Shanahan Continues To Show His Colors, cuts Mike Bell

by | Jul 22, 2008 | NFL Random Thoughts

In 2006, Mike Bell went from undrafted free agent to starting tailback for his hometown Denver Broncos in the first week of training camp.  Despite eventually losing the starting role to Tatum Bell, he still put up a respectable 677 yards and scored 8 TDs in his rookie season.

Prospects looked decent for the Broncos, with a backfield of Bell and Bell splitting the load.  But Mike Shanahan wasn’t satisfied–acting on his apparently insatiable desire to add players of questionable work effort, talent and intelligence into the fold, he acquired Travis Henry and drafted Selvin Young, which upset one Bell (Tatum) to the point of demanding a trade, and forced the other (Mike) to fullback.

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Why We Started This Blog

by | Jul 2, 2008 | Fantasy Football

One of the reasons that we started this blog was that Andy and I generally talk a lot of fantasy football throughout the season.  And preseason.  And pre-preseason.  Enough that, even though we don’t have full time jobs writing about it, we often think we would be better at doing so than many people that do.

Case in point:

Article (already discussed here) from Yahoo that amongst other things, has three “experts” pciking their ‘Top 5 players you’ll most heavily target in drafts.’  Now, I don’t know about you, but the top guys that I most heavily target in a draft are usually guys that will go in the first 2-3 rounds–maybe into the 4th, if I’m lucky.  Beyond that, it’s not so much that I targeted them, as they were the best of the rest.  Or the best of the worst.

In this article, Andy Behrens lists his #4 player as Matt Forte, rookie RB for the Bears.  Even links to an article, where apparently the value of Forte was previously discussed (I’d go into more detail, but it appears this article has already disappeared from Yahoo).

Now, fast forward to an article posted today, written by the same Andy Behrens.  In this article, which ranks the Bears as the worst team in the NFL from a fantasy stand point–a point I can probably agree with him on.  However, check out that first paragraph:

“Not surprisingly, there are no Bears among the top 25 quarterbacks in the Yahoo! experts composite rankings. There are also no Bears among the top 25 running backs, or the top 50 receivers, or the top 12 tight ends.”

So apparently, I’m supposed to be heavily targetting Matt Forte, despite the fact that he’s not a top 25 back.

The lesson here?  Both at ZoneBlitz and at Yahoo, you get what you pay for, in regards to fantasy football advice.

Picking the Next Fantasy Rookie Stud RB?

by | Jun 19, 2008 | Fantasy Football

Six weeks until training camp, but Yahoo! is already full force into their barrage of Fantasy Football ’08.  They had a 10-round mock draft a few weeks back, and today writers Brandon Funston, Andy Behrens, and Brad Evans provided some top 5 Fantasy lists.

The first thing that jumped out at us?  It appears that everyone wants to pick the next Adrian Peterson.  Each guy had at least one rookie RB in their ‘Top 5 Players [tehy’ll] most heavily target’ list–and Behrens had two.  Which strikes me as downright foolish, given that few rookie RB’s contribute to the level of an Adrian Peterson.

Jonathan Stewart (Funston, #2; Behrens, #1) – I understand that in the long run, he may be the better overall back than DeAngelo Williams.  But Behrens even points out the big flaw in targetting Stewart heavily (especially early):

“If he just gets Foster’s ’07 carries (247), he’s going to be a force.”

Seems like an awfully big ‘if’ to me, given the presence of Williams.  Stewart will have to come into practice and absolutely dazzle some people to get Foster’s carries–think of how long it took WIlliams to get the carries he did, when many considered him significantly better than Foster all along?

Matt Forte (Behrens, #4) – I understand that the Bears don’t really have any one else to throw back there as the primary guy.  But that doesn’t mean that Forte will put up 1,400 yards and 10+ TDs.  Two reasons that Peterson succeeded early in ’07–first, he had a solid offensive line in front of him.  Second, early in the season, teams thought they would have to cover the Vikings receivers.  As soon as they figured out that wasn’t the case, they threw 8-9 guys in the box, and frustrated Peterson.

So how good will Forte be, given that most teams will probably (rightly so) assume that they don’t have to worry about the Bears passing attack from week 1 on, and with an average (at best) offensive line?

Rashard Mendenhall (Evans, #1) – Seriously?  Who gave this guy the title of fantasy expert?

1,000 total yards and 7-9 TDs?  “High” Five was an accurate name for this article.

Yeah, the Steelers are likely to try to reduce Willie Parker–of course, I’ve also heard reports that Gary Russell has impressed them this offseason, while Parker heals his broken leg. Granted, it’s only OTAs, and coming from local Minnesota media (Russell was a Minnesota Golden Gopher before being booted from the team), but it adds to Mendenhall’s competition to even see the field in 2008.  Not to mention Mewelde Moore, who also was decent when he got some playing time, and signed as a FA.

So if you’re looking for fantasy standouts that will help you all season long, at least in the early rounds, stay away from the rookies.  And until they come to their senses, I’d stay away from Funston, Behrens and Evans, too.

Browns Already in Perilous Position?

by | Jun 11, 2008 | NFL News

**UPDATE** The Browns actually went ahead and cut LeCharles Bentley today.  Apparently Hank Fraley & Rex Hadnot are just too good.

Andy has already gone on the record as saying he thinks the Browns will be a team to watch in 2008.  I have pulled out my political talking head hat, and said I think they will regress from 2007–while also admitting that they may still win their division (I am not impressed with the AFC North).

Now comes news that WR Joe Jurevicius may not be ready to start the season, as he’s become the SIXTH player on the team in four years to contract staph.  Seriously, I know they’re taking steps to prevent it, but they might want to step up those efforts.

On the surface, this news seems to have little impact, fantasy wise or otherwise–Jurevicius started 12 games and caught 50 passes with three TDs last season, but is expected to be the #3 WR this season since Donte Stallworth was signed.

Still, this one scares me a little bit–Jurevicius likely was a calming veteran presence in the huddle for the Browns, and a positive role model for some of the receiver corps to look up to, given their tendency to flap their gums. 

And, I’m guessing that the 3rd WR would see the field a lot in Cleveland, in an effort to keep guys out of the box and free up some room for Jamal Lewis.  Now, it appears that the Browns will likely enter the seasno with Joshua Cribbs (who recently admitted that his having the dropsies during practice was due to his not being focused enough), Travis Wilson, or something called Syndric Steptoe filling the role.

On the positive side for the team, LeCharles Bentley was cleared to practice this week, after missing two seasons due to a torn patellar tendon suffered on the first play of training camp after signing a six-year, $36 million contract on the first day of free agency in 2006.  He then had three subsequent surgeries, to deal with the staph infection that followed.

Of course, there’s now bad blood between him and the team–so no one is sure where he’ll play–guard or center with the Browns, or maybe for someone else.

For his sake, let’s just hope his slip of the tounge when asked about it wasn’t prophetic:

”Zero doubt, absolutely I will be playing somewhere, starting in ’09. ’08, sorry. You know what I meant.”

 

Kevin Jones Waiting For Bears Call?

by | Jun 11, 2008 | NFL Rumors

Turns out, according to the guys at ChicagoSports.com, my brother may have finally gotten one right–Kevin Jones is apparently waiting for a call from the Bears.

But I have a feeling he might be waiting a while.

This is a team that by all accounts is content to go into the season with Devin Hester as their #1 WR, a move that if history proves correct, could turn their biggest only offensive threat (Hester’s return abilities) into a liability (think about what happened to Dante Hall when the Chiefs started trying to involve him in offense).  Why would they go out and sign a veteran, when they can throw Matt Forte and the other Adrian Peterson to the wolves 25-35 times a game?

The ChicagoSports team laid out the best four options for the Bears if they are going to go after a veteran–other than Jones (coming off a torn ACL) there’s Shaun Alexander (wrist surgery, sprained knee, sprained vagina since signing his big contract), Travis Henry (character issues), and LaMont Jordan (injured back, and as they point out–displays a lot of similar qualities to Cedric Benson, when it comes to practice habits).

Here’s hoping the Cubbies can keep going strong into November–otherwise it could be a loooooooong winter in Chi-town.