The NFL schedule is now into Week 10 after the Minnesota Vikings took down the Washington Redskins on Thursday night football and that means fantasy football owners will be looking for the players to start as the top studs and duds for the week and some names to watch includes Darren Sproles, Victor Cruz, Marques Colston and Ben Tate as well as Mike James.
Darren Sproles is probable for the Cowboys game on Sunday and he left against the Jets last week with a concussion and now that makes two weeks with zero rush yards. Sproles is never a factor in the rushing game anyway, but over the past two games he has just five catches for two years and that came after a six catch, 58 yard performance against the New England Patriots and the Saints are hoping for a game like that again. Sproles had seven catches for 114 yards against the Dolphins and after putting together 37 for over 360 yards this season, he could be a STUD as long as he is recovered for this week.
The fantasy football season has made it into the back stretch and a player like Trent Richardson is a tough one to deal with for owners, as he has been a bit of a disappointment since being traded and with a nice finish to the year he can make up for that. Richardson comes into the week dealing with an ankle injury and while the team is playing the Rams, look at Richardson as a DUD, since he has not hit more than 60 yards in each of his past five games and is averaging just over three yards per carry this season.
That was one of the knocks on Richardson when he got traded from Cleveland and now it seems to be an issue in Indy, as the loss of Reggie Wayne has allowed teams to focus more on the rushing attack with Luck and Richardson. This season he has 353 yards and two touchdowns and he has not had as many receptions by a ton as he did last season, as he has just 11 on the season for just over 100 yards, a far cry from when he was a rookie and one of the leaders in the league among running backs.
Last week he had eight carries and 10 touches for 20 yards on the ground and he has not broken off a 20 yard run in over five weeks and in that span he has just four catches and one touchdown rushing. Richardson is a talented back, but this week if you're a fantasy owner one need of a win, he is not a player to rely on despite practicing on Friday. Colston is another player that has been dealing with injuries this season and he has not been productive over the past few weeks, making him a DUD option as well.
Last games he had three catches for 18 yards and last week he missed out against the Jets and in each of the past three games he has not had more than three catches or six targets and in that span he only made six catches. The previous week he had just 11 yards in the game and before that was 15 against the Bears and before that he had his best game against the Dolphins with seven catches for 96 yards, but he has been unable to recreate that so far. This season Colston has just 27 catches for 342 yards and one touchdown and even though he was able to practice this week, it was on a limited basis and he could be a DUD once again this weekend for the Saints against the Dallas Cowboys.