I was high on Crowder coming into this season, as I thought that DeSean Jackson would regress and that Crowder would chew up Pierre Garcon targets. So far this year, the fantasy football points haven’t been there as he has gone over sixty yards just once and his unreliable touchdown production can’t be counted on to start on a week-to-week basis. Last week, I recommended him as a streaming option given his ownership percentage.[embedit snippet=”jeff-ads”]
He went off for 108 yards on nine targets against a terrible Lions secondary, which made his ownership vault upwards. It also left many fantasy owners wondering if they should slot their newly acquired wide receiver into their starting lineup. Washington travels to London this week for the extra-early game against the Bengals, and this is a game and a matchup that should find you leaving Crowder on your bench.
The biggest reason I was high on Crowder last week was the loss of Jordan Reed from the lineup. While I figured Vernon Davis would slot right in for Reed, I also thought a good number of Reed’s targets would go to Crowder. He had his highest number of targets since week three’s seven and produced. Unfortunately for Crowder, Reed is set to return this week from his concussion this week, and this means a loss of important targets for Crowder. Even if Reed doesn’t get final clearance to play this week, it may be too late for west coasters unless starting Crowder is so important that you want to set your alarm to get him into the game (since this is the 6:30 AM Pacific game this week).
Even if that isn’t enough to dissuade you from slotting Crowder into your lineup, he’s taking on an extremely stout Bengals defense that is allowing the sixth-fewest fantasy points per game to wide receivers so far this season. Since the Broncos inexplicably lit them up for three wide receiver scores in week three, the Dolphins, Cowboys, Patriots, and Browns have managed just two wideout scores over the last four weeks, and those were the only two WRs going up against them who scored more than seven fantasy points in that same timeframe.
Jamison Crowder took advantage of a perfect storm situation last week en route to a double-digit fantasy point total last week. Given that the storm is now actively working against him this week after the trip east to London, he isn’t a great play, even for those of us who are wide receiver desperate during week one of the bye apocalypse.