Cleveland Knocks and Other Musings from Motown

Remember the good Braylon Edwards?

Not even the big man on campus at Michigan. It wasn't that long ago that No. 1 was a fantasy ace.But this morning I checked one of mine and probably a lot of other people's favorite fantasy websites, and even with the move to the D.A. they were still finding ways to sell Braylon short, and calling him a low-No. 2 for the rest of the year at WR.

This particularly publication had Edwards ranked No. 13 prior to the season; I personally had him at No. 15. Now let's be honest: Braylon's owners should be absolutely delighted as a bachelor at the Playboy Mansion that this switch was made. Let's take a look at a few statistics:

2009 (Through 3 games with Brady Quinn):10 rec., 139 yds., zero touchdowns.

2008 (In eight games with Anderson):26 rec., 457 yds., 3 touchdowns.

2008 (In eight games with Brady Quinn): 24 rec., 420 yds., zero touchdowns.

Seeing a trend here, anyone? Even simply double his numbers with Anderson last year and you have 900 yards and six touchdowns. That's somewhere around a low No. 2 or a great No. 3 wide receiver. Figure that he eliminates some of those drops, maybe it's 1,000 yds. with seven touchdowns. Did you honestly draft him expecting more? Yeah, the guy had upside, but I'm betting if you own him you'd happily take that right now.

This is definitely an upgrade, ladies and gentleman.

While on the subject of upside, is your fantasy season going the way of the job economy? I promise your fantasy team is much easier to pull out of the toilet bowl, and it's time to employ a few steps in case anyone's forgotten to help do this.

1. Offer trades. Offer lots of trades. Send messages. Keep your communication lines open. This goes for double if you know the people in your league, because it's that much easier. Who would've soured on Matt Forte this early in the year? Apparently one guy in my league after I started poking around. I'm working on a deal to buy low on a guy who might be nicked up, but has the Lions this week and a bye week after this to get healthy for cheap. You can do this too, I promise. 
2. Don't make the mistakes the guy aforementioned did. Don't be swapping LaDanian Tomlinson for Ray Rice, or even Darren Sproles. Unless you reached so far you felt something bite your hand in the first three rounds, I doubt you should be trading them, let alone dropping and effectively giving up on them. Hey, guys who drafted Glen Coffee. Did you drop him already? Sorry about that. It's turned out a lot better than James Davis, at least.
   
3. Here's a list: Glen Coffee, Mike Sims-Walker, Tashard Choice, Donnie Avery, and the San Fransisco defense. If you're weak at RB, WR, or need a defense and these guys aren't owned, stop waiting and get them. In 12-team leagues they all need to be owned.

4. On the subject of wide receivers, are your big guns coming up short? Well, you could read my Fantasy Filmroom column, or if you want a challenge, go look at targets, or try and pay closer attention to footage or replayed games. Maybe the quarterback just simply didn't look his way enough, and it wasn't his fault. Or maybe he was matching up against Darrelle Revis. Which Marques Colston is this week, by the way. For someone who's supposedly running certain routes, it's something to keep in mind.

That's a start. 0-3 is a tough hole to dig yourself out of, but 1-2 is nothing to panic about. It's not too late for a turnaround. Just ask Braylon.