The hits just keep on coming for Mike Shanahan and the Denver Broncos running backs.

For the fourth time this season, Denver is expected to place a running back on injured reserve.

This time, rookie running back Ryan Torain has been lost with what is thought to be a torn anterior cruciate ligament. Torain will undergo more testing this weekend but the prognosis is not good.

The shame of it for Denver is that Torain was effective in the first half. He had 12 rushes for 68 yards (5.7 avg., 19-yard long), with one touchdown before leaving the game.

Maybe this is karma biting Skeletor in the ass for messing with fantasy owners all these years.

Selvin Young would be the guy if his groin were healed, but he re-aggravated it Thursday night. He might be a guy to stash on your roster that could help you out over the stretch run. FB Peyton Hillis got a lot of work once Torain left the game, while P.J. Pope and Cory Boyd are possibilities too.

Now that we’re a quarter the way through the fantasy football season, some owners are wondering if it’s time to start benching their early round picks or if it’s appropriate to cut bait on a disappointing middle-round pick. Here is a list of 20 disappointing fantasy players, along with my take on their prospects over the next four games.

I’ve included the player’s Antsports ADP in parenthesis (for the month of August) along with their drafted and current rankings within their position.

1. Randy Moss (1.08)
Drafted: WR1
Currently: WR43
There’s no doubt that the loss of Tom Brady for the season has had a significant impact on Moss’ performance and prospects. He was a stud, but now there are owners who are (justifiably) starting to bench him for better options. He is averaging three catches for 24 yards and zero TD in the two games that Matt Cassel has started. The upcoming schedule (SF, SD, DEN and STL) looks pretty good from a matchup standpoint, and it seems like the bye week would be a good opportunity for Bill Belichick and Co. to figure out a way to use their most dynamic weapon. Unless you have a clearly better option, Moss is still worth starting.
VERDICT: START

2. Braylon Edwards (2.05)
Drafted: WR4
Currently: WR57
Edwards has looked out of it from the start, dropping a few balls against the Cowboys in Week 1. Through four games, he’s averaging 2.8 catches for 24 yards and 0.3 TD. He did catch a TD in Week 4 and his schedule gets a little easier over the next two weeks with the Giants and the Redskins, two teams that have allowed plenty of fantasy points to wideouts this season. Like Moss, unless you have a clearly better option, Edwards is still worth the start, though he’s on bye this week.
VERDICT: START

All right, I’m applying a five-year (or maybe a ten-year) moratorium on myself – I’m not going to draft any Denver running backs in the first eight rounds. I’ve been touting Selvin Young all summer, and even though Andre Hall’s emergence started to worry me, I stuck with my recommendation to draft Young in the 5th or 6th round. As always, Mike Shanahan (a.k.a. “Skeletor”) found a way to screw me. While Young did start, and he did score a touchdown, Denver is clearly…CLEARLY…a RBBC. Young had four carries through three quarters, and finally got the rock regularly on a fourth quarter drive, which he punctuated with a 5-yard score. Andre Hall led the team in carries (10) and yards (61), while Michael Pittman…MICHAEL PITTMAN…is the team’s goal line back; he scored twice. Unless Hall goes down with an injury, I think Young owners are in for a long, frustrating year…As you can see, I’m not afraid to skewer myself when I’m wrong. But I’m not afraid to break my arm patting myself on the back, either. I’ve been touting Jay Cutler and Eddie Royal too (and maybe more), and they both delivered in a big way. Cutler threw for 299 yards and two scores, while Royal one-upped DeSean Jackson’s NFL debut by posting nine catches for 146 yards and a TD. Mike Ditka was impressed with his route running, which is especially laudable considering he was going up against two very good cornerbacks in Nnamdi Asomugha and DeAngelo Hall. Simply stated, Royal filleted them. Brandon Marshall will be Denver’s WR1, but it wouldn’t surprise me at all if Royal finished with 75-80 catches for 1200 yards. He’s that good. As for Cutler, he looked awesome. He was cool, calm and collected, and in complete control of the Denver offense. He has a gun and he’s accurate as well. I think he’s in for a big year…Tony Scheffler had one big reception for 72 yards and Darrell Jackson had a 48-yard TD catch…The Denver offense as a whole looked great, so Matt Prater would be a good pickup at kicker…JaMarcus Russell finished with good numbers (180 passing yards, 2 TD), but he was shaky at the start. He had a couple of near-misses with Ronald Curry (2-18-1), but finally settled in during the second half and started hitting his receivers…Ashley Lelie (3-37-1) could have value if Javon Walker continues to miss time with a “bad hammyâ€� and Zach Miller (4-34) will probably put up better numbers as the season wears on…Justin Fargas turned 20 touches into 109 yards while Darren McFadden had 10 touches for 57 yards. It’s not clear if this was by design or if the coaching staff decided to rein in McFadden once the game got out of control to avoid making the night any worse by risking a potential injury to their prized draft pick.

Tuesday Morning Update: McFadden apparently left the game with a shoulder injury. If he misses any time, Justin Fargas becomes a legitimate fantasy RB2.

Broncos rookie RB Ryan Torain was having a terrific camp before injuring his elbow. Now, he might be out for three months.

His recovery time could be as long as three months, which means the Broncos will have to make a decision by the end of training camp on whether to place him on injured reserve, which would make him ineligible to play this season.

If they think his recovery may be slightly quicker and that he may be able to get back on the field by late October, they could use a roster spot when final cuts are made to 53 players, but they would have to release a healthy player to do it.

Torain suffered a fractured bone near his left elbow Wednesday and was taken for a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) exam as well. That test showed ligament damage that Torain needed repaired Thursday morning.

Broncos coach Mike Shanahan has called Torain “one of the most gifted running backs I’ve been around, and I’ve been around for a long time, very similar to Terrell Davis when he came in.â€�

That’s high praise coming from Skeletor, who has a history of jerking his running backs around. Torain was pushing Selvin Young for the starting job, but now it looks like it is Young’s job to lose. He’s a nice pick in the middle rounds when you’re trying to find a third RB. This is Mike Shanahan, so if you want to play it safe, go with someone like LenDale White or Rudi Johnson.