What's old is new again. I remember the early-to-mid 2000's. I was younger, lighter, faster and had no problem staying up past eleven o'clock at night. But then I had a baby, and changed my work hours from late nights to early mornings. Hey, life happens. But that doesn't mean now and then we can't recapture our old form, right? Once a month or so I can stay up until two in the morning watching Doc Hollywood for the 5,000th time. But then I hit the wall. However that is decidedly not so for a couple of guys who have found the fountain of youth through five weeks in the NFL. To the Targets and Touches report we go...
Kendall Wright also had 11 targets to sneak into the Top 10, and while you're not starting him, he's an option to keep stashed away on your bench for now - I'm actually doing that in one of my leagues. You know me, I love opportunity, so let's see how things work out as Kenny Britt gets back into the swing of things in Tennessee.
Marques Colston is still too hot-and-cold for me. A great game, yes. But no Lance Moore had a lot to do with that. With byes in full swing, yes, he deserves to be started at your flex, but I like him more as trade bait than anything else. His value will never be higher than it is right now. Speaking of trade bait...
I tell you, I'm nervous about Larry Fitzgerald. I'm glad Kevin Kolb is looking for him more, but he's not connecting at all. If I owned him, I would try to sell high on him right now to try to bolster my team in other areas. He's 20th overall in fantasy points at wide receiver, and trails his teammate Andre Roberts in that category. Someone in your league will still fall in love when you send him his name in a trade offer because he's still a big name. But points are points, and when you're barely outperforming DeSean Jackson and Andrew Hawkins after five games? Onto the trading block you go.
Uh, Reggie Wayne is a must-start in fantasy once again and you can party like it's 2007! (Who says the NFL is No Country For Old Men?) Hey, we said in the pre-season he was going to be this year's Steve Smith: the aging veteran re-energized by a rookie quarterback who puts up numbers like he did in his hey-day. Wayne is all Luck looks for and even though defenses know that, Wayne still produces. Indianapolis is going to throw exclusively all season so the opportunity will be there. At worst he's a No. 2 wide receiver for you. (And a special shout-out to the Ouija board that told me to start Luck and Wayne in one of my leagues this week.)
Speaking of players going back in time, how about Tony Gonzalez flashing some 2004 form? (He had 14 targets as well to lead all tight ends.) He's outperforming Gronkowski, Graham and everyone else so far and there's plenty of balls to go around in that Falcons offense. Even in a game where Matt Ryan took a long time to get going, Gonzalez continued to be steady. Sort of like when 'Hey-Ya' was solidly atop the pop charts in that huge year eight years ago. I feel like Casey Kasem.
Andrew Hawkins' 13 targets tell us something big about him: he needs to be owned in every fantasy league. You think of him as someone who's had two big plays this season accounting for all of his fantasy points, but he's more. He's clearly Andy Dalton's number two option and he's enough of a game-breaker to turn a 15-yard out into a 75-yard touchdown. Admittedly, he's not worth starting every week, but he's got enough talent and opportunity to be a weekly option for you.
Ahmad Bradshaw saw 34 touches Sunday to put him tenth this week in the category. Boy, Andre Brown was a nice story, wasn't he? You now start him with confidence as a No. 2 running back. It's been two weeks since Brown's breakout performance against Carolina and he had five carries against Philadelphia and left Sunday's game against Cleveland with a concussion without carrying the football. If you're desperate for the roster spot, you can waive Brown, who tweeted he was OK after the injury.
What ACL injury? Jamaal Charles totaled 33 touches against Baltimore to go along with 140 rushing yards to prove he's officially back and once again a No. 1 running back in fantasy. However, he slowed mightily in the second half of the game, likely from the heavy workload. That's the big question about Charles right now: can he handle so many carries or will he wear down late in the season? Do you try to trade Charles now while his value is highest? There's a lot of merit in that, but I'd still hold onto him for now and be happy with his production. It's still too early for him to hit the wall. Take his fantasy points now and we'll re-visit this in a month.
To borrow from a tweeter to NFL Fantasy LIVE this week, don't ever, ever bench Stevan Ridley again. This week showed there's no real division of labor going on in New England. Ridley was on the field for less than 50 snaps, but he carried the ball 28 times, so when he's in the game, he's getting the rock. There's a reason he's fourth overall in running back fantasy points.
Jason Smith hosts NFL Fantasy Live on the NFL Network and writes fantasy and other pith for NFL.com. Talk to him on Twitter @howaboutafresca, and listen to his Fantasy Podcast with Michael Fabiano and Elliot Harrison every week on nfl.com. He only asks you never bring up when the Jets play poorly.
