Fantasy Football

We felt like now was a great time for our weekly free agency update. Its not exactly riveting as I’m pretty sure the skinny kid from Road Trip saw more action high school than what we’re getting here in March with the NFL. But we make do with what we can, and no one is limiting our spectrum. We could write porn reviews here if we felt like porn was something that warranted reviewing, but it’s just easier this way.

So, Eric Mangini has announced that the quarterback position is up for grabs, and the two prime candidates for the job, much like they were last year, are Brady Quinn and Derek Anderson. As a Browns fan, you have to be chomping at the bit to see Quinn get an ample amount of starts. But simultaneously, if they send him out there and he turns out a little underwhelming like everyone in the Browns organization seems to suspect, then you’re left with a pretty substantial dead weight on your cap that you traded up to get.

What has me suspicious about this whole thing is that Quinn played under Charlie Weiss at Notre Dame. Weiss, was Eric Mangini’s predecessor at the offensive coordinator position in New England, and of course Mangini is the current head coach who was reportedly shopping around Quinn as of two weeks ago. Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but Weiss never had a bad word to say about Quinn for the full two years he was coaching him, and despite how overrated some of those Irish teams were, Quinn was relatively effective in Weiss’ pro-style offense.

So, what exactly is going unsaid in the public that’s circulating in the many NFL war rooms? At this point the only team you could trade him to is Oakland, and even then you could only get a couple second rounders, a defensive contributor and some utility lineman. It might sound like a lot, but we’re talking about the Raiders here, they don’t have much to offer even when they’re trying to give you too much of it. He’s rumored on blogs and in Columbus (Note: mostly blogs) to be gay, and as pathetic as it is the NFL hasn’t evolved to the point that they’d be accepting of something like that.

But that’s all heresy. My guess is that he just isn’t passing the eye test, and despite the incredibly similar backgrounds of Weiss and Mangini they are two separate people with two separate waistlines and two independent thought processes. One would just assume that this would be an ideal situation for Quinn. And since it doesn’t seem to be, one has to wonder what is.

That Ken Dorsey sure is something.

So there you go, Quinn or Anderson? Who would you feel more confident throwing to Kellen Winslow (forgot, traded) Dante Stallworth (forgot, on the cusp of being charged with accidental manslaughter), Braylon Edwards (clearly desperately wants to leave Cleveland) or David Patten (recently signed!)? Well, maybe we should rephrase: who do you feel is less likely to botch a hand-off to Jamal Lewis?

Personally, we’re going with Quinn. Not to say Anderson is a lost cause but he seems to have proven himself as a one hit wonder, or so any of you who drafted him as your starting quarterback. We’re you able to pick up Aaron Rodgers or Kurt Warner or someone else up off free agency? I hope Jeff Garcia was available.

Other news that may or may not have some sort of indirect bearing on your fantasy season:

-Michael Vick is facing more charges, he might as well pinch a tent at whatever court house he’s going to be tried in when he gets out, because he’s not being let off the hook anytime soon. If there’s one thing I learned from all this, it’s that the only thing the public hates more than abuse against humans is abuse against domesticated pets.

-LJ Smith has left the Eagles in search of Purpler pastures with the Ravens (you see? You see what I did there? Because Philly wears green what? I thought it was funny). I like how there are about ten teams in the NFL who don’t need a starting tight end, and LJ Smith managed to find one of the places where he wasn’t needed. Bang up job, LJ. It’s kind of emblematic of your entire career to date.

-Out with one ex Buckeye, in with two others: The Patriots have signed Joey Galloway to play the Dante Stallworth role (i.e. that of decoy) alongside Wes Welker and Randy Moss; and Shawn Springs. Mike Vrabel will not be sorely missed, it seems. And he’s not a former Buckeye so I didn’t even mention Leigh Bodden. Ladies and gentleman, barring injury I think we have your 2009 AFC champions.

-More evidence you should take the Chiefs in some future bets before the season starts: recent signings with Terrence Copper and Bobby Engram to accompany Matt Cassel. Hopefully that young, talented defense can live up to the expectations. Hopefully, of course in the sense that you heed my advice and lay some money down.

-Also, the NFL is implementing about five thousand more rules to render the game you’ve come to know, love and empty your wallet for virtually unrecognizable.

We agree with some and not with others but it seems overly tedious to run through them all. We’ll be back hopefully a couple more times this week, but something has to happen for us to write non-fiction to make this even slightly interesting. If there’s anything that could give us such a leg up, you’ll find out about it. Then about fifteen hours later we’ll be sure to give an overview.

Guh, we’re probably going to take a few days off from this site to give the NCAA Tournament our full and undivided attention. Unless it can somehow be fit into a bracket, we’re not going to bother with it for the next half week or so. That is, unless we’re writing at this site over here, or working, or applying for law schools, or watching movies or playing basketball or doing just about anything under the sun that doesn’t require us paying attention to the NFL, which really only holds our attention during the draft, the regular season because of fantasy football and the playoffs.

They're taking over the workforce, they might as well overwhelm this website.

So yes, basketball is on the docket for the rest of the week, but that fucking screed that I penned yesterday about Jay Cutler should keep you occupied. God, I don’t think I’ve ever written so much on my own accord about something I care so little about. Jay Cutler is quite possibly an asshole, the Broncos front office is probably inhabited by assholes and their new coach is most definitely an asshole. Generally speaking, I do not concern myself with the daily activities of assholes (though that’s why I framed the post the way I did). Anyhow, if you’re a fan of a defunct and inept NFL team like so many of you are, be sure to see why we think you should or should not be rooting for your team to acquire the first NFL player to ever be impersonated on South Park.

It has been a pretty uneventful couple of weeks (if you don’t believe me, look here you cynical dickwad), between that, a ridiculous workload and combating seasonal allergies we just haven’t felt the need to go off the rails over Eric Green signing with the Dolphins. Set aside the Cutler gossip and some unexpected rumors from the Panthers concerning Julius Peppers, it has been pretty tame. Unless something monumental happens that has significant implications in the fantasy realm, we’re just not going to bother with it in the immediate future.

Anyhow, enjoy the tourney and try to take your mind off forty times and bench presses long enough to enjoy the best sporting event in the country. I’m talking to you, Mel Kiper.

So, absolutely nothing has happened via free agency/trades since Terrell Owens went to the Bills, and thank God for that. We wouldn’t want to be inundated with writing material in the off-season. This isn’t baseball, and we’re actually quite thankful for that. People like the NFL so much more than the MLB so I imagine the NFL equivalent of an A-Rod does steroids just might collapse the stock market. I can only listen to Mel Kiper rail on incessantly and humorlessly for so long.

But to prevent this from becoming JayCutlersembitteredstateofmind.com, we’ve refrained from posting. We have a month and a half before the draft starts, and while we’ve done a couple posts about it, it really isn’t interesting enough to endlessly speculate about. Especially from a fantasy perspective. But we can ignore him and his plight no longer. Despite our earlier proclamations that we do not like talking about talk, it seems inevitable that he’s leaving Denver because that organization is like a lost puppy without Mike Shanahan around.

This kid is causing way too much commotion.

Naturally there are a bevy of teams that are interested. Here are a few that could use his services and some that are seeking him out but we believe mistakenly doing so.

Minnesota Vikings: No receivers, but that’s the only downside. A loaded running back corps (something he never even sniffed in Denver), a beastly offensive line (ditto) and a defense that has top five personnel in the league. Basically, to be a viable Super Bowl contender next season, he just needs to refrain from turning the ball over. For all the discussion right now about how he “hasn’t won anything”, I think that most can agree he is capable of limiting his interceptions.

New York Jets: I have no idea what to make of their new coach, unlike the Vikings they have at best an average running back tandem in Leon Washington and with Laverneus Coles gone, a stellar receiving corps in Jerricho Cotchery, Dustin Keller and Chansi Stuckey. Still, this is a team that while it’s history is underrated (I can probably name ten franchises off the top of my head who have been worse off this decade), they don’t seem to be heading in a positive direction. If I’m Jay Cutler and I’m not an attention whore (which it really seems like he could be), this is at the bottom of my potential destinations list.

Cleveland Browns: This certainly seems a likely destination and I can understand why the Broncos would pursue it (they have expendable quarterbacks that have shown promise and might enable Denver to exercise some damage control), but what would the Browns have to be thinking? I’ve always defended the Brady Quinn draft pick and he has definitely shown some potential, but do they not like this guy? If they do then what exactly are they waiting for? I think what the Browns need to do is bring in another former Patriots coordinator to evaluate him, then determine he needs a third year “learning the system”. But yeah, if I’m Cutler and I don’t mind playing in one of America’s several decaying east coast cities, Cleveland has a lot of talent already on the offensive side of the ball, outside of Minnesota I don’t think he can find a better team.

Cincinnati Bengals: This is NFL purgatory and anyone who would want to stay with the Bengals grew up in Cincy, went to UC for college and was drafted by them outright. In other words, he’s never lived anywhere else and doesn’t care too. Some Bengals faithful might still be relying on Palmer, and think there are more pertinent issues to address, and they wouldn’t be incorrect. And the only way I could justify this trade is an even swap of Palmer for Cutler. Not sure if the Broncos would go for that, but if I’m then Bengals I don’t want to be pissing away draft picks on another player who may or may not be a head case.

Chicago Bears: One of three NFC North teams that could use a significant upgrade at QB, though they might think Kyle Orton is sufficient after a surprising (though still average) performance in 2008. I don’t know why this team is never capable of landing a respectable quarterback, but this seems like it’s presenting a golden opportunity. Also, the Vikings have the edge as the better prospect for the embattled QB because of better running backs, but if I’m Cutler I wouldn’t scoff at the opportunity to play for the Bears. Shit, if he can maintain a QB rating of 70 he’d be a living legend in what I consider the nicest city in the country.

Detroit Lions: I say this now and I might really regret it, but this team is not as bad as everyone thinks. With a new GM, a shitload of 2009 draft picks after heisting the Dallas Cowboys (Note: If you’re being pwned by the Detroit Lions in a trade, it might be time to reevaluate your methods), a new coach, a new GM and what’s probably the best receiving talent in the league with Calvin Johnson (4th time’s a charm), I wouldn’t mind going to Motor City. They have legalized gambling, and I would take a certain measure of pride in being given the opportunity to bring joy to a city that currently joyless. If I’m Detroit, I’d be willing to offer that first overall pick for Cutler in a heartbeat.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Yeah, they need new blood as much as anyone, specifically because they cut their entire roster so they literally need some new personnel to actually field a team. And what better way to start than at quarterback. Problem being, they have absolutely nothing to offer. The only way I pull the trigger on this trade if I’m Denver is if Tampa offers me Gaines Adams and a second rounder, and they’re not going to do that. Basically, the only way this trade takes place is if Denver gives him away for 30 cents on the dollar, and he’s too valuable of an asset for them to do that.

Houston Texans: Do they seem happy with Schaub? The backup cost them one game against the best team in their division for the past decade and everyone hates him now, so I could see them wanting to upgrade with the Vanderbilt alum. Cutler should like the idea of playing in Houston: It’s in the south and with his bowl-cut he’ll fit right in, the team has a great receiving corps (probably third best in the league after New England and Arizona) and a young, talented defense. But after pulling all the strings to get Schaub it’s probably not going to happen. They’ve been pretty banged up for the past couple seasons, so they can blame any shortcomings on that and will ultimately prevent them from proposing a trade.

San Fransisco Niners: Already said they’re not going to bother but it strikes us as a little premature for a franchise noted for its quarterback play. Is it because they think he’s some insufferable problem child? On some level every quarterback is a diva, which when speaking of someone of the male gender just means he’s a prick.

Carolina Panthers: Favorite place of this website. I’d assume the Panthers are off the Delhomme bandwagon after that loss to Arizona and they’re one of the more balanced teams in the NFL. Really, the only reason Arizona saw the AFC title game was because of Delhomme, and I think just about all of us can agree that Cutler is not throwing six interceptions at home. But they’ve been undying loyal to Jake Delhomme because he took them to a Super Bowl seven years ago, and they still don’t seem ready to part ways with him. As good as they looked this past season, they’re not the Patriots when it comes to general management.

Alright, that’s your extended list of Jay Cutler bidders out there. For everyone else they either have a quarterback for the future or one that they’re relying on and have too much invested in now, so we’ll stop short of speculating on every team’s interest.

So its been five days since I’ve posted here due to a violent and miserable illness. And despite still being under the weather I figure I should throw my two cents in about the Terrell Owens deal. If for no other reason than everyone else has.

In short, I can understand why both parties agreed to it. Despite not exactly fitting the Buffalo blue collar mentality, Buffalo needs a reason to bring people to the games, and whether we want to admit it or not, that is one thing that Owens is capable of. The team is looking to move to Toronto when the current owner passes away, and they are holding out for a glimmer of hope that if they can make enough money before he does, there is an outside shot that his progeny will be able to keep the team in upstate New York.

On top of that, Buffalo has been under the radar for about ten years now. Perennially 7-9 and in the second smallest market in the league will do that to you. This puts them back in the spotlight and actually gives them a celebrity, if not a top ten receiver that can attract some national attention. If things go like everyone assumes they will, they will at least be a sympathetic figure. But they are rightfully hoping for both, because they could use the offensive weapon. Something they haven’t had consistently over the years. Or maybe they have, but the quarterback has been a bust since the first couple seasons with Bledsoe. Either way, while everyone else was scoffing at the notion of signing the synergy blunder that is Terrell Owens, I can see why Buffalo pulled the trigger.

This was unexpected

For TO, on the other hand, this was a desperation move. He’s played for three teams in San Fran, Philly and Dallas. All marquee franchises, all major markets, and he left all of them with a baker’s dozen of burned bridges in his wake. Between his ugly departures and his age (he’s 35, in case his demeanor would lead you to believe otherwise), his options were limited.

Take Minnesota for example. Even with the marginal quarterback play they could use a wide out. When Bernard Berrian is your number one target you would still consider signing Jerry Rice. So why wouldn’t Minnesota be interested? Because their head coach is Brad Childress, who was the offensive coordinator for Philadelphia when Owens was playing there. Would you want to reunite with a player who clearly regarded you as a parasite the last time you were supposedly on the same side? Me neither.

My best guess is he would rather be playing for literally any other team in the league other than Green Bay (Buffalo is at least a short commute to New York). And like he always does, he’s attempting to put on the facade of conviviality for the sake of his new employers, but the only people who can possibly be buying it are die hard Buffalo fans.

The fantasy implications are pretty mild, Trent Edwards isn’t a good enough quarterback to take advantage of what benefits this situation may provide, Owens is old and prone to dropping passes, and that’s only going to worsen in the cold weather. The one beneficiary here is Marshawn Lynch, because while Owens is semi-washed up, you still have to game plan for him which means dedicating more people to the pass instead of the run. So yeah, Lynch could see an increase ypr average. For your standard fantasy owner, that will be the impacting effect of this signing.

We’ll try to get to some other news items later tonight.

Few moves today that anyone with even a loose grasp on how the NFL runs could have told you would happen three months ago. Most notably (at least if you listen, read or watch any ESPN entity) is Terrell Owens getting axed by the Cowboys. On one hand it was kind of foreseeable because the team had been expelling all of the fools they were suffering (Tank Johnson and Pacman, though I hate the comparison because Owens has never been in any legal trouble), but on the other it seemed like since they were clearing cap room with them that they might hold onto Owens. I guess Jones finally sought greener pastures despite his star power.

This improves Jason Witten’s draft stock immensely. In fact it probably makes him the highest touted tight end for the 2009 season (though Antonio Gates will still go before him, without question). It could help Romo because he doesn’t have to check Owens before throwing to anyone else on the field, but I’m skeptical. Romo hasn’t really bought any good faith unless he’s playing a shit defense that’s unmotivated because it actually buys into the whole fake persona that the Cowboys have created for themselves. And after all these cuts to noteworthy players brought in through free agency in addition to that beat down at the hands of the Eagles, I have to imagine even that has dissipated quite a bit.

What the hell is this?

Obviously Owens value is about 85% dependent on what team he lands on. If he ends up in Oakland, like many have suspected, he’s not going to be nearly as lethal than if he goes too Indianapolis, and I can’t see them bringing in someone quite this destructive. Actually, the perfect team situation for him would be with (gulp) New England. I know, I can’t fathom the idea either, but if anyone can keep his spoiled, emotional ass in check it’s Belichick and Brady. Not to mention the value he brings as a player. God, I’m hoping he goes to Oakland because I’m not going to be able to bring myself to draft him.

In unrelated NFL news, Kurt Warner has predictably signed on to return to the Cardinals, just to make sure that their disappointing 2009 season is as befuddling as possible. I can definitely see the Cardinals having a successful season (winning the division, contending in the playoffs, etc) but lets be honest, the recent history of teams who go to the Super Bowl and lose is fairly unkind. It wouldn’t make any sense for the Cardinals to completely and utterly collapse. They have the same explosive offense returning (for all intensive purposes), a young and upcoming defense prone to forcing turnovers and they showed a resilience in the playoffs that you don’t see too often in the NFL.

That said, this team went 9-7 and made the playoffs via a weak division (6-0 in it, 3-7 everywhere else). And this is the NFL, it doesn’t have to make sense for a team to inexplicably flop out of or surge into the playoffs. Why did the Dolphins finish 11-5 last year? Circumstance! It makes the games entertaining at times but it doesn’t bode well for the David-Goliath situation that sports thrives off of. And yes I realize the Giants-Patriots game from the season before was exactly that, but I consider the current Patriots an anomaly.

Can someone explain to me why Matt Cassel is always brought up in conversation with Jay Cutler and vice versa? Are the two now inextricably linked forever because both names are being thrown around during the same free agency period. Which one would you rather have? Who had the better season? Which are you better suited to win with? Does Jay Cutler’s talent make him better than Cassel in spite of his petulance?

Honestly, I couldn’t give a fuck less. In case you haven’t noticed, I really don’t like to talk about people talking. This isn’t a sewing circle. Even if its not much better than a sewing circle, it’s a fantasy football blog that relies on a degree of certitude for material. Speculating on whether or not…I don’t know…Antwane Randle-El is going to leave the Redskins, and if he does, what the means for the team he could end up playing for and his potential former team. It just has too many question marks to really concern myself with it, not to mention 90% of these players discussed are pretty inconsequential. Most of them could be replaced for a utility guy and the team wouldn’t notice the difference.

So lets talk about the one deal that has gone across the wire that has actually transpired, and that is TJ Houshmandzadeh going back home to the Pacific. Living in Ohio, the Bengals faithful (and there are still entirely too many of them) are outraged, and that outrage has morphed into outright mocking that he won’t succeed because he’s going to play for a team that’s clearly entering a downward trend. This is amazingly flawed logic for a number of reasons.

Now he can destroy the Niners twice a year.

1) The team can’t improve it’s standing unless they improve the caliber of player they are currently sporting. TJ Houshmandzadeh isn’t getting a contract for $45 million for his fucking ponytail, he’s actually proven to be a top ten receiver in the NFL. By acquiring him, in theory, the Seahawks get better, thus the team improves.

2) Even if they don’t improve, TJ can rest assured that the front office is actually concerned with how they perform on the field. So if the team looks like shit in 2009 and Matt Hasselbeck doesn’t rebound from his injury plagued 2008 campaign, he can rest assured that the front office is going to at least attempt to improve the on-field play, which is more than you can say for anyone representing the Bengals.

3) Injuries precluded any potential success in 2008 for the ‘Hawks, a new coach and different make up in a weak conference can make for a playoff season. Now, I’m not a visionary by any means. But if there is anything that is certain about the 2009 NFL season, its that the Bengals will not make the playoffs nor will they try to the following year.

4) Seattle ponied up $45 million for five years, fourteen of which is guaranteed. That is more than enough reason to get out of the current armpit of the NFL.

Also, Carson Palmer may go ballistic on his coach and/or teammates, and he will eventually set Mike Brown on fire if he does. I don’t much care for Palmer, he seems like a great teammate when they’re winning and an awful one when they are losing. I also think he’s overrated (or at least he has been since his knee injury in 2006), so while he is something of an asset, they might as well go the full mile, trade him while he still has decent market value and start rebuilding the team prematurely. Because while Bengals fans may mock Housh’s new quarterback, theirs is only a smidgen better on anyone’s rankings.

The Carson Palmer era with the high powered offense is obviously over (if it wasn’t evident the last two seasons it should be with this trade). Why not seek out a slew of young players (even trade down for more picks if possible) and start fresh? Right now the only team with less hope than the Bengals is the Lions, and that’s just because the Lions are coming off an 0-16 season. If they played on a neutral field this Sunday I would probably pick Detroit to win. I know they’re getting Palmer back, but that doesn’t mean he’ll stay under center. Not to mention they just lost their best offensive weapon which kills his value. Last year Housh was the one acceptable Cincinnati Bengal to have in your starting roster in a non-bye week, this year I really don’t feel like they have any. What, are you going to draft Cedric Benson?

I will give Bengals fans this, Housh’s fantasy stock dropped by going to Seattle. That team is going to look to run the ball more, they should have a healthy Bobby Engram and Deon Branch, and there isn’t a Chad Johnson deep threat between those two like he had in Cincy. And I will concede that Hasselbeck is getting older, I wouldn’t want my first receiver drafted to be relying on him at QB.

In short, of the three parties involved, only the Seattle offense is going to improve from a fantasy perspective. Cincy and Housh himself should see a significant depreciation in productivity. Meaning this is signing with substantive and tangible fantasy implications! Yes, that is the first non-ironic exclamation point we’ve ever used here. And yes, we’re excited to see what impact it will have on both teams. Despite our seemingly confident assumptions of how this will all pan out, the NFL will always be under a roll of the dice under the hard cap.

Probably it for today, back with more this week.

Man, there is just nothing going on in NFL free agency. At least nothing that pertains to fantasy. I could delve into great detail about the Samoas ice cream I ate this weekend and it would have more relevance to this website than Chris Canty going to the Giants. Basically, there just isn’t much happening.

So as a result, I’m going to prematurely bust out our top five fantasy prospects in the 2009 draft. Now, since this is fantasy prospects, it consists mainly of skill positions. For as good as Malcolm Jenkins might be, his impact on the upcoming NFL season will be minimal at best. So yeah, a fourth round running back is very likely to be rated higher than Aaron Curry.

Also, we’ll do some variation of this leading up to the draft. For example, top five current NFL players that will be positively and negatively effected by the incoming class. It won’t be everyday but hopefully we aren’t just regurgitating some shit you already heard somewhere else.*

Without further ado, here Talking Fantasy Football’s top five fantasy impact players of the 2009 draft. We would like to point out that since we’re doing this so early it is subject to change.

1) Chris Wells
Yeah, he’s injury prone but he’s the perfect mix of size and speed that is just lethal in the NFL, and makes him suited for goal line carries and and to be an every down back. Even in games where Ohio State lost on a national stage (most notably the BCS Title game against LSU), Wells produced numbers that virtually any other team could figure out how to establish a win. It is all circumstantial as to what team he goes too (this website has him going to the Eagles and god help the rest of the NFC East and Westbrook owners if that happens, but the same website also has Ray Maualuga being an Ohio State alumnist, so take it with a grain of salt), but I’m going to be inclined to take him earlier than I should if he ends up with any team that isn’t the Lions or a team that already has two suitable running backs.

2) LeSean McCoy
I know Moreno is the standard favorite here, but he is rated higher and will most likely end up in a less impressive offense. There is a good chance that McCoy ends up on the Broncos, and since they haven’t had any better than a utility back since Clinton Portis left, I like McCoy, whose numbers are all the more impressive when you consider he played for Pitt, to contribute immensely. In fact, if he does end up on the Broncos you can bump him in front of Beanie Wells.

3) Jeremy Maclin
Yeah, our highest rated receiver is here by default, because Michael Crabtree would be the top rated player outright if it wasn’t for his injury (don’t know if he’ll ever be the same after that fateful afternoon against fucking Baylor). So here’s Maclin, who the same website linked above has going to the Raiders. And, I hate to break it to everyone (including myself), but Russell was starting to look like an actual pro quarterback at the end of last season. If he has a legitimate target better than Ron Curry (whose story we like but lets be honest, is not a legitimate #1 receiver), Oakland might actually surprise some people if they don’t blow up the team three games into the season.

(Side note: We may have mentioned it before, but what were they thinking not drafting Calvin Johnson if they knew they were going to trade Randy Moss later in the day in the 2007 draft? I know I just said Russell was starting to look credible, but Johnson will be the best receiver in the league in 2010, an average quarterback can look quite spectacular with that kind of weapon).

4) Percy Harvin
He’s undersized and also had numerous bouts with injury, but holy shit is he fast. If nothing else, he’ll be a factor on special teams and if he ends up with the Colts, Broncos, of Chargers (though they’re probably sour on the whole Gator receiver experience after the Chad Johnson debacle), he is going to be absolutely lethal in the Wes Welker role at the slot. I know they might feel inclined to draft a running back or go defense, but if San Diego takes Harvin and he stay healthy, they’re going to have an explosive offense.

5) Shonn Green
Alright, so maybe this isn’t our out and out top five impact players in the draft, because this is understandably a dark horse, but he’s a dark horse for all the wrong reasons. Most notably a marginal combine performance. But watching this kid tear apart the Big Ten and carry an average Iowa team to the conferences only bowl victory (and the Doak Walker winner for the nations best running back), I have to just assume he’s going to be an asset for whoever drafts him. He may not have the best forty, but he’s elusive, sees the field and hits the gaps in the defensive line better than anyone I saw all year (and that includes Wells). You probably do not need to draft him in fantasy football, but stay extremely attentive to what happens to his team’s running back situation and look to scoop him up, especially if one of his peers sustains injury.

Alright, that’s probably it for today. Back with more later.

*=We’re fully aware that’s exactly what we’re doing.