One of the keys to drafting in the middle round is taking stock of how thin each available position is. I am about to be on the clock once again in the draft I've written about all week. The picks are 7.13 and 8.02 in a 14-team league.

Here's my squad so far ...

QB: Donovan McNabb
RB: Steven Jackson, Jerious Norwood, LenDale White
WR: Reggie Wayne, Larry Fitzgerald, D.J. Hackett
TE:

Continue reading "Mining Mid-Round Value" »

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 03:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (14)

The Pirates are holding a special "Rooting with Rocco" promotion on Thursday night at the game. $5 from every ticket bought in the section will go to a Rocco DeMaro recovery fund.

Rocco is one of the best friends I've met through this job. We hosted a fantasy football show together in Pittsburgh and he has written for Rotoworld and our magazine the last few years. His day job is an on-air personality for 104.7 in Pittsburgh, where he also hosts a post-game show for the Pirates. He's one of the funniest, loyal, and fantasy football mad people I know.

Rocco suffered a fractured skull while paying softball a few weeks ago and is recovering slowly. More information can be found here. If you read Rocco's Morning After column on Rotoworld and wanted to send him well wishes, you can email him here.

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 02:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Broken bones are never a good thing, but Frank Gore’s broken hand comes at the best time possible. Our third-ranked running back could be back at practice as early as next week, so he’s not going to get out of condition.

The 49ers will probably be very cautious with Gore by holding him out of the preseason because they have nothing to gain by playing him. LaDainian Tomlinson didn’t have a single carry in August last season. The preseason is largely meaningless for most establishing running backs, an exercise in taking a few hits while trying to stay healthy.

Continue reading "Gore Injury Fantasy Impact" »

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 08:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Kitna owners can breathe a little easier

This morning I posted a blurb on J.T. O'Sullivan having a chance to finally stick as a backup quarterback after joining the Lions - his seventh franchise. He's taking on Dan Orlovsky to be Jon Kitna's backup.

Continue reading "Stanton Injury Impact" »

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 05:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If you have, say, five minutes to kill, and love a good presser tussle, check out this exchange between a St. Petersburg Times reporter and Bucs GM Bruce Allen concerning Chris Simms Monday.

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 05:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

Here's what I decided on in my draft last night. LenDale White was a no-brainer with my 6.13 pick. I needed a third running back badly, and he was the only player left in my RB3 tier.

With the 7.02 pick, I had to choose between D.J. Hackett, Santonio Holmes, and Chris Cooley. Only three tight ends were off the board, but I knew a run was likely to take place before I get to pick again. Despite ranking Cooley second in our draft guide, I went with Hackett. We start three wideouts and I didn't want to get behind building quality depth. A great wideout will help you more than a great tight end, and Hackett can be great. I suspect a quality TE option like Jason Witten will fall back to me. L.J. Smith and Heath Miller (at a later pick) are quality worst-case scenarios.

Occasionally, I will go against the Rotoworld rankings during a draft. Choosing Hackett over Holmes was one of those times and it's caused Hackett has proven himself over the last two years as one of the very best reserves in the league. He's entering his prime, and is quite possibly the top receiver on pass-first offense. There is very little downside. Holmes is a second-year player that I am enamored with. But he's riskier because of his age and the unpredictable Pittsburgh offense.

Hackett is getting a slight upgrade in the Rotoworld draft guide shortly.

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 04:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

2004 was a good year. It was my first full season covering football full-time for Rotoworld. I was able to pay my rent on time ten times out of 12. And led by surprising efforts from rookie receivers Michael Clayton and Keary Colbert, my dynasty league team overachieved and I looked to have a great foundation of young receivers to build around.

Seems like a while ago. Clayton and Colbert have been in hiding for the subsequent two years, totaling 1,066 yards in four combined seasons since. Clayton is fighting for his starting job with Maurice Stovall in Tampa (glad I drafted him too), while Colbert was given up for dead after Dwayne Jarrett was drafted in April and Drew Carter took over the starting job. I'm a patient sort, but I gave up my roster spot for Colbert this offseason.

That's why I was very surprised to see Colbert began training as a starter. With Dwayne Jarrett behind him, it probably will be a temporary placement. But Colbert is relevent again, if only for a week. And for the owners that are hoping for a Drew Carter breakout season: It's probably not going to happen

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 02:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Vernand Morency has a minor injury, Brandon Jackson is struggling to pick up the offense, and rookie DeShawn Wynn hasn't practiced yet. I doubt the Packers are panicking, but the local rags are. The Milwauke Journal-Sentinel goes as far to say that P.J. Pope has a shot at the job. Both articles are worth a look.

To review: Morency is reminding the Packers why he has a tag as an injury-prone player. Jackson has a great opportunity, but no one knows if he'll be a quality pro at this point. Often we assume a rookie's success because of an advantageous situation (Eric Shelton anyone?), but really we should be in evaluation mode.

It's very early, but I'm glad I took Lendale White, not Jackson, in my draft last night.

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 10:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'm just about to be on the clock again in rounds 6 and 7 of the industry draft I've been writing about over the last week. My team thus far...

QB: Donovan McNabb
RB: Steven Jackson, Jerious Norwood
WR: Larry Fitzgerald, Reggie Wayne

This is a 14-team league, no points-per-reception, 2 RB, 3 WR, no flex player. I thought I was about to have a tough decision, but three of my favorite value picks just came off the board in a row (Brandon Jackson, Vincent Jackson, Jerricho Cotchery) were just taken off the board before I'm up. Guys like LaMont Jordan and Julius Jones are long gone, so I'm set to take LenDale White as my RB3 if the guy in front of me doesn't. Hopefully he's not reading because my RB situation goes from thin to desperate if White is gone. I'm actually confident in the pick based on what we're hearing out of Tennessee in camp.

After White and Jackson, I see a big drop-off to players like Ladell Betts and Vernand Morency. The value just won't be there. My choice will come down to: Take my second-ranked tight end (Chris Cooley) or the best WR available (we start 3).

The wideouts on the board will include D.J. Hackett, Santonio Holmes, Kevin Curtis, and Ronald Curry.

So what would you do?

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 09:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (13)

* Sleeper that may not be alert: Brandon Marshall's injuries are becoming a major problem. We're not going to adjust his optimistic ranking yet, but he needs to prove he's in shape and healthy sooner than later.

* Willis McGahee is diplaying an Ali-like confidence. Or it's insecurity from a player whose play better match up to all his talk this season. No more excuses.

* A nice breakdown from the Nashville Tennessean of where all the position battles stand. They think LenDale White will win the starting job and Chris Henry has a long way to go. I'm very close to upgrading White in our draft guide. And he's already much higher with us than his Average Draft Position.

Also Eric Moulds could be earning playing time early. Incidentally, the Tennessean consistently provides among the best team coverage in the country. Always worth checking out.

* LaDainian Tomlinson says the Chargers may may have looked past the Patriots last season. Which shows how immature they were if remotely true. One wonders if they can handle being a returning favorite this year.

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 01:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)