Carolina Panthers running back Mike Tolbert has upset a lot of people for years. He's on the Mount Rushmore of TD vultures in the modern era of fantasy football; in fact, Ryan Mathews' owners will probably never draft Tolbert out of spite for the 19 TDs he posted in two seasons. (They're also probably not going to draft Mathews, but that's for another article.)
Fantasy football start/sit advice, Week 8: Is it worth starting TD vulture Mike Tolbert on Thursday?
Mike Tolbert is scoring more these days, but is he worth starting on the short week? We look at Thursday’s matchup from a fantasy angle.
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Tolbert has been a terrific guy to have on a football team, missing only two games since 2009 and excelling in his role as a goal-line back. He scored seven times last year in his first year with the Panthers and he’s starting to get it going this year with three scores in his last four games. He also has an impressive 4.0 yards per carry, which is all the more eye-catching considering most of his carries come in short-yardage situations.
Tolbert has posted season-high totals in each of his last two weeks, and carried the ball 13 times for 36 yards with a TD against the St. Louis Rams. Of course, the Panthers were up big late and played the clock game, but it's still encouraging that he's more involved.
He doesn't have a great matchup this week, though. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have only allowed one rushing TD all year and rank in the top five for rushing yards allowed and yards per carry allowed.
Tolbert is really only an option in TD-only leagues with the bad matchup on the road in a short week.
• Week 8 fantasy football waiver wire: QB | RB | WR | TE | D/ST
