Part of the process of becoming a good analyst of whatever you are analyzing is being accountable, to highlight your hits and your misses equally. For me and many others, fourth-round cost. After the hype machine swallowed Floyd up this summer, buoyed by articles like mine and high praise from his quarterback Arians likes to spread the ball around. Last Sunday's game vs. the Rams was no exception as Palmer and Stanton completed passes to nine different players. So when you're watching games as a Floyd owner and lamenting the fact that players like Jaron Brown are getting looks at Floyd's expense, realize that the Cardinals like to spread it around.
Further, in watching the Rams game on Sunday, of Floyd's four targets, Palmer was heavily pressured. He was sacked three times, and as Floyd is an intermediate to deep ball route runner, he couldn't get open fast enough for Palmer to hit him. The one play that potentially would have led to a different Floyd outcome was a 40-yard target that had a pressured Palmer not overthrown, Floyd probably would have scored on. Those type of plays seem to be par for Floyd's course on the season, when he's actually getting open, which isn't as often as you think thanks to some lackadaisical route running.
The truth is that Floyd's low floor actual performances have been a combination of things: his inability to get open, low target amounts, the inability to hit the home run ball with his quarterbacks, Arians' spreading of wealth, and the Cardinals' revolving their offense around Andre Ellington. This is evident when looking at the table below.
| Player | Targets | Reception NEP | Target NEP |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fitzgerald | 65 | 54.11 | 37.22 |
| Floyd | 52 | 33.33 | 7.44 |
| Ellington | 52 | 18.47 | 8.81 |
| Jo. Brown | 51 | 36.09 | 15.31 |
| Carlson | 38 | 14.59 | -3.36 |
| Ja. Brown | 15 | 12.54 | 7.53 |
| Ginn Jr. | 14 | 9.46 | 3.65 |
| Housler | 11 | 2.16 | -1.18 |
| Taylor | 7 | 5.5 | 4.99 |
| Dwyer | 3 | -0.2 | -0.75 |
| Niklas | 2 | 2.4 | 2.4 |
| Grice | 1 | 0 | -5.34 |
| Fells | 1 | 0 | -0.71 |
| Totals | 312 | 188.45 | 76.01 |
When you combine all of these factors and the three performances that Floyd has had thus far with Stanton, at this critical juncture in your fantasy season, you can't afford to take chances with Floyd in your redraft lineups or as anything more than a desperation play in a daily fantasy game. For dynasty leagues, you are holding out hope that Floyd can get his groove back next season while he's on your bench for the rest of 2014.
So I'm flipping my script from May and telling fake footballers to be out on Floyd. Sorry myself and other analysts couldn't see this evidence sooner.