Harris: Brandon Marshall's A Buy-Low Fantasy WR
By Adam Harris-
(CBS) Brandon Marshall owners shouldn't be happy with their early second round fantasy pick.
His three touchdowns in Week 2 have kept the out-of-town stupid astray in criticizing Marshall's fantasy production, but with a nagging ankle injury suffered in Week 1 and his third straight horrific fantasy week, the panic is surfacing.
Let's indulge these panicked thoughts for a moment before righting the ship and looking forward to the most glorious fantasy comeback ever.
In Week 2, Marshall was questionable all week with an ankle injury. Most followed expert fantasy advice saying to find another option at wideout for that week because the Bears played on Sunday night and you didn't want to be caught with a big fat zero. Marshall ended up playing and catching three touchdowns, going for 25 fantasy points in half-PPR formats. Frustrating.
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Early on in Week 3, the frustration continued. Again Marshall was questionable all week with his ankle injury, but those tricky Bears doctors couldn't fool fantasy veterans again. It was all systems go on Marshall, who ended up injuring his ankle in the second quarter, ending the game with one catch for six yards. That's unacceptable for an early second round pick that fantasy teams rely on early in the year to have blow-up potential.
Marshall was primed for a bounce-back in Week 4. He caught an early touchdown and had a bad Packers defense to beat up on the rest of the game, but the lack of practice reps caused confusion between Jay Cutler and his stud receiver on an interception that stalled the Bears offense. Marshall ended up with just eight fantasy points in half-PPR formats.
Last week, Marshall only saw five targets, catching three of them for 44 yards. Cutler's poor decisions continued to diminish drive and scoring opportunities that would have undoubtedly resulted in more Marshall points.
Looking ahead, six of the remaining 10 opponents Marshall and the Bears face the rest of the fantasy season are currently among the top 10 defenses against fantasy wideouts.
All of this panic is indeed justified. It looks like defenses have figured out Marc Trestman's system and how he utilizes two giant wideouts. Marshall's ankle injury is in direct relation to his lack of production. He dominated in Week 1, but he did so on 12 targets, which are more than the 11 targets he has seen in the last two weeks combined.
Having said that, Marshall will be stellar the rest of the year. In fact, he will be one of the best fantasy wideouts from here on out. Why? Because Trestman said so.
"We want him to have more productivity," Trestman said during his Monday press conference. "When he touches the ball, good things happen. Over the last couple of weeks we haven't been able to get that done. It's certainly something we have to continue to work on, to get him back involved where he can get more touches that will result in bigger plays."
That is wonderful to hear for Marshall owners, but how do we know Trestman is telling the truth? Well, because Marshall is the one who went to Trestman for more touches, and I imagine Marshall didn't go to his head coach level-headed. When a receiver complains, his targets skyrocket the next few weeks.
Marshall is also too talented to keep putting up bad fantasy numbers each week. Cutler will start to take care of the ball better moving forward, and Trestman will reconfigure his plays to give Marshall the football a ton.
Marshall is a buy-low candidate and shouldn't be traded by any fantasy owner at this time, unless you are getting top-tier talent in return.
Be patient,Marshall owners. Stay afloat in the meantime because Marshall will win you weeks in the future, just like Denver Demaryius Thomas did with 40 points this past Sunday for patient owners.
Adam Harris is a producer for 670 The Score. Follow him on Twitter @aharris670 and feel free to ask fantasy questions.
