Tomorrow’s Newspaper: Shane Vereen, Week 15 Waiver Wire Prescience and Beyond

While we’ve been able to leverage PlayerProfiler to help us find ideal players to stash at the end of our benches, stashing players in redraft leagues becomes less necessary with the fantasy playoffs underway.  Since they’ll only be able to help us for the next three or four weeks, many of the players being acquired at this point of the season are being started.  As is usually the case with players like these, they should only be started in the deepest of leagues and/or as last resorts for injury-depleted rosters.  But if these players are available in dynasty leagues, or leagues with the option to keep multiple players for one or more years, they can be stashed.

Robert Griffin III, QB, Browns

It’s fair to wonder if the winless Browns would be still be winless had Robert Griffin been able to stay healthy for at least part of the season.  His 10.3-point fantasy performance against the Eagles in Week 1 doesn’t inspire much confidence, even if the Eagles have been relatively stingy against opposing fantasy QBs.  But the play of Josh McCown and Cody Kessler hasn’t inspired any sort of confidence either.  Though Kessler is the third round pet project, the team will more than likely keep Griffin around and let him play out his contract.  After suffering multiple concussions in his limited action this year, Kessler probably needs a year of being relegated to the bench.

Robert Griffin is a player who is likely to be available in a number of dynasty and/or deep leagues.  The fact that he’s been on injured reserve for so long will cause a lot of people to forget about him.  With the 32nd-ranked pass blocking offensive line per Player Profiler, RG3 isn’t going to help win any games for the Browns or your fantasy teams this year.  But with an exciting, young crop of pass catchers to work with, including Corey Coleman and Terrelle Pryor, it’s exciting to think about what he’d be capable of if his line could give him some time to operate.  We’re still talking about one of the most precocious college prospects of all time and a former number two overall draft pick.  A late-career turnaround isn’t completely out of the question, and he should at least be rostered in dynasty leagues.

Shane Vereen, RB, Giants 

Shane Vereen is another player who was robbed of the chance to be a meaningful fantasy producer by injury.  After he tore his triceps in Week 3, the Giants are set to activate him off of injured reserve ahead of a Sunday night showdown with Dallas.  Against this same stingy run defense, Vereen drew five targets and scored 9.1 fantasy points on only a 35.5-percent Opportunity Share.  That seems to be his best case scenario if he’s active against the Cowboys, so he’ll be tough to trust in fantasy lineups.  But a strong showing with a high number of targets could put him on the streaming radar against the Lions and Eagles over the next two weeks.

The odds that Shane Vereen becomes a league-winning fantasy asset in 2016 are slim, but he’s a great player to stash for next season where applicable.  Rashad Jennings isn’t getting any younger and has recorded two straight inefficient seasons, while Paul Perkins has been the literal definition of ‘just a guy’ at the RB position.  The possibility remains that one or more Giants RBs become marginalized if the team spends high draft capital at the position.  Even if that happens, Vereen’s skill-set is too valuable for the Giants not to keep him heavily involved in the offense.  He was one of the league’s most efficient backs in 2015, ranking in the top 10 among qualified players in both Yards per Touch (6.3) and Fantasy Points per Opportunity (1.12).  The offensive line needs to improve drastically for Vereen to reach his full potential in this potentially explosive offense.  But you know what to do.

Seth Roberts, WR, Raiders

Seth Roberts is the kind of player who always seems to available on the waiver wire.  You always think about picking him up, though starting him never enters your mind, but you never do.  Then you see him score double digit fantasy points with a TD, yet you still can’t justify adding him to your roster.  It doesn’t help that if/when you finally do, you pick the wrong weeks to start him.  Anyone who’s started him over the last two weeks after a 12.1-point outing against Carolina in Week 12 knows the feels.  But the fact that he’s second on the team with five receiving scores, one more than former first round pick Amari Cooper, shows us that there’s absolutely a place for him in Oakland’s long-term offensive gameplan.

You won’t be able to stash Seth Roberts this week, as the Raiders have already been in action in Week 14.  Even if you could, it would be hard to convince you to do so after he wet-farted his way to 3.2 fantasy points on nine targets against the Chiefs.  But the fact that he saw a Target Share in excess of 20 percent in a game where Derek Carr only threw 41 passes is a good sign.  He has a decidedly average profile, with his only elite metric being his 21.4 College Yards per Reception.  This combined with Oakland’s strong defense and run game make it hard for him to be a consistent fantasy contributor.  But we know he’s good for the occasional double digit game.  And any injuries incurred by Amari Cooper and Michael Crabtree would open the door for Roberts to see a windfall of opportunity in an offense that’s still rapidly improving.

Dion Sims, TE, Dolphins

Even though Dion Sims is the owner of an average prospect profile, he has two things that can be found in many a late-round fantasy TE success story.  He has a Snap Share that ranks 11th among qualified players at the position, despite only playing in nine games.  He also has the size we’re looking for in our every-down starters at 6-5, 262-pounds.  The only trait missing from Sims’ widely underrated profile is an exceptional size-adjusted Agility Score.  His score of 11.68 places him in the 33rd-percentile at the position, but it is still an impressive score for a player weighing over 260-pounds.

Dion Sims will be a free agent after this season.  But with Jordan Cameron mulling retirement due to multiple concussions, it would behoove Sims to re-sign with Miami.  Barring a major free agent signing or high round draft pick at TE, he would have the entire offseason to work as the starter.  And that’s a good sign for a player who’s already begun to see increased offensive involvement as the season has progressed.  He’s seen 13 of his 25 targets on the season in the four games since returning from a concussion of his own, and has recorded three straight four-target outings.  He’s not quite a Late Round TE Roulette superstar in the realm of a Vance McDonald.  But he makes for a sneaky dynasty stash, and the ultimate dart throw play in playoff match-ups in case he can replicate his 15.3-point performance from Week 12.

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