Yes, you read that correctly, I’m listing an entire team as a “curious case.”

To be fair, it’s not literally the ENTIRE team. More specifically, it’s about an offense that had high expectations and has, mostly, been an utter disappointment. Even more specifically, we’re talking about Carson Palmer, Ocho Cinco Johnson, TJ Houshmandzadeh and Chris Perry. All four of these players were surely drafted in your league, and at least three of them probably went in the first five rounds. And if your draft was held after the Bengals cut Rudi Johnson, there’s a good chance all four of them did.

And what have they done, exactly? Aside from Houshmandzadeh who’s averaging about 70 yards and has scored three TDs — hardly impressive, by the way — this group has done almost nothing to help their fantasy owners. Mr. Ocho Cinco has a grand total of 159 yards and one TD; Perry has a very pedestrian 284 combined yards and two TDs; and Palmer is one pace to have the worst season of his career, which includes a very pedestrian first year as a starter.

None of these guys, including Houshmandzadeh, are worthy of automatic starts. Unless you’re in a particularily deep league, their not even must-own players. That’s a pretty sharp decline for four players that were considered among the best offensive units going into the start of the season, and not surprsingly their team is 0-4.

Of course, you probably know all of that. The question, as usual, is how do you use this information to your advantage?

Let’s take them one at a time.

Palmer: If you own him and you can get anything of value in return, I would suggest trading him. Palmer’s struggles actually date back a little farther than you may realize. Dating back to Week 7 of last year, he’s thrown for 300 yards or more just two times and he’s thrown more touchdowns than interceptions just five times (17 TDs and 16 INTs). Those aren’t horrible numbers, but they do represent essentially a full season (15 games, plus another that he missed), and do not suggest that he’s an elite fantasy player anymore. I’d love to be able to tell you that he’s had similar struggles in the past, but has come out of them. Unfortunately, that doesn’t appear to be the case. If you’re looking for a positive word of advice, you’re not going to get it from me.

Johnson: Another player on pace to have the worst season of his career, his fortunes are probably tied pretty closely to those of Palmer. I’m a little more bullish on Johnson, though. Ocho Cinco has had slow starts in the past, but has managed to overcome them. There are three significant differences, though, between his slow start this year and his starts in 2006 and 2004. 1. He’s older; 2. Palmer is also struggling; 3. His motivation is probably not what it once was. I wouldn’t give him away for nothing, and I wouldn’t give up much to get him, but if you can get a decent starter in exchange, I’d trade him and not look back.

Houshmandzadeh: Truth be told, this could actually turn out to be a career year. But, somehow, he still doesn’t seem to be fulfilling expectations. Since breaking out in 2004, much has been expected from the pride of the Barstow Aztecs. But he’s never eclipsed 1,200 yards or 12 TDs, two things he could very well surpass this year. With that in mind, if you can pick him up for cheap, jump all over it. There’s really no reason not to think that this could be Houshmandzadeh’s year.

Perry: Maybe it’s unfair to include the former first-round draft pick in this bunch, but after being handed the starting job, he really hasn’t done anything to get excited about. He’s going to set career highs this year, but that’s really not saying much. The fact of the matter is Perry missed all of last year, has never rushed for 100 yards in a game and has scored a total of four touchdowns. He’s really not in danger of losing his starting job to Kenny Watson — who has even less of a track record — but if there’s someone in your league just desperate for a running back, offer Perry and see what you can get in return. I can’t in all good conscience recommend holding on to him for much longer.