Starting, sitting, trading, waiting, and replacing are decisions every fantasy football player makes all season long. Unfortunately, information comes at us fast and furious, making it difficult to decipher when to change our lineups. This article series will be here weekly to help you make those pivotal calls. Welcome to the Panic Meter.
Each week, we will give you several players who underperformed and how panicked you should feel about that letdown. The scale (as seen below) will tell you exactly what to do with last week’s busts, whether it means running them back out there this week or sending them packing for the waiver wire.
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Every player will get a Panic Meter grade between 0 and 4 and a strategy to employ at that graded level.
| PANIC METER GRADE | ACTION PLAN/STRATEGY |
| 0 | This week wasn’t great, but panic, not my friend. Start him again next week. |
| 1 | Wait and see mode activated. If you have a replacement, it may be a smart move. |
| 2 | That was ugly. Something is wrong here. To the bench, he goes. |
| 3 | Hold at your own risk. This player isn’t reliable right now. Consider moving on. |
| 4 | Stop. DROP. Shut ’em down. Open up shop! He gone. |
Now that you understand the system bring on the panic!
Week 10 Panic Meter
Mike Williams | Panic Meter: 1
WR79, WR46, and WR43 are the previous three weekly finishes for the Chargers’ flashy wideout in PPR scoring. That will cause panic in even the staunchest Williams supporters. The good news is, that’s the bad news. There are a few underlying signals that point toward a turnaround, and we need it. His routes run and target percentages have grown each of those last three weeks. Meaning, Los Angeles is trying to get him back on track. You can lower expectations, but he is still in the WR2 conversation.
Mike Davis | Panic Meter: 1
Detractors will highlight last week’s snap count as a reason to worry, but Davis wasn’t on the field because the game was out of reach, and Cordarrelle Patterson‘s ankle injury meant the Falcons needed MD to be healthy next week. So, Wayne Gallman collected 60% of the carries to Davis’ 16%. There is no comfort in starting the diminutive Atlanta RB, but little doubt that he will be option number 1.
Marvin Jones | Panic Meter: 2
Jaguars’ pass-catchers have been stunted all season, going through the growing pains of a rookie QB. Trevor Lawrence may have a bright future in the NFL, but he is currently in a rut making Jacksonville WRs unstartable. Lawrence’s 4.5 Yards Per Attempt since Week 8 is crippling even volume wideouts, like Jones’ upside. TE Dan Arnold is the only benefactor of the check-down offense they are running out there. Things will not likely turn around, but if something should click, you’ll want to have Jones still hanging around your bench.
Cole Beasley | Panic Meter: 2
Buffalo’s slot receiver has been hemorrhaging routes, targets, and Air Yards in recent weeks. Beasley is now a no upside PPR filler, whereas he was once a solid floor play for 12 and deeper team leagues. However, he’s not droppable yet because Buffalo is coming off two extraordinary weeks. A disaster against Jacksonville and an explosion versus the Jets. So, we will send Cole to the bench and monitor his usage in a more level contest next time out.
Baker Mayfield / Jarvis Landry / Donovan Peoples-Jones | Panic Meter: 3
There is no upside in the Cleveland passing game. They sit 27th in completions, 27th in receiving TDs, and 22nd in passing yards as a team through ten weeks. Comparing their play-calling in different game scripts, the Browns are 31st in pass plays when trailing, 26th in pass plays in close games, and 25th in pass plays when leading. They are the definition of a run-first, run-heavy offense with an inconsistent QB at the helm. As a result, there are few start/sit questions as we advance, to which the answer will be a Brown’s WR.
Cut List | Panic Meter: 4 Kenyan Drake, Brandon Bolden, Mecole Hardman, Marquez Callaway, Adrian Peterson, Ricky Seals-Jones, Trevor Lawrence.
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Aaron Pags is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Aaron, check out his archive and follow him @FantasyTriage.