When Dion Lewis is activated, will he be heavily used?
With the time coming in the NFL season where players on the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list can return, two big weapons for AFC playoff contenders, in particular, are intriguing: Ladarius Green of the Steelers and Dion Lewis of the Patriots. It remains to be seen when and in what capacity they will return to the field. To refresh your memory, Green was sidelined officially after offseason ankle surgery but rumors also surfaced that the former San Diego tight end was dealing with the side effects of multiple concussions. Dion Lewis had ACL surgery on his left knee in 2015, suffered a setback in spring, and was shortly placed on PUP afterward. Since then, position battles at the two positions for the two teams have shaken out very differently.
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The Steelers’ tight end situation was in dire need of reinforcements after Heath Miller retired and Matt Spaeth was released following a failed physical in July. In came Green, an underachiever as Antonio Gates’ understudy who was unable to shake the injury bug both with the Chargers and now in Pittsburgh. While sophomore Jesse James has been a solid short-area target with fairly reliable hands, he isn’t the explosive playmaker that Green could potentially be. With weapons like Antonio Brown and Le’Veon Bell already established, it would allow Green to work underneath and down the seam to take advantage of mismatches and single coverage. James has shown enough to still be included in the offense but once Green gets back, provided Ben Roethlisberger returns in a timely manner, he should be picked with expectations as a good TE2 or borderline TE1.
New England’s positional depth at running back has shown to be far stronger than Pittsburgh’s at tight end. Without Dion Lewis, and other offensive cogs like Rob Gronkowski and obviously Tom Brady for stretches, the Patriots offense has been as good as ever. The third down running back slot has easily been filled in by former Wisconsin Badger James White. White has also enjoyed the return of Tom Brady, scoring 12.9 and 26.6 points in his last two games in PPR leagues. White’s emergence in Lewis’ absence is a scary revelation for fantasy owners who have held out on Lewis despite his PUP status. Is he just another average player who is made better through Bill Belichick and Tom Brady’s combined brilliance? It’s hard to say although Lewis had shown better agility and ability to make quick cuts last season than White before his injury. For the time being, Lewis may be worth a waiver grab but with other mouths to feed in the New England offense and James White doing a fine job catching Brady’s passes, he doesn’t starter value, even in PPR situations.
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John Camera is a correspondent with FantasyPros. For more from John, check out his archive or follow him @johnc521.
