Larry Johnson headed to the Bengals? Does he now have any fantasy significance?
ESPN is reporting that Larry Johnson, more commonly referred to as LJ (or the homo-hater in some circles), is visiting the Cincinnati Bengals today and is likely to sign with the team. This comes after starting RB Cedric Benson left yesterday’s game with a hip injury. This says a few things. One, Benson’s injury may keep him out for a significant amount of time. Two, the Bengals aren’t convinced that rookie Bernard Scott can handle the full load as a starting back. Or, the Bengals are looking into bringing in a veteran for the playoff run. I’d like to say it’s for veteran leadership, but LJ obviously doesn’t have any of that.
Fantasy significance: If LJ does sign with the Bengals, he’s worth a pick up in most leagues with a wait and see approach. For the last few years, I’ve said that LJ is a dog and should be avoided, but stranger things have happened and LJ’s a front runner so he could decide that he wants to play now that he’d be on a winning team. Going into this season, I was very high on rookie Bernard Scott and thought he’d make a great handcuff should Benson miss time. I still think Scott would be serviceable given the opportunity so he’s worth a pickup as well. This is a very interesting situation to keep an eye on over the next few days. If the Bengals do sign Johnson, I doubt he’d be ready to go this weekend in a starting role, but he could see some spot time behind Scott. If Johnson is named the starter, his value goes up significantly as he’d be running behind a line that helped resurrect Benson’s career from mediocrity. More more information on this situation, follow me on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/FantasyLion and I will send out tweets as updates for this story arrive or you can always email me at john@fantasylion.com.
