It's Friday, I'm making sure the draft guide is up to date, so let's keep this short with some fantasy thoughts and non-fantasy football thoughts on the announcement of Byron Leftwich's dismissal in Jacksonville.

Fantasy Implications

1. We re-did the projections and David Garrard is now our QB15, atop of of a big tier with Matt Leinart and Brett Favre, but behind guys like Eli Manning and Jay Cutler. That seemed high to me at first because I'm not a huge fan of Garrard's passing skills. Then I looked at his fantasy stats when he's started.

2005 (6 starts): QB5
2006: (10 starts): QB14

Continue reading "Go Grab Garrard" »

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 05:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

The only surprise is that Mike Shanahan waited this long to drop a bomb on fantasy leaguers. Mike Bell is out as Denver's backup running back, and Selvin Young is in.

Like most Shanny surprises, he baited us early in camp by dangling Cecil Sapp as the random Bronco to watch. But Young, Cedric Benson's old committee partner at Texans (among other players), looks to be the pick after starting Denver's game Thursday night.

Continue reading "Meet the new Mike Bell" »

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 02:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

As I brace for a slew of cuts set to arrive this afternoon, let's look a little closer at today's matchups article by Bill Barnwell.

Here's the key part: "Quarterbacks and running backs lose about a third of their value when playing the best defenses in the league as opposed to the worst; wide receivers lose about 15% of their value, and there's no real pattern for tight ends."

Continue reading "When to sit your starters" »

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 01:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)

Let's look back at my keys for Thursday night and see if we learned anything

Clinton Portis - Redskins Insider says Portis got his wish by sitting out the game. It's not a huge concern on it's own, but this is different than LT2 or Westbrook sitting out. They have practiced more than five times all camp and aren't coming off multiple surgeries.

Oakland quarterback battle - Daunte Culpepper appears to have the edge, but it's not by much. We may not know for sure until gametime.

Tennessee skill players - In a surprise, the Titans played their starters into the second half. And LenDale White was one of those starters, playing well, and delivering an awesome block to spring Vince Young for a touchdown. A committee looks likely early, with White the lead back.

Brandon Jones started over Roydell Williams and caught a touchdown pass. Jeff Fisher has been playing games with this spot, but Jones now appears likely to get the call in Week 1. Wait to see how it shakes out, but hold on to Jones.

Continue reading "Thursday Night Lights" »

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 09:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

I started the day saying that tonight's 14-game slate won't have too much fantasy implications. But, in an effort to justify watching some live football tonight, here are a few key things to look for.

Clinton Portis - Plans to take a few snaps in his first live action since October 2006.

Oakland quarterback battle - Josh McCown, Daunte Culpepper are still battling.

Tennessee skill players - Curious to see if LenDale White, Roydell Williams play with first team.

Carolina second receiver - Check out if Keary Colbert starts again.

Tampa second receiver - A position battle that's still going on. That said, David Boston had a huge Week 4 of the preseason last year before getting cut.

Saints receivers - Marques Colston, Devery Henderson return to action.

D.J. Hackett watch - Make sure he's starting.

Your fantasy teams - No injuries, no injuries, no injuries.

Good luck and thanks for watching the live show today. We'll get a link up tomorrow.

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 05:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer raises the possibility of a job-share between D.J. Hackett and Nate Burleson. The line is a bit buried, and could be proved meaningless, but it points out the surprising camp battle between the two.

I'm still not that concerned as a Hackett owner. When Seattle has lined up to play on Sundays the last two years, Hackett has been one of the best per-snap receivers in the NFL. Burleson has been a consistent disappointment in Minnesota and Seattle. Hackett is going to start in Week 1, and he's likely to challenge Deion Branch for top receiver honors in Seattle.

A couple preseason games don't erase the last two years of evidence that Hackett is a superior player to Burleson. And Seattle's starting wide receivers have been solid fantasy options in the Mike Holmgren era, all the way back to Koren Robinson and Sean Dawkins. I'm still confident as D.J. Hackett as a third wideout in fantasy leagues.

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 04:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Kevin Jones is headed to the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) List, which is going to send him falling in fantasy drafts this weekend. We’re not adjusting his ranking on Rotoworld’s cheat sheets because we already had him pegged for ten games and 145 overall touches. That projection makes him the RB38 on our cheat sheets with an eighth round draft grade. That's where you can take some risks in your draft.

There just won’t be a waiver wire pickup available during the season with the high ceiling of Kevin Jones. Keep in mind that Detroit has an early bye, so Jones is eligible to return after five games. Mlive.com’s Tom Kowalski sounds confident Jones will only miss five games, but it’s early in the process. Still, the news sounds relatively good for Jones owners. Kowalski writes:

Continue reading "Jones still worth a mid-round pick" »

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 03:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Here's what Saints coach Sean Payton said about his rookie wideout Robert Meachem in today's Baton Rouge Advocate.

Continue reading "The Undraftables " »

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 10:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (10)

28 teams wrap up their preseason schedule tonight, but there won't be that many blurbs on Rotoworld. The fourth week of the preseason is virtually worthless for fantasy leaguers, an exercise that mostly involves a few players battling for roster spots 50-53 and trying to make the practice squad.

Starters will play a series or less in most cases, so perhaps we'll be able to learn a few things from who's being saved for Week 1. Clinton Portis is perhaps the one star that could help his stock with a few healthy snaps. We also might get a Kevin Jones update.

***

While I get ready for today's live show at 1PM, here are a couple morning links.

Continue reading "Should be a quiet night" »

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 09:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

First let's see how the truest committee in the league is being drafted.

Marion Barber: RB24, fourth/fifth-round
Julius Jones: RB30, sixth-round

We don't know that much more about this situation now than we did when Wade Phillips was hired. The owners hoping Barber would take the starting job have been disappointed, and his ADP has steadily dropped because of it. I'd take Jones over Barber straight up even though the roles look to be the same this year. For a sixth-round RB3, you aren't going to do much better.

Continue reading "Focus on Cowboys" »

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 06:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)