replacement of D Ryan

I am devastated by season ending Ryan's injury, but the fantasy should go on. I am going to pick up one of following LBs in the wire. Could you rank them in order in terms of value going forward? My leagues awards tackles rather than big plays. I am personally leaning towards S Cooper (if he stays healthy, he has been tacking machine) or Q Black (due to struggling of Ruud as you mentioned in the article this week), but will honour your opinion.

Q Black (TB), B Spikes (NE), P Angerer (Ind), L Grant (Stl), S Cooper (SD), P Tinoisamoa (Chi), M Vrabel (KC), J Durant (Jac), G McRath (Ten)

Cooper has the advantage of being the only 3-down linebacker of this group (with maybe the exception of Durant). I think Cooper can be productive, but I also like Brandon Spikes in the right matchup.

How about next 4 wk matchups for Brandon Spike? vs SD, Min, Cle and Pit. I am also thinking of picking up for bye week fill in. After a huge last week, do you think Bellichek might give him more oppurtunity in the near future?

Spikes is a good downhill, thumper sort of linebacker. But he sucks in coverage and is slower than molasses. And he likes to post sex videos of himself on the Internet. I don't think he will every be a three-down linebacker which is going to hurt his long-term value. Keep in mind, everyone in there mom had 10-15 tackles for the Patriots against the Ravens last week.

I think Spikes can have LB3 value in the right matchups (PIT, MIN, and maybe even CLE). He wouldn't be a bad pickup as a bye week filler. I just wouldn't expect the production we saw from him last week on a consistent basis.