Broncos RB C.J. Anderson takes fantasy football owners to task
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- C.J. Anderson wonders if the guy running the craps table catches this much grief.
A consensus top-10 pick in fantasy football this year after making the Pro Bowl last season, the Denver Broncos running back has gained just 56 yards on 24 carries so far.
He's taken plenty of flak from frustrated fantasy football owners wondering if they wasted their top pick on him.
"My Twitter and my Instagram have been all negativity: `Hey, you (stink). You're not that good.' I mean, it's been outrageous," Anderson said.
His reply?
"Bench me. Drop me. I don't really care."
What he cares about is real football.
"We're 2-0 now with a chance to go 3-0 this weekend. That's all that matters," Anderson said as the Broncos prepared for their Sunday night showdown at Detroit.
He doesn't care that his stock has plummeted in daily fantasy football leagues.
"I couldn't care less if you put $200 or $500 on me. You bet on sports. It's not a written script. That's the gamble that you took. Same as if you went to a casino. You need to shoot 6 and you crap out, that's the gamble you took when you let the dice go," Anderson said.
"When you grab me, Demaryius, Peyton, you're betting on sports. You never know what's going to happen. It's just like whoever bet on the Chiefs to win last week. The last play of the game they lost a lot of money. That's the price you pay for betting. That's why it's called gambling."
Fantasy sports and social media can be a toxic mix for athletes, and Anderson shakes his head at how rude and crude things can get.
"I don't go to other people's jobs and say, `Hey, you (stink)! You're trash! You're this and you're that,'" Anderson said.
Still, he tries to take their insults as a point of pride, suggesting, "Football fans across the world expect big plays out of me and that's a good sign of respect."
Anderson likes to interact with fans, but said he's come close to shutting down his social media presence because of all the vitriol as he tries to shake off ankle and toe injuries and get the Broncos' ground game back in gear.
"I almost pulled the plug," Anderson said.
While he kindly tells some haters to go ahead and drop him, others he's had to block. It's just not as easy to barricade their barrage of insults from his mind.
"Oh, it's nerve-racking," Anderson said. "But I try to laugh. I try to find some humor in it. I just let it go."
Well, he tries to. He said he spoke with his mother this week and she told him he's too uptight.
"My mom called me and said, `You're just not having any fun.' And I said, `you know what, you're absolutely right.' We're going to change that," Anderson said.
That's not exactly an admonition for fantasy owners who start him to stick with him.
"You could sit me for 17 weeks. It would not bother me not one bit," Anderson said.
He said he's not a fan of fantasy football because it misses the point.
"Did you see the Monday night game? That was a great football game, even though the Colts were struggling," Anderson said.
Come to think of it, he said, the Broncos' two games so far were great games, too, even though he struggled to find some traction.
"Our games have been edge of your seat. That's what football is about," Anderson said. "It's not about sitting in front of a computer and mixing a bunch of different people on one team and then playing somebody else and getting mad one player didn't get you enough points.
"I took a lot of heat. I can just imagine what DeMarco Murray went through."
Notes: CB Aqib Talib (illness) returned to practice Thursday as did CB Kayvon Webster (ankle).
