Please come back, Matt.
“Don’t worry, it’s still early”
Those are the words of denial, and they’re often the most annoying words that have ever been part of a sentence related to fantasy football. There is no “early” when the playoffs start in Week 15, making the regular season only 14 games long. Some leagues even begin their post season in Week 14.
No, you don’t need to wear water wings every Sunday and dive into a kiddie pool at the first sign of trouble. That would be weird, unnecessary, and it’ll probably piss off your mother. She likes to keep the basement clean.
But on the other end of that extreme, poor performances early in the season or production that falls far below what was expected can’t simply be disregarded because of the calender. Which brings us to Matthew Stafford.
The Lions are 1-3, which has created its own unique brand of panic in Detroit, although fans there are quite familiar with such pain and will easily adapt to any losing environment. But what of Stafford? He was drafted as one of the elite, top tier quarterbacks (ADP of about 10th overall) following a season when he passed for over 5,000 yards. His passing yards this year are holding up, although he’s not on pace to duplicate last year’s upper echelon play (current pace is 4,728 yards). But his touchdowns are down significantly at the quarter pole, as is his passer rating.
Should you be worried? Sigmund Bloom doesn’t think so. I talked to Bloom, a senior writer at Football Guys and a host for The Audible, their excellent and thorough podcast, and I asked him about Stafford after touching on Ryan Mathews, Brandon Bolden and the Patriots’ backfield, and Ryan Tannehill’s keeper outlook.
