Are you ready for some football?

[HighLordDave]

It's fantasy football time, and I know that I'm not the only one around here who's in a league.

So post your teams here and let us know how you're doing. Also, before the season starts, who's going to have a surprise break out year? Who are the rookies to watch? Who are the big names who are going to be fantasy football busts?

[HighLordDave]

Here's my team, the Jedi Knights:

QBs
Daunte Culpepper (MIN)
Rich Gannon (OAK)

RBs
Marshall Faulk (STL)
Ricky Williams (MIA)
Fred Taylor (JAX)
DeShaun Foster (CAR)

WRs
Rod Smith (DEN)
Terry Glenn (GB)
Derrick Mason (TEN)
Antwaan Randle-El (PIT)

TEs
Tony Gonzalez (KC)
Freddie Jones (ARI)

Ks
Jason Elam (DEN)
Ryan Longwell (GB)

Ds
Miami Dolphins
Philadelphia Eagles

[smass]

My drafts tommorrow - you have a good lineup there HLD. How many teams in your league?

[HighLordDave]

4 divisions, 8 teams per division. I drafted against 7 other players. I think we play each team in our division twice. Then, there will be an 8 team playoff beginning on week 15. There are weekly prizes to the team that racks up the most points, then more cash prizes to the playoff teams with the big bucks going to league champion at the end of the year.

My biggest worry this year is that my team will be very susceptible to injuries. Taylor and Williams have not so good histories of missing time for being hurt, I hear Foster pulled a hammy in camp and Gannon is old.

[Ned Flanders]

Are their only four teams in your league or did you win two of your draft picks in a poker game?

How the hell could anyone wind up with faulk, williams, and culpepper? Those are three top 12 picks and you've got them all. I hope the league entrance fee was 1000 dollars each because you're about to take everyone to town.

My draft strategy this year is as follows:

Unfortunately, I'm in an eight team league. This means that everyone's team is very good and that the league is won with your 6th, 7th, and 8th round picks comboed with getting lucky every week and hoping your opponents stars have bad REAL matchups for the week.

This means finding something to exploit to make your team better. I believe this year the WR position is very thin so I intend to exploit it. Acquiring Moss, Harrison, Boston, or Owens is a must for a successful team in an eight team league. I'm actually hoping to snag two of those four with my first two picks.

Most people's argument is that fantasy football is all about RB's. I also believe this is true, however, there are as many as 16 good backs to choose from. Not to mention every league has a couple of dolts who go by whatever fantasy football book they read meaning they believe McAllister, Tomllinson, and Holmes to be top RB picks. In order, no NFL experience, bust sophomore season, and a fluke. Go ahead and draft them high. I'll be happy to snag to Eddie George in the third round and the Edj in the fourth.

Moving on,

Bledsoe should lead the bills quite well. Expect better fantasy numbers out of him and a banner year for moulds. A RB in the backfield named Travis Henry will have a successful season as well.

The Browns should post good numbers, Dallas will be much improved, IMHO stay away from the Skins. Bears bust, seahawks bust. Colts will do very well, Jets will be good, and the Pats.

Rookies to watch are Roy Williams. Sure, he's defensive only but was marvelous at Oklahoma. Randle-El should start making a significant contribution to the steelers in mid/late october. I just don't think they'll use him that much. William Green from Cleveland will get a lot of work. The Pats have a reveiver from Louisville whose name escapes me....wait, Deion Branch, he could be good also but WR rookies typically tend to struggle and not get a lot of PT.

Fantasy busts: Tomlinson, Vick, Trent Green, Tom Brady, Shaun Alexander (remember chris warren?), Tomlinson, Holmes, anybody on the Broncos.

Well, I'll let some of you FF nuts chew on this jibberish for a while. Greath thread HLD, I truly enjoy talking pigskin. Ever played college FF.

[Tybaltus]

Well I love the sport and follow it closely, but among all the sports I love, I never do anything fantasy for any of them.

But a breakout player-or a player to look for might be Drew Brees. He impressed me when he was in Perdue. I look forward to seeing him actually start as a 1st string. Maybe McAllister will also have a good year in New Orleans, too.

Rookie? Well DeShawn Foster should be good if he avoids injuries and he abides by rules in football and the law. Graham also looks very good for the Patriots. As for QB's that are rookies-well theres 4 that I have noticed-Harrington, Carr, Ramsey, and Davie. Ramsey and Carr have had the more notable preseasons, but Carr with the Texans, I wouldnt expect a whole lot this first year. Ramsey has looked good, but he's a second or third string. Harrington and Davie also are second strings, so I dont know how much you'll see either one. Harrington will probably play more, as he is only backing McMahon, and Davie is backing Brady, who will probably start the entire season, barring injury.

[Gwalchmai]

No fantasy football for me, but I have an office pool going. I could use some help...

[Ned Flanders]

HLD,

Ricky played 16 games last year. Miami has a good Oline so he should be set barring a freak injury or a recession in his anxiety disorder.

Who cares about Foster, he runs for Carolina. Trust me, they will abandon the run in all 16 of their games this year in the second half. Frickin Rodney Peete is their starting QB, didn't he invent morse code?

Gannon is tough and Taylor is a gamble you knew about. If ole Freddy stays healthy you've got a back to trade for a top receiver.

Also, trade Culpepper now if you can. Gannon is plenty good to start. Pick up another QB off waivers, probably whatever the tradee drops. Receivers are thin and Daunte is good stock. Any team with him is going to hell anyway. You can read about that elsewhere, though.

[HighLordDave]

@Flanders:
You forgot to go into HLD Mode™.

I play in a league where the general strategy is to "double up" a QB with their receiver of choice. While may be good in about five instances (Culpepper/Moss, Warner/Holt, Garcia/Owens, Manning/Harrison, Warner/Bruce), many players in my league reached for QBs just so they could get a WR on the same team (Brunell/Smith, Plummer/Boston, etc.) regardless of their overall potential to rack up points.

My general strategy was to take the best player available regardless of need. So I read a bunch of stuff by people who know fantasy football better than I, put together a list of the top 150 players in the league based on their potential to earn points and took the best guy left on the board when my number came up. I also got lucky in the draft and drew the second pick.

So my first four picks were (in order): Faulk, Culpepper, Williams, Taylor (who was my draft bust last year; tremendous potential for points, even higher potential for injury; I'm hoping that wanting a new contract will motivate him to play smarter and stay healthy).

I believe that kickers and defenses will get a good team over the hump and will win it for you in a squeaker, but don't think you need the #1 defense in the league to help you out. A middle-of-the-pack D will often get you as many points in any given week as a top tier defense (unless you happened to have the 2000 Ravens who posted six(?) shutouts). I don't believe in drafting either before about the ninth round, and my overall strategy seems to bear this out, as nobody I read rated any defenses or kickers in their top 100 fantasy football picks.

My sleeper pick of the year: Randle-El. He may not produce in the receiving game early, but he won the #3 receiver spot and I think he'll contribute big on special teams and he'll get favourable match-ups if the Steelers use him right.

The player who I think will be a bust: Jay Feidler. Some guy in my league took him with his second pick and we were all wondering if he had been smoking crack the night before (I tried to get him to take Randall Cunningham in the third round). I think Feidler gets benched by about week 5.

Guy(s) who may have a break-out FFL year: Danny Wuerffel/Shane Matthews. I think whoever ends up playing the most for the Redskins has the potential to put up huge numbers. When he was at Florida, I hated Steve Spurrier (I grew up in Tallahassee), but now that he's in the NFL, I love him. I think the Fun N'Gun will work in the NFL, but I wonder if the 'Skins may need to get some better receivers than the UF re-treads Spurrier brought in.

Guy I wished I could have taken but can't because he's still in college: Byron Leftwich. Call me a hometown boy, but did you see the 489 yards and 4 TDs he put up against Appalachian State last Saturday? The MACs not much better and he should have a monster year.

Guy I'm glad I passed on: Kurt Warner. I know he's on track to the Hall of Fame after his famous stint in Europe and the Arena League, but his thumb makes me nervous. I've got $50 bucks that says he misses at least a quarter of the season.

[Tybaltus]

Quote:

Originally posted by HighLordDave My sleeper pick of the year: Randle-El. He may not produce in the receiving game early, but he won the #3 receiver spot and I think he'll contribute big on special teams and he'll get favourable match-ups if the Steelers use him right. Guy(s) who may have a break-out FFL year: Danny Wuerffel/Shane Matthews. I think whoever ends up playing the most for the Redskins has the potential to put up huge numbers. When he was at Florida, I hated Steve Spurrier (I grew up in Tallahassee), but now that he's in the NFL, I love him. I think the Fun N'Gun will work in the NFL, but I wonder if the 'Skins may need to get some better receivers than the UF re-treads Spurrier brought in.

I think it will take a little while for Randle-El. He certainly is fast but hes never been a reciever. He spent all of his time in Indiana as a quarter back. It will be a new world in the recieving world. Certainly he will eventually learn (It isnt that hard to learn, but it IS different) and he will be good. Give him a year until he is truly noticed.

Weurffel is Awffel (yes you get the joke....ha ha ha.... ) and when he gets a breakout year, will be a year where he can actually complete a touchdown pass. Hes terrible. Shane Matthews is a good pick, though. I thought last year he was alright, so I expect him to improve a bit, and secure his spot as the Redskins starter and have a good consistant year.

[Ned Flanders]

I don't need HLD mode here. I got plenty of wind and words when it comes to football. Otherwise, I will use religiously around here (note: this religion is not up for debate here; I will continue to use HLD mode where applicable)

Thanks HLD, you just made my draft. I had no idea Freddy Taylor was in a contract year. Hopefully, he'll slide low enough for me to snag 'em.

btw, I draft tonight. will let you know tomorrow how it worked out.

Corey Dillon and Kevin Johnson are also in contract years, an oddity most fantasy playas overlook. It is important to note how much better someone plays when millions are on the line. Yes, I know, it's sad to realize most pro athletes don't do it 'for the love of the game'. Okay, Okay, stop crying, it's not that big of a deal. Anyway, these are two others I'm keyed on but I think they'll get snagged reasonably earlier because of their talent.

Quote:

by HLD Jay Feidler. Some guy in my league took him with his second pick and we were all wondering if he had been smoking crack the night before

Now I understand why you got Faulk and Culpepper

(Resuming after a long pause from work)

Yes, I follow Marshall football HLD, more than the pros. He's going to be a legit Heisman candidate but probably won't win even if his numbers are good enough because of schedule.

[Nippy]

Ok then. Can anyone explain to me what the hell this is about? I know Fantasy Football (Soccer you ignorant Americans! ) but I can't for the life of me understand this stuff...

[Tybaltus]

@Nippy American Football? Fantasy football? Or both?

[Bloodstalker]

Well, I got 2 teams, as follows.

team one...

QB...Kurt Warner
Brad johnson

RB...Eddie george
Jerome Bettis
Mike Anderson
Kevin Barlowe (if Hearst goes down, I hope this will be big)
WR...Tory Holt
Chris Chambers
Peirless Price
Marcus Robinson
TE......Jeremy Shockey
Ken Dilger
DT.....Miami
K,,,,,,.Janikowski


Team 2

QB......Drew Bledsoe
Brian Griese
RB.......Charlie Garner
Duece McAllister
Clinton Portis
WR.....Terrell Owens
Issac Bruce
Eric Moulds
TE......Bubba Franks
Ernie Conwell
DT......Titans.

I'll go more into busts and all when i got more time

[Bloodstalker]

Ok, heres how I see it, Busts....

any redskins QB....their my team, but their QB's arms are suspect(except ramsey, but he's a rookie) and their recievers are decent at best. But, the O-Line is gonna wind up getting them killed, outside of Jansen and Samuels, they have nothing in the way of pass protection. They scored a lot of points in the preseason, but most came after the starting units were out of the game. will Spurriers offense work? yes, when they get some talent to execute it

Mike Alstott, ok, so maybe a no brainer, but some guy in my league drafted him in the secodn round

Garrison Hearst, I think he is gonna get hurt this season.

Tim Couch.....never liked him, even at UK

Big year from

Michael Pittman.....should be what Gruden needs in tampa

Travis henry.....Watch this kid, he is gonna have a good year

Kevin Barlowe....IF hearst goes down.

Steve Beurlin, laugh, but if Griese gets yanked, he could have a big year, they have the players around him, and he performed well with Carolina a couple years ago

Keyshon johnson, ...Gruden will throw the ball, and Johnson is gonna get it

Borderline p[layer....

Stephen Davis.....One of the best runners in the game, but I ain't sure how many carries he's gonna get in Spurriers offense

Donte Stallworth.....will play oppositte joe Horn, if he develops fast enoough, he could be a steal