Ben Tate out 2-4 Weeks, Knee Sprain (1 Viewer)

[JaxJokers]

Per Rotoworld:

"NFL Network's Ian Rapoport reports Ben Tate will "likely" miss 2-4 weeks with a sprained knee.
Per RapSheet, the tentative timeline is "depending on how he heals." Fantasy drafters of Tate knew the risk going in, based on his extensive injury history with the Texans. They should still keep Tate plastered to fantasy benches as an injured RB4. Rapoport says to expect to see Terrance West and Isaiah Crowell carrying the Browns' backfield in Tate's absence. While West had 100 yards on 16 carries in Sunday's loss to Pittsburgh, Crowell ripped off 32 yards and two touchdowns on five runs. That usage suggests West is the better waiver target, although Crowell should definitely also be owned."


I'm still trying to figure out if West or Crowell is the pickup here.

 

[eBrian]

I tried to get West but someone outbid me on him so I ended up with my 3rd choice Crowell (Forsett was my #1 choice).

I've read that Crowell is the more talented back, but teams tend to want to give their draft choices the ball first. So unless West falters Crowell will probably be getting less carries. I do think Crowell is their goalline guy though, based on.. well, a tiny sample size

 

[T with T]

Per Rotoworld:

"NFL Network's Ian Rapoport reports Ben Tate will "likely" miss 2-4 weeks with a sprained knee.
Per RapSheet, the tentative timeline is "depending on how he heals." Fantasy drafters of Tate knew the risk going in, based on his extensive injury history with the Texans. They should still keep Tate plastered to fantasy benches as an injured RB4. Rapoport says to expect to see Terrance West and Isaiah Crowell carrying the Browns' backfield in Tate's absence. While West had 100 yards on 16 carries in Sunday's loss to Pittsburgh, Crowell ripped off 32 yards and two touchdowns on five runs. That usage suggest waiver target, although Crowell should definitely also be owned."


I'm still trying to figure out if West or Crowell is the pickup here.

WEST

 

[FlapJacks]

I could see West getting hurt, but hard to see him flopping

everybody loves Crowell (me too), but, his scouting report did ding him on his work effort....

 

[ebsteelers]

Is West actually on the WW in some leagues?

 

[Freelove]

Is West actually on the WW in some leagues?

He was on the WW in the majority of leagues after the HC announced that they were heading into the season using Tate as their three down bellcow back, and that West had been disappointing.

It's the Browns, and there didn't seem to be much reason to roster their clear backups in normal-sized leagues, because the upside just wasn't there. Still not sure it is.

I'm perfectly content to let it become someone else's problem. Let's not pretend West was a hot commodity coming up to the start of the season, though. His value plunged through the floor for a lot of reasons right before opening day.

 

[Alex P Keaton]

Is West actually on the WW in some leagues?

He was on the WW in the majority of leagues after the HC announced that they were heading into the season using Tate as their three down bellcow back, and that West had been disappointing.

It's the Browns, and there didn't seem to be much reason to roster their clear backups in normal-sized leagues, because the upside just wasn't there. Still not sure it is.

I'm perfectly content to let it become someone else's problem. Let's not pretend West was a hot commodity coming up to the start of the season, though. His value plunged through the floor for a lot of reasons right before opening day.

Sorry, I'm not following. What are the "reasons" you refer to?

 

[One More Rep]

In all my Dynasty leagues West was not on waiver wire but redraft leagues he was available in most. There were a few where Tate owners had him though

 

[massraider]

Darren McFadden: "I win the bet, bruh! You owe me dinner!"

 

[Braktastic]

Sorry, I'm not following. What are the "reasons" you refer to?

His underwhelming preseason performance perhaps?

 

[munygon2]

West was drafted in both 12 team leagues I play in (somewhere in the middle rounds). I was under the impression more people must have known about him, but all I heard about preseason was that he didn't look good so I avoided. Now all the reports is are about how good he looked Sunday. Crowell is available just about everywhere though.

 

[massraider]

West killed it iin all the PFF metrics, 2nd in league to missed tackles. Had three times as many carries as Crowell.

Obviously the Brown are going to give Crowell the ball 30 times, and ignore West the rest of the season. 5 STAR RECRUIT IN HIGH SCHOOL, DAWG!

 

[shadyridr]

West killed it iin all the PFF metrics, 2nd in league to missed tackles. Had three times as many carries as Crowell.

Obviously the Brown are going to give Crowell the ball 30 times, and ignore West the rest of the season. 5 STAR RECRUIT IN HIGH SCHOOL, DAWG!

did you see who the #1 graded RB was according to PFF metrics?

 

[Insein]

Luckily grabbed Crowell this morning. No one was interested.

 

[JimmyJabroni]

Is this guy worth holding onto for 4 weeks in redraft?

 

[FlapJacks]

West killed it iin all the PFF metrics, 2nd in league to missed tackles. Had three times as many carries as Crowell.

Obviously the Brown are going to give Crowell the ball 30 times, and ignore West the rest of the season. 5 STAR RECRUIT IN HIGH SCHOOL, DAWG!

did you see who the #1 graded RB was according to PFF metrics?

relax

They are both small sample sizes v. a poor opposing D

 

[steveski]

West killed it iin all the PFF metrics, 2nd in league to missed tackles. Had three times as many carries as Crowell.

Obviously the Brown are going to give Crowell the ball 30 times, and ignore West the rest of the season. 5 STAR RECRUIT IN HIGH SCHOOL, DAWG!

did you see who the #1 graded RB was according to PFF metrics?

Please tell me it was Crowell. That would be great. If so, then maybe he's going by the old childhood saying "First the worst, Second the best".

 

[shadyridr]

West killed it iin all the PFF metrics, 2nd in league to missed tackles. Had three times as many carries as Crowell.

Obviously the Brown are going to give Crowell the ball 30 times, and ignore West the rest of the season. 5 STAR RECRUIT IN HIGH SCHOOL, DAWG!

did you see who the #1 graded RB was according to PFF metrics?

Please tell me it was Crowell. That would be great. If so, then maybe he's going by the old childhood saying "First the worst, Second the best".

Shonn Greene

 

[flapgreen]

Sucks

 

[BigBlue_RI]

Figures, I opted to not spend my high waiver priority on Crowell, and this news breaks this morning.

 

[swirvenirvin]

Glenn Winston

 

[LawFitz]

West killed it iin all the PFF metrics, 2nd in league to missed tackles. Had three times as many carries as Crowell.

Obviously the Brown are going to give Crowell the ball 30 times, and ignore West the rest of the season. 5 STAR RECRUIT IN HIGH SCHOOL, DAWG!

Only had room for one of them, and I went with my eye test. Crowell

I freely admit though that I went for upside over the seemingly safer option.

 

[mrbigg]

How big would my balls be if I started Crowell. I'm so afraid.

 

[az_prof]

How big would my balls be if I started Crowell. I'm so afraid.

Well, he will certainly get carries as the second back, so not that big of balls in this instance. I wouldn't be surprised to see a 50/50 split even although I suspect West gets the first opportunity and if he does well then maybe Crowell is more of a COP for now. Could go anyway--all West, even split, all Crowell, or more likely some form of RBBC between the two of them. They both could be valuable though if the OL keeps blocking like it has.

 

[Captain Quinoa]

Mary Kay Cabot ‏@MaryKayCabot 5m

#Browns Pettine: Terrance West will start the game and Crowell will be the compliment

 

[djjosee]

Is this guy worth holding onto for 4 weeks in redraft?

Was available on my waivers but had to drop Bradshaw to get him. It's bolded I have an issue with.

 

[Jerry Curl]

Luckily grabbed Crowell this morning. No one was interested.

Because it seems West is the guy to scoop.

 

[FreeBaGeL]

The real question for Tate is what kind of role he'll return to when he gets back.

 

[Banger]

With two young kids behind Tate getting significant touches for the next few weeks it's the worst case scenario. I would expect his value to be watered down a lot for the remainder of the season.

 

[ISUDESTROYERS]

How much do you think Crowell would go for in the FBGPC in terms of Bidding Dollars.....interesting question for sure !

Any estimated guesses out there? He could go extremely high for those that can't temper expectations once Tate comes back ...or people in the league go see "the big picture" and not go crazy bidding on him.

Thoughts?

 

[Landro21]

I just slid Tate to my IR spot and scooped up Crowell to go along with West. That's right 3 Cleveland Browns RBs.... Yikes. Deep benches are fun sometimes

 

[massraider]

The real question for Tate is what kind of role he'll return to when he gets back.

I would guess, over the next few weeks, that we would see the most productive fantasy stretch for CLE RBs. Start West as a flex where you need him, try and trade with Tate owner. I would trade him to the Tate owner now if I could, assuming he's not a member of the Crowell Cult.

Why NOT use all three when he gets healthy?

 

[rjv]

West killed it iin all the PFF metrics, 2nd in league to missed tackles. Had three times as many carries as Crowell.

Obviously the Brown are going to give Crowell the ball 30 times, and ignore West the rest of the season. 5 STAR RECRUIT IN HIGH SCHOOL, DAWG!

To bad Crowell is a dicipline risk. Got kicked out of Georgia. People with a good head on their shoulders don't get removed from a D1 College for dicipline reasons.

 

[FlapJacks]

I just slid Tate to my IR spot and scooped up Crowell to go along with West. That's right 3 Cleveland Browns RBs.... Yikes. Deep benches are fun sometimes

especially when combined with leagues whose owners are not that active on the wire

 

[Art_VanDalay]

A couple of thoughts on these guys...full disclosure too...I own Tate and grabbed Crowell in a trade last week after another guy grabbed him ahead of me in waivers BEFORE Tate was hurt (deep, shark infested 14 team league)... West is head on the depth chart no question. He has looked mediocre during the preseason imo but looked very good last week against what I consider a below average run defense (forget that they were Steelers uniforms)...West comes from a small school but is a tireless worker and will give everything he has on every play and his running style exhibits that...He is 'try hard' kind of guy that is perfect for a RBBC approach in the New NFL...

Now as for Crowell, we have to remember, this guy was an UDFA simply because he was a knucklehead while at UGA and had to transfer to Alabama State, where he actually "seemed" to mature and not get into any trouble there. There are many scouts/analysts out there that think he has "feature back" talent and Matt Waldman, whom we all respect here, was one of them... http://mattwaldmanrsp.com/2013/12/30/isaiah-crowell/ I believe that 'talent cream' always rises to the top and given a 2-4 week period to showcase their talents, I really believe this will be a situation where the coaches simply can't keep Crowell off the field. Even with minimal opportunities, I think he is going to still provide value.

However, this may be my most important point of all. Aside from the fact that the coaching staff kept him stashed most of the preseason to try and hide him, Pettine came out this week and said that 'Crowell wasn't even in the gameplan last week. He showed professionalism in being prepared and ready to step in.' That tells me the coach believes in him but more importantly, what is going to happen when the Cleveland staff, who wants to run the ball anyway, behind a very good OL, actually does gameplan for his skill set over the next few weeks? I expect him to vault to the top of this class. When Ben is healthy this is at best a 3 headed monster but at some point, my money is on Crowell to be the lead back, with potential to be a feature back in 2015. Do what you can within reason now to get him on your team before he puts up some more highlight reel runs... It is getting close to the point where you won't be able to grab him if you don't already own him and he could be the waiver wire gem this year if things keep breaking his way like they have already. Here is something to wet your appetite... http://www.clevelandbrowns.com/media-center/videos/Crowell-48-Yard-Touchdown-Run/fa17f22b-5c3b-49a7-ae4a-b6f6b51b7f76