The Falcons’ Michael Penix decision could be a welcome change in fantasy football

Most of the time, an NFL player’s decline is something we see coming, and then see how it plays out over the course of a season or two or three. It rarely happens all at once.

But rarely is not the same as never. It has happened. Shaun Alexander went from a then-NFL record 28 touchdowns in 2005 to a measly seven the next season, then down to four, then to none, then to done.

You could point to age and use and positional attrition being a running back. None of these explanations apply to Carson Wentz. After a fine rookie season, he was an MVP candidate in his sophomore season before suffering a torn ACL late in the year. He was never the same. He’s now backing up Patrick Mahomes, and apparently won’t play this week as Mahomes is ready to go despite a high ankle sprain last week.

Peyton Manning, Deshuan Watson, Daunte Culpepper, Todd Gurley, Antonio Brown … all fell off a cliff – often after injury or changing teams or both.