Luke spent a week learning to FLEX with Terry Crews |
After a brief hiatus, Luke returns with the FLEXology report! - Luke B.
Quarterback
Flex to Start: Joe Flacco
The best option for a flex QB to give a top 10 week comes from
Flacco as he is going up against the 29th ranked pass defense in San Francisco.
Last week, against the 28th ranked pass defense, Flacco was able to score 26
points with a skeleton crew at the skilled positions. Now, he may be down
Justin Forsett, who had four catches for 49 yards as well as adding 121 yards
on the ground on 21 carries, but Buck Allen proved to be serviceable and should
fit in decent enough if Forsett cannot go.
Starter to Avoid: Cam Newton
The Carolina Panthers remain undefeated going into week 6,
however their one passing weapon of note is Greg Olsen; the rest are simply
role players as long as Kelvin is recovering from an ACL tear. Also, Cam is
going against the 9th best rush defense so the odds of him being fantasy
relevant from his legs are not exactly good. I am staying away from Cam if I am
able to.
Running Back
Flex to Start: Lamar Miller
Relegated to the bench in recent weeks, there is new hope for
Miller as the Dolphins have fired their head coach, Joe Philbin, and have
replaced him with the TE coach, Dan Campbell. While the offense establishes
itself under its new coach, the team will need to lean on someone to help
stabilize their tailspin. That could be Miller, as Tannehill has been
struggling as well. As for Tennessee, they are ranked 27th in rush defense and
should help as Miami’s
o-line folds under better talent.
Starter to Avoid: Jeremy Hill
With Hill still in the starter spot (if you listen to Hugh Jackson)
it may seem like giving him another shot would be appropriate. However, CIN
playing against Buffalo this week, who rank 6th according to football outsiders
at rush defense. So, even with the questionable offense of BUF, the defense
should be able to make the game plan lean more on Giovanni Bernard.
Wide Receiver
Flex to Start: Allen Hurns
Going against the 27th passing defense should allow Hurns to have
a start-worthy game, as long as Blake Bortles is the QB. So far, this year,
Hurns has 27 receptions for 430 yards and 3 TD’s. 2 of his 5 games have had +100 yards outings. In
comparison, Allen Robinson has had 402 yards on 22 receptions and 4 TDs. (2 of
which came in his last game). He has
also only had 1 outing that yielded +100 yards. Allen Hurns should prove that
his current production is not a fluke against an inferior Houston passing
defense.
Starter to Avoid: Julio Jones
Kind of an easy one to call, but it seems that Jones is the
latest in a growing list of NFL players to suffer from a hamstring injury that
could either make him not play or only play in the hopes of acting as the
dreaded decoy. If he does play, this is obviously more than likely a bad call,
but as of now I do not think he is going to play. We’ll see Thursday night.
Tight End
Flex to Start: Charles Clay
There are not many options for Buffalo going into this week for
probable starter EJ Manuel to throw to. So I expect there to be a lot of
opportunity for Clay as he acts as Manuel’s safety blanket. They face CIN, who should get up quickly
on Buffalo through the air, so BUF will need to throw in an effort to keep up.
Starter to Avoid: Gary Barnidge
This will be the week that Gary crashes back to Earth, although I
do not think he will stay down for long. The Browns will be going up against
the number 1 defense in the NFL with the Denver Broncos. I expect the Browns to
try and combat this by running the ball as much as possible. By the time, the
Browns begin to throw the ball, they could be far enough behind to need to
depend on Travis Benjamin and Taylor Gabriel to get down field.