Darrin Reaves - RB - Carolina Panthers - UDFA (1 Viewer)

[btemp]

My concern with Reaves, and this is a little tinged by a longer-term dynasty perspective, is that even if he's good there's no way Williams, Stewart, and Tolbert don't get significant touches when somewhat healthy. Unless he performs amazing, which is unlikely given his measurables, there's no way the Panthers don't make use of the RBs they've invested a ridiculous sum into (and can't get out of for at least another year).

That's not to say he's not worth a start or two for those with RB problems, but unlike a Crowell or Taliaferro I don't see any future for him.

What's negative about his measurables? Everything aside from long speed is above average.

I'd say average measurables, but that's nitpicking. My point is that Reaves could look very good, but unless he puts up really great numbers I have difficulty seeing him starting above the 3 RBs getting paid a ton of cash. And even if he works himself into the rotation, it'll be a 4-headed monster with Williams/Stewart/Tolbert dropping in and out with injuries.

To my mind, unless he comes out and and without question looks like the best back (which I argue is unlikely given his measurables) than he'll just be part of the rotation and not fantasy relevant. Unlike say if Williams/Stewart/Tolbert weren't owed a ton of money next year in which case the Panthers could just play the best guy even if there wasn't a large difference. Am I explaining myself well?

 

[SameSongNDance]

Okay I just got done watching every single one of his carries vs. BAL via game rewind and I can sum it up with one word.. brutal. Now, granted, BAL has been stout vs. the run all year, not allowing any one RB to total more than 59 yards on the ground but holy #### was CAR just absolutely dominated in the trenches. I can't even really comment on Reaves's vision because he was constantly met by at least two BAL players near the LOS; he never really had a chance. The positives I saw was he looks to have very good short area burst (best of all CAR RBs I've watched so far) and good hands. One negative I took away from the film was average at best pass protection. I noticed him getting absolutely man handled on one play, but luckily Cam had already gotten rid of the ball. All in all, my excitement has been quelled. This OL is even ####tier than I had imagined.

ETA: I did however notice that GB was able to get some real push vs. CHI at the LOS in their game last week. I don't think Lacy was able to fully exploit some of the lanes he was given. You'll also notice GB and CAR's OLs are very similarly rated run blocking units on footballoutsiders, i.e, they're both quite terrible.

 

[SameSongNDance]

FantasyAlarm_NFL ‏@FanAlarm_NFL 42m42 minutes ago
#Panthers: Darrin Reaves-RB: Ogbonnaya & Reaves splitting the first-team reps http://bit.ly/1pqUvVg

Fantasy Sports Alert ‏@fantsysprtsalrt 2m2 minutes ago
Rivera: Darrin Reaves is Panthers starting RB - Darrin Reaves | CAR http://dlvr.it/74SydG

David Newton ‏@DNewtonespn 45m

45 minutes ago
Rivera says new RB will be ready to spell Darrin Reaves, who remains the starter. #Panthers

 

[ShamrockPride]

I wouldn't really worry about Gogobananas, he's just a pass-catching specialist.

 

[Fever in the Funkhouse]

And what about fozzy this week? What's his status?

 

[shadyridr]

Who are we starting this guy over this week? Its a great matchup and im seriously screwed in one league. I may have to put some serious coin on him.

 

[Ilov80s]

Darrin f'n Reeves. This is what my season has come to.

 

[SameSongNDance]

I know JStew put in a limited practice today but I have my doubts that he's going to go this week. Fozzy didn't practice at all today, I highly doubt he goes this week.

That leaves Reaves and Oby. I still stand by my evaluation of the entire situation but believe he'll be flex worthy based on volume alone. If CAR can get the same push against CHI that GB got last week he may even surprise some people.

 

[Fever in the Funkhouse]

Thanks for the update SameSong. Sounds like a top 40 RB, which is exactly what I'm looking for. For those of use forced to start panthers RBs at this point in the season, god bless us.

 

[bmsarvis]

I'm thinking cams this week's Carolina rb. Just a gut feeling.

 

[SameSongNDance]

Jonathan Stewart (knee) is not in pads Thursday.
We don't know yet if Stewart will be listed as "limited" in practice or "DNP." Either way, he's not taking contact. Even if Stewart is somehow active Sunday, he'd only handle a portion of the workload while splitting time with Darrin Reaves.

 

[Long Ball Larry]

Who are we starting this guy over this week? Its a great matchup and im seriously screwed in one league. I may have to put some serious coin on him.

Possibly over Gerhart, McKinnon, Chris Johnson, Hyde.

 

[SameSongNDance]

What I'm most curious about is how much passing work Oby steals from Reaves since I think PPR is where I like him the most.

 

[SameSongNDance]

Who are we starting this guy over this week? Its a great matchup and im seriously screwed in one league. I may have to put some serious coin on him.

Possibly over Gerhart, McKinnon, Chris Johnson, Hyde.

I expect him to touch the ball more than all the above guys, at the least.

 

[Captain Hook]

Who are we starting this guy over this week? Its a great matchup and im seriously screwed in one league. I may have to put some serious coin on him.

Possibly over Gerhart, McKinnon, Chris Johnson, Hyde.

I would re-think starting Reaves over McKinnon - the rest, yeah sure

 

[Captain Hook]

And what about fozzy this week? What's his status?

still hurt

 

[shadyridr]

He went for $18 in one league (by me) and unclaimed in another (someone picked him up for free after waivers). In both leagues Im desperate for a RB. In one Im starting him over JBell, PT, Pierce, Crowell, Hyde (yeah I know ugly). In the other I wouldve thought about starting him over Vereen but decided not to bother adding him.

 

[SameSongNDance]

I think CAR may quite possibly have the least talented OL in football right now.

 

[JoeyJoeJoeJrShabadoo]

I think CAR may quite possibly have the least talented OL in football right now.

I take it you haven't watched the Patriots play recently.

 

[SameSongNDance]

I think CAR may quite possibly have the least talented OL in football right now.

I take it you haven't watched the Patriots play recently.

I watched the coaches film on both. NE did an exponentially better job of run blocking vs. KC than CAR did vs. BAL. Perhaps I should rephrase, I think CAR may quite possibly have the least talented run blocking OL in football right now, especially with PHI getting back two starters this Sunday. Its between them and SD.

 

[jtd13]

I think CAR may quite possibly have the least talented OL in football right now.

I take it you haven't watched the Patriots play recently.

I watched the coaches film on both. NE did an exponentially better job of run blocking vs. KC than CAR did vs. BAL. Perhaps I should rephrase, I think CAR may quite possibly have the least talented run blocking OL in football right now, especially with PHI getting back two starters this Sunday. Its between them and SD.

Does GB make it into that conversation?

 

[Darryl Talley]

I wouldn't start a healthy Deangelo or J Stew. Why should I start Reaves?

 

[SameSongNDance]

I think CAR may quite possibly have the least talented OL in football right now.

I take it you haven't watched the Patriots play recently.

I watched the coaches film on both. NE did an exponentially better job of run blocking vs. KC than CAR did vs. BAL. Perhaps I should rephrase, I think CAR may quite possibly have the least talented run blocking OL in football right now, especially with PHI getting back two starters this Sunday. Its between them and SD.

Does GB make it into that conversation?

Probably, but like I said I think they did a pretty good job vs. CHI last week. You're walking a fine line when trying to assign blame for a poor run game as it pertains to both the OL and the RB. In GB's case, I think Lacy is having a hard time reading his blocks. There are points where he needs to plant his foot and go but he doesn't see it and dances (it's so much easier said than done in real time though). It's why I've been impressed with Taliaferro, because he shown good instincts and vision in that department. So, I guess it's hard to draw concrete conclusions in most cases. I just know that what I saw from CAR vs. BAL gave me a real appreciation for what DWills and JStew were able to do behind that line thus far. Like, I don't understand how an NFL team can go into a season with that kind of OL. It's pathetic.

 

[az_prof]

What I'm most curious about is how much passing work Oby steals from Reaves since I think PPR is where I like him the most.

Me too. Reaves is a good receiver himself so not sure how this will play out. I think he could be better than we think and may be under valued because of being a small school guy. He looks shifty and has good on field speed.

 

[Captain Hook]

I think CAR may quite possibly have the least talented OL in football right now.

Don't leave Oakland off that list

 

[ConnSKINS26]

I think CAR may quite possibly have the least talented OL in football right now.

Don't leave Oakland off that list

Or Washington. One All-Pro LT can't cover up the rest of the suck.

 

[Boomer1]

I unfortunately may have little choice but to start him...That or McKinnon tonight, and i don't like the thoughts of that any better...

 

[Pip's Invitation]

I think CAR may quite possibly have the least talented OL in football right now.

I take it you haven't watched the Patriots play recently.

I watched the coaches film on both. NE did an exponentially better job of run blocking vs. KC than CAR did vs. BAL. Perhaps I should rephrase, I think CAR may quite possibly have the least talented run blocking OL in football right now, especially with PHI getting back two starters this Sunday. Its between them and SD.

Sadly, it's just one starter. Mathis and Kelce are out until Week 10 or so. But yes, the CAR O-Line is terrible at run blocking.

 

[SameSongNDance]

I decided to filter the top 20 RB experts of 2014 (includes Dodds) on fantasypros.com and then sorted them by standard deviation in descending order. Of course, Reaves, who has an ECR of 41 was also one of the top 10 players most of them disagreed on (STD of 9.5). The only other relevant player in this top 10 was T. Cadet. Yeah, interesting.

 

[Acrobat7]

Starting him with confidence (well...) over Bowe in a PPR.

 

[ZWK]

Darrin vs. Foswhitt is a close call. Whittaker played ahead of him in the preseason before he was injured, and could easily jump back into that role if he's healthy.

 

[Long Ball Larry]

Who are we starting this guy over this week? Its a great matchup and im seriously screwed in one league. I may have to put some serious coin on him.

Possibly over Gerhart, McKinnon, Chris Johnson, Hyde.

I would re-think starting Reaves over McKinnon - the rest, yeah sure

I had been planning to use McKinnon, but with this weather and Ponder, I was iffy, then decided to go for GB DST.

 

[SameSongNDance]

I decided to filter the top 20 RB experts of 2014 (includes Dodds) on fantasypros.com and then sorted them by standard deviation in descending order. Of course, Reaves, who has an ECR of 41 was also one of the top 10 players most of them disagreed on (STD of 9.5). The only other relevant player in this top 10 was T. Cadet. Yeah, interesting.

ECR = Experts Cumulativ

Expert Consensus Ranking but yeah, same thing.

 

[Long Ball Larry]

Thanks. I started going with that and then just figured I should go to the damn site and then got that leftover in there . . .

 

[BoltzNBrew]

Debating Reaves over SJax...yeah my options are not good.

 

[gambla]

Have him starting over CJ2k and SJax in PPR. Figure it's worth a shot.

 

[Long Ball Larry]

oof.

Coach Ron Rivera said Friday that three running backs - Reaves, Fozzy Whittaker and Chris Ogbonnaya - will receive carries early in the game Sunday against Chicago, the Charlotte Observer's Joe Person reports. After that, the Panthers plan to ride the "hot hand."
Spin:
Steve Reed of the Associated Press reports that Reaves and Whittaker will get the majority of the carries, but this looks like a situation for fantasy owners to avoid if possible. Although Reaves led the way with 12 carries last week, there is no guarantee he'll emerge as the "hot hand" on Sunday.

Fri, Oct 3

 

[Captain Hook]

oof.

Coach Ron Rivera said Friday that three running backs - Reaves, Fozzy Whittaker and Chris Ogbonnaya - will receive carries early in the game Sunday against Chicago, the Charlotte Observer's Joe Person reports. After that, the Panthers plan to ride the "hot hand."
Spin:
Steve Reed of the Associated Press reports that Reaves and Whittaker will get the majority of the carries, but this looks like a situation for fantasy owners to avoid if possible. Although Reaves led the way with 12 carries last week, there is no guarantee he'll emerge as the "hot hand" on Sunday.

Fri, Oct 3

both happy and sad that I just read that .... back to the drawing board

 

[Loomba]

CBS is now suggesting Fozzy will be the lead back for Carolina tomorrow. Anyone seeing similar reports elsewhere?

 

[loose circuits]

CBS is now suggesting Fozzy will be the lead back for Carolina tomorrow. Anyone seeing similar reports elsewhere?

makes sense considering they kept Fozzy over Reaves and he has some experience starting

 

[Donnybrook]

Starting him with confidence (well...) over Bowe in a PPR.

with confidence?

 

[flapgreen]

CBS is now suggesting Fozzy will be the lead back for Carolina tomorrow. Anyone seeing similar reports elsewhere?

Not now

 

[SameSongNDance]

Twitter has a lot of guys saying "Reaves starter, Fozzy expected to get early carries, River expected to go with hot hand". I don't know.

 

[Acrobat7]

Starting him with confidence (well...) over Bowe in a PPR.

with confidence?

Starting Bowe with confidence over Reaves in a PPR!

Man, I just don't know... Lol.

 

[shadyridr]

Call me crazy. Its the bears. Fozzy coming back from injury. I think reaves gets most of the carries. Desperation start but not a bad one

 

[pantherclub]

Call me crazy. Its the bears. Fozzy coming back from injury. I think reaves gets most of the carries. Desperation start but not a bad one

I could have sworn I read something this week that says Fozzy was still in a ton of pain in his thigh so yeah you are probably right about Reaves.

 

[SameSongNDance]

Reaves's upside is something like 70 total yards and a TD I feel. It's just scary starting someone running behind that OL without an absolutely established role. His floor is scary low.

 

[shadyridr]

Ugh just some some crap posted on rotoworld that fozzy will see bulk of carries. Oh well

 

[flapgreen]

With Confidence!

 

[zamboni]

Ugh just some some crap posted on rotoworld that fozzy will see bulk of carries. Oh well

That was just some CBS Sportslne blurb that didn't seem to be anywhere else. All we know is that Rivera said he'd use all three of Reaves, Fozzy and OGB and probably stick with the hot hand.