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Time is almost out for New Orleans Saints wide receiver Marques Colston. He is still owned in 70 percent of Yahoo! leagues, so most of you fantasy owners haven’t completely given up on him yet, but that time is coming. Going into this season, nobody thought that a player who entered the season averaging 76 receptions and 1,056 receiving yards per year would be 50th in receiving yards (342) at the halfway point. He is nowhere near his average of eight touchdowns per season, with only one so far.
With teammate Jimmy Graham being obviously hobbled entering last week’s game, Colston had his best chance of the season to step up against a leaky Buffalo Bills secondary. While he did lead the team in targets last week with six, he only managed to catch three for 18 yards. He is now averaging less than four catches per game after entering the season averaging almost five and a quarter catches per game. This was the third consecutive game and fourth on the season where Colston was held to under 20 yards receiving.
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What should fantasy owners do with him?
Despite his struggles, I wouldn’t cut Colston just yet, but I am definitely no longer comfortable starting him, especially this weekend as he missed practice Friday and is listed as questionable. I can just about guarantee you that another owner will be willing to roll the dice on him (especially if that owner can pick up Colston off the wire for nothing) given the potential for a big game as long as Drew Brees is throwing the ball, which is why you can’t cut him yet.
In an ideal situation, he would have one more solid game before your trade deadline increasing his value. It will be tough to make Colston the centerpiece of the trade, but I can see him working as part of a package deal.
The Saints have a few more wide receiver friendly matchups on the schedule, including hosting the Dallas Cowboys in week 10. The Cowboys are currently allowing the 10th most fantasy points to wide receivers and have the second highest scoring offense this season. The game should be a shootout, and I’m using this game as perhaps the proverbial line in the sand with Colston. If he ends up disappointing fantasy owners in a game that should be rather high scoring then I don’t see him turning it around in 2013. In the meantime, fantasy owners should try to package him into a trade as perhaps the second piece in a two for one and hope that he has a decent day prior to your trade deadline.
As always, I welcome your comments. If you think I’m wrong, I’m willing to listen. Just back it up with some facts and solid evidence. Thanks for reading and good luck this season.
Dustin Manko is an author at Rant Sports.com. Follow him on Twitter @DustinManko, ”Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google
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