R.Mathews

[Jfever]

Wondering what members opinions on Mathews are. What do we think of Mathews under impressing thus far this season and has it wiped out his pre season thoughts of (top 5) dynasty type rb status. Is he bound to be in a rbbc moving forward in S.D.?

Back in June / July I was under the impression that he was in position to be in a good position to be a primary / 3 down back on a decent offense. I had concerns back then about his durability and to a lesser extent his fumbling issues. I got the impression that my personal rankings on Mathews were a bit lower than most. As time went on, he gets injured on his 1st carry in the preseason and misses several important weeks of reps and "gel - time" with his offense. He then comes back and isn't quite as explosive in limited action then coughs up a fumble only to see a few other "lesser talents" cash in on the carries. Seems I may have been right in my original assessment up to this point as I wasn't sold on the top 5 label some were lending him.

Question is I guess, does he now have a ceiling of a low RB1 or even RB2 in fantasy? I've seen a few views on players underperforming lately that seem to be over reactions to slow starts on fairly young talents that seem un just in dynasty formats. I guess my thoughts are it's possibly a case of him missing reps and being a touch rusty... more so than all the sudden he just got sucky.

Thoughts?

[Water Buffalo]

Wondering what members opinions on Mathews are. What do we think of Mathews under impressing thus far this season and has it wiped out his pre season thoughts of (top 5) dynasty type rb status. Is he bound to be in a rbbc moving forward in S.D.?

Back in June / July I was under the impression that he was in position to be in a good position to be a primary / 3 down back on a decent offense. I had concerns back then about his durability and to a lesser extent his fumbling issues. I got the impression that my personal rankings on Mathews were a bit lower than most. As time went on, he gets injured on his 1st carry in the preseason and misses several important weeks of reps and "gel - time" with his offense. He then comes back and isn't quite as explosive in limited action then coughs up a fumble only to see a few other "lesser talents" cash in on the carries. Seems I may have been right in my original assessment up to this point as I wasn't sold on the top 5 label some were lending him.

Question is I guess, does he now have a ceiling of a low RB1 or even RB2 in fantasy? I've seen a few views on players underperforming lately that seem to be over reactions to slow starts on fairly young talents that seem un just in dynasty formats. I guess my thoughts are it's possibly a case of him missing reps and being a touch rusty... more so than all the sudden he just got sucky.

Thoughts?

It's pretty hard to say he's "under impressed". He was injured for all of the preseason and the first two regular season games, and his head coach is playing games with him now. What are you "under impressed" by?

He's averaged 4.21 YPC and had 7 receptions for 53 yards in his 2 games back. I'm not worried about anything other than his durability, and I was worried about that long before now.

[Jfever]

I guess to clarify, I personally am not underimpressed. I've actually been expecting him to return to a normal workload around week 5 or 6. The Clavicle injury for a rb takes a bit more time due to the violence of the position. In a way, I had high hopes and got ahead of myself and played him over Murray last week but it didn't cost me much. Wasn't overly disapointed... I should have worded that different. I recently however received a trade for Mathews that seemed light. Hence, I was wonderng if people in the know, were really down on him. More likely; It is a savy owner trying to buy at a seemingly good time.

My opinion; Just not a good time to sell. I agree with you buffalo, His avg per carry is good and his production in the passing game is good. Should only improve as he shakes rust off. I too have always had concerns about his durability as in this league, I originally drafted him, was disapointed early, traded him, then about a year and a half later, reaquired him. This time, I think I'll take the wait and see approach.

[bluemetal]

I thought this was a dynasty league forum lol....knee-jerk reactions are dangerous. He is still a lead back in a potent offense...I am buying low if I can...

[MR ROURKE]

I thought people had Mathews over rated coming into this season and didn't think Mathews was a top5 back. Rankings of players should consider their ability to stay healthy. There are some players like Vick and Mathews that have never proven to be able to stay healthy. I'm not sure being worried about Mathews being injured is a Knee-kerk reaction, since he's been injured ever year and missed significant time every year. Anyway, nows the time to buy if you want him.

[DAG]

I have him on my team and, if healthy, am expecting big things from him still this year. I tempered my expectations but was pretty excited to see how much love he received during training camp. I still expect him to hit consistent RB1 numbers once push comes to shove. But that is also with the expectation that he takes better care of the football and stays healthy. I am less worried about his health because he worked his tail off to put on muscle and stregthen himself up for a heavy load and feel the clavicle was a bad luck injury that could have happened to anyone as opposed to him being injury prone. The fumbles is something that worrys me more. You have to take care of the football at his level or it spells doom for sure.

[dlf_jacobf]

Three months ago I had Mathews as a top 7 dynasty RB, working under the assumption that he was going to be "the guy" for the Chargers. Between the injuries, the fumbles, and everything else I think he has lost the position as "the guy". He'll still be the starter and the lead back, but I think he has doomed himself to always being the lead back in a committee instead of a three down workhorse. If he has the unfortune to fumble in the next week or two, he might not even be the lead back this season even if he is the most talented. Combine all of that with the plus performances of a few others and it drops my value on him to the lower end of the RB1 spectrum. He's currently in my 10-15 tier for RBs for me.

[FearNLoathing]

I'm high on him.

He has injury issues but IMO he's worth top 10 rb value, even out of a dynasty setting.

I think the reason a lot of us were high on him coming into the year was because of the significant development he showed in his first and second years. He started his rookie season slow. Kept showing improvement. Last year he scored like 170+ fp in sls, and was the 8th best back in fantasy. He did this in 14 games, on a chargers team that often enough couldn't run the ball just because of how often they were behind. Additionally, he did it with a significant handicap in how turner used tolbert (pass-catching and short-yardage/goal-line back). Now tolbert is gone, and the only handicap he has is norv's coaching decisions. I think we'll see Battle in some role all year, but I also expect to see Mathews role expanded as he gets back into a rhythm.

So yeah, if this is just a motivational ploy (as most people think it is), then i think Mathews owners should feel confident in the production they'll see from him the rest of the way. In my mind, now is a good time to be buying.

[oppy]

I think he's going to have a 20 point game against New Orleans and everyone will forget about how he was underperforming.