Monday night but was nowhere near the end zone.
Bye week watchThree teams have this week off: Buffalo, Jacksonville and Philadelphia. Thus there will be plenty of fantasy producers that will need replacing this week. After the Bills put up huge numbers playing catch-up against the Jets, guys like Eric Moulds, Travis Henry and Peerless Price (who all finally had a good game) will be taking a seat. But they will return a bit early for a Thursday night game against the Jaguars, who could really use the time off. Mark Brunell and Jimmy Smith will be missed, but the bye also gives Jacksonville the chance to assess its running game. Stacey Mack was benched in favor of Elvis Joseph, although neither seems to be a good bet at this point. The Eagles could also use the week off to figure how they blew the game to the Cardinals on Sunday. Fantasy owners will be a bit disappointed, since Donovan McNabb takes a seat along with Correll Buckhalter, who will likely head to the bench with Duce Staley expected to return from his shoulder injury after the bye. It's also the week you won't have to roll the dice as to which Eagles receiver has the big scoring game. In each game this year, a different player has scored two receiving TD: Martin in Week 1, James Thrash in Week 2, Chad Lewis in Week 3 and Todd Pinkston last week. I guess when the Eagles come off their bye, either Freddie Mitchell or Na Brown will come up big. Of course, lots of people would like to see Staley come through.
Injury watchRon Dayne, Giants: A sprained neck knocked him out of the Redskins game Sunday, but it looks like he should be able to play this week in St. Louis. His backfield partner Tiki Barber also looks to be ready after sitting out last week with an injured hamstring. Third-stringer Damon Washington, who rushed for 90 yards rushing last week, could still see some carries, but don't expect a whole lot from him. Rob Johnson, Bills: He pinched a nerve in his neck against the Jets, allowing Alex Van Pelt to have a big game. However, Johnson should be ready to go against the Jaguars in a couple of weeks, although he's still a very iffy play when he returns. Frank Wycheck, Titans: Neck injuries seemed to be all the rage this past week as Wycheck also left Sunday's game early with a strained neck. His status for the Bucs game is still up in the air, so this could be the week to check out Erron Kinney. James Quintong is Fantasy Sports producer at CNNSI.com.
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