I will be changing my column up a little bit for the rest of the season. “The Feeding Frenzy” has been a trading column up until now, focusing on players I’ve advised to sell high and buy low on every week. However, now that trade deadlines have passed in a majority of leagues, I wanted to keep things relevant.
So instead of my usual “buy low” and “sell high,” I’ll just look at players to buy and sell at this point. Let’s be honest, after Thanksgiving there’s no more buying low and selling high. You either like a player by now or you don’t. If you still think Ryan Mathews is a stud running back, God bless you. Every league needs someone to finish in last place.
Here are the players I’m advising to buy and sell after Week 12:
Buy Pierre Garcon, WR, Washington – A couple of weeks ago I traded for Garcon in my dynasty league, and, to be honest, it was a move for next season. I didn’t think we would see Garcon return in 2012, and when he did return I thought it would be as more of a decoy.
That was until I saw him pull away from the Dallas secondary on Thanksgiving Day like he was running the 100-meter dash in the Olympics. If that’s a guy with a bad toe, sign me up for a bad toe. After watching Garcon on that 59-yard touchdown reception, I’m going to go ahead and insert him back into my starting lineup.
The Redskins are playing as well as they’ve been all year long, and if Garcon is healthy that now opens up a whole new dimension for Robert Griffin III and Washington’s offense. Don’t forget, Griffin III is putting up big numbers as a rookie without much at the receiver position. Santana Moss still has some life in him, but Garcon has been hurt and even starting tight end Fred Davis was lost for the season in Week 7.
If you want to get even more excited about Garcon, take a look at who the Redskins have coming up. Garcon gets to go up against the secondaries of the New York Giants, Baltimore Ravens, Cleveland Browns, Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys in his final five games. That’s a pretty receiver-friendly schedule to close out the season.
As long as Garcon can stay healthy, he could be one of the top-scoring receivers during fantasy playoffs. Defenses will still need to try and stop Griffin from running and that will open up opportunities for Garcon to make plays down the field. If you held out hope of Garcon coming back this season, you may get rewarded big-time.
Marcedes Lewis, TE, Jacksonville – I’ve been a big fan of Lewis since he played at UCLA, and it’s nice to see him have fantasy relevance again now that the Jaguars have a quarterback that can actually throw a forward pass.
You know what? Forget about the quarterback. Even if you have an inept quarterback, how hard is it to call plays in the red zone that involve throwing the ball up to a 6-foot-6, 270-pound monster? Even in seasons when Lewis doesn’t catch a ton of passes or rack up a lot of yards, he should always be a red zone threat. I mean the guy is enormous, and, as we saw two weeks ago against Houston, if you just lob the ball up to Lewis, he’s almost impossible to guard.
I actually like Lewis as a decent TE1 play for the rest of the season. I think he’s going to be a solid double-digit scorer in points per reception formats and find the end zone a couple of more times over the final five games where Lewis faces Buffalo, the New York Jets, Miami, New England and Tennessee. Those are some nice matchups that Lewis should be able to exploit for fantasy owners in need of tight end help.
In my opinion, Lewis is one of the most underutilized players in the NFL. Don’t forget, he made the Pro Bowl just two years ago. You put Lewis on an offense like Green Bay or New England and his production would skyrocket. Now Chad Henne may not be Tom Brady but he also isn’t Blaine Gabbert – who I believe will go down as one of the biggest busts of all-time. Henne makes Lewis relevant again, so he’s certainly a player on the rise for the final month of the season.
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