Week 5: Pickups of the Week
QB Sam Bradford, ---
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Not to take anything away from the impressive rookie, but some of the credit for his success has to go to the opponents he's faced so far. Arizona is ranked 22nd against the pass, Seattle 29th, Washington 31st, and this week the Rams take on a Detroit team ranked 26th. In fact, this season the Rams only face three teams that are ranked in the top half of the league when it comes to stopping the pass. Bradford's going to have every chance to build on his impressive start. He still throws too many picks to warrant weekly consideration, but he's certainly emerging as a solid plan B for fantasy owners.
QB Kevin Kolb, ---
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Kolb looked like a player with ZERO confidence last week. Filling in for the squished Mike Vick, Kolb was painfully conservative, dumping the ball off time after time to LeSean McCoy. And it was somehow fitting that, on the game's final play, when Kolb finally let loose a perfectly thrown deep bomb it was dropped in the end zone by Jason Avant. There's no telling right now if Vick will miss just one game or more, but an opportunity is there for Kolb and he needs to psyche himself up for the challenge. Last season, with McNabb injured, Kolb stepped up and slung his way into fantasy relevance with consecutive 300-yard games. At his current pace, he'd need to throw the ball more than sixty times to meet that landmark. Sunday's farce aside, I expect the confidence to come back against San Francisco and for Kolb to flash the abilities that had him pegged as the QB of the future before Vick's resurgence derailed things.
RB Mike Bell, ---
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Don't overreact to McCoy's fractured rib; his likely replacement, Mike Bell, has minimal skills as a receiver, significantly limiting his potential on an offense that relies so heavily on the pass. Having said that, if McCoy misses time, someone will get the goal line carries in Philadelphia and that someone (Bell) has shown in the past (New Orleans 2009, Denver 2006) he can get the job done. The 49ers' rush defense is solid, so Bell has his work cut out for him this week. He's still worth a speculative add and can fill in if bye weeks have you in a tough spot.
RB Ryan Torain, ---
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Ryan Torain's been waiting in the wings for some time and Portis' week 4 groin injury could well usher in the Torain era. A few words of warning before you gleefully throw this second year back into the mix: he plays for Mike Shanahan. We've all seen this dance before. Sure, Torain's been playing well, while Portis hasn't and now looks like he'll miss some time. Torain could get a start this week and should, in all fairness, carve out a bigger role in the team's running game regardless of Portis' health. But Shanahan likes to mess with fantasy owners. If you pick up Torain, get ready for the frustration that comes with never knowing which running back is in the Shanahan good books and which one is in the dog house at any given time.
WR Brandon Lloyd, ---
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Second in the league in receiving yards.
Sixth in the league in targets.
Seventh in the league in receptions.
Three 100-yard receiving games.
It's all very hard to ignore. Lloyd and the Broncos face the ultimate challenge against Baltimore's stifling pass defense this week, and the Jets in Week 6. Time to test his mettle.
