Is it the system or the player? The former is a good reason to roster Sanchez for the stretch run.

Rising

Ryan Tannehill, MIA
“Running Ryan” is turning into one of the safest fantasy quarterback plays in the league. Sure, there are many quarterbacks with higher upside, but Tannehill has developed into the type of guy you can throw into your lineup knowing that he probably won’t kill your week. That’s the benefit of having a running quarterback. He has rushed for 49, 48, 48 and 47 yards over the last four weeks, so it’s safe to say you’re getting four to five points per week just via his legs. He’s not a clear-cut QB1, but definitely start-worthy whenever you need him.

Mark Sanchez, PHI
I apologize to whomever said it first – I saw it on Twitter, but can’t remember who it was – but Sanchez stepping in for Nick Foles has a lot of similarities to Josh McCown filling in for Jay Cutler last year. Foles is a good quarterback, but most of his fantasy value seems to come from the system he’s in. Now, Sanchez gets that system. There is always the chance that Sanchez implodes, but based on the way he played against Houston, it seems Sanchez can handle the offense well enough to be a worthy fantasy player. He makes a great target for Foles owners or owners facing Week 10 byes.

Ben Roethlisberger, PIT
I make an effort with this article to avoid including players two or more weeks in a row, but not many quarterbacks follow up six-touchdown games with another six-touchdown game. In fact, no other quarterback has. There are two ways to look at Roethlisberger’s skyrocketing stock: 1) Just ride the wave and keep starting him until there’s any sign of slowing down, or 2) see what you can get in a trade. Owners who have been depending on Foles, Tony Romo, Cam Newton, Colin Kaepernick or Russell Wilson might be panicking right now and would love the prospects of adding a red hot Roethlisberger.

Falling

Cam Newton, CAR
Back in Week 6, Newton ran for 107 yards and a touchdown, while throwing two more touchdowns through the air. It looked like Newton, the fantasy force, was back. In three games since that comeback effort, Newton has run for a grand total of 108-yards. As a passer, he’s thrown one touchdown and three interceptions. He has appeal because of a relatively easy upcoming schedule, but New Orleans was supposed to be one of those easy games too, yet Newton looked like a mess. It’s tough to part ways because of his upside, but this isn’t the top-five fantasy quarterback we saw in his first three seasons.

Russell Wilson, SEA
It certainly seems like something is off with Wilson. In Week 7 he had a huge fantasy day in the Seahawks failed comeback attempt against St. Louis, but in Weeks 6, 8, and 9, he has put up waiver wire-worthy fantasy scores. In those three weeks, he has failed to reach 200 passing yards and only scored two total touchdowns – one through the air and one on the ground. This could be a tough stretch he’s working through, or it could be more. For now I think you are in the same situation as with Newton: It’s tough to part ways because of all the good we’ve seen, but we’ve also seen a little too much “bad” recently to fully believe in him.

Colin Kaepernick, SF
Kaepernick and Wilson have had a very similar four-game stretch here. In three of the last four games, Kaepernick has been a disappointing start. His only good game was against the Rams, though one of his let down weeks was also versus St. Louis. Like the other two quarterbacks on this list, if you’re not getting the rushing numbers, Kaepernick isn’t anything more than a fringe starter. He’s still worth starting thanks to the upside, but not a must start.

Running Back

Rising

Jeremy Hill, CIN
What a way to burst onto the scene. With Gio Bernard out due to injury, Hill got his first opportunity to run alone in the Bengals backfield, and boy did he run, putting up the best running back score of the week in standard leagues. It’s looking like Hill will get another shot this week, so he should probably be in all lineups. The two big questions going forward: How long will Gio Bernard be out? And how involved will Hill be once Bernard returns? Worry about those questions later and ride Hill while you can.

Denard Robinson, JAC
Toby Gerhart started the year in the Jaguars backfield and he failed miserably. Storm Johnson got a chance to lead, but he was bad too. Who would have thought the third try would work out? Well, it has. Denard Robinson has topped 100 total yards in all three games as a starter thus far, averaging 5.77 yards per carry. Robinson can be started with confidence as long as he is in control of the starting job.

Bobby Rainey, TB
Way back in Week 2, Bobby Rainey ran for 144 yards. After a disappointing Week 3, Doug Martin returned and Rainey became the forgotten man. Fast-forward to Week 9: Rainey gets another start and he is successful once again. He didn’t have a huge fantasy day, but 87 yards on 19 carries while adding a reception for 34 yards is still very solid. It now appears Doug Martin is the odd man out in Tampa, so for now, it looks like Rainey’s job. The concern going forward for Rainey is Charles Sims and how much the Buccaneers decide to use him. Rainey makes for a decent play going forward as long as he holds the starting job, but keep in mind there is a risk of Tampa turning into a running back by committee at some point.

Falling

Jerick McKinnon, MIN
He’s an exciting talent, but McKinnon’s situation on the Vikings is holding him back. He leads the Vikings in carries, but the offense isn’t good enough to allow him to run free. Matt Asiata gets the call around the goalline. Now there are reports that Adrian Peterson might actually come back this season, something that would completely ruin McKinnon’s fantasy usefulness. With no Peterson, he remains a decent play with capped upside, but if Peterson returns, McKinnon loses all fantasy value.

Branden Oliver, SD
In the beginning of Ryan Mathews’ time on the sideline, Oliver played at an incredible level, making people wonder if he could keep the job once Mathews returned. A couple weeks ago, it seemed like the worst-case scenario was that Oliver would maintain the Danny Woodhead role. After two down weeks, there’s some doubt as to whether Oliver will maintain enough of a role to be helpful in fantasy at all. Assuming Mathews comes back after the Chargers’ bye, Oliver owners should keep him benched until the San Diego backfield sorts itself out.

Chris Ivory, NYJ
Over the early part of the season, Ivory came in and wrestled the starting job away from Chris Johnson. After that nice start, Ivory has struggled in recent weeks. Two weeks ago he proved to remain a usable commodity thanks to two short touchdowns, but in that game against Buffalo he managed just 43 yards on 13 carries. In Week 9, Ivory showed how much downside he has with just eight rushes for 22 yards against the Chiefs. At this point I am not really interested in starting any members of the Jets backfield.

Wide Receiver

Rising

Jeremy Maclin, PHI
Any doubts about Maclin heading into the Eagles bye have been erased since their bye. In these last two weeks, Maclin has caught 18 passes for 345 yards and four touchdowns. It would be ridiculous to expect this pace to continue, but even with a return to Planet Earth, Maclin remains a solid WR1 going forward. There could be potential concerns about Maclin with Mark Sanchez taking over at quarterback, though it should be noted that Maclin score one of his touchdowns against Houston with Sanchez at the helm.

Mike Evans, TB
Here we have another wide receiver who has been strong since his team’s bye. In the last two weeks since that bye, Evans has been targeted 18 times, gathering in 11 receptions for 202 yards and two touchdowns. He comes with some downside: Vincent Jackson will continue getting lots of targets and Tampa will probably continue to be a bad football team. Right now though, Evans is a solid bye week or injury fill-in at worst, and is potentially a weekly starter depending on a person’s wide receiver situation or league depth.

DeAndre Hopkins, HOU
Early in the season, Hopkins was putting up solid fantasy stats without the luxury of getting plenty of targets. In a Week 6 loss to Indianapolis, Hopkins hit a new low, getting only two targets. Since that time though, the Texans have decided to include him in the offense for real, giving him 31 total targets over the last three games. He has not disappointed. In those games, Hopkins has reeled in 17 passes for 318 yards and a touchdown. As long as Hopkins continues to receive the same amount of attention in the passing game as Andre Johnson, Hopkins remains a weekly fantasy starter.

Falling

Mike Wallace, MIA
The oddest part about the ascension of Ryan Tannehill has been the downturn of Mike Wallace. In the first three weeks of the season, Wallace was averaging just over 10 targets per game. In the last five games, he’s averaging less than eight targets. He hasn’t reached 60 receiving yards in the last three weeks and hasn’t caught more than three passes in the last two. You’re probably still starting him weekly, but he certainly doesn’t have the high weekly floor that he appeared to have earlier in the season.

Pierre Garcon, WAS
What happened to Garcon? He has six games with fewer than 50 receiving yards, five games with 31 or fewer. He caught at least 10 passes in two of the first three weeks, but hasn’t caught more than five in any other game this season. Washington has had issues at quarterback, but Robert Griffin III’s first game back didn’t change much: Garcon had his worst game of the season. It’s a scary thought after the season he had last year, but dropping Garcon isn’t the craziest idea in the world. Ideally you can hold on to him in case there’s a turnaround, but sometimes with byes and injuries, you need a player to let go.

Steve Smith, BAL
The early season run was fun while it lasted. Smith kicked off 2014 with three games tallying more than 100 yards with three touchdowns in his first four weeks. In five games since, he has one 100+ yard game, but also has three games with fewer than 40 yards. He also only has one touchdown over those five games. If I owned Smith, I’d probably try to see if I could parlay his early season success into an upgrade via trade. Otherwise, he’s a matchup play at best as long as he’s on your roster.

Tight End

Rising

Mychal Rivera, OAK
Rivera now becomes the second player that caused me to break my own rule about naming players in this article two weeks in a row. His Week 8 performance gave him was only “interesting.” Now that he’s had two straight weeks of heavy inclusion in the Raiders offense? Rivera is approaching definitely add him if you need a starter status. He seems to be way more interesting in leagues with reception scoring, given that his eight receptions in Week 9 only got him 38 yards. I wouldn’t be happy if I had to depend on Rivera as my weekly tight end the rest of the way, but I’d very happily target him as a fill-in over these last couple weeks of byes.

Coby Fleener, IND
An interesting thing happened on the way to Dwayne Allen being the tight end to own in Indianapolis: Fleener led the Colts in targets in Week 9. His long touchdown came on a broken play, but he still had 10 other targets besides the fluky touchdown. At this point I think I’d much rather own Allen due to his touchdown prowess: He had another against the Giants, by the way. Fleener is an interesting name to watch in the coming weeks, though. Any time a receiver seems to be getting attention from Andrew Luck, he should be getting attention from you.

Jason Witten, DAL
For the first time this season, Witten actually seems to be coming on a little. A common member of the falling section of this weekly segment, Witten recorded at least seven targets and at least five receptions in back-to-back weeks. His two highest yardage weeks of 2014 have come in the last two weeks. He isn’t even close to returning to the Witten we know as the elite fantasy tight end, but at least he has returned to the level of a somewhat decent fantasy starter.

Falling

Jordan Reed, WAS
When Reed returned from injury in Week 6, he made his presence felt in the Washington offense when he caught eight passes for 92 yards. It certainly appeared he was going to deliver on the promise he showed in 2013 that made him a popular mid-round pick this season. Since that time, his yardage has dropped from 54 to 40 to 17. The Vikings are a tough matchup for tight ends, but it’s still shocking to see Reed only receive one target from Robert Griffin III, the Washington quarterback we –or at least I – assumed would utilize Reed the most. I still believe he has higher upside than many other tight ends out there, so he’s not a drop, but I’d temper expectations until Griffin and Reed find the connection they had last season.

Zach Ertz, PHI
I think I am going to go on Ertz hiatus in the falling section after this week. He hasn’t reached 50 receiving yards since Week 2, recorded just one touchdown since Week 1 and officially hit rock bottom in Week 9 with one catch for four yards. I’d have to see at least two solid weeks in a row before I ever trusted putting Ertz back in a fantasy lineup. He seems like a guy who will have solid fantasy value in his career, but just not this year.

Clay Harbor, JAC
Harbor has lost a lot of steam since coming on strong in his first few games of the season. He entered the Jaguars lineup in Week 4 and put up a few solid performances. In the last two weeks though, Harbor has pulled a disappearing act. In Week 8, he only had two catches for 27 yards; and in Week 9, he put up a big fat zero. It’s tough to trust Harbor in any lineup, even as a desperation play, given that he is barely participating in a bad offense

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