Trading Places
Byron Lambert, Rosterwatch.com

Well its not really all that surprising but it is a little frustrating for fantasy football owners this early in the season. Its official, Arian Foster and Reggie Bush owners should be very nervous. They are both trading places!

The culprit in Houston? Ben Tate, a player the Texans invested a 2nd round pick in just a year ago and were very high on. Injury wiped out his rookie year and opened the door for Foster to come out of nowhere and take control of the job with a monster season. Well the tables have turned. Now it is Foster with a nagging hamstring injury that has allowed to Tate to reassert himself with a couple of really nice performances.

In week 2 Arian Foster got back in the lineup and got the start but it was Tate who came in and played the best (10 carries for 33 yd vs 23 carries for 103 yd + 32 yd recieving). In fairness it is clear that Arian Foster is not 100% but that is irrelevant in a “what have you done for me lately league”. Especially for a guy they haven’t sunk any major coin into and especially at the RB position where the common sentiment amongst the league is one of declining importance that can be successfully treated as a revolving door. Combine that with the 2nd rd. draft investment in Tate and Gary Kubiak’s penchant for backfield by committee and Foster owners have a major problem on their hands. On the flip side Tate owners have to be ecstatic to see him playing so well and to hear Kubiak declare him as the “lead back” moving forward.

In Miami, fantasy owners saw the bottom fall out of the Reggie Bush Fantasy Stock Market this weekend. Yes we heard the Daniel Thomas chatter in the preseason but then he was injured and then Bush was featured nicely in week 1. After all this is Bush’s best opportunity to shine after being a marquee offseason acquisition for MIA. Next thing you know Thomas is getting healthy for week 2 and you hear Sporano come out and say it will be a 70-30 split of the workload. The context of his statement made it obvious Bush was still the featured guy.

Well so much for that. Out of nowhere Thomas was taking almost every snap at RB and Bush owners were wondering if Reggie was a last minute surprise injury scratch. Thomas had 18 carries for 107 yards at 5.9 yards a clip. Bush? Yeah he had 6 carries for a whopping 18 yards and only 1 measly reception in a game you would have predicted he would be used in the passing game. Talk about a 70/30 split; obviously Sporano was being coy and thinking Daniel Thomas the whole time. It turns out it was even worse it was really a 75/25 split!

I have never been a Reggie Bush fantasy guy but did draft him in both of my leagues this year. My thinking was that he wasn’t different but his opportunity was. That the circumstances would dictate more production from Bush than we are accustomed which would then present significant value as a late round draft pick. Well I was wrong.Yes he will have those two 20 pt. games this year but you will have to suffer through a lot of garbage games to get those. On my teams Bush is going straight to the bench and will not see the light of day again barring a major bye week bind or another Daniel Thomas injury.

Make sure and follow one of the key Rosterwatch.com fantasy football doctrines when assessing these two scenarios: Have foresight and be quick to recognize situations for what they really are.