Improving the league...

A commissioner's job is never done. In my case, I'm often thinking about how we can improve the league as well as make it more fun for the league owners.

I've been polling my large league over the last week or so to get some ideas about how we can improve the overall experience (and so that everyone gets their money's worth).  

Below are a few ideas on how we can change rules or setup.

1. Do a league realignment - split the league into two and recruit more players from the company.
2. Ask for two to four league owners to resign / quit the league (drop down to a 14 or 12 team league).
   
3. Change the weekly starting lineup rules. Require that the 16 teams have to start one running back, three wide receivers and a tight end.
4. Enforce roster limits and allow league owners to only have a certain number of running backs on their team.

I'll probably have the league owners vote on some of these suggestions at the end of the season...mostly so that everything is fresh in their minds and that we have time (if needed) in order to recruit new members.

It makes one wonder if the current state of injuries and change of strategy in the NFL will cause more fantasy owners grief in the long run.  To be consistent with the pro game, however, we need to adapt our leagues to fit the current trends and patterns that impact the fantasy game.

Where did the season go wrong?

In a league that is perhaps the most challenging I've ever done (partly because of the 15 other teams I compete against), I barely missed the playoffs this week. The team's destiny was in it's own hands and it completely fell apart...landing an overall record at 6-7. Which in itself was completely miraculous considering the total points scored by my team is currently the 5th lowest in the league.

Two other leagues that I participate in (not including this one we're reviewing) I'm safely at least the #2 seed going into the playoff week 14.

I thought it would be useful for next year to do a small recap about where things went wrong....starting with the draft.

Note that this is a PPR league - so top receivers CAN do as well as a top running back.


KEPT PLAYERS (from 2006 team)

We're allowed to keep 3 players. So here were my choices from last season's team.

Laurence Maroney - Consensus top 10 pick going into the season by many fantasy experts. Stuck in a pass happy offense, hurt for a number of games, and now losing touches to the "other Faulk". Heath Evans likes to get the touchdown glory.

Cedric Benson - High NFL draft pick with great college pedigree. Thomas Jones traded in the offseason - he had no competition. He underachieves all year, especially against horrible run defenses. Cedric's offensive line didn't help matters. He starts to pick it up (just in time for the playoffs) and then gets hurt.

Antonio Gates - has a good overall season, but throws up a stinker last
week thanks to Philip Rivers.


Short Draft Recap


1) Marques Colston - does nothing for the first weeks of the season
(mainly why I lost a couple two point games early), but overall turns out
okay. Throws out a stinker last week too.

Two draft picks in round 2

2a) Matt Leinart - supposed to be break out year. With two great
receivers, does nothing, then goes into time share with Kurt Warner. Then gets hurt.

2b) Reggie Brown - third year receiver - does not break out. McNabb's
injury killed his potential...and then Kevin Curtis becomes the go to
guy.

Braylon Edwards was picked three picks later.

4)LenDale White - underachieves for the first few games. I traded him in
week 5 for Javon Walker. We know how that turned out. White goes on a hot streak, and Walker stays injured.

5) Todd Heap - hurt all year. Nuff said. (Chris Cooley picked round 6).

8) Patrick Crayton - he was streaky - but turned out to be a good value pick.

9) Sammy Morris - wonderful backup to Maroney and really worked out well (while he was healthy). Matt Schaub was also picked this round.

10) Jason Campbell. My starting QB for most of the year. Had some really big games, but still learning and inconsistent. Dwayne Bowe was also picked this round.

Rounds 11 / 12 were mostly DEF and Special Teams picks.


FREE AGENT PICKUPS


I'm normally pretty active in the waiver wire. These may seem as reaches, but with 15 other teams bidding for players...here's what I was able to pickup. Note that these are only players that I STARTED any given week for my team.

Chris Henry (CIN) - Had a big game for me, hasn't done much since...filling in for Javon Walker

Priest Holmes (KCC) - Sounded promising, I sang his praises through a number of weeks...reinjures his neck and retires.

Kolby Smith (KCC) - Still playing! Put a decent number of points up for me last week.

Rex Grossman (CHI) - Started him once - didn't do well for me.

Brian Griese (CHI) - Started him a couple of times - with mixed results.

Fred Jackson (BUF) - Good game last week - got 14 points.

Adimchinobe Echemandu (HOU) - weeks ago was the hot waiver pickup. The next week, hardly plays...and scores less than a point for me.


SUMMARY


So where did this all go wrong? Mainly it was a lack of a "fantasy playmaker" for me. Someone that would consistently score a few points a week - with no major drop offs. All these guys have been mostly boom or bust - with my scores fluctuating wildly week to week. It may not be that a RB is the position that will do this for you anymore (meaning not just the top 10, but rather the top 20 used to be a safe play). It may come down to a good QB carrying your team - as long as he can stay healthy.

Busted Tees...

Check out this fantasy football t-shirt from Busted Tees.

Nice.

Denver RB Roulette!

Are there any running backs left in Denver? Paging Terrell Davis?

So we're down Travis Henry, Selvin Young, and now Andre Hall. RB Killer Shanahan might have to turn to....Mike Bell? I don't think so. Bell is back in the doghouse after the fumble on the first carry.

Even Dan Dierdorf got that. (He drew a doghouse around Mike Bell after he fumbled).



Further to the point - the reason why Cecil Sapp got the rest of the carries for the game. Cecil Sapp? The starting fullback? Huh?

Back earlier in November, the Broncos worked out Wali Lundy. Could it be possible that we see Wali suit up this weekend?

According to this report, more than likely we'll see Cecil Sapp play at RB. Although you should note, that Shanahan in his typical "lets-tick-off-the-fantasy-owners" did say that Hall could come back from the high ankle sprain this week - he's seen other guys do it before.

The only thing that is problematic with Sapp starting is that who will be used at fullback? In this this report (look further down) Kyle Johnson was being seen worked on after the game with a calf injury (and their other FB was out too).

With the matchup this week against Oakland - who ever runs in Denver should be good for a bunch of yards. Should be an interesting week in Denver - we'll know more today.

Players I like this week (week 11)

Here are some players that might be flying under the radar in week 11...and I think might exceed their average numbers per game.

Ryan Grant RB, GBP
Ryan burst on to the scene against the Broncos with a stellar game. A lot of people, and myself included, thought that Grant would have a tough road ahead. After Grant's monster game against the Minnesota defense last week, I believe. Reports out of Green Bay compare Grant's running and body to that of Dorsey Levens. Now that Grant is McCarthy's feature back, I think we can see more of him - although the Pack is a pass first team.

Dallas Clark TE, IND
Clark plays against a better than expected KC defense this week. With Harrison still hurting, and Wayne the only target of significance last week - I expect Manning to find Clark a number of times this week.

Marc Bulger QB, STL
Have you seen San Francisco's team lately? Now that Rams have a lot of their starters back, I expect them to dismantle SF this week. Steven Jackson is not completely back to full speed, but Bulger has a good chance to have a huge game.

Chris Henry WR, CIN
Henry got 7 targets from Carson Palmer last week. Chad Johnson had 6 and Housh had 8. Henry is opening things up for the other guys. Against a suprisingly good Arizona run D and a lot of their pass rushers injured, we can hope to see a lot of passes from Palmer.


Interesting pick of the week:

Dwayne Wright, RB BUF
With Lynch hurting, they'll have to turn to someone. The Pats are a tough defense, but prime time games always bring out some interesting themes. The more research I do on this guy, the more I like him. The Bills took him in the 4th round of the draft last year - and when they picked him, Mel Kiper likened the Patriots pick of Tom Brady to this guy. That's saying something. And oh, did I mention that A-Train has 10 carries for 12 yards on the year?
One cause for worry though - Belichick seems to have Losman's number, so that might be an issue.

Lynch out for a while

According to this report, Dick Jauron indicated that Lynch has a more than average ankle sprain. Looks like the emergence of the A-Train will happen against the Pats.

I wouldn't get too excited about Thomas, but if you're really desperate (or a Lynch owner) he's worth a pickup.

This report makes a case for picking up Dwayne Wright - and after reading it, I was more convinced he might do well over Thomas.

If you have an extra bench spot, you may also want to look at Ricky Williams. This report thinks that Ricky will get a shot to play for the Fins this year. I also saw a report from ESPN's John Clayton that agrees with that assumption. With the Dolphins at 0-9, starting a rookie quaterback, and with Ricky Williams in for free agency next year...the Fins might want to take a look.

It's been more than a week...

Sorry for the layoff blog readers - I've been knee deep in puppies for the last week and have little time to blog. Here's some quick hitting headlines.

Cedric Benson - he's living up to that 1st round 4th pick status isn't he? 2.6 yds / carry against the Raiders? What? This defense has been torched all year by running backs...and then Lovie Smith doesn't seem to have any ringing endorsements for the running game.

'We're not pleased with where our running game is right now.''

Ouch.

In other Bears news, it looks like Grossman will take over for Griese after his performance last weekend saved the game for the Bears. This report from the Sun Times goes into more depth.

Someone I would play if I had the chance this week - Chester Taylor. With that Minnesota line against the previously mentioned Oakland defense - sounds like a good matchup.

If you are hurting for a quaterback this week, I would play Kyle Boller. I have a feeling that against Cleveland he'll play pretty well (although Brian Billick's status as an offensive genius is seriously in doubt - his play calling has been horrid this season).

Priest Holmes showed some good moves against the Denver defense last week. Although he didn't put up monster TD numbers or have a 100 yard game - the important thing of note is that he dominated the carries. While LJ is out, I think we see little of Kolby Smith (he who remained the third RB for a man that came directly off the PUP to 2nd string). Long term Kolby might be OK - but not now.

This game recap from Fox Sports says that Priest was ineffective. I highly disagree - if we take off that one run that went for a loss at the 5 yard line and instead turn that into a score, you're talking about one rushing TD and over 80 yards rushing. That would have been quite the different performance indicator for Holmes. Don't count him out yet - I think we see one good game before LJ is back.

Confess to the Priest...

Well, it's official...my favorite story of the last month is getting his chance to shine this week.

Priest Holmes will likely be starting against the Broncos this week (you mean those same Broncos that gave all those yards up to Ryan Grant?) - with Kolby Smith stealing some touches here and there.

The latest word from ESPN is that Johnson has a foot sprain, but there is a report from a station in Denver that LJ is out for the season with a broken right foot.

If you are a LJ owner and were fortunate to pickup Priest when I mentioned him a couple of weeks ago...I would also hedge your bets with Kolby Smith - he might turn out to be OK if Priest can't handle the workload.

The injuries this year are unbelievable! The only team that I have that has bounced back from all of these is in a 10 team league - where it's not hard to find someone to pickup.

Chris Henry (TEN)

I haven't put my finger on this exactly, but this guy really bothers me. Here are some random thoughts about Chris Henry, TEN Titans RB. I will admit that I had picked him up bunch of weeks ago when I heard that Chris Brown was hurt (this was in a 16 team league, so it wasn't much of a reach at the time).

I had him on my team for a few hours before I started to do some serious research on the guy.

Things to know about Chris Henry -

1) Career numbers at Arizona - 269 rushes for 892 yards. That's 28.8 yards per game and only had 9 TDs.

2) His best year at Arizona in 2006 - 165 carries for 581 yards and 7 TDs. But he only produced 3.5 yards / carry.

3) At the combine, he ran impressive 4.4 and 4.41 times with 26 reps in the lifting and a 36-inch vertical.

His workout blew people away, but his college stats don't impress. Does this sound like a second round pick to you?

Now in the NFL...look at the defenses he played - Houston and Oakland. Oakland is likely the worst YPC defense in the league. No surprise he did well there in limited action...

And of course the most importance piece of this whole thing right now...he's likely to be suspended for 4 games...but he took a substance that was banned a year ago. Working off an old list perhaps?

You should pick up the (other) Chris Henry.

Players I like this week (week 9)

Here are some players that might be flying under the radar in week 9...and I think might exceed their average numbers per game.

Marshawn Lynch RB, BUF
Marshawn has been running hard all year - and I think he might be able to break off a run or two against an uninspiring front of the Bengals defense. Don't worry, those ribs are fine. Look for him to maybe get a TD and / or his first 100 yd game.

Heath Miller TE, PIT
Heath always seems to preform better for the Steelers on Monday night. The Baltimore defense has the reputation, but they have not been playing as well as in years past. Look for Miller to get open on some quick underneath routes, and he might even take one pass deep. Finally, with Hines Ward back and Sanantonio Holmes playing well, Miller should get open for a few passes...and probably a score.

Carson Palmer QB, CIN
It's pretty obvious Carson has struggled without a solid third wideout to throw to. (I think he gets much better when Chris Henry plays next week). The Buffalo defense has been playing better, but I think we have the makings of an offensive shootout.

DJ Hackett WR, SEA
This pick is coming out of nowhere, but the Hawks are playing the Cleveland D. Hasselbeck has one of his favorite receivers back...might be the week you get Hackett in the lineup.
I don't think Alexander will carry this team anymore - they're pass first now.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! We'll use this crazy Vikings fan to spice up the post today.

Joe Echemandu is being hyped by a lot of fantasy football guys right now. He's hurt...but an interesting fact pops out of this report. Echemandu said he hurt his hamstring on the first play, but kept playing. Now there's a guy I want on my fantasy team! Check his injury status later in the week, but he might have a nice matchup against the Raiders who are struggling against the run.

In other news, is it just me or do the ESPN football guys seem to be filing incorrect reports lately? All the beat writers for the Bills believe it's a money thing with Losman / Edwards. John Clayton recently reported that Losman has a chance to win the job back. Wha happend?

Herm Edwards said recently that Priest Holmes can expect to get 10-12 touches a game. Doesn't sound as good as I thought - but we might take it...another game or two will tell.

News from around the league...

This report quoting Chiefs President Carl Peterson makes it sound like Priest Holmes has a lot left to bring to the field.

Chris Henry (CIN WR) is going to be back on the field soon. Ted Carlson reminds us why we should pick him up.

Joe Echemandu is a name you might want to look out for as well, as long as he can stay healthy. This game recap points to the fact that Ahman Green's knee doesn't seem to be getting better - someone has to carry the ball in Houston. Ron Dayne is glacially slooooooowwww.

Ryan Grant is going to be on a lot of people's radar this week - for these reasons. DeShawn Wynn can't stay healthy and his shoulder injury doesn't sound good. According to one report his shoulder went numb.

Players I like this week (week 8)

Here are some players that might be flying under the radar in week 8...and I think might exceed their average numbers per game. (Hopefully I do better than last week).

Steven Jackson RB, STL
S-Jax is back! The guy wrote an article for ESPN Fantasy this week. His QB is hurt. The Rams are playing Cleveland. The guy is hun-gry! (He needs some Chunky Soup). What about this game says don't start Steven Jackson to you? (I hope you did not drop him. There's no way that you can be in a league THAT deep).

Tony Scheffler TE, DEN
Big Tony got targeted 6 times last week - and ended up with 5 catches and a TD. He's playing a little injured, but was able to practice fully this week so far. It's his 2nd year and even though he's sharing time with Daniel Graham, I like his chances going forward (and starting this week).

Drew Brees QB, NOS
Brees is back. He's playing pretty well, his offensive line has only given up 4 sacks on the year (but I'm not counting the number of times he was hurried). Did you see the SF game against the Giants last week?

Lee Evans WR, BUF
Lee put up 40 points in one game for my fantasy team last year. I thought Lee would start out slow this year. He's definitely exceeded those expectations. It takes some time to develop a chemistry with a new QB, and I think we saw that beginning to happen last week with Trent Edwards. Get him in this week against the Jets.

AND the one player I'm NOT starting this week LenDale White RB, TEN.
The Titans have two other RBs other than White. Chris Brown and Chris Henry (no, the other one). Everything I've read is that Henry is a physical / workout warrior. This guy has the physical gifts. If you look at his college stats, he did not a whole lot from a small football school (Arizona). The Titans are going to give him a shot (since he was drafted in the 2nd round).
Chris Brown - who knows when he'll come back from the ankle problem - but at one point a couple of weeks ago, they had LenDale at full back (since he catches the ball so well and is a good blocker) and Brown at tailback. This is not a player that is impressing me right now - even with his big fantasy stats. Not all teams are Houston.

More Pierre Thomas...

Coach Payton said this about Pierre Thomas recently...

He's a guy I trust a lot with the football. He's smart. I thought it was a really good play he had on his touchdown. We'll continue to get him some more touches.

This report from the Press Register has Thomas giving a lot of credit to the Offensive Line.

Another report from the Times-Picayune indicates that Thomas is just the spark that the Saints need.

You can see highlights of the Saints / Falcons game here.

What do we know?

At this point in the season, you'd think we'd have some good ideas about how our players will perform (at least in a general sense).

1) Laurence Maroney - a top ten pick in many formats this year...finally comes back from his injury...against a horrible run defense...and the Pats are so good that they'll pound the ball for a while. Maroney will get a lot of carries. Um...no. He barely passed 30 rushing yards and didn't play in the 2nd half.

2) Ronnie Brown - leading the fantasy RB world in total points. Who would have thunk it? Now he's out for the year with a torn ACL (and might not be his old self again until late next year).

3) Steven Jackson - still out. Hopefully he's back soon.

4) Larry Johnson - got a TD, got a 100 yards...but looked underwhelming. I expect Priest to be involved later in the year - maybe not much more than a third down back...but get ready.

5) Ernest Graham - supposedly supplanted by Michael Bennett...puts up a monster fantasy day.

6) Kenny Watson - Kenny frakkin' Watson! He had three TDs!

7) Chad Pennington throws 3 TDs and is going to be benched.

8) Rob Bironas had EIGHT field goals! (Somebody in your league will pick him up this week).

9) My favorite deep sleeper - Pierre Thomas takes one of his two carries for a 24 yard run which resulted in a TD. Reggie Bush only gets one TD on the day.

If you can predict this stuff...well....I must bow down to you....you are a fantasy god.

Just another Sunday...proving that most of us just roll with the punches. And we can't predict crap.

Players I like this week (week 7)

Since I had a fun time with this last week - thought I'd try it again. Here are some players that might be flying under the radar in week 7...and I think might exceed their average numbers per game.

Cedric Benson RB, CHI
Cedric actually looked pretty good against the Minnesota defense last week. Even though the Philly defense is ranked 9th on the season on rush defense the numbers have been a bit misleading. They've played the Packers (and we know how their run game has been) and an underwhelming performance from the Washington run game. Last week they allowed 130 yards to Thomas Jones and 80 yards to Derrick Ward the week before. We know that Benson is going to get the carries. This might end up being a big game for him.

Chris Cooley TE, WAS
This is sort of a no-brainer. Cooley got 10 targets from Campbell last week. Partly because the Washington WRs dropped about 6 balls. Arizona is 17th against the pass. Washington has a lot of their OL injured. I don't think Campbell will have time to throw it deep - and a lot of short drops mean a bunch of quick out patterns to Cooley.

Jeff Garcia QB, TB
Garcia is playing the Detriot defense and hasn't thrown a pick on the year. Do we really need any more details?

Lance Moore WR, NOS
Lance beat out Devery Henderson for the starting spot - partly based on a recommendation of Drew Brees. Patten caught a lot of balls last week - but do you expect that continue? Patten couldn't stay healthy in Washington...and more people will likely target him in this weeks free agent pickup. How can you go wrong with a guy that Brees says he likes his ability to catch the football?

Wednesday updates...

Well folks, if you're like me and were pretty happy with Sammy Morris and his efforts filling in for Laurence Maroney...this report from ESPN says he'll likely be out a month. I like the chances that Maroney comes back this week.

There is also news that the Patriots worked out Kevin Barlow on Monday...just when you thought Maroney might be in for all the goal line carries...

The Raiders defense is allowing the most yards per carry to opposing backs. This report from Inside Bay Area has some good analysis about the Raiders defense. Might be good news for those Larry Johnson (and maybe Priest Holmes) owners out there. Also note that the Raiders are on pace to give up 2300 yards for the year. Ouch.

The Saints looked pretty good on Sunday night. Pierre Thomas scored on a fumble recovery - but on special teams duty. Aaron Stecker's injury might open for the door for Pierre to get some more carries in relief of Reggie Bush.

A number of people, like this guy...believed Adrian Peterson would be a great player this year. You don't have to sell me, I was on the bandwagon in the preseason.

Reasons why we'll see Priest suit up...

I'm back from my trip for a friends wedding in Martha's Vineyard to post a few reasons why I think Priest Holmes might be a factor this year (BUT maybe not until playoff time)...

1) Larry Johnson ran for 119 yards on 31 carries this past Sunday. But wait you say, Larry IS BACK! He went over 100 yards in a game! Surely he's gotten this thing figured out. Ah - not so much. Larry ran for 106 yards on 16 carries in the first half. He then ran for 13 yards on 15 carries in the second half. Numerous mistakes, indecision and other things clouded Larry's performance this weekend. Do we need anymore reasons to give Mr. Diapers a slice of humble pie?

2) According to numerous reports, the Chiefs have traded Larry's backup Michael Bennett to Tampa Bay.

3) Herm Edwards has a lot of good things to say about Priest, and according to SI, he's been in almost daily contact with his Priest.

4) Coach Edwards said "You've got to find a way to get him in the game."

5) Because I told you about it last week.

We won't know for sure if Priest will play this week against Oakland until after he practices on Wednesday and Thursday.

Put a waiver request in...if you have someone expendable on your fantasy bench.

Pierre Thomas update of the week...

My current fave deep sleeper is making news yet again.

Sean Payton thought that Reggie Bush did a good job against the Panthers last week in his first action as the featured back. However, in his Monday press conference Coach Payton did mention that he wants to get some other backs in the mix.

"I said yesterday that I thought Reggie handled the running back duties fairly well. I thought that with (Aaron) Stecker and Pierre (Thomas), maybe I can be a little more balanced in regards to getting them some more touches."

Does this mean that we'll see Pierre on the field some more? I have to think so - the week before they played New Orleans, Tampa Bay ran all over the Panthers defense to the tune of a total 180+ yds.

Gregg Rosenthal has a good blog entry about the "death nell" that is having fifty offensive snaps or under. What is important to keep track of here though, is that the Panthers only had 47 snaps to the 75 of the Saints. How did the Saints not win the game? Was it simply offensive turnovers and you can't make the Saints defense try to stop anybody?

The Saints need to get back to pounding the football with the run game. I think we proved that Bush, while a great talent, is not going to get it done unless he changes his style (or his OL plays better).

When Payton was asked how Pierre Thomas fared in his first NFL game, he said...

"I think that Pierre played well on special teams. He played in a limited role as a runner, there's a place to increase his touches I think as we move on here, but he did a real good job here for his first time out covering kicks, blocking, returning kicks, so that was encouraging. We had a couple young guys that stood out."

Is the Pierre Thomas era about to begin?

Players I like this week...

Short list - but here are a few players that I think might have a big week this week.

Jason Wright RB, CLE
Jamal Lewis is reported out this week (wearing a boot a practice seems like a sign). The Dolphins are giving up over 170+ yds on the ground. Sounds like a gimme to me. He might not get the TDs, but I would think he'll have a big yardage day.

Greg Olsen TE, CHI
Griese targeted Olsen 7 times last week compared to Desmond Clark's 4 targets, and the Vikings are giving up 75 yards receiving to the TE position.

Jason Campbell QB, WAS
The Packers 23rd ranked pass defense goes against a guy that was without his top two WRs last week and still had a great game. Call it a feeling, but I think it's only a matter of time before Gibbs lets him loose. Anyone that can make Keenan McCardell look good (isn't this guy 60 years old or something?), is doing well.

Reggie Brown WR, PHI
Many people have written him off as dead, but against the Jets and after a bye week, I think this is the week Brown puts up a good performance. If you're struggling with byes, this might be the only week that Brown does well all year! Take a risk and plug him in.

Is your fantasy football team hurting? Do you need a priest?

Priest Holmes recently said that he is 90% and ready to go.

Not sure if many of you saw Hard Knocks on HBO this past summer...but there was one piece with Dick Vermeil talking with Herman Edwards that sticks out for me. Dick was saying to Herm that when Priest says "I'm at this percent" he believes him. Dick went on to say that Priest knows his body better than anyone he ever coached.

This report from the Kansas City Star goes into more detail about Holmes' current situation.

Larry Johnson isn't exactly blowing things up right now. Maybe....exactly why we might not have seen the last of Priest Holmes. Yeah, he turns 34 this month. Sure, he wasn't drafted. He's gotten older and slower. But that stuff just motivates Priest. It's hard to forget 66 touchdowns in three years.

Keep an eye on him, and stash him on your IR if it's available. After week six when he comes off the PUP, the Chiefs have three weeks to evaluate him to see if he's ready to play.

Tony Romo got lucky.

If you didn't see the entire Dallas / Bills game on Monday night, you missed something special. Tony Romo, however, did not put together an inspiring performance. TO for all his ability, dropped a few passes. Luckily Romo had Witten, Crayton, and Barber to throw the ball to.

The Bills played a great game which included some really inspired football. But the play of Romo brings back an important point from last year. Romo is supremely streaky. Part of me is thinking that Romo owners need to closely evaluate what happened last year - and here's some evidence to that point.

Everyone remembers Rex Grossman's implosion from last year - but do you remember what Romo's numbers were through his first six games last year? Well, he totaled 12 touchdowns and 5 interceptions. Not too bad.

How about Romo's performance for the rest of the regular season (after his Thanksgiving game against Tampa Bay)? 6 touchdowns and 8 interceptions. Not so good.

Better yet...over his last three games he had 6 fumbles.

I'm not saying to panic. Yet. But don't get over confident and drop your backup QB - I expect Romo to have a rough week against the Pats in week 6. I'm not sure if I expect him to totally implode...but I would have a good backup QB for week 7 and beyond - just in case.

I don't feel like Romo has learned from his mistakes last year - and he's not an elite fantasy QB yet.

A couple of things from this year that have really stood out -

The bungled snap that happened while he was in the shotgun against the Rams. Amazing play - I was watching the game and wondering..."What is he DOING?" And then a couple moves later, he's scampered 30+ yards to get the first down.

And of course, all those interceptions we witnessed against the Bills last night.

Just be prepared for a Romo implosion. Guaranteed? No. But definitely likely.

Know any superfans?

Oh my word - this is hilarious. You have to check out this guy's blog entry - where he found a great Chicago Bears superfan. The video was posted on YouTube - maybe he inspired the Bears comeback win against the Packers on Sunday night? (I'm paraphrasing below).

"Get yourself some strong coffee and make that QB baby swiss! Put holes in him!"

You can't make this stuff up. Fantastic.

Blanket statements kill me...

While doing some research on my favorite man-crush of the moment, Pierre Thomas, I noticed a note RE: Aaron Stecker from the folks at KFFL in my keeper league.

"New Orleans Saints RB Aaron Stecker will take a bulk of RB Deuce McAllister's (ACL) carries for the rest of the season. McAllister has been placed on Injured Reserve."

Who are these people? Stecker? Get most of McAllister's carries? Huh?

Perhaps we forgot that when Bush came to the team in 2006, Stecker had 4 carries for 11 yards. Doesn't that say something when a player that has roughly the same skill set as your newly drafted star player can't make the field?

Moving on...you'll also note that Sean Payton had a lot of good things to say about Pierre Thomas in this Thursday's press conference. I took special interest in the part of Payton's conference where he compares Thomas' effort to that of Colston's training camp of 2006. My bunny ears just perked up on that one.

I don't think Coach Payton has an idea about how the whole running back situation is going to turn out yet, but he's already said that Bush is the featured back for the week. The Panthers can make a lot of teams look good, so if Bush has a big game, I would temper that enthusiasm. (I like Bush a lot, but I'm not sold on him getting the tough yards.)

If the Saints are going to pound the ball, which I think they're going to do to get their leaky defense off the field as much as possible - you're looking at possibly 35+ running plays.

From Sean Payton - RE: Reggie Bush this week:

"From a numbers standpoint, you're still looking at...maybe not as many receptions and some more carries - 18 to 20 (per game)"

That's about 15 or so carries that will be hanging out there - I think Pierre shows some flashes this week - and in a week or two, I would expect Stecker to be back on mostly special teams and maybe some passing downs.

A quarterback mystery

Just to prove that most of us fantasy football people don't really know what we're talking about anyway - in one of my leagues Brett Favre outscored Tom Brady - check out the scoring from Week 4 below.

Favre, Brett GBP 24.73
Brady, Tom NEP 21.27
Schaub, Matt HOU 20.29
McNair, Steve BAL 19.94
Harrington, Joey ATL 18.41
Hasselbeck, Matt SEA 17.97
Griese, Brian CHI QB 17.02
Kitna, Jon DET QB 16.34
Roethlisberger, Ben PIT 15.23
Garcia, Jeff TBB QB 14.57
Huard, Damon KCC QB 14.33
Pennington, Chad NYJ 14.05
Anderson, Derek CLE 13.18

And I would also like to point out that Derek Anderson also outscored Jay Cutler, Carson Palmer, Eli Manning and Donovan McNabb. Who knew?

Fantasy troubles? Look no further than your offensive line...

I don't hear about this subject often enough in Fantasy Football, so I thought I would add some information to it.

I think the OL is extremely important to your fantasy team. In fact, I think you should follow the ups and downs of any offensive line that is associated with your quarterback or running back.

In their 2007 Football Prospectus, the Football Outsiders wrote a small article on the impact of a good defense on your fantasy players. Long story short, they found that a "stud" RB was likely to preform (on average) worse against a great run defense than was his likely replacement that was facing an average or below average run defense. The same thing applied to the quaterback position, but not as much to the wide receivers. Here is where your offensive line comes into play - they need to hold off the attack of an aggressive defense - and they need all their starters to do it.

Wondering why some of your favorite fantasy players are struggling? Here are some potential reasons why...

The Rams OL is a mess. Even when Steven Jackson comes back, he is in trouble. The Rams are without left tackle Orlando Pace, their original right and left guards, a backup tackle...and now they lost Adam Goldberg (starting right tackle) for at least 4 weeks.

The Bears OL took the blame for the loss in Detroit. For stretches of the game, they were without one of their best lineman John Tait - who sprained his ankle.

The Giants sacked the Eagles - TWELVE times on Sunday night? Huh? This is the same Giants team that didn't have secondary to stop anybody...and then they make McNabb look silly! I think this partly also had to do with Westbrook being out - McNabb had no one to dump off to to break a big play when the rush was on.

The Raiders OL - looking great - and rolling over everyone. One of the reasons for Lamont Jordan's success early. I would think that anyone filling in for Jordan (see Dominic Rhodes) might be as successful as Jordan - Fargas put up over 170 yards last week. Justin Fargas!

The Patriots OL is also looking dominant. Sure - Tom Brady is playing great. So is Randy Moss. But have you seen the time that Brady has had to throw the ball?

The Browns - yeah, they have some play makers in Winslow and Braylon Edwards. They've made great plays for sure. But how about that offensive line? Even with the injuries (see LeCharles Bentley), they've jelled great - and now the offense is successful. Even against the Ravens!

In summary, when looking at difficult matchups from week to week...also evaluate how your players offensive line is playing...and use that to your advantage.

Week 4 musings

Looking back at the week that was a number of people have mentioned to me what a wacky week it was.

I have to agree. In one of my leagues going into last night, I had Laurence Maroney starting with Sammy Morris on the bench. I heard that Maroney was out about half an hour before game time, so I substituted Sammy Morris.

Imagine my surprise when early on Morris breaks off a 49 yard run. I guess if Jamal Lewis can run on the Bengals, then just about anybody can.

Morris ended up having a great game for me, but ultimately my team fell short by two points - or basically those two yards that would have yielded Morris a TD. He was short on his way to the end zone on the 49 yard run.

More often than not, I find that my team is dramatically influenced by these types of situations in football. There isn't such a dramatic difference in Baseball or Basketball - one of the reaons why I like and dislkike football at the same time.

In this one league, in three consecutive weeks I have lost by 4 points, won by one point, and lost by 2.

Crazy.

Deeper Pickup of the Week

Looking for a player that's likely to make an impact? Are you in a keeper or dynasty league?

I have a pickup for you. Try Pierre Thomas of the Saints. Aaron Stecker is not the answer for your waiver wire needs. If you remember last year, the main thing that made the offense work for the Saints was big Deuce.

-He picked up the dirty yards.
-He led the team in rushing for 12 of their 16 games.
-He was the part of the offense that kept the finesse part (Bush and Colston) clicking.

The Saints are going to miss him, that's for sure. A number of fantasy experts and football columnists called for the team to get back to pounding the ball with Deuce prior to his injury in week 4 - so what's changed now?

Do we really expect Reggie Bush to carry the entire offense? I don't. He's not ready to be an every down back yet - and that's what makes the next part interesting.

Remember 2005 - when Deuce hurt his other knee? Stecker came in and filled in nicely - but he has the same skill set as Bush - and they're paying him a whole more money to play.

Saints 2005 rushing stats -

Aaron Stecker 95 attempts 363 yards 0 TDs 35 catches 281 yards 0 TDs
Antowain Smith 166 attempts 659 yards 3 TDs 12 catches 46 yards 0 TDs


Long term - Deuce might not be able to come back from another ACL injury, and he's 29 in December. Might be worth a gamble to pick up Pierre Thomas, who beat out the Saints 4th round pick in training camp to make the team. He's not a bruiser, but he fits the "tough yards" guy mold better than Stecker does.

And I don't think the Saints will be this bad on offense all year - it can only get better.

Wacky Year in the NFL (so far).

How about that? McNabb fools us into thinking that he's going to have a difficult year. Then he goes out and has a great game - and according to this report without his knee brace. Don't tell me it was something in the water this week folks...McNabb looked pretty good and worry free moving around the pocket.

Rudi Johnson? Rudi? Hello - paging Mr. Johnson! I didn't see this game in progress, but Rudi's final line was 17 carries for 9 yards? What? And then one of the most durable backs in the league goes ahead and injures his hamstring. According to this report on eight run plays called by the Bengals - they were tackled for a loss. It may be that we'll be seeing more of Kenny Watson based on his performance late in the game. (This the part of the program where I tell you to drop Glenn Holt! who was targeted only once in Sunday's game. Johnson likely won't miss the next game, but I would consider adding Watson.)

Tony Romo - is he who we think he is? The second half of the Week 3 game made Dallas look like a completely different team (probably losing 3 key Bears defensive players didn't hurt either).

Matt Leinart - is it time to be concerned (like we were - for different reasons - after the Bears game last year)? I understand that Leinart was going to be ineffective (that's why I benched him in favor of Jason Campbell in one of my leagues). On the other hand, what is supremely interesting is that Kurt Warner came in and diced up the Baltimore D. According to this report, Leinart might be lucky Arizona didn't end up winning that game.

Can Randy Moss keep this up? Peter King refers to a point made by Cris Carter in this report. You can never underestimate the importance of a stable relationship with your QB.

Did you see the Jags shut down Travis Henry? If anyone saw this coming, I'd like to know where you got your crystal ball. OK, this game was all about defense - but after the Titans put a lot of yards on the ground against the Jags - I thought the Broncos were in for a big day. What is even more mystifying...they were playing IN DENVER!

Glenn Holt!

Having lost out on the DeShawn Wynn sweepstakes, I've put a waiver claim in for Steve...I mean Glenn Holt!

I figure that a Bengals WR (even the 3rd receiver) has some value. Chris Henry is out until after week 8. And it might be a little longer - according to this report - Henry recently had a visit form the police about a stolen rental car.

Worth a flier, and all I had to do was to drop Leon Washington (he seems buried on the bench after week two)....TJones was struggling and Mangenius didn't change it up at all.

Who knows, maybe they'll play Leon at WR instead of Justin "I just dropped a deuce...I mean the ball" McCareins.

DeShawn Wynn - hot pickup this week - and this guy called it...

Prior to the Packers / Giants game, Tyler Dunne (from scouts.com) indicated that the Pack should get Wynn more touches to see exactly what they had in the runner.

Tyler's report goes more in depth about Wynn, including interesting insight into Wynn's lack of hesitation (something currently bothering Brandon Jackson).

You can see some postgame analysis from packers.com and note a comment about Mike McCarthy's game plan involving their running backs.

Wynn ended up with 10 rushes for 50 yards, 2TDs and 2 receptions for 18 yards.

McNabb's accuracy doomed? A look inside the numbers.

If you had a chance to see the Skins / Eagles game on Monday night - you likely saw what I did - McNabb looked OFF. His receivers were getting open - but the passes were too high or just plain missed the receiver.

Carson Palmer came back from a similar injury last year. His accuracy, while good, was not at his 2005 levels.

2005 16 games - 345 completions / 509 attempts - 67.8%
2006 16 games - 324 completions / 520 attempts - 62.3%

A number of fantasy experts are pointing to McNabb's accuracy suffering in a comparable manner. They are predicting that his accuracy numbers will be about 5% lower than expectations. I would say that I agree - McNabb's best seasons (so far) were 2004 and 2006. These were the years where the Eagles acquired Terrell Owens and Donte Stallworth.

If we take McNabb's numbers from those years...

2004 15 games - 300 completions / 469 attempts - 64%
2006 10 games - 180 completions / 316 attempts - 57%

In the best case scenario, we're likely looking at a 54 / 55% completion rate.

That's pretty LOW!!

If you look further, you'll see that the Eagles top two receivers (Reggie Brown and Kevin Curtis) might be in for a downturn in their numbers. I'll admit that two games is not really a great sample size to make any conclusions, but I've included the 2007 numbers just for emphasis.

Kevin Curtis
2005 - 16 games - 60 receptions / 90 pass targets - 62%
2006 - 16 games - 40 receptions / 57 pass targets - 70%
2007 - 2 games - 6 receptions / 16 pass targets - 37%

Reggie Brown
2005 - 16 games - 43 receptions / 90 pass targets - 51%
2006 - 16 games - 46 receptions / 92 pass targets - 50%
2007 - 2 games - 3 receptions / 14 pass targets - 21%

Even though Brown is in his "magical" third year for a receiver, it may be a tough one. His catch percentage has never been that great historically....and I don't think the outlook is great for the Eagles passing game while we wait for McNabb to recover fully from the knee injury.

The Agony of a Lineup Decision...

HEAP

VS.

BROWN





Do you agonize over a lineup decision? In the leagues I really care about - it often comes down to a judgement call. Often in Fantasy Football, this is hard to determine and in a number of cases very random.

This past week, I had one decision that I really waffled on a number of times. It came down to starting Reggie Brown over Todd Heap.

My weekly game wouldn't have been even close if Chad Johnson hadn't put up a whopping 36+ points against me. The rest of my opponents team did hardly anything - although Adrian Peterson had an impressive showing for the Vikes without his fullback, Tony Richardson, playing.

In my league, you can start a TE over a WR. With the way the Jets got torched in week one, I was supremely tempted to play Heap over a weaker linebacker corps. Heap's stats wouldn't have been as impressive if his TD catch yesterday had not been ruled complete by an instant replay call.

Football, while measured in yards, is surely a game of inches. Furthermore, Wouldn't have Tony Gonzalez been a better play if Dwayne Bowe hadn't stepped in front of him to grab a TD pass yesterday?

Here's to hoping Reggie Brown goes out and scores a TD and grabs a couple of catches - but it doesn't make watching tonights game any less agonizing.

Do you have similar problems with your lineups?

Looks and Touches

Matt Buser at Yahoo Fantasy Sports has a great weekly article that tracks looks and touches every week by the top fantasy players.

I find this tool quite helpful during the season, as it gives me an idea of the recent trends - as an important part of football is opportunity. It's not necessarily the amount of catches a receiver has, but rather the number of opportunities he has to grab the damn ball.

Later in the season, when injuries strike, it may help you find the next waiver pickup in order to save your season.

Downgrade your Dallas defense...

At the beginning of the season there was a lot of talk about how good the defense for Dallas would be - as Wade Phillips was going to be more aggressive in his play calling and they would try to get after the quarterback.

The Dallas Morning news is reporting that Jason Ferguson (the starting nose tackle for the defense) is out for the season with a torn triceps.

This news has likely flown under the radar in many fantasy circles, but it does require some watching. Fegurson's replacement, Jay Ratliff will likely start this week. It'll be his first NFL start - and that leads me to my next point.

If you recognize the theory behind the 3-4 defense, the nose tackle is the key. If you have a dominant nose tackle that requires a double team, that frees up your linebackers to make plays and roam the field. Ferguson had a couple very good seasons the last couple of years, so it's likely he won't be replaced that easily.

With the way Manning and the other parts of the G-mens offense tore up Dallas, I would seriously consider bumping up any of my fantasy players that go against the Dallas defense in the upcoming weeks.

Sleeper alert!

Attention Walmart shoppers! Run...(don't walk) to your nearest free agent pickup wire and get yourself Derrick Martin. Seems as though Brandon Jacobs might have done more than sprain his knee on Sunday night.

The dreaded "MCL sprain" was diagnosed according to this report from the NY Daily News.

In a separate report, the Newark Star-Ledger is saying that all signs point to a sprain and he'll be out three weeks - with a MRI to follow today.

Potentially very bad news for Brandon Jacobs owners - hope you have a backup plan in place for the next few weeks.

Glenn out - is Crayton the new #2?

I picked Patrick Crayton in one of my fantasy league as a late round flier. I figured with two 30+ year old receivers in the starting slots for Dallas, Crayton would be able to fill in here or there.

Terrell Owens hasn't played a full game schedule in his career consistently, and now there is word that knee injury that kept Terry Glenn out of the preseason may be more serious than we thought.

If Glenn misses significant time or is unable to return this season, I would expect a dramatic rise in numbers for Crayton. Romo had a good relationship with him last season - and Crayton's hands are pretty good too.

The bonus is that I might have a better WR than I originally bargained for.

Crayton is in for a big week #1 at the very least.

Draft recap - Adrian Peterson goes first (as he should)!

If you recall from earlier posts, the league I'm going to describe below is a pay league, but also a keeper league.

Given that you can keep any three players on your roster, teams that had been stacked from the year before will have to let go of good players. Also, high impact rookies will also be available to be drafted.

Note that my team picks are the bolded ones.

Round 1 of the draft went as follows:

1.01 Peterson, Adrian MIN RB
1.02 Wayne, Reggie IND WR
1.03 Lynch, Marshawn BUF RB
1.04 Colston, Marques NOS WR
1.05 McNabb, Donovan PHI QB
1.06 Green, Ahman HOU RB
1.07 Evans, Lee BUF WR
1.08 Rivers, Philip SDC QB
1.09 Williams, DeAngelo CAR RB
1.10 Johnson, Andre HOU WR
1.11 Williams, Roy DET WR
1.12 Bell, Tatum DET RB
1.13 Coles, Laveranues NYJ WR
1.14 Driver, Donald GBP WR
1.15 Norwood, Jerious ATL RB
1.16 Burress, Plaxico NYG WR

Not totally unexpected, Adrian Peterson went first. Since my keepers were already Laurence Maroney, Cedric Benson, and Antonio Gates - I went with the top receiver (I thought) left on the board. Marques Colston is a bit of an injury risk, but he's the #1 receiver on a great offensive team. It's not like the rest of the receivers left here didn't have questions of their own.

I thought the Tatum Bell pick was a reach this early, especially with the uncertainty surrounding Kevin Jones' return.

Round 2 is below (because of my trade of TO, I had two picks in this round):

2.01 Johnson, Calvin DET WR
2.02 Jackson, Darrell SFO WR
2.03 Moss, Santana WAS WR
2.04 Chargers, San Diego SDC Def
2.05 Ward, Hines PIT WR
2.06 Patriots, New England NEP Def
2.07 Jackson, Vincent SDC WR
2.08 Branch, Deion SEA WR
2.09 Leinart, Matt ARI QB
2.10 Brown, Reggie PHI WR
2.11 Steelers, Pittsburgh PIT Def
2.12 Dolphins, Miami MIA Def
2.13 Edwards, Braylon CLE WR
2.14 Jackson, Brandon GBP RB
2.15 Holmes, Santonio PIT WR
2.16 Romo, Tony DAL QB

The italicized picks were by the same owner, his roster now rounded out to form with Peyton Manning, Travis Henry, Reggie Bush, Donald Driver, Vincent Jackson and Darrell Jackson.

I picked Reggie Brown because of the connection he had with Donovan McNabb last year (5 TDs in his first 6 games), and Matt Leinart for his potential keeper status of next year. I never considered taking Romo because of his horrible downfall last year (worse than Grossman). Vince Young was tempting here, but there are too many questions with his receiving corps.

Defenses starting going early here (as they usually do in this league) at essentially was "the real" round 5 (including the three "keeper rounds").

I didn't have a pick in round 3, so the last round recap I'm doing is round 4.

4.01 Taylor, Fred JAC RB
4.02 Smith, Alex SFO QB
4.03 Cowboys, Dallas DAL Def
4.04 Winslow, Kellen CLE TE
4.05 Shockey, Jeremy NYG TE
4.06 Curtis, Kevin PHI WR
4.07 Cotchery, Jerricho NYJ WR
4.08 Dunn, Warrick ATL RB
4.09 White, LenDale TEN RB
4.10 Hackett, D.J. SEA WR
4.11 Foster, De'shaun CAR RB
4.12 Morency, Vernand GBP RB
4.13 Curry, Ronald OAK WR
4.14 Jones, Brandon TEN WR
4.15 Henderson, Devery NOS WR
4.16 Glenn, Terry DAL WR

I ended up picking LenDale White here - as I desperately needed a backup RB. I think White has a good chance at 1000yds this season as long as he can stay healthy. He's running behind a good offensive line and Jeff Fisher will stick with him as a starter if he does OK in Week 1.
He had an OK preseason once he was able to get on the field.

My team final roster is as follows:

Campbell, Jason WAS QB
Leinart, Matt ARI QB
Benson, Cedric CHI RB
Maroney, Laurence NEP RB
Morris, Sammy NEP RB
Washington, Leon NYJ RB
White, LenDale TEN RB
Brown, Reggie PHI WR
Colston, Marques NOS WR
Crayton, Patrick DAL WR
Hester, Devin CHI WR
Gates, Antonio SDC TE
Heap, Todd BAL TE
Jaguars, Jacksonville JAC Def
Steelers, Pittsburgh PIT ST

Since my league fields 16 teams every week, I think my team is OK overall. Crayton has a chance to play if either 30 something WR on Dallas is hurt, Heap was better than any of the other WR available at the time, Jacksonville Defense was a great in overall defense last year.
Hester was my last pick of the draft, and given the unpredictability of special teams Pittsburgh seemed as good as any.

How did your draft go?

Trading after the draft

Shawn Peters has a good article posted on ESPN.com describing a theory when it comes to drafting your team and then finding trading partners later. Certainly players that might be valued equally to another player may gain you some trade value if the player you are willing to trade has more "buzz" than another one - gaining equal value in return...but then also maybe getting YOU another player that can account for that "buzz".

I'm not sure that I agree with taking the best player available in all cases - sometimes you have to try and beat a trend before those players are exhausted. Although all the owners in one of my leagues are active the entire season, trying to pull a trade off with them can be another matter.

AD looking good against the Seahawks...

As we creep closer to my 5pm Wednesday draft the more and more I become infatuated with Adrian Peterson.

It's almost a man-tasy.

Check out his highlight runs on NFL.com in week 3 against the Seahawks.

Did you draft Marshawn Lynch?

Mmmmm....maybe you better think again!

Yet another reason why I'm taking Adrian Peterson.

Can't wait for the post game conferences from this guy!

Fantasy Football Collective

Interesting new website that I just learned about.

Fantasy Football Collective works as there are a number of people posting information and rating that information...all the time.

Looking forward to see how this information stacks up to the stuff you can find on other sites such as Rotoworld.

In a completely different direction, another useful tool was created by the Football Outsiders - DVOA (defense-adjusted value over average).

Stuffed? Is Benson in trouble before he even starts the regular season?

There's not a whole lot of good news from the Bears about their running game. After seeing how Cedric Benson looked against the 49ers, there might be some cause for concern.

The Chicago Tribune reported that Benson was stopped eight times for no gain or a loss in Saturday's preseason game.

The third preseason game usually (I think) gives a good preview of what's to come in the regular season. Sure, the playbooks are usually vanilla in the preseason...but...

If Benson has trouble against San Diego and / or Dallas I would expect to see more Garret Wolfe or Adrian Peterson. (gasp) It might be up to Grossman and the passing game to carry the team.

David Boston found intoxicated

After all this good news - John Clayton reported that David Boston was now in the starting lineup....Boston goes and messes it all up.

There is word from this Tampa Bay Buccaneers blog that Boston was found asleep at the wheel.

Apparently he blew triple zeroes in the breathalyzer - so who knows what he was intoxicated with.

Given past sanctions Roger Goodell has levied against players...this can't be good.

He was so close to making a comeback. Another sad story for a great athlete who is obviously a very troubled person.

The confounding case of having a 16 team league

I have a league that I do every year with a bunch of work people.

Most of the owners are quite competitive and know their NFL stuff. However, there are a couple (as I suppose there always are) that typically mess up their season quite early - with the draft.

But the last couple of years - there has been an interesting trend.

We had expanded to 16 teams in the league two years ago. Last year was the first "keeper" year.

Owners that did not draft well the last couple of years have found themselves in a quandry.

They can either keep a lower ceiling player that is unlikely to score a lot but won't cost them anything. OR they can try and trade for a player that is on another team that has a lot of talent.

Typically this may mean trading for a valuable keeper by giving up a draft pick (via swap of rounds and places within a round).

Even though we try and "penalize" the owners that finish at the top of our league in total points - these 4 owners draft at the bottom of each round. Meaning that the 4th place finisher drafts 13th, 3rd place drafts 14th, 2nd place drafts 15th, and 1st place drafts 16th. These owners have drafted well. One owner had Brian Westbrook, Ronnie Brown, Travis Henry, and Reggie Bush as his top backs. He traded Westbrook and Brown.

Brown gained him the most value - a swap of his 5th and 7th round for the other guys 2nd and 5th.

Westbrook only went for a 2nd round swap (2.02 for 2.14) and 6th round swap (6.02 for 6.14).

I traded Terrell Owens for a swap of the 10th pick in the 2nd round for my 4th pick in the 3rd round. One could argue that TO came on the cheap.

Other owners have seen these higher prices and have decided that they want no part of that.

As a result, we have owners keeping a low ceiling player - including positions that do not have that much difference between available and late drafted players.

Jay Cutler, QB Broncos
Matt Leinart, QB Cardinals
Matt Hasselbeck, QB Seahawks
Eli Manning, QB Giants

Other questionable choices:

Ravens Defense
Bears Defense
Chris Chambers, WR Dolphins
Jamal Lewis, RB Browns

I had not voted to go to 16 teams (under a previous administration) - which has raised a number of issues. Not only do we have this keeper issue above, finding a free agent during the regular season that will make an impact is near impossible.

So just with the couple of issues above, it seems that a 16 team league will only work if every member of the league is quite active and well informed.

Why I like David Boston. As my last pick.

David Boston. The guy that currently lives on my fantasy roster hall of fame for the 2001 season. 98 catches, 1598 yds, 8 TDs, 9 100 yard games. He was a monster.

Then he had one OK season in San Diego before he burned his bridges there.

The short stint with Miami. The preseason cut with Tampa Bay last year.

This year...Gruden has him back again. He's reportedly in the best shape he's been in since...well...since he stopped taking HGH.

Looks like there's progress this year. Boston started the 2nd
preseason game, caught a TD from Garcia.

Jay Glazer of Foxsports.com has an interesting article about Boston's comeback.

Gruden recently said that he might be the best receiver out there.

One of the many reasons why....he's at the top of my list for a sleeper pick.

And guaranteed to slip by all the owners in my pay league.

Now he just needs to make the team.

ALL day....

I've heard that Adrian Peterson or All Day (AD) is undervalued in drafts.

After reading a recent article by Andy Behrens - I think he's on to something.

Have you seen this play against the Jets?

If this guy is around in the 1st round of my keeper league (even though I'm already keeping Cedric Benson, Laurence Maroney, and Antonio Gates), I'm likely drafting him.

He could be a 300+ point guy in my pay league. He's a difference maker.

Maybe in time for the fantasy playoffs or at worst next season. However, I could draft a WR that will be available such as Colston, Wayne, or Evans....which any one of these guys at best would get me 200+ points.

Other guys I'm targeting at WR:

1) Deion Branch
2) Hines Ward
3) Braylon Edwards

With the WR position being as volatile as it is, any number of these guys can be my #2.

I'm banking on Gates being my #1 WR. The news continues to improve as there is word that Norv Turner has him running WR routes.

Adrian Peterson, I just hope you've fooled the other three guys that have the picks before me.

Introducing...

Here we go. The initial kick off post of my blog.

Lots of topics interest me, but I think we'll start with fantasy baseball, football, pets, whatever.

In some cases, I'd like to get some opinions or input on different things I'll plop up here.

And thanks for reading.