Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports
RB Ray Rice‘s future with the Baltimore Ravens (or NFL for that matter) appears to be over. He was released after a video of him hitting his wife in an elevator was made public. It’s a grave situation in reality, but it certainly has an effect on fantasy as well.
Now owners of Rice are no longer just waiting for him to come back in Week 3, but looking for a replacement from waivers to make up for lost ground with Rice. He was being selected in the sixth-seventh round, and to find someone of that caliber who wasn’t drafted is improbable to say the least. Logically, one would think Bernard Pierce would be the best replacement for Rice, but it may actually be Justin Forsett who GMs will be taking a shot at to fill the void of Rice.
In his Ravens debut against the Cleveland Browns, Pierce added negative value to anyone who started him as a safeguard to Rice. His longest run was for six yards, and averaged 1.6 yards the rest of his carries, which included a lost fumbled, to which coach John Harbaugh said, “We’re not too enamored with fumbles … It’s not what we’re looking for from our running backs.”
While he’s not “enamored” with Pierce at the moment, he seems to be quite impressed by Forsett enough to start him Thursday — and his stat line seconds that idea.
After Pierce made the pivotal fumble in the second quarter, Forsett jumped on board to the tune of 84 yards on 16 touches with a score. That’s quite the day for a RB2, posting 14 points for savvy fantasy owners. His average yards per carry was 6.4, whereas Pierce’s longest run was under that mark — quite an astonishing feat that should speak volumes to Harbaugh.
Maybe Forsett isn’t a long-term fix, but he seems to be a short-term solution. He’ll be running against the Pittsburgh Steelers‘ defense that allowed 10 and 15 to the Browns’ RB2 and RB3, respectively, (much like the case of Pierce and Forsett in Rice’s absence). Forsett is bound to be one of the first players taken off waivers this week, so jump on board as quick as you can in case you’re one of the unlucky GMs who was going to stick it out with Rice for the first two games — which has now turned into the entire season.
Sean Cordy is a featured fantasy sports columnist for Rant Sports. You can follow him on Twitter@SicEm18 and you can add him to your network on Google.
