Miles Austin and Dez Bryant continue to perplex many fantasy owners out there with their brushes with the law (hard to side with someone who smacks their mom, right Dez?) and injury-related issues. Austin is the more perplexing one to me because of the amount of muscle injuries he sustains year after year. This year he’s already dealing with a hamstring strain, and with every bout of muscle injury a person deals with, the muscle tends to get weaker and weaker. I’m not saying to steer clear of Miles Austin, but when someone deals with the same injury over and over again, I would at least hope red flags are flashing in your head.
Austin is currently being ranked somewhere in the 15-20 range for wide recievers. I think making sure he’s not your top guy is the first priority. Secondly, there’s definitely enough WR depth where you can get away with stashing him for a few weeks while he gets his hammy taken care of. One potential strategy is to take a later round guy with high upside like Rueben Randle from the Giants or Reggie Wayne from the Colts, who I think is very undervalued with as good as Andrew Luck has looked early on.
Dez, on the other hand, is more limited by poor off the field decisions than anything else. However, he has been dealing with a bit of patellar tendonitis recently, which is basically inflammation to the the tendon that runs right over the kneecap. This typically is an overuse type of injury that develops from compensation or some sort of biomechanical issue. These types of injuries respond very well to light strengthening and stretching and shouldn’t be a nagging injury over the course of the year as long as they take care of it now in the pre-season. The fact that he’s still out there practicing and doesn’t seem limited is definitely a good sign.
Bryant seems to be someone who could have a chip on his shoulder this year, with all the scrutiny he has been under and flak he’s taken for his off the field transgressions. He may be had lower than his 15-18 WR ranking and seems to be well worth the flier as a 1/2 WR for any fantasy team, especially if you can get that type of value in the late 4th/early 5th rounds.
Update:(8/24/12) Miles Austin had no setbacks in practice on Thursday and participated fully. Looks like a positive sign for him being ready for Week 1. Muscle injuries are stubborn, but the fact that he’s back to full participation is a huge plus
Ziad Dahdul 