The Cincinnati Bengals have been without AJ Green in recent weeks and fantasy football owners are hoping he can come back in Week 8, but if not, Mohamed Sanu and Brandon Tate are the best free agent pickup options to replace him, while Jeremy Hill, Giovani Bernard and Jermaine Gresham should see some increased work if Green cannot go again with his toe injury.
Green has missed three games this season already and for fantasy owners that is an eternity and not part of the usual norm for Green. The Bengals WR has missed one game over three seasons and that was hit rookie year and he has been looking like the most consistent option in fantasy over the past few years. Sanu now is the top WR and he has played well even when Green is on the field and that makes him a strong starter option for anyone with Green. Sanu had three catches for 54 yards in the game against the Colts and while that was not a great performance, he was coming off two very solid games and that was his first game with fewer than five catches since back in Week 2 of the season.
Sanu has become a consistent target for Dalton and he now has two touchdowns in the past three games and in that span he has 18 catches. Last week Sanu had 10 catches for 120 yards and a score in his best game of the season and he is well on pace to breaking his career marks. Last season Sanu had 47 catches for 455 yards and he already has 30 catches for 408 yards and he topped his TD total already from last season.
Tate is not as good of an option, but he did get into the endzone in a game where Green did not play and in deeper leagues he could be worth a look. Bernard and Jeremy Hill are strong options for this week, as they could get more work in the offense on the ground and in the passing game if Green misses time again in Week 8.
Green comes in after having 22 touchdowns over the past two seasons and now he only has two this year. Green is coming off of back to back 90 plus reception and 1300 yard seasons and that is tough for fantasy football owners to stomach. This season Green has 17 catches in four games and he is coming in after setting career highs last season with 98 catches for 1426 yards and 11 touchdowns. Green had 11 scores the previous season and he had 97 catches for 1350 yards while putting up five 100 yard games. As a rookie Green was over 1000 yards and now he is in jeopardy of missing out on 1K this season.
