Fantasy Football

Between the NBA draft, people actually caring about golf and tennis over the weekend and baseball garnering its usual headlines, the NFL is probably experiencing its quietest stint of the calendar year. Meaning, there isn’t much to write about. Not that there would be otherwise. The Patriots minicamp could be infiltrated with swine flu and it would be inconsequential to this site since it’s June.

Expect to see more of this come October.

But there’s a little news circulating, and it can pretty much all be found in this post on ESPN, and I’m just going to echo part of it and offer a little hack’s knowledge. Most notably from that little rundown, there are rumors that Beanie Wells is slow to come around in Arizona, and you shouldn’t over-draft him as right now he stands behind Tim Hightower and New York Mets pitcher Jason Wright*. I don’t have the same access as Tristan H. Cockcroft (which has to be an alias), but it seems a tad early in the preseason to be drawing such conclusions.

Apparently this is all happening not because he’s performed poorly, but because he wasn’t allowed to due to some odd rule that prevents rookies from working out with the teams that drafted them while their universities are in session. Since OSU is on quarters they run until early-mid June (most schools are on semesters, and end in early May), and Arizona starts there pre-season camps at some point before then.

So basically, what this news brief is saying, is that since Chris Wells wasn’t able to make practice in June due to some mitigating set of circumstances, as a first round draft pick he’ll be riding the bench playing third string and will only see PT when/if the Cardinals manage to blow anyone out. He’ll basically be filling Edgerrin James’ shoes except for being under-the-hill, he’ll be deemed unworthy of approaching it. Not to blow this out of proportion, but I wouldn’t buy this for a second. In fact, I don’t even know why I’m posting about it, because no one is ever going to remember Ken Wizzenhunt saying this when Wells is rushing for three touchdowns in week five against the Texans.

Assuming he stays healthy, I can’t think of a single, solitary reason Wells wouldn’t be starting by week three (and if they start slow, he’ll usurp Tim Hightower long before that). He’s runs a 4.5 at about 230 pounds, sees the opening in the line as well as anyone I’ve seen come through Ohio State, and has been playing to get in the NFL for the past two seasons (meaning he’s been indifferent to the games he’s been playing in lately). If you watched him play in college, your expectations should be pretty high. We’ve been carrying the Wells torch since January, but I don’t think this is clouding our judgment.

I’m not suggesting that Wells is infallible and that he’s an absolute surefire bet, because no one is. But the notion that Wells’ fantasy season is in jeopardy or his fantasy projection should be altered because he missed a couple practices in June seems a tad brash. If you’re looking for a reason to avoid Wells, then his constant stream of health issues (which I think he was overly cautious about to protect his NFL prospects), or his lack of breakaway speed or his tendency to get caught from behind (in college, no less). All of these are more valid concerns than his no show at a practice due to a league rule he has no control over, and one that will have no bearing on his game performance anyways.

*Not actually the pitcher for the Mets, but someone I’ve never heard of before.

We’ll see what the world brings us tomorrow.