Thursday, August 25th, 2011 NFL Fantasy Football Wrap-Up

Welcome back fantasy owners,

Week three of preseason football has kicked off and I'm prepared to tell you, readers, two players that caught my eye on Thursday night in the first batch of week three preseason games. I will most likely run through a couple of players in each game that caught my eye that may affect your draft, but only after we check out some of the news from the NFL.

There wasn't any major news from the National Football League today, but there was some notable news, and to kick it all off let's shift to Julio Jones. Jones has made a huge impact on me in all of camp, and he is making impressions on his coaches and front office too. Falcons GM Thomas Dimitroff was very positive about his performance and Dimitroff emphasized that Jones is "very focused" and "very competitive". Seeing that his team likes him makes me think more passes will be flying his way. I will continue to move him up my rankings until the start of the season.

Now for my news that has little to no fantasy value, and that is rookie QB Terrelle Pryor signed with the Raiders on Thursday evening, three days after being drafted by the Raiders in the third round of the supplemental draft. "Pryor receives a $586,000 signing bonus, and a base salary of $375,000 (pre-suspension).  In 2012, he’ll earn $485,000, and he’s eligible to earn a $20,300 incentive based on playing time.  In 2013, the salary is $595,000 with a $40,700 play-time incentive.  In 2014, the salary moves to $645,000, with a $61,100 play-time incentive," According to ProFootballTalk.com. Although it is unlikely, I could see Pryor seeing some time on the field this year considering that Campbell was benched for Gradkowski in multiple games last year.


Time to move on to the preseason games now, and the first of three games on Thursday night was in Carolina where we had the Bengals defeating the Panthers by a final of 24-13. As expected, or at least as I expected, Cam Newton couldn't throw the ball. He went a measly 6-19 with a mere 75 yards, but there was a good part of his performance: his athletic ability on the ground. He scrambled for 49 yards as well as the Panthers only TD of the game. But the away team was much more impressive. Cedric Benson was fed the ball 16 times and he seemed to do well with it as he rushed for 68 yards and a TD. Bernard Scott got involved too, going six for 63 and a TD. Then in the air, Dalton had a much better game, including a 40 yard pass that went to rookie AJ Green for a TD. Obviously I liked to see Andy Dalton bounce back from his bad performance last week; it shows that Simpson, Benson, and Green can prevail with Dalton under center. I also saw my sleeper tight end Gresham getting five targets, as well as four receptions and 49 yards. Carolina looked pure ugly if you ask me. Newton is not going to lead this team to anything special if he can't figure out away to be more of a pocket passer. Not looking like a bright future for the Panthers.

Speaking of bright futures, you have the "Dream Team" Philadelphia Eagles. They have looked absolutely awful this far into the preseason, and Thursday night was no better. Vick is not getting the time to throw the ball and he is getting knocked down way too much. It is just a matter of time before a hard hit injures him and sidelines him for the entire season. Eagles are going to have to solve this offensive line problem if they want to get anywhere and it looks really bad right now. But let's move on to fantasy value of players. McCoy had himself a nice game in the passing game (Vick had to dump it off all night because he was getting flushed out of the pocket so much) but he had a terrible game on the ground. He went 6 for 12 on the ground while his teammate Ronnie Brown went 6 for 41 with a very nice 13 yard touchdown.  McCoy had nine targets in the air, three times more than anyone else in the Eagles receiving corps if you would like to take note of that for a PPR league. But on the Browns side of the ball, Colt McCoy had his first ugly game of the preseason. He went 9/18 with one interception and a 41.2 quarterback rating. Included in there was my very deep sleeper who grabbed three catches on four targets for 23 yards, Brian Robiskie. In my opinion that is a big step for Robiskie, and it says that McCoy wants to throw the ball to this guy and I have a lot of faith in him this year, even more than Josh Cribbs (as seen in my rankings).


The final game of the night was on ESPN and it was the Ravens taking on the Redskins. The one thing that really stuck to me in this game was Ray Rice getting some carries at the goaline. In the second quarter after getting stuffed at the one yard line, he ran one in from two yards out. Obviously this was something that a lot of fantasy owners are worried about, but I think it becomes less of a concern with this game under his belt. Granted, one good game can not convince most fantasy owners, and I realize that, but for me I feel like I can trust him more after this game. Enough of Ray Rice, I can't forget about my bromance with Anquan Boldin, who also had a good game. Boldin went 5 for 73 with a TD catch in the third quarter; that really impresses me. Lee Evans also had himself a nice game, 3 for 60 with a TD. I think Evans only helps Boldin, as I have pointed out before in my precious posts. Evans will take a safety off the top and leave breathing room for Boldin unlike last year where you had Mason playing opposite Boldin, and two receivers with the same skill set cannot play opposite of each other. I also really liked what I saw from Tyrod Taylor, the Ravens rookie backup quarterback. He seemed to play just like a younger Michael Vick. He knew when to throw and stay in the pocket but also knew when to tuck and run. I think we will see him be successful one day in the NFL. But on the other side of the field, Redskins had some really nice looking possessions too. John Beck still looks like the better QB for the Redskins, and pretty obviously to me. Of course, I am not seeing the practices, but in games in just seems like Beck is going to lead this team better. Hightower, a guy that is also climbing up my rankings, went 9 for 56, and his second game with a run over 30 yards.

That finishes up the recap for this Thursday. Look for my rankings on Saturday. But until then you can follow me on Twitter @TheFFAddict or feel free to email me, cshardy@att.net. Thanks for reading!

Just a little side note here: Next week I will do over-valued and under-valued players all week at every position as well as the news, so look for that.

Week 2 Preseason News and Notes

Hello Fantasy Swashbucklers,

In a busy week of preseason games, injuries, and moves on the depth chart, I am going to analyze the things that may affect your draft. Last week we ran over injuries and important moves in the offseason. Along with all of that will be some of my own insights. So let’s get started with some injury news.

In the preseason game against the Packers, Cardinals rookie running back Ryan Williams went down with an ankle injury and was carted off the field. It was later found that he ruptured his patellar tendon and will need surgery. This really increases the value of Beanie Wells. He now possibly could become an every down back, and he will certainly be the lead man in Arizona. I already liked the guy if he got the time on the field, but now he will get the carries to become a top 20 back. But we have not seen that potential shine yet. I think this could, and will, be the year for Beanie.

Earlier in the week, we found some much anticipated news about Eagles receiver Jeremy Maclin. After weeks of testing for just about every sickness possible, including Lukemia, it was found that his lymph nodes were “enlarged and hot”—a major sign of Lymphoma and he should be returning to the practice field in the next couple days. Now this doesn’t mean he is back where he should be in fantasy rankings. Everyone needs to wait and see him in practice and preseason to evaluate him and see if he is healthy and back to football form. If he is, feel free to rank him back to where he usually would be.

In other big news not concerning an injury, Titans Chris Johnson is holding out for a new contract from the Titans, as many of you may already know. "We're willing to make him the highest paid running back in the history of the NFL,” said the Titans GM Mike Reinfeldt two weeks ago,”That's kind of where we are.” Chris Johnson later went on to say that negotiations had gone nowhere, and they were still on square one. Now, the GM has yet to give CJ an offer, and the team is not even going to bother giving Johnson a concrete offer right now. If I were a fantasy owner, I would be extremely scared using a first round pick on this guy, none-the-less using a top five pick on him.

Now on to who has caught my eye in preseason. First off let’s start with a Cowboy, me being a Cowboys fan and all. I am beginning to become very interested in the all around talent of Felix Jones. He looks like a stud right now. His vision on the field is great and he is finding the holes. Rather it be his offensive line creating gaping holes or Jones finding them, it doesn’t matter to me. Either way this guy is climbing up on my rankings.

Another guy that may not of caught my eye this preseason, but one that did at the end of last season is Brian Robiskie. Granted, Cribbs is having the better preseason, but Robiskie is still the #1 wide-out on that team and if he can get the targets he is one of those deep sleepers I really like with his Qb Colt McCoy firing him passes.

Last but certainly not least is the quarterback position where this week I’m going to throw out the name Matthew Stafford. I know a lot of people, like this guy, but I have been one of them, for years now. His shoulder should not be a problem, and he is not considered injury prone. However, he has been injured in both of his first two seasons in the NFL, so it is a risk. But it is a risk I am willing to take in drafts if you could get him as a back-up QB. He has the receiving corps and the talent to become a top ten quarterback this year, mark my words.

Thanks for reading. I will be back next week with more sleepers, including a tight end that a lot of people are forgetting about. Have a good week!