Buy or Sell: Jonathan Stewart

Jonathan Stewart
ADP: 46.7
RB: 19

Many have long thought Jonathan Stewart was a superior RB to DeAngelo Williams in Carolina. He’ll now get a chance to prove it.

Stewart’s career started promisingly, as he notched 10 TDs in each of his first two seasons. Injuries and timeshares have taken a toll on his numbers the last five years – he’s scored just 10 times combined during that span.

So will Williams’ exit to Pittsburgh refuel Stewart’s fantasy mojo? Or will his better days prove behind him?

Buy: Vomhof

Jonathan Stewart has always had the talent to be a bell cow back. But the Panthers inexplicably doled out awful contracts to DeAngelo Williams and Mike Tolbert, leaving Stewart to toil as the more-talented-but-less-used back in an infuriating timeshare.

Now Williams is in Pittsburgh and Stewart finally—finally!—gets the backfield to himself.

When given the chance to start late last season, Stewart shined. He racked up 679 yards over the final seven weeks—and it wasn’t just empty stats, the guy looked good on film.

It really shouldn’t be a surprise, though. The guy has averaged 4.6 yards per carry on more than 1,000 career carries—the fifth-best mark among all players with that many carries.

Yes, Panthers head coach Ron Rivera has said that he’d like to stick with a two-back system, but he won’t have any choice but to feed Stewart the ball this year. Who else is he going to give it to, rookie Cameron Artis-Payne? The guy’s a middling talent who went in the fifth round for a reason.

Other owners may have written Stewart off, but don’t be that guy. Many made that same mistake with guys like Marshawn Lynch and Mark Ingram, who had similarly been written off for dead prior to getting a chance at more carries.

Stewart has the talent and now he finally has the workload he needs to become a fantasy star. He’s a great value in the late fourth or early fifth.

Sell: Andy

Last year guys like Toby Gerhart and Rashad Jennings moved on from their original teams into roles where they would be the top guy. They immediately shot to the top quarter of pre-season draft charts – with NFL.com even headlining one article questioning whether Gerhart might be the next Eddie Lacy.

Instead, both guys got hurt with Jennings putting up disappointing numbers and Gerhart virtually disappearing from view altogether. Now Jennings is going in the seventh round of drafts and Gerhart is preparing to play an H-back role for Jacksonville.

Jonathan Stewart didn’t have to leave Carolina to become the latest guy to shoot up the charts. He’s being projected as a fifth-round pick now that DeAngelo Williams has moved on to Pittsburgh. No thanks – I’ll pass.

I liked Stewart a lot more five years ago when he was clearly superior to Williams. Now he’s had three successive years in which he has failed to play an entire season, missing seven, 10 and three games respectively. His numbers in 2014 were solid – he averaged 4.6 yards per carry, notching 809 yards, and caught 25 passes.

But his injury history is long – and most concerning to me are the issues he’s had with his feet and ankles, both of which have required surgeries. I may regret passing on Stewart. There definitely is talent there if he can keep himself out of the trainer’s room. But recent history does not seem to indicate he is going to be someone you can count on.

And according to ESPN I can get Joique Bell, Latavius Murray, Todd Gurley, Andre Ellington and T.J. Yeldon, among others, a round later than where Stewart’s ADP indicates he will go. Most of those guys are younger and, at worst, no more risky injury-wise than Stewart.

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