Sunday Studs: Which Experts Got Them Right in Week 4?

My fantasy football philosophy has always been to avoid drafting the “washed up old guys” for these simple reasons: their best days are well behind them, they’re constantly losing playing time to younger prospects, and they seem to become more and more injury prone. Maybe I should begin to rethink this strategy as LT and TO headline our list of Sunday Studs this week. Their performances yesterday made me feel like it was 2007 all over again.

Joining LT and TO on our list of Week 4 Sunday Studs are two unlikely QBs – David Garrard and Shaun Hill. Believe it or not, these guys were the top two fantasy QBs yesterday! Two other guys that were expected to perform well, Arian Foster and Antonio Gates, came through for their owners in a big way.

Wondering where the experts had these guys? Read on and find out!

Sunday Stud: LaDainian Tomlinson (RB), New York Jets

When I drafted Shonn Greene in one of my leagues this year, I considered handcuffing him with LT in the later rounds. I took Justin Forsett in Round 7 and reminded myself to take LT in one of the next few rounds. I was surprised when another manager drafted LT in Round 8, but didn’t think it was a big deal and took Chris Chambers with my next pick. Any LT owners out there willing to trade him to me for Greene, Forsett, and Chambers? I’ll even throw in Brandon Jacobs. No wonder my team is 0-4.

LT continues to surprise everyone this year. Expected to primarily be a backup to Greene and a third down back, he appears to have firmly established himself as the New York Jets feature back. LT came into Week 4 with an Expert Consensus Rank (ECR) of RB #10. However, he ended up with the second highest fantasy production amongst all RBs yesterday as he racked up over 150 yards of total offense and scored 2 touchdowns.

Although no expert pegged LT as a top 5 fantasy RB, a number of experts were optimistic on him. John Paulsen of the Scores Report, Pat Fitzmaurice of Pro Football Weekly, David Dodds of the Football Guys, and Brad Evans of Yahoo all ranked LT as their #6 RB.

On the other hand, What if Sports (RB #25), FF Toolbox (RB #20), and Gregg Rosenthal of Rotoworld (RB #18) thought LT would put up closer to RB2/RB3 numbers instead of reliving the good times from his studly past.

Sunday Stud: Terrell Owens (WR), Cincinnati Bengals

Did you bring your popcorn? TO proved yesterday that he’s more than just a journeyman WR and reality TV star. He racked up 222 receiving yards and scored 1 touchdown to lead all WRs in fantasy production.

TO had a Week 4 ECR of WR #28. No expert had TO in their top 10 WR list, but SI.com (WR #16), Ryan Lester of Lester’s Legends (WR #19), Jamey Eisenberg of CBS Sports (WR #21), and Paul Greco of Fantasy Pros 911 (WR #21) were among the experts who ranked him the highest.

Experts not so bullish on TO this week included Fantasy Sharks (WR #44), Fan House (WR #41), Brandon Funston of Yahoo (WR #41), and Roger Rotter of Fox Sports (WR #40).

Sunday Stud: Arian Foster (RB), Houston Texans

For the second time this year, Foster led all players in weekly overall fantasy production. What’s makes this week’s performance – 187 yards total offense and 2 touchdowns – even more impressive is that he didn’t get his first touch until the second quarter! Foster didn’t start the game due to a “coach’s decision”. I think Foster owners don’t mind this “coach’s decision” if he continues to perform like this.

At an ECR of RB #2, Foster was expected to put up pretty big numbers this week. KFFL and David Dodds of the Football Guys were both right on target, ranking Foster their RB #1.

Christopher Harris of ESPN (RB #6) and Matthew Berry of ESPN (RB #5) had the lowest rankings for Foster, but clearly everyone was expecting him to do pretty well this weekend…and were probably scratching their heads in disbelief when they saw zero stats for him in the first quarter.

Sunday Stud: David Garrard (QB), Jacksonville Jaguars

Garrard entered Week 4 with an ECR of QB #22. His 207 yards of total offense and 3 touchdowns were not crazy monstrous numbers, but they were good enough to lead all QBs in fantasy production. Garrard might have added to his stats in overtime if not for an amazing Josh Scobee 59-yard game winning FG at the end of regulation.

It’s not a surprise that none of our experts really advocated starting Garrard. Fantasy Football Nerd (QB #14) and What If Sports (QB #15) had the highest ratings for him, while Fantasy Sharks (QB #26) and John Paulsen of the Scores Report (QB #26) had the lowest ratings.

Sunday Stud: Shaun Hill (QB), Detroit Lions

One thing our experts did get right was rating Hill (ECR QB #23) one spot below Garrard. What they didn’t expect was that he would end up being the second best fantasy QB this week. Hill fully took advantage of the opportunity to start for the injured Matthew Stafford. He produced almost 400 yards of total offense and threw 2 touchdown passes in a valiant effort against the heavily favored Green Bay Packers.

Similar to Garrard, we didn’t expect any of our experts to recommend actually starting Hill. Fantasy Sharks weren’t close on their Garrard projection, but they made it up by having the highest Hill ranking (QB #15) amongst our experts. What If Sports (QB #27) and SI.com (QB #27) had the lowest ratings for Hill.

Sunday Stud: Antonio Gates (TE), San Diego Chargers

Gates is our first TE to make the list of Sunday Studs. Although he was rated as ECR TE #1, his 144 yards receiving and 2 touchdowns deserves to be recognized. No TE was even close. Only Foster, TO, and LT had more fantasy points than Gates this week. Nearly all of our experts had Gates rated TE #1. Fantasy Football Café (TE #3) had the worst ranking for Gates.

Our full accuracy scores that bake in all the hits and misses become available on Wednesdays. Please register now (free) so you can access all the latest scores as soon as they’re updated. Until then, you might be interested in checking out our latest feature, called The Handoff. It collects and organizes fantasy news and advice from around the web. All the links are neatly captured on one page, with tabs to let you go to the specific information you’re looking for. I’m sure the Waiver Wire section will be getting some attention over the next couple days. Give it a try today! If you want to find The Handoff later, just click on our News link at the top of our website.

Photo Credit: Link