Patriots still top dog in AFC East

by | Jun 26, 2013 | 2013 season, NFL Random Thoughts

With news that Aaron Hernandez was finally arrested today in conjunction with the murder of Odin Lloyd, the outlook changes for both our fantasy football tight end rankings and for the offense of the New England Patriots.

But there still isn’t anyone in the AFC East that is going to be able to dethrone Tom Brady, Bill Belichick and crew.

Yes, Wes Welker is in Denver, Rob Gronkowski is living out of the local operating room and Hernandez is facing the possibility that his next several years will be spent in a prison camp rather than training camp. (more…)

ZoneBlitz teams with Maggio, world’s 17th foremost fantasy expert

by | Jun 12, 2013 | Fantasy Football

Since Tony and I started ZoneBlitz.com nearly five years ago now we’ve debated how to approach the fantasy football world. There are dozens of sites out there offering advice, and while we consider ourselves to be pretty solid fantasy football players, we’ve never had the time to devote to doing it in a way that we thought we would stand out.

So we’ve done the occasional post and we’ve interviewed several industry experts on fantasy football, but we’ve largely avoided diving head first into the hours upon hours of research and writing that it would take to put quality fantasy content together.

That changes today. Recently we met with someone we’ve connected with over the years who IS a bona fide fantasy football expert. Together we decided to put our brains together to figure out how to take ZoneBlitz’ fantasy coverage to the next level.

Anthony Maggio served as an associate editor for the extremely popular but now defunct Fanball (Maggio takes very little responsibility for its demise) and he is widely considered the world’s 17th-foremost fantasy football expert. He co-hosts Fantasy Football Sunday from 9 to 10 a.m. central time on 1500 ESPN in the Twin Cities. Listen live on Sundays during the football season by clicking here.

Maggio also is a regular Associated Press contributor whose other editorial credits (full-time, part-time, freelance or otherwise) include KFAN, Fox Sports North, Star Tribune and ESPN-Dallas/Ft. Worth, to name a few.

Follow Maggio on Twitter @MplsMaggio. And check back here for preseason rankings by position, which we will start posting later this week.

Urlacher becomes latest NFL star to retire

by | May 22, 2013 | Hall of Fame

Brian Urlacher announced his retirement Wednesday morning via a statement linked to his Twitter account and in so doing, he joins a parade of former NFL stars who have called it quits before the 2013 kicks off in a couple of months.

Urlacher indicated that while he could continue playing “I’m not sure I would bring a level of performance or passion that’s up to my standards.”

Photo credit: Wikipedia user Jauerback

While I can’t speak to his passion, it was clear to anyone watching the last couple seasons that he is no longer the player he was when he arrived in the Chicago 13 seasons ago. So even though there were rumors of interest in his services from Minnesota and Denver, I suspect his decision to retire may have had something to do with a weak market for his services.

Nonetheless, he leaves the league a highly decorated star. He and Ray Lewis, who announced during the 2012 season that it would be his last, both exit as franchise cornerstone linebacker superstar players who lasted double-digit seasons with just one team.

Congratulations to Urlacher, who now only has to wait to see when he should show up in Canton for his inevitable induction and enshrinement into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. In a typical year, Urlacher’s eight Pro Bowl appearances, four first-team Associated Press All Pro awards and 1,052 tackles (according to Pro Football Reference’s stats) would make him a fairly sure bet to be a first ballot enshrinee. He also was a member of the Team of the 2000s. (more…)

Ronde Barber’s retirement spurs discussion of Hall of Fame cred

by | May 9, 2013 | Hall of Fame

Ronde Barber announced this week that he would join a collection of high profile group of his contemporaries in retiring from the NFL. The highly-decorated cornerback, who became the first player ever to achieve at least 40 interceptions and 25 sacks during his career, spent all 16 of his seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Barber joins Ray Lewis, Steve Hutchinson, Matt Birk, Jeff Saturday, Donald Driver and Jason Hansen, among others, who have decided that the 2012 season will be their last. The clock starts this season on the five year wait to see when – or if – they will eventually be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Barber’s pursuit of immortality in Canton will be an interesting one. In addition to the 47 interceptions and 28 sacks he finished with, he went to five Pro Bowls and was named first team All Pro by the Associated Press three times. That puts him a notch ahead of Ty Law, who profiles at a 5/2 in those same categories. (more…)

Outspoken views not only reason for Kluwe’s release

by | May 8, 2013 | NFL Random Thoughts

It’s not often that one of the week’s loudest and most frequently cited headlines involves the release of a punter.

But when the Minnesota Vikings dropped Chris Kluwe earlier this week, it ensured that during this relatively news less post-draft time, that a special teamer would be in the headlines for awhile.

Kluwe spent eight years in Minnesota, being best known alternatively between booming punts and a booming voice in favor of allowing gay people to get married. He’s largely been very good at both. His political involvement has garnered national attention and earned him Salon’s Sexiest Man of the Year Award.

He has never been to a Pro Bowl, but he’s generally been seen as one of the best punters in Vikings history. So yes, his release garnered some attention.

But the Vikings, in some quarters, are being skewered by those who believe his release means the team is cracking down on free speech and standing up against the support of gay marriage.

Kluwe is entitled to his opinion, whether I agree with it or not. To me, the bigger issue with Kluwe is how he expresses said opinion. I thought he was a bit obnoxious in the profanity-laced rant in Deadspin where he first got national attention for his views. In subsequent articles and interviews, both on gay marriage and other issues, he was much more reasoned. When he takes a more thoughtful, intellectual approach to making his argument, you can tell he is a really intelligent, albeit perhaps sometimes polarizing, guy. He acknowledges and embraces that and he is right when he says there are issues facing society that are much more important than kicking a football. (more…)