The fantasy football season is now into the fourth week of the NFL schedule and already, just like in the real league, teams are starting to pull away, while others are starting to plan for next season and with my team already terrible at 0-3, it was time for a trade: Daryl Richardson, Mike Wallace and Russell Wilson moved for Brian Hartline, DeAngelo Williams and Philip Rivers.
After three weeks and a number of injuries to players like Shane Vereen and Jacoby Jones (and with Rob Gronkowski still hurting) it was time to make a change, for better or worse. Another team in my league was also 0-3, so we both looked at our squads and decided to try and upgrade where we could. He needed a wide receiver and I needed another solid running back, so we started working on a deal.
At first the quarterbacks were not involved, but after talking we thought it would be best to try and reshape our teams to try and recover this season, so we added Rivers and Wilson to the mix. That part of the trade might be a bit lopsided, but either way, our teams needed a drastic change to get back into the competition this season. Looking at it by position, the running back deal could go either way, but right now Williams is the better pick.
Richardson is dealing with a foot injury and while he says that it isn't serious, Williams has twice as many yards as D-Rich and is ranked third in the NFL already this season with 291 yards, although he has not yet scored a rushing touchdown. Williams is getting the bulk of the carries and will continue to do so as long as Jonathan Stewart is out of the lineup and he claims that one reason is due to the new offensive system.
Williams has been able to get in better spots under Mike Shula, saying that former coordinator Rob Chudzinski did not get the running backs in the best offensive sets and that might be why the Browns traded Trent Richardson. Chud may not use running backs the way players like Williams and Richardson want to be used, but clearly he is benefitting from the new scheme. Williams has 120 yards against the Giants in their 38-0 beat down and he also had over 80 yards in the previous two games.
Richardson has just 98 yards this season, but his upside could be better as the schedule moves along and as long as he is healthy, he could be a solid option. Richardson has had just 30 carries this season and 10 receptions and if he can stay healthy he will be a better option going forward after averaging under 4.0 yards per carry in two games.
The Hartline and Wallace move is interesting as well since both are on the same team and while Hartline has out produced the high profile free agent, which could change as the season goes on. Hartline was targeted a team high 15 times in the opening game against the Browns, while Wallace was once, and Hartline finished with nine catches for 114 yards and one touchdown. The rest of the season he has had nine catches and one touchdown and depending on how Ryan Tannehill runs the offense, one could breakout more than the other.
