Last season, Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Laurent Robinson shocked fantasy owners by having a career year with lots of fantasy production. His 54 catches and 858 receiving yards were great numbers over 14 games, but his 11 touchdowns made him a must-start in fantasy leagues.
Now that Robinson is in Jacksonville for the 2012 season, will another Cowboys receiver step up to fill that void? Many owners rushed to the waiver wire on Wednesday night when Kevin Ogletree had the best game of his career, catching eight passes for 114 yards and two scores in the NFL's opening game. However, one week is not nearly enough of a sample size to justify dropping anyone valuable. Expecting Ogletree to play this way every week this season is a bit unrealistic at this point.
Quarterback Tony Romo had a great game and found Ogletree when he was open. However, two of Romo's top targets, Miles Austin and Jason Witten, were recovering from injuries that made them miss preseason action. While Witten's spleen injury is likely the main reason he had only two catches in Wednesday's game, it took one half of the first game for Austin and Romo to get back on the same page. Austin was much more involved in the second half of the Cowboys' win, even catching a great touchdown pass.
When Witten and Austin are fully healthy and on the field, Ogletree will not be able to catch eight passes most weeks. Receiver Dez Bryant will get his share of targets, for one thing. Furthermore, running back DeMarco Murray is probably going to allow the Cowboys to run the ball more this year. He looked excellent in the opening game, gaining 131 yards on 20 carries. There were no signs of the ankle injury that ended his rookie season early in 2011.
If you added Ogletree to your team, you may want to wait to activate him. As Witten and Austin continue to recover, I would expect Ogletree to slip back into more of a support role. Of course, any further injuries at the wide receiver position could change that.
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Mike Patton is a co-host on the Deep Sleeper Fantasy Football Podcast. He has been a fantasy enthusiast since 1997 and has won championships in baseball, football, basketball, hockey and pick 'em leagues.
