Crabtree signing, Edwards deal don’t immediately affect fantasy

by | Oct 11, 2009 | Fantasy Football

Early this week Michael Crabtree finally ended his moronic holdout in San Francisco. And the New York Jets, in an effort to provide their rookie quarterback with another weapon, acquired potential stud Braylon Edwards for spare parts and draft picks.

While these were higher-profile roster moves than you usually read about at this stage of the season, neither move will have a dramatic impact on fantasy football, at least in the short term.

Lets start with the Jets. In “real” football, Edwards will give Mark Sanchez another target. And Edwards will have a better team around him. A change of scenery could help him, so he’s got the potential to improve his situation as a fantasy player more than anyone else involved in the deal. But that’s only if he can A) keep himself from getting suspended for off the field actions and B) start catching the ball. If he continues leading the league in drops the fans in New York will tear this guy apart.

And Sanchez, while impressive as a rookie starter thus far, was and still is certainly only a backup and bye week plug-in at this point, even with Edwards.

For Jerricho Cotchery, the Edwards acquisition will likely take some coverage off of him. At the same time, as the better player, Edwards also will likely take some targets away from Cotchery. At best, this is a lateral situation for him.

Thomas Jones and Leon Washington may benefit from having more coverage dedicated to the pass game. But in splitting carries, neither are putting up particularly fantasy-worthy numbers as it is and I would expect that, for the most part, that will continue.

Now the Browns. I’ve heard a few people talk about Mohamed Massaquoi as a free agent target.

Sure, he’s now the number one wide receiver for the Browns. But he’s still a rookie playing for a bad team with a horrible offense and with inept quarterbacks. If it were me I’d leave Massaquoi for others. See if they drop someone worthwhile onto the free agent heap instead.

Really, there weren’t any Browns I would have targeted before and there still aren’t. That’s a bad, bad team, both in real football and fantasy football.

Michael Crabtree could be a bit of a different story – if you have a roster spot and a month to wait.

Crabtree isn’t going to make an immediate impact. The team is 3-1 and they don’t need him to step up immediately.

But Crabtree’s skillset is one of the few things the team is truly missing. And say it takes him four weeks to get enough of the offense down to be a truly impactful player. Look at the schedule San Francisco plays late in the season.

Weeks nine through 16 include games against Tennessee (31st against the pass), Green Bay (tied for 30th), Jacksonville (tied for 27th), Seattle, Arizona (tied for 27th), Philadelphia and Detroit (32nd). That’s six pretty good matchups. And a guy like Crabtree doesn’t need a lot of touches to add a lot of potential firepower to your lineup.

So, in the short term, if you have strong receivers I’d probably let someone else grab Crabtree and see if they toss something better on to the waiver wire.

But if you are running a team that looks to have playoff aspirations, you are looking for a wide receiver with some high upside and you have a roster spot available, he might be worth rolling the dice on.

Best Bets Week five

by | Oct 11, 2009 | NFL Gambling

It’s a week for betting on the favorites. Here goes:

1. Minnesota (-10.5) over St. Louis
Jared Allen had 4.5 sacks against Green Bay last week. The Rams have an offensive line that is nearly as bad as Green Bay’s, a quarterback that has less game than Aaron Rodgers, no wide receivers and a poor defense. Can’t believe this line isn’t higher.

2. Dallas (-7.5) over Kansas City
Dallas has underachieved so far but Kansas City is 29th against the pass and 24th against the run. Their pass defense is suspect but the Chiefs have one legit wide receiver and not much else on offense. This line started out bigger and has come down. It’s at a point now where the Cowboys should be a really good play.

3. Pittsburgh (-10.5) over Detroit
Steelers looked motivated last week against San Diego, especially Rashard Mendenhall. If Mendenhall carries that attitude over to this week the Steelers should win this game comfortably. Detroit might be getting a little better. But this is still a bad team.

4. Houston (+5.5) over Arizona
Okay, here’s my upset of the week. Not that I’m sure the Texans are going to win but their offense is definitely capable of matching Arizona score for score. Both teams will put on aerial shows. Houston is terrible against the run so it could be the beginning of the Beanie Wells era as well. But I don’t expect either one of these teams to blow the other out.

5. Houston vs Arizona: Over 50
Wouldn’t surprise me if this game got into the 60s. This will be an aerial show and a close game – I could see 34-31 with a last second field goal providing the margin of victory.

Good luck everyone.

Week four Best Bets

by | Oct 4, 2009 | NFL Gambling

Here are the picks this week:

Again, spreads from vegas.com.

1. Baltimore (+1.5) over New England
Smart gamblers will have grabbed this one earlier in the week when New England was giving as many as three points. It’s at New England and the Pats remain one of the best coached teams in the league. But I simply feel Baltimore has overtaken them in talent. The Pats’ defense is still finding itself and while Brady started to look like his old self the last half of last week’s game, I like the Ravens to win straight up based on defense and the improved play of quarterback Joe Flacco.

2. New York Giants (-8.5) over Kansas City
Low hanging fruit here. I can’t believe the spread isn’t into the double digits. The Giants can run and pass and the Chiefs can’t stop either. Comfortable win for the G-Men.

3. Indianapolis (-10) over Seattle
Pretty much the same story as the Giants/Chiefs games. The Colts would have to stumble heavily at home to not comfortably take this gameat Lucas Oil Field. Seattle’s just not that great right now.

Good luck everyone. There are some great games today – that Jets/Saints game? Should be a good one. Wouldn’t necessarily put money on it (unless you just like putting money down on a good money-line bet, if so the Jets would be a solid play) but it should be a lot of fun.

Note to the Raiders: Gannon is right

by | Sep 28, 2009 | NFL Media, NFL Random Thoughts

The Oakland Raiders last week made clear they didn’t want Rich Gannon showing his face at their headquarters in preparation for calling the team’s game for CBS-TV.

John Herrera, a “senior executive” for the team, told the press Gannon wasn’t welcome because of “incendiary” comments the Raiders’ one-time quarterback has made about the Raiders’ organization since he became a broadcaster.

The Raiders gave in because they basically don’t have the right to keep a network broadcaster away. But when Gannon wasn’t able to catch a flight to Oakland in time to spend time with team officials heading into the game, Herrera apparently told the Oakland Tribune it “was a win-win situation for us.”

Newsflash for the Raiders: That would be the first multiple win situation this team has had in quite awhile.
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Even in defeat, 49ers prove their worth

by | Sep 27, 2009 | NFL Random Thoughts

When the San Francisco 49ers return home from their game this afternoon the record books will show that they lost to Minnesota. Sportscenter will highlight the last second Brett Favre-to-Greg Lewis heroics that kept the Vikings undefeated.

But make no mistake about it – the 49ers represented well in Minneapolis this afternoon and they’ve got me convinced they are the best team in the NFC West.

With 59:58 of time elapsed, the 49ers had gone into a hostile environment and held the Vikings, capitalizing on a blocked field goal return right before halftime and dominating the second half of play. Furthermore, they did so minus their superstar, Frank Gore.

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