David Johnson is gone. Wrist surgery has caused him to be unavailable until around Christmas.
For fantasy football purposes, he is practically done for the year. If he is on your fantasy team, I’m sorry for your loss. If there’s anything the faculty of fantasy football can do for you, just let us know. We’re here for you in your time of need. I know you’re going through a lot right now. I’ve been there. Having the number-one consensus fantasy pick is a blessing and a curse. While they can achieve great results, far too many former number-one picks, such as Adrian Peterson and Chris Johnson, have gone down due to injury. You may be feeling many mixed emotions after a loss of this magnitude. In fact, you may be experiencing what is generally known in psychological circles as the five stages of grief.
Denial: You may have said or thought such things as, “this can’t be true,” “okay, joke’s over now,” or “this is fake news.”
Anger: You may have fired a foam football across the room. Your random outbursts at the dinner table may have caused family members to look at you with concern. You may have said or thought such things as, “I can’t believe this is happening to me,” or “how could you do this to me, DJ?”
Bargaining: You may have pleaded to the fantasy gods: “Okay, I promise I won’t skip class anymore,” or “I’ll bring my GPA up” if they bring Johnson back.
Depression: You may be thinking, “What’s the point of doing anything?” You may lay around and stare at the wall all day. Even worse, you may not make any free agent transactions for your fantasy team.
Acceptance: This is the final stage of grief, where you have accepted what has happened. You’ve accepted that David Johnson is gone, and maybe you’re going to do something about it.
So now what? Here are a few tips
If you haven’t already, pick up Kerwynn Williams – Johnson’s back-up. But it could be the dreaded RB-by-committee situation in Arizona; Williams is not the same player, and he definitely won’t give you the same results. Perhaps the ownership of a Cardinal running back, however, might help with the healing process.
Find a diamond in the rough on the waiver wire. Jordan Howard was a league winner last year, and he was available on the waiver wire. Did you make a good bid for Tarik Cohen or Javorius “Buck” Allen? These waiver wire adds could be a salve for the wound.
Make a trade. Trade some of your assets to acquire a better running back. Maybe you’re strong at wide receiver.
Blow up your team. Trade everybody off. If there’s a huge hole in your team and it pains you to look at your roster every week, you can start over again. I did this one year when I hated my team, so I traded most of my starters and started fresh. It was a lot of work and took some fantasy savviness on my part, but I ended up making the playoffs and going all the way to the semi-final.
Do nothing. There’s always that. Accept your fate and riding it out. But that’s no fun, is it?
A personal note about Thursday’s game
I don’t mean to throw around the term “dumpster fire” lightly. But based on Thursday night’s performance, Andy Dalton and the entire Bengal offense is a dumpster on fire. The Red Rifle is shooting blanks. I have him on one my teams, and I may be forced to stream the position. Essentially, when you’re streaming QB, you’re picking up and starting a new QB every week. I will post updates on my progress with the streaming throughout the upcoming weeks.
