This article is part of our NFL Reactions series.
Fantasy football is all about surviving injuries. The draft is important and being active on the waiver wire may be more so, but if you can get relatively full seasons out of your draft picks, you're likely reading this with at least one team in the fantasy playoffs.
Sure, there are plenty of people who ended up with guys like Todd Gurley, DeAndre Hopkins and Allen Robinson, who were able to consistently ruin fantasy teams throughout the season because they stayed healthy but underperformed, but more often than not, fantasy teams that struggle are ones that had injuries to key players. Think about the person (or maybe you're her/him) who spent up for Rob Gronkowski, only to see him play in parts of eight games, or the one who was too optimistic on Jamaal Charles and used a second-round pick on a player who will finish the regular season with 12 carries. You get so invested in these high draft picks because you passed over players like Ezekiel Elliott, Le'Veon Bell and Mike Evans to get them, that if they do finally return from injury, you're irrationally high on them because you remember how good you thought they were going to be back in August.
Fantasy owners of Adrian Peterson are shaking their heads in agreement, as they know exactly that feeling after seeing their star running back was active for Sunday's game against the Colts after being sidelined since Week 2 because of a knee
Fantasy football is all about surviving injuries. The draft is important and being active on the waiver wire may be more so, but if you can get relatively full seasons out of your draft picks, you're likely reading this with at least one team in the fantasy playoffs.
Sure, there are plenty of people who ended up with guys like Todd Gurley, DeAndre Hopkins and Allen Robinson, who were able to consistently ruin fantasy teams throughout the season because they stayed healthy but underperformed, but more often than not, fantasy teams that struggle are ones that had injuries to key players. Think about the person (or maybe you're her/him) who spent up for Rob Gronkowski, only to see him play in parts of eight games, or the one who was too optimistic on Jamaal Charles and used a second-round pick on a player who will finish the regular season with 12 carries. You get so invested in these high draft picks because you passed over players like Ezekiel Elliott, Le'Veon Bell and Mike Evans to get them, that if they do finally return from injury, you're irrationally high on them because you remember how good you thought they were going to be back in August.
Fantasy owners of Adrian Peterson are shaking their heads in agreement, as they know exactly that feeling after seeing their star running back was active for Sunday's game against the Colts after being sidelined since Week 2 because of a knee injury. There was talk that Peterson was going to return in Week 16 against the Packers, but he was back a week early to help the Vikings in a pivotal game that was a must-win to keep their playoff hopes alive. Even better, he was facing off against a Colts defense that had allowed the seventh-most fantasy points to running backs (standard scoring) this season.
Fantasy managers obviously had to be cautious, as Peterson hadn't played since Week 2. But remember when he missed nearly the entire 2014 season after tearing his ACL and then rushed for almost 1,500 yards and 11 touchdowns the next year? I mean, the guy is super-human, of course he's going to bounce back fine! Our own Chris Liss basically tweeted the consciousness of every Peterson fantasy owner this morning:
seriously tempted to start Peterson over Ingram today. Probably won't, but there's a chance I lose impulse control in the next 40 minutes.
— Christopher Liss (@Chris_Liss) December 18, 2016
The temptation was obvious: Peterson could single-handedly win fantasy matchups for people with a dominant game against a poor Colts defense. Then again, his workload could be limited after being out for so long:
Nobody in the world knows how much work either AD or Ingram will have today except maybe the coaches, and even they're probably winging it
— Christopher Liss (@Chris_Liss) December 18, 2016
But wait, here's what we were all waiting for: confirmation that Peterson could be let loose if he looks good, which obviously he would since he knows how to come back from injuries well:
Plan for Peterson today is to start him but work him in with others for 20 plays then evaluate to let er rip or rotate in
— Jay Glazer (@JayGlazer) December 18, 2016
Yes, time to lock Peterson in and "let er rip!"
Fuck it, I'm going Peterson. Winning the $100K is a long shot anyway.
— Christopher Liss (@Chris_Liss) December 18, 2016
And that's how it works. Fantasy owners who used first-round picks on Peterson and then lost him, only to work their way through the season without him, earn a playoff spot, and then a place in the semifinals (for many leagues, at least) and he comes back Sunday to lead them to a fantasy championship!
The NFL even tweeted a video of Peterson's first carry of the game, which went for an impressive...two yards. Well, he wasn't going to score on every carry anyway. He just needs to get his legs warm and then it's a first-class ticket to the fantasy finals! Next snap, a catch out of the backfield (who said you couldn't pick him highly in PPR?) for...one yard. His next touch came on the Vikings' next possession, a carry on first and 10 that went for...one yard. And his next carry: zero yards. Well, this isn't the start you were hoping for, but it can't get worse.
Until it did. Peterson finally takes a first-and-10 carry for 13 yards but then... he fumbles? Yup, the NFL shared that video too, which wonderfully ends with the announcer saying "this is what happens when you don't practice or play for a couple months." Yeah, thanks. Making matters worse, the Vikings were getting it handed to them, as they went into the locker room at halftime down 27-0.
And then you start back-handedly begging for it not to be over:
Vikings need to get AD 35 carries in the second half to see how healthy he is.
— Christopher Liss (@Chris_Liss) December 18, 2016
By the end, Peterson rushed six times for 22 yards and his early reception turned out to be his last, as the Vikings lost 34-6, dropping to 7-7 on the season, which puts them behind the 9-5 Lions and 8-6 Packers in the division and ninth in the NFC, while most fantasy owners who rolled with Peterson likely aren't worried about next week. Whatever, fantasy football is stupid anyway, right?
However, there were fantasy managers who decided to pass on starting Peterson and instead rolled with someone like Ty Montgomery, who started again at running back for the Packers after James Starks was ruled out with a concussion. Montgomery rushed 16 times for 162 yards and two touchdowns against the Bears, the most rushing yards by a Packer on the road since 2003. He had an impressive 123 rushing yards in the first half, the most by a Packer since 1991. His impressive haul made him the second-highest scoring wide receiver (standard scoring) this week, bested only by Brandin Cooks' 186 yards and two touchdowns. Montgomery did catch two passes for one receiving yard, but obviously it was his work on the ground that made him so dominant. Then again, fantasy managers who needed a Peterson replacement probably had to play Montgomery at wide receiver or a flex. If that was the case, they could have easily relied on a number of running backs who were basically after-thoughts, at best, at draft time, such as Jordan Howard, who had 17 carries for 90 yards and one touchdown plus four catches for 23 receiving yards, and Tim Hightower, who had 11 carries for 37 yards and two touchdowns plus three catches for 11 receiving yards. I think it's pretty safe to say that no one would have ever thought back in August that they'd be thrilled in December that they started Hightower over Peterson in the fantasy playoffs.
On the flip side, there were plenty of early-round picks who paid off handsomely Sunday, including Devonta Freeman, who rushed 20 times for 139 yards and three touchdowns against the horrendous 49ers defense and LeSean McCoy, who rattled off 153 yards and two touchdowns on 19 carries against the Browns. And then there's the always-good David Johnson, who not only scored twice but also became the first player in NFL history to have at least 100 yards from scrimmage in the first 14 games of a season.
And while his yardage totals haven't been consistent, Odell Beckham still managed to become the third player in league history with at least 1,000 yards and 10 touchdowns in each of his first three seasons. An impressive feat for sure, though Beckham has only reached the 100-yard mark three times this season, with his yardage from those three games accounting for nearly 38 percent of his season total. The touchdowns surely keep his fantasy value high (and impressively most aren't caught in the end zone), but he would be the unquestioned top fantasy wideout in any format if his yardage totals were more consistent.
