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We are right in the middle of the Fantasy playoffs so if you’re still competitively playing Fantasy Football, congratulations and good luck on your quest for Fantasy gold!
When it comes to the playoffs, I typically don’t like to mess around with my roster all that much. Every playoff team has at least a few “studs” on it and I typically believe that since these are the players that played the biggest part in getting your team to the playoffs, they are the guys you should roll with in the final weeks. But can Victor Cruz even be considered a stud anymore?
Cruz burst onto the scene in 2011 when he caught 82 balls for 1,536 yards and nine touchdowns and followed it up with an equally impressive sophomore season in 2012 when he caught 86 balls for 1,092 yards and 10 touchdowns. If you wanted to draft Victor Cruz, it was likely going to cost you one of your first four picks. By all means, Victor Cruz was considered an elite Fantasy receiver heading into the 2013 season.
Owners who spent an early-round draft pick had to have been thrilled with the New York Giants receiver after Week 1, Cruz had five catches for 118 yards and three touchdowns against the Dallas Cowboys, scoring 29 Points in standard leagues. Cruz followed that game up with an eight-catch, 118-yard performance (11 points) against the Denver Broncos, had a bad game against the Carolina Panthers in Week 3 (three catches, 25 yards and just two Points) and then rebounded from that with a spectacular 10 catch, 164 yard and one touchdown (22 points) performance in Week 4 against the Kansas City Chiefs. Victor Cruz scored 64 Points in the first four weeks of the season, leaving owners to believe that he was indeed a stud receiver very much worth the premium you had to pay to get him.
Since Week 4 though, things have gone drastically down hill.
Cruz is ranked as the 18th highest scoring Fantasy wide receiver for the season with 113 Points, if you were to just look at that then you wouldn’t think he’s too far off from his pre-draft value. 57 percent of those Points though came in week four or earlier. After tallying 64 Points through the first four games of the season, Cruz has scored just 49 Points in the nine games since. Cruz scored double-digit Points in three of his first four games, he has scored in double figures though just once since then (11 point game against the Green Bay Packers) and he has failed to score more than six Points in six of nine games since his 22 point game in Kansas City. Cruz has only topped 100 yards once since Week 4 and he’s failed to get into the end-zone since then as well. Cruz was known as a big play threat after he averaged 18.7 yards per catch and had seven receptions of at least 40 yards in 2011. That number is down to 13.7 yards per catch and he’s only had three receptions of at least 40 yards, Cruz made a living out of scoring long touchdowns in his rookie year but that part of his game has disappeared.
This week, the Giants have to take on the Seattle Seahawks who have allowed the fewest Points to opposing wide receivers this season. The Seahawks are allowing the fewest passing yards per game (175.6) and they have allowed the fourth fewest passing touchdowns (14), the fewest receptions of at least 20 yards (26) and the fewest receptions of at least 40 yards (just two) this season. The Seahawks secondary is as good as it gets in the NFL.
Victor Cruz likely cost you a premium price on draft day and I know how tough it can be to leave a guy like him on your bench. But in the Fantasy playoffs do you really want to start a guy who has scored double-digit Points just once in his last nine games? Against the best defense in all of football? Leave Victor Cruz on your bench in Week 15.
Billy Moy is a Fantasy Sports writer at www.RantSports.com. You can follow him on Twitter @william_moy6, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google
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