Steve Smith, A Fantasy Perspective

Version 1.2

It's something that happens to us all, you draft a player regarded by most as one of the best and then that guy turns out to be a complete bust. Steve Smith, however, is not your average bust pick.

No, in the first two weeks of the season he combined for 15 catches for 271 yards and 4 touchdowns. There was no doubt that at this time you were feeling like Smith would be the definitive anchor of your recieving core. In the following three weeks, however, Smith became a ghost with only 10 receptions for 89 yards and a single touchdown, one of these games Smith only saw one 10 yard reception. Week 6 we again saw the playmaking that makes Smith ranked with the best fantasy recievers, 10 receptions, 136 yards, 1 touchdown. And again, after a brilliant performance, Smith went into yet another slump. From week seven to now, Smith has only tallied 16 receptions, 159 yards, and no touchdowns (though in all fairness, I should point out that out of the six weeks that these stats were recorded from, Carolina had their bye week and Smith missed one game with an injury).

The point is this, while Steve Smith is having a poor season by most anyone's standards, he can, and often does, put up numbers good enough to keep fantasy owners like your's truly fearful of benching him as we may miss a 10 reception, 100 yard, multiple TD showing. But, if you take away Smith's 3 games in which he played well, the remaining seven games in which he saw action, Smith's stats would go from bad to worse. Without said three games, Smith would have, on the year, 26 receptions, 231 yards, one touchdown. Meaning that in three games, Smith record half of his season receptions, 65% of his season yardage, and all but one of his season touchdowns.

What does all this mean?

Steve Smith is a bum. And no, Smith should not recieve all the blame for this laughable season of his, Carolina has plenty of problems this year, particularly in the quarterback area. And while it may be difficult to put up decent numbers when the line is crumbling and the QB, who is not particularly good to begin with, is being rushed, yet I feel the need to point out a man by the name of Andre Johnson, who, last season put up 103 receptions, 1147 yards and five touchdowns while the offensive line crumbled and the QB, who is not particularly good to begin with, was being rushed; sound familiar? The point is this, it would be easy to put the blame for Smith's poor season on the shoulders' of David Carr, yet if this was true, shouldn't we have been forced to give the same excuses for Andre Johnson last season? I will say this again, Steve Smith is a bum.

So what now? The season is almost over and perhaps you survived the Panthers' wide reciever's sabotage of your fantasy team, perhaps, somehow, you're still pushing for that last playoff spot, perhaps you've found yourself in a situation identical to mine where if you win this week you make the playoffs and if you lose you're 2007 season has ended. The question is this, do you play Steve Smith or don't you?

This week the Panthers will faceoff against the 49ers, a team who, defensivley, has been somewhere towards the back of the pack all season long. Overall, the San Fran D is ranked 24th, as they've allowed an average of 228 yards of passing per game. Additionally, this defense has seen a team score on them, through the air, 17 times this season. Interceptions by this defense are a seldom seen sight while 20+ yard completions are commonplace. And while the possibility of Smith only putting up 10 yards recieving will loom over your head all weekend, it would be a poor decision to not play him this week with the odds of him being able to put up some real numbers so heavily in his favor (provided he is a go for the game, there have been reports of him not playing yet there is no mention of his name on the injury report, be sure to keep an eye on this before finalizing your lineup for tomorrow).

And one last note for the keeper/dynasty owners out there, if, because of subpar numbers, you are thinking of leaving Smith off of your keeper list or even thinking of trading him away, you'd be a fool. While Smith's value for this year has been less than, say, Shaun McDonald, the fact remains that when Carolina has Delhomme behind center, Steve Smith is a force to be feared.