There is never a good time for a quarterback to have elbow surgery, but Jake Delhomme and the Panthers exhausted all options before deciding to end Delhomme's season today. You know it kills Delhomme for his season to end, and one wonders what type of team this will be when he returns. It probably won't be his team.

The Panthers were handed a game Sunday, and aren't as good as their 3-2 record indicates. Playing in the mediocre NFC South will help, but John Fox and GM Marty Hurney aren't certain to be back next year.

David Carr will get his second chance in the NFL to be The Man. The Panthers have failed to develop any young alternatives to Delhomme, so a strong season by Carr would allow Carolina to return with Carr and Delhomme next year. Carr is off to a rough start.

Delhomme will be 33 entering next season and his status as the team's franchise quarterback is tenuous at best. Elbow surgeries threaten a quarterback's meal ticket and there's no guarantee he comes back the same player. Joe Montana never fully recovered from a similar procedure. At best, Delhomme will have to compete for his job next year.

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 01:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Jon Gruden half-joked Monday about calling Barry Sanders. Then he quarter-joked about calling Tiki Barber. And while Tiki has recently expressed some interest in playing again, that seems highly unlikely this year. Plus the Giants hold his rights anyway, so I wouldn't go picking up Tiki in deep redraft leagues. (Deeeep dynasty leagues maybe).

Mewelde Moore would be a better pickup. He could fill Michael Pittman's role very well in the Tampa offense and be worth adding in fantasy leagues if acquired. If Tampa made a move, it would probably be tomorrow. Corey Dillon seems like a longer shot.

Back with more thoughts on Sunday in a bit.

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

A lot of readers say they would love to see a breakdown of what changes were made in the weekend rankings update. Here's a quick, barely readable breakdown of what went down this week. You asked for it.

QB: Ben Roethlisberger went down, Chad Pennington down, Gus Frerotte is in for Marc Bulger, David Carr is up, Trent Green is up, Joey Harrington is down, and Jeff Garcia is up.

RB: Shaun Alexander went up, Frank Gore is down, Ahman Green is off the list with Ron Dayne rising, Brandon Jacobs moved up while Derrick Ward went down, Kevin Jones, Kenton Keith, and Selvin Young all went up. Cedric Benson went down.

WR: Marvin Harrison, Derrick Mason, and Braylon Edwards all went down. Anquan Boldin is off the list, as is Isaac Bruce. Bryant Johnson and Drew Bennett have replaced them. Joey Galloway went down, while Ike Hilliard is on the board. Mark Clayton and Demetrius Williams got modest upgrades.

***

Continue reading "Rankings Update" »

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 01:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (50)

I'll be chatting away here at 2:30 PM.

I tend to answer more big picture questions, in addition to trade and flex questions that can't be answered in the Week 5 Rankings.

Check it out.

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 12:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

With Travis Henry in trouble, is time for Mike Shanahan to finally consummate a relationship with one of his longest-standing flirtations?

These people think so. Now that is a good-looking press conference! I'm surprised Charlie Weis has so much free time this week.

(And no, I don't think there's a chance in Sivananda that Shanahan goes that route.)

Hat tip to Patrick Dahl for the pic, who needs something positive in his life after making so many poor season long bets.

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 11:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (11)

Detroit has worked Kevin Jones into their rotation slowly, giving him four touches in his first game back and 12 in his second.

Tatum Bell started last week against the Bears and got most of the work early in the game, including in a short-yardage situation early in the second quarter. Bell fumbled the ball without getting hit as Detroit was going in for a score. Jones owners can only hope that's where the rotation ended.

From that point on, Bell had three touches and Jones had nine, including a fumble of his own. MLive.com's Tom Kowalski believes it's time to up Jones' workload and I agree.

This is the first week I'd consider using Jones in most leagues. The Redskins are solid against the run, but give up a lot of receiving yards to backs. Look for Jones to get 15-20 touches and have his best game of the year. He should be a solid RB2 the rest of the way.

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 11:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Since the story broke late last night, there isn't much going on concerning Travis Henry in the morning papers.

The Denver Post raises the possibility that Travis Henry could play while his legal situation works itself out. But will the Broncos be willing to suffer the distraction and P.R. embarrassment of sending him out there this weekend? I've canvassed some opinion, and people are split on the issue. Mike Shanahan isn't one to be ashamed of his players getting in trouble, and this is a crucial game, so anything is possible. My gut tells me Henry won't play, but we should know more by this afternoon. The team could blame benching him on his knee and ankle injuries.

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 10:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (17)

A few more weeks. That's all Travis Henry needed before cycling out of the league's substance abuse program on October 1. But it appears Henry didn't make it to freedom and that's why he's suing the league in an unprecendented move to stop the NFL from testing his specimen and "suspending from his employment with the NFL," according to Newsday.

There are so many questions that need to be answered over the next few days, but here are a few things to consider.

Continue reading "Reports: Henry fighting suspension" »

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 10:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (24)

While I wrap up my fun with targets afternoon, try this blind taste test of the target leaders from surprising NFC team.

Player One: 20 targets, 15 catches, 245 yards, 0 TD
Player Two: 19 targets, 14 catches, 256 yards, 2 TD

Player two definitely gets an edge with the scores, but otherwise they are as even as can be. Can you guess who they are?

Continue reading "More fun with targets" »

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 06:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)

During the summer, I warned about drafting Donte Stallworth too early because of New England's spread the wealth offense. He has 13 targets for 115 yards on the season.

Another player suffering side effects from the Randy Moss and Wes Welker show is Ben Watson, who has one less target than Stallworth (12) in four games. In three of the games, Watson has been targeted only twice. I'd trade him while you can.

Continue reading "Sell High: Ben Watson" »

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 05:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)