Frightening fantasy football moves

I started Cam Newton in week seven…

My year in fantasy has been nothing short of riding a roller coaster at Valley Fair. My team is currently sitting at 4-3 on the season.

After drafting Lamar Jackson in my first pick, I was hoping for another solid, maybe even MVP like season. But Jackson has been really hit or miss this season, scoring anywhere from 13-28 points in a game. While inconsistency is not what I was hoping for with my first pick, I still have faith he can turn it around.

Jackson had a bye week in week seven, so I decided to start Cam Newton. Starting Newton was…an unmitigated disaster. Newton completed just nine passes and threw three interceptions.

Suddenly, Jackson’s 13 point performance looked much more appealing. Somehow, Newton was outscored by one of my staring receivers, Michael Gallup, who did not even record a catch. Newton and the Patriots got stomped on by the San Francisco 49ers 6-33, as the former MVP gave me -0.18 fantasy points on the day.

Last week I narrowly escaped losing by picking up the Kansas City Chiefs defense off the waivers. The Chiefs defense scored 21 points for me, they had two touchdowns, two interceptions, two fumble recoveries and allowed only sixteen points.  While the Chiefs performance was sweet, it is never good news when my defense is my highest scoring player.

I will be the first to admit that I really didn’t draft that good of a receiving core. Besides drafting Gallup, I drafted the hit or miss Allen Robinson II of the Chicago Bears and in my flex have Kenny Golladay from the Detroit Lions. A-rob may very well be an elite fantasy option if he could ever stumble into an offense that was not led by Blake Bortles, Mitch Trubisky or Nick Foles.

Instead, Robinson’s fantasy production seems to all come on one or two ‘screw it’ balls that Foles launches downfield each week. Maybe Matt Nagy and the Bears offense can turn things around and get Robinson more involved in the second half of the season.

The good news is Golladay has been able to carry the load for my receiving core. While relying on the Detroit Lions to be successful each week is a frightening proposition, Golladay has been solid so far this season.

With my receiver putting up a big fat zero, Newton somehow scoring negative points and my defense needing to carry the weight of my team, the prospects for my fantasy team the rest of the season are uneasy. Lamar Jackson can’t get back soon enough.

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