Will Bulger re-emerge?

Before the season started, Mark Bulger was a consensus top-5 fantasy quarterback pick. All year long, I have been waiting for him to fulfill that potential, as he currently is around the 35^th rated quarterback. Some of that has to do with the two games he sat out, but extrapolating his 5-game totals to 7 games would put him around the 29^th rated QB.

I’ve been thinking he has to return to form – he is recovering from his broken ribs that have slowed him down, and he is getting Stephen Jackson back soon as well.

Today, though, I am not so sure that Bulger is going to regain the top-5 QB form he had in the past. Or even top-10.

Here at fantasy football view, we believe that there are five factors that affect a player’s performance. In order of importance, they are:

1. Opportunity

2. Teammates

3. Talent

4. System

5. Opponents

Of these factors, Bulger has numbers 1, 3, and 4 on his side, but it is the players surrounding him that has become the issue. Most significantly, it is the offensive line. This problem was exasperated yesterday when the Rams cut starting offensive lineman Claude Terrell. Terrell was cut loose one week after mouthing off to his coach and on the same day he was arrested for allegedly assaulting his wife. This brings to light the following points about the Rams’ abysmal offensive line:

1. In seven games, only left tackle Alex Barron and center Brett Romberg have started all 7 games, and Romberg has been nicked up the last few weeks.

2. 9 different players have started on the offensive line, Brandon Gorin is expected to be the 10^th as he replaces Terrell.

The result of this is that Bulger is going to continue to get beat around the rest of the year, even worse than Terrell's wife (allegedly). Bulger won’t have time to find his receivers down field, and he probably will never completely heal from his rib injury. Add to this the fact that receivers Torry Holt and Isaac Bruce both seem to have lost a step, and we can no longer say that Bulger is surrounded by premium players, even if Jackson comes back.

Now “surrounding players” also entails the opposing defense, and the Cleveland Browns come to town this week with the 29^th ranked pass defense in the league. So don’t be surprised if Bulger throws for 280+ yards this weekend, but if you have him, sell high, because he won’t be able to maintain this level of performance for the rest of the year.