Ronnie Brown done for the season, is Jesse Chatman worth a pickup?
Ronnie Brown was among the league’s best fantasy players heading into this weekend’s game. While his pedigree as the 2nd overall pick in 2005 pointed to success, Brown had struggled to establish himself until this season. In fact, Dolphins head coach Cam Cameron played mind games all preseason, refusing to name Brown the starter and touting backup Jesse Chatman at every turn.
Well now Cam Cameron is going to have a chance to prove whether his praise of Chatman was more than a motivational ploy. Ronnie Brown tore his ACL against the Patriots on Sunday and is done for the year. That opens the door for the 223-pound Chatman to take over.
Is Chatman up to the task?
Chatman is in his 5th season out of Eastern Washington and has mainly been a backup. His only significant work came in 2004 as a Charger when he rushed for 392 yards on 65 carries (6.0 YPC) and 3 TDs backing up LaDainian Tomlinson. After an impressive preseason, Chatman wasn’t used much this season behind Brown, but did log 7 carries for 73 yards and a TD last week in Brown’s stead.
A broader question to Chatman’s chances of success is whether the Dolphins offense can stay on the field. In the span of 8 days, the Dolphins have lost their top players at each skill position:
- QB Trent Green was placed on IR post concussion
- WR Chris Chambers was traded to San Diego
- RB Ronnie Brown was placed on IR with a torn ACL
Assuming Chatman can catch passes with some measure of frequency (as Brown has been doing), Chatman could be the rare RB free agent pickup that can help your team. But to think he can approximate the elite numbers Brown was putting up would be foolhardy.
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