Fantasy Fallout: Carson Palmer Out Again

I'd like to thank the football injury Gods for a great Friday in the life of Matt Snyder. I spend all week compiling the positional rankings, and then they all run this morning ... and a few hours later we get news that two big names will be out for Sunday. I already spun the Westbrook situation, and now I'll cover Carson Palmer's impending absence.

Ryan Fitzpatrick will start. There's one word to describe what this does to the Bengals.

Murder.

All of them, their value is decimated. Even T.J. Houshmandzadeh. Housh did catch six balls for 50 yards in Fitzpatrick's other start, and the Jets have the 31st ranked pass defense in the league. Still, we had Housh listed as an elite option this week, and Fitzpatrick is not even in the same ballpark as Palmer when it comes to the ability to throw the football. You've likely gotta start him, but there are bunches of better options. I'd bump him down from ninth to around Bernard Berrian and Torry Holt in the late-teens.

As for the others ...

Ryan Fitzpatrick -- As I said, the Jets pass defense has been terrible. You'd still have to be desperate, because he's more terrible.

Chad Johnson -- He's not even a good start with Palmer. He's not startable at all now.

Chris Perry -- The Bengals will likely have to lean on the running attack a lot more than they had planned. Of course, the Jets run defense is ranked fifth in the NFL. I also expect the Bengals to be playing from behind ... therefore Perry's still a bad option.

Cedric Benson -- Don't make me laugh.

No one else on the Bengals should even be considered.

As for the Jets ...

I'm actually going to downgrade Brett Favre and his receivers a tad bit ... not a ton, though. I like the Jets to build a huge lead here early through the air, and then to go into ball control with Thomas Jones and Leon Washington. Washington is now a decent flex option in really deep leagues with nothing left on the waiver wire, because the Jets won't want to burn Jones out with a big lead.

Finally, your sleeper of the week is the Jets defense. They're well-rested coming off the bye week, playing at home, and facing a QB who has thrown 11 picks in only 170 career attempts (with only 5 TDs) ... and he's likely going to be throwing all day long. Go grab the Jets D/ST and plug them in. Expect at least three takeaways and a handful of sacks.