Scouting Notebook: Beastly Benjamin

Tony Romo must have watched Tin Cup on Saturday night. The way he kept throwing the ball up for grabs was horrible and fearless and thus oddly compelling in a cringe-inducing way. He did finally hit one, too.

DeMarco Murray was great but it was like the Cowboys didn’t realize they could use him inside the 10. Seems like they could have added a couple more TDs that way instead of Romo picks.

Kelvin Benjamin is going to be the big add this week. But we’re going to have to hit the reset button with Cam Newton next week. Does Cam make that TD throw (from Derek Anderson), or even attempt it?

Benjamin is a beast, no doubt. The rookie wideouts are so tricky. I’ve been burned so much. Remember, Stephen Hill looked amazing his first game (two TDs) and is now on Carolina’s practice squad. But you know I like to bet on big, so Benjamin's a starter for sure.

Let’s look at the top of the draft board. LeSean McCoy was okay, Adrian Peterson a disappointment and Jamaal Charles a bust. Matt Forte was solid. Eddie Lacy was a bust and now (with a concussion), who knows? Marshawn Lynch owners are thrilled. Jimmy Graham owners, not so much. Dez Bryant and Aaron Rodgers were busts. Arian Foster owners are happy, as are Murray backers. Peyton Manning and Julius Thomas owners are laughing at the nerds (like me) who say to wait on quarterbacks and tight ends (though I can never help myself with Rob Gronkowski).

I have nothing on Charles’s terrible day. He had a similar bad game in September of 2012 at Buffalo and ended up with 1,509 yards rushing. He’s had 22 of 81 games with similarly low rushing yardage totals and 18 of those also saw him contribute little as a receiver. Let’s call that one clunker every four games, even though most of these came before 2010. Maybe he just got it out of the way. But the Titans were expected to be an average defense, at best, and he was playing at home so this is concerning, no doubt. But don’t lose sleep.

Hey, Jake Locker: one of my “point per play” plays (he’s higher than Andrew Luck). But of course I own him nowhere because why would you own Locker? I would poke around and see if I could trade for Bishop Sankey for middle-round value. Shonn Greene and Dexter McCluster can’t hack it over the long haul.

Matt Ryan owners are happy. Julio Jones owners content even though he left some points on the field. I’m disappointed I finished the summer backing Tom Brady over Ryan. The Falcons’ QB has a much worse defense, indoor slate, bad defensive division and also games against the terrible (defensively) NFC North. Of course, Ryan isn’t going to be THIS good, but he’s as good a bet as anyone outside of the big three.

What do we do with Mark Ingram, who I have been pushing all summer? The market is getting a little ahead of me. Would you trade one of these early-round disappointments for him (say Doug Martin, suggested by Rotowire’s Mark Stopa)? Ingram’s carries are hard to project and two other backs received goal-line carries. I hate challenge trades (players at same position). But if you are deep and want to keep Ingram and trade a bigger name for a wide receiver, sure. I can’t see you getting a good receiver for Ingram, but, yes, Ingram could finish as a top 20 back in that offense.

Ryan is better than Cutler, not that Ryan is super, he’s just definitely somewhere above average. Cutler is spotty in reality, even yesterday with that meh 7.1 yards per pass attempt. But 49 attempts adds up and he’ll create his own volume with bonehead plays. To be fair, he was without Alshon Jeffery (hamstring, not thought to be serious).

Matt Forte is entering the danger zone at age 29 but lord is he productive.

C.J. Spiller had 18 touches, Fred Jackson 10. Spiller disappointed despite the touchdown but he is the fourth back in yards per carry since the merger (minimum 500 carries).

Corderrelle Patterson is really good even though he sort of defies definition - is he a receiver? I have no idea and don’t care. I just want him. I’m not really comfortable with six touches in 55 plays. He needs to be about double that rate to hold the value I project.

Waiver claim on Brian Quick? Sure. He’s big and fast and from a small school who maybe just needed an extra season to blossom. Why did I bet on Kenny Britt and pay more for the privilege? That was stupid.

Tom Brady and the Patriots offense did not look sharp and were pathetic in the second half, but why are people worried about Gronkowski? This game was gravy. He’ll be 100 percent by October 1 or so. Knowshon Moreno looked good but so did Lamar Miller, who maybe gets dropped this week. If he does, scoop him up.

Geno Smith was really good and had a TD pass dropped. No worries for Eric Decker owners. Decker was missed while wide open in the end zone by Michael Vick on a gadget play. Chris Johnson had 18 touches to 10 for Chris Ivory but Ivory is now the better, more explosive runner. I can’t see consistently playable volume for Ivory though and, if he gets it, he’ll probably get hurt.

I have to eat crow on Darren Sproles, who I thought had no chance to get serious carries and he snags 11 in his first game, with a long TD. Jeremy Maclin was the only Philly receiver with double-digit targets and that’s a mild surprise since we assumed target distribution would be more even. Move Maclin up to solid No. 2 WR.

I have to tip my hat to Brian Hoyer, who bounced back from a poor start and played really well. I have nothing against Hoyer but Johnny Manziel is why we watch football. I want that show on the air. If Josh Gordon comes back as many including Chris Mortensen expect (he reported on ESPN that reinstatement is likely as early as this week), Hoyer will be fine. It’s a shame that a zeroRB like Ben Tate got hurt when the zeroRB people are supposed to benefit from these injuries. But zeroRB guys can pick up Terrance West, too. And we have little invested in our backs.

So much for Le’Veon Bell having a co-starter. You can’t hope for more than 27 touches for 197 yards and a TD. The combine/scouting guys look to be prescient about him.

The big news out of the Houston-Washington game was DeAndre Hopkins. But I show him for five targets, though these are unofficial still. Hopkins was one of the youngest receivers ever to get 800 yards receiving. Here’s the list of those to do it at age 21: Randy Moss (1,313 1998), Keenan Allen (1,046 last year, and why you should be higher on Allen), Gordon (805 in 2012) and Hopkins (802 last year). That’s it. Others who are close are Percy Harvin, Hakeem Nicks, Larry Fitzgerald, Maclin, Antonio Bryant and Kenny Stills (available on waiver wires near you). I’d bet on this list, wouldn’t you?