Well, it looks like the rumors were true for once. Dallas Clark is out for the season! Oh, and Austin Collie is out indefinitely due to his recent hand surgery. Wait, not done yet, Joseph Addai has no feeling in one shoulder (isn’t that a good thing for taking NFL hits?).
So we know who to drop (uh, Dallas Clark), but who do we pick up or trade for? We asked 7 of our Featured Pros to help our members by answering this question.
Given Indy’s rash of recent injuries, which Colts step up to fill the fantasy void for the remainder of the season?
Pat Fitzmaurice – Pro Football Weekly
For the Colts, I think we’ll see a repeat of 2006, when Reggie Wayne and Marvin Harrison both had over 1,300 receiving yards and no other Colt had even 400 receiving yards. Pierre Garcon owners just hit the jackpot. He should put up big numbers the rest of the way. Anthony Gonzalez and Blair White might catch some balls, but I don’t see either being a major fantasy contributor. Gonzalez is an injury waiting to happen; White just isn’t all that talented. Chasing fantasy value out of Indy’s remaining tight ends is a fool’s errand — they aren’t any good. At running back, Donald Brown could put up some nice numbers if he can get healthy and get a featured-back role. Brown has legit talent. Mike Hart is just a try-hard guy who doesn’t have true NFL-level talent. But if Addai and Brown are healthy, even Hart could have some short-term value.
Anthony Gonzalez and his first-round pedigree + earlier rapport built with Peyton Manning makes him the choice in the passing game, although he is brittle and may not even be 100% coming out of the bye, so Blair White and Jacob Tamme should both be kept on waiver wire speed dial. Likewise, Donald Brown will be ahead of Mike Hart when both are healthy – neither had a clear bill of health going into the bye – but Brown’s long injury history for a relatively short career means Hart should also be rostered, heck, remember Andre Brown in case both go down.
Phil Dussault – Ultimate FF Strategy
The biggest injury is the one to Dallas Clark and the best way to predict what will happen is to look at the Colts offense before the emergence of Clark in 2007. Jacob Tamme will replace Clark and will probably have as much impact as guys like Ben Utecht and Marcus Pollard did back in the day. In those same years, Harrison and Wayne were getting 80+ catches a year but Brandon Stokley also had a season of 41 and 68 catches. I think what will happen is something similar to 2004 when the team had three very good WRs in Harrison, Wayne and Stokley and they had a total of 231 catches. Garcon, Gonzalez and White will all get their opportunities in the next few weeks but the three big WRS will be Wayne, Collie and Garcon for the last 5-6 weeks of the year.
When it comes to their RBs, the Colts have never been shy to use a RBBC in the past and won’t hesitate to do so with Addai out. Brown is the better of the two and will probably get about 60% of the touches but neither of them should have much fantasy impact unless they have a very favorable match-up.
Garcon is GONNA be huge and be a major benefactor in Indy. He now has very little competition for the ball and that was the only thing hurting Garcon and Collie. If Garcon wasn’t the banged up one, then I would be saying the same thing about Collie right now. You could sub one for the other and whoever got the opp is going to catch fire.
I also like Donald Brown to start shining as well. He has been banged up as well, but less than Addai so he will get starts. The Colts have not wanted to use him as the featured back because they didn’t think he could play the whole year. Well now they don’t have a choice plus he should be pretty well rested through six weeks of football. Hart and whoever else they find will steal from him, but he has potential to be a flex start every week. Blair White, A Gonzalez, and Tamme will only step up if they catch the first 5 to 10 passes thrown at them. If not, Manning won’t trust him and get it to the others. I don’t think they will and have little value.
Looking at the Colts receivers I expect Pierre Garcon to step up and turn into a Top 20 WR over the rest of the season. Blair White will step into the #3 WR role and have some value, while Austin Collie is out. Meanwhile, I do not trust the health of Anthony Gonzalez to contribute.
In the Colts running game I expect Joseph Addai to continue to have the most value over the remainder of the season. While there are reports he may miss “several weeks”, I still expect him to regain the feature back role when he is healthy. If Addai is out for an extended period, then I expect Donald Brown and Mike Hart to share time, limiting both of their fantasy value. Brown will have more value in heavy yardage and PPR leagues, while Hart will have more value in TD heavy leagues, serving as the goal line and clock killing back.
Sean Haugh – Fantasy Football Maniaxs
With Austin Collie out an extended period of time, Pierre Garcon definitely rises back to the level of must-start stud. After Garcon and Reggie Wayne, there’s a big drop off to Anthony Gonzalez, who is finally healthy enough to play. Gonzalez at 100 percent is significantly better than Blair White. But bear in mind that Collie did all his damage in the slot, and given the Colts haven’t had that kind of production from a third receiver since the days of Brandon Stokley, it’s no guarantee than just anyone in that role will be a lock for big fantasy points.
Jacob Tamme replaces Dallas Clark and is decent enough a play if you need Tight End help, but he is nowhere near as accomplished as a receiver. Tamme will still be better than just about anyone on your waiver wire though.
Joseph Addai’s injury woes gives Donald Brown a chance to shine, and I believe he’ll take full advantage of his opportunity. Addai may come back to find himself out as the starter. Now is probably the last chance you’ll get to buy low on Brown.
In the preseason I was huge on Anthony Gonzalez and touted him as my main sleeper and thought he would get the 3rd most targets of this Colts team. Well needless to say I dropped A-Gon on all of my teams after Week One. But I’m still convinced Gonzalez will step up and be the most productive Indy receiver (behind Reggie Wayne) now that he’s healthy and with Collie and Clark out. I think Gonzalez will step right into the slot role that Clark and Collie would often sit in and get his fantasy points. I don’t think any TE on the Colts is worth owning. Lastly, I think the Colts RB you want from here on out in Donald Brown. The only reason Mike Hart got any carries was because both Joseph Addai and Brown were out. But now that Brown’s coming back and with Addai’s injury history, I want Brown.
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