Lance Kendricks, St. Louis Rams’ Week 2 Fantasy Football Disappointment To Watch

The St. Louis Rams‘ undefeated preseason got a lot of fans excited about the team as a whole, but it did something else, too—it got a lot of fantasy football fans excited about rookie tight end Lance Kendricks, the second-rounder who’d gone from Josh McDaniels-inspired reach to the Rams’ number-one receiver, catching 11 balls for 155 yards and three touchdowns, all of which ranked among the rookie leaders in all of preseason football. 

Unfortunately for the Rams, all that hype as a top fantasy football sleeper didn’t do Kendricks any favors in Week 1 against the Philadelphia Eagles; Kendricks made some crucial drops when the Rams were still in the game—four misses in five targets—and ended up getting overshadowed by Billy Bajema, the afterthought third tight end on the roster. Overall he was one of the least effective tight ends in football in the first week of the season. 

Of course, that doesn’t say anything about Kendrick’s future—even his near future. With Michael Hoomanawanui still not ready to make his 2011 debut and McDaniels’s tight end-heavy offense still in place, Kendricks will be given every chance to live up to his preseason reputation, and fantasy owners would be ill-advised to give up on their sleeper pick early. Unless they’re in the same league as me, of course, in which case I encourage them to drop Kendricks as soon as possible, and maybe let me know when they do it.