Fantasy Football

If you’re looking for a team to take the biggest nosedive from 2008 to 2009, I’d put my money on the Cutler-less, Shannahan-less Denver Broncos. When the best thing you can say about a team is they have a top ten receiving corps (and even that’s a stretch), you know it could turn into a long season. And really, I don’t think anyone could give you a rationale answer as to why the team is so bad. People can try to rationalize it, but any impartial observer could tell you any sort of logic they might apply to kamikazing a team like this is flawed.

There’s a sentiment floating around amongst NFL fan bases these days that the players basically shouldn’t be given any consideration under any circumstances. “What a bunch of fucking prima-donnas” or “do your fucking job” are popular choices to dismiss any concerns a player/employee might have about his team/employer. If Jay Cutler says he doesn’t like the direction he’s going in, “Fuck you, Jay Cutler, we’re better off with Kyle Orton”. I think most people recognize how shortsighted this is, but most people aren’t your average NFL die-hards.

In short, there was no reason to fire Shannahan as head coach unless he demanded to stay on as GM, in which case you carefully deliberate the situation. But if he was that tightly related to the state of Cutler’s apparently fragile mindset, I think you just keep him in house. Even if there is absolutely no excuse for their defense to be as bad as it was, which was almost handily the worst NFL defense I’ve seen in my life (any time a team goes 0-16 there are least has to be a debate about it).

So what are they working with? A running back they drafted in the first round. They needed a running back, but not that early. They would have been better off drafting a linebacker or offensive lineman (preferably the former) and taking a back in the second, third or fourth. Just because Shannahan left doesn’t mean you have to do the antithesis to everything he stood for, especially since they were generally successful with his brand of implementation.

That isn’t to say Moreno is ill-suited at the moment. With that receiving corps. and the momentary flashes of competence that Orton demonstrated last season, Moreno’s first season in the NFL might not be chum in a shark tank, but I’m betting it is. And even if the offense can stay on course, you still have the issue of this flaccid, inept and torturous for the fans to watch defense. You could watch the Washington Nationals and see less futility. At best I think you’re looking at a 5 win season, at worst it wouldn’t surprise me to see a repeat of the 2008 Lions (they open the season Bengals, Browns, Raiders, so it’s unlikely).

Can’t Miss (for what one could reasonably expect): Brandon Marshall and Eddie Royale are by and large both appropriately ranked, I don’t expect either to have the same season they had last year (particularly Marshall), but the drop off should be minimal. Guys like these always tend to get their numbers even if they are in vein.

Tread Lightly: Do not draft this defense. For one, the offense isn’t going to be as productive, requiring the defense to be on the field longer, the longer the defense is on the field the more points they give up. Secondly, who is their anchor? Champ Bailey? He’s as talented as they come but he’s also 31. At least they picked up Brian Dawkins and used picks 2-4 on defense, but the former is 35 and the latter is unpredictable. You might as well draft the Bengals defense if you’re looking for a long, long shot. I can’t recommend any running backs since they have four who’ve seen ample playing time on other rosters plus Moreno. Honest to god, why did they draft him?

Dark Horses: Kyle Orton. I always felt like he got a bad rap in Chicago, but a bad rap in the sense he could be a Trent Dilfer or Brad Johnson type, not that he’s rivaling a potential hall-of-famer in talent and capability. But with this receiving corps compared to what he had to work with in Chicago, Orton could definitely materialize into a serviceable backup on your fantasy roster.

If I end up being right about this team, there was absolutely no reason for putting themselves in this position. Maybe Cutler was a petulant little child when Shannahan left and maybe you did have a dissapointing second half in 2008, why make your team worse for an unnecessary rebuilding process? For what? Spite? When your young quarterback has a breakthrough season it’s best to ride that gravy train until it stops. For better or worse every other franchise in the NFL does exactly this when in the same position because quarterbacks with that much potential are something of a rarity, and pandering to them is occasionally a necessary evil. Sorry, Broncos fans. I’m afraid you’re going to have to find this out the hard way.

But hey, Jay Cutler is no longer a Bronco, he just has to play in the best city in the country. Showed him.

Back tomorrow with an Oakland Raiders preview. The hits just keep on coming out of this division.