Fantasy Season More Than Halfway Over

Halfway through the NFL season, the contenders need separated from the pretenders in the world of fantasy football.

Multiple breakout performers have emerged from every crevice in the NFL. Who would have thought coming into this season that DeMarco Murray would be the leader of all running backs in fantasy points, or that LeSean McCoy wouldn’t even be in the top 25 highest scoring running backs? However, fantasy points can be deceiving.

Here are a few contenders:

LeSean McCoy: Coming out of the bye week, Evan Mathis, the Eagles best run blocker who has been sidelined for a few weeks, gets a little healthier, and may even start Sunday, good news for McCoy owners. Much of McCoy’s lackluster performance this season has been because of his injury riddled offensive line, but with the line finally shaping into the way it was drawn up in Chip Kelly’s ingenious mind, things are looking on the up for McCoy, especially after McCoy’s 150 yard performance against the Giants last Sunday night.

DeMarco Murray: Murray has been extraordinary in the Cowboy’s running game this season. Murray has had seven straight games with 100 yards rushing or more, an all-time league record. The Cowboy’s offensive line has been playing extremely well, and Murray has been capitalizing on his opportunities when given the rock.

Aaron Rodgers: Aaron Rodgers has quietly scored the most fantasy points behind Andrew Luck this season. Rodgers has been exceptional this season, scoring below 15 points only twice all year.

Sophomore Conor Miller named Rodgers his MVP so far this season.

“[Rodgers] has thrown 3 TD’s and no interceptions in each of his last three games,” said Miller. “You can’t argue with that.”

Following Green Bay’s bye week in week 9, the Packers play a few teams with suspect pass defense including the Bears, Eagles, Vikings, and Falcons. If there is any way you can get a hold of Rodgers, now is your time to grab him.

And where there are winners, there are losers.

Toby Gerhart: Gerhart was expected to “shock the world” when he signed his three year deal with the Jaguars after coming from Minnesota last year. Through the first seven weeks, Gerhart has done nothing. Gerhart has yet to muster his way past 25 fantasy points in all his games combined this season, a feat Aaron Rodgers accumulated in just one game last week. If there was ever a time to get rid of him, it was a long, long, LONG time ago.

Adrian Peterson: Peterson has been one of, if not the greatest fantasy disappointments this season. Many players took Peterson with their first overall pick, only to have him be suspended before week two for an undetermined amount of time. Peterson has scored a grand total of 9 fantasy points, and it doesn’t look like he’ll be playing any time soon. If he does return to the field before the end of the season, perhaps no longer in a Vikings uniform.

English teacher Heath Hallman believes Adrian Peterson was totally out of line.

“I completely disagree with [his] method of disciplining his children,” said Hallman. “I do think it is assault; I think that he is a tremendous talent, but I think he has wasted it.”

Junior Josh Stoneberg completely disagrees.

“I feel like he should get away with it,” said Stoneberg. “I think he should be back in the NFL, for whatever team. It’s his kid and way of discipline; he should do what he wants.”

Ray Rice: Rice is in the same boat as Peterson. Rice was infamously and indefinitely suspended by the league after a video surfaced of Rice punching his then fianceè in a casino elevator in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Rice has yet to carry the football for this season for any team, and was dropped by the Ravens less than 24 hours after the video was released. Rice has a court date set for November 3rd.