Monday Brunch: The curious case of Joseph Addai

Thirteen games, ten hours, and a bunch of observations. Settle in. • Joseph Addai(notes) has become one of my favorite fantasy players of the season. Is he having a great year for the Colts? Heck no. But in our make-believe game, in our numbers racket, he's absolute money and there's great lesson in here about environment, summer buzz and how NFL clubs make (and delay) their decisions. The surface numbers don't look like much with Addai. He's averaging 3.5 yards a carry and he doesn't have a run longer than 14 yards all year. His best rushing game of the year came two weeks back at St. Louis (20 carries, 64 yards); Canton won't be calling for that tape. Donald Brown(notes) has looked far more explosive (4.6 YPC) when he's been given a chance to play. So why is Addai a Top 12 running back in most standard formats and a Top 10 guy in PPR groups? Because the Colts keep giving him volume, the Colts keep using him around the scoring stripe (seven scores, ...