Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
The New York Giants have had a bit of a musical chairs situation at running back, with David Wilson starting the season poorly then being sidelined by a neck injury, to a brief revival by Brandon Jacobs (22 carries for 106 yards and two touchdowns against the Chicago Bears in Week 6) before he went down with a hamstring issue, and over the last two games Peyton Hillis has become the team’s No. 1 running back.
Andre Brown had been expected to threaten Wilson’s hold on the starting job heading into the season, but he suffered a fractured left leg during the Giants’ preseason finale and started the season on short-term injured reserve. But he has been practicing with the team over the last couple weeks, and all indications are he will return to action when the Giants come out of their Week 9 bye.
Related: 2013 Fantasy Football Week 9 Dark Horse Sleeper: Martellus Bennett
Should Brown be on the radar of fantasy football owners as a waiver wire addition this week?
Brown had eight rushing touchdowns in 10 games last season (73 carries for 385 yards and 12 catches for 86 yards), but a broken left fibula ended his season early. So Brown comes with some durability concerns, and that he’s had an injury to the same leg in two straight seasons qualifies as a red flag.
New York has not had a great running game so far this season (29th in the league-69.9 yards per game), but some favorable matchups are coming. Only two of the Giants’ remaining opponents (San Diego Chargers-Week 14, Seattle Seahawks-Week 15), enter Week 9 in the top 10 of the league (ESPN scoring) against opposing running backs, and they have two games against the team that has been the most generous to running backs thus far (Washington Redskins-Week 13 and Week 17).
Brown is currently owned in 22 percent of Yahoo! leagues, and that is sure to rise over the next 10 days or so as long as he remains on track to return in Week 10. With a clear path to playing time and perhaps an even clearer path to goal line carries if he can stay healthy, Brown is worth adding in 12 and 14-team leagues this week for owners that can afford to stash him.
Brad Berreman is a contributing writer at Rant Sports.com. Follow him on Twitter @bradberreman24.
