Competition in Chicago
Some people, including new signee Brandon Lloyd, have doubted whether Rex Grossman will truly have to compete for the Chicago starting job with Kyle Orton. Those doubts should have been put to rest Monday, when Kyle Orton opened up OTAs taking the majority of first-team reps. We suspect Grossman will get the nod today, but it's clear Orton will be given a real chance.
No offensive depth chart is more up for grabs than Chicago's. Lovie Smith created a stir last week calling Cedric Benson the starter, but what else is he going to say? Brad Briggs of the Chicago Sun-Times puts it well:
Benson was the starter before he broke his leg last November. There’s no way Forte is going to be anointed the starter from Day 1 of OTA’s or even Day 1 of training camp. Smith wasn’t going to move Adrian Peterson or Garrett Wolfe to the top of the heap either. It should have been a given Benson was on top, for the time being any way.
In the end, OTA depth charts don't mean a hell of a lot. The key thing to watch is the health of the players. More will happen to affect fantasy leaguers in the first week of training camp than in the three months prior.
Comments
with the no.3 dynasty rookie draft pick, i so wanna pick forte, but i just dont trust this team and its philosophy for nothing. appears to me that no matter what happens this year, benson will somehow find his way in a committee with forte, saping his value. on a better coached/run organization, i would totally think the other way.
Posted by: scott c | May 20, 2008 04:20 PM
forte r3d in a rookie draft? im sure the guy drafting 4th will thank you when he gets stewart or mendenhall. hell i'd take smith before forte.
Posted by: mark | May 20, 2008 04:53 PM
well im sure stewart will be gone by then. forte is either 3rd or 4th best rookie. smith... who knows with that guy. at least forte looked good in college. good hands and blocking, but smith, he's more like 5th or 6th best. not sure if he's even gonna be good at the next level.
Posted by: scott c | May 20, 2008 06:08 PM
I like Kevin Smith better than Forte also. If you're dead set on Forte, try trading back to 1.04.
The value at 3 is either Stewart or Mendenhall and you could probably get an extra 2nd rounder out of the deal.
Posted by: Chad F. | May 20, 2008 07:59 PM
Rookie RBs.
Dynasty: 1. McFadden, 2. Stewart, 3. Mendenhall, 4. K. Smith, 5. Forte.
Redraft '08 picks: 1. K. Smith, 2. Forte, 3. Stewart, 4. McFadden, 5. Felix Jones.
Posted by: b roo | May 20, 2008 08:00 PM
I went Forte at 1.04 in dynasty.
Posted by: gregg | May 22, 2008 11:32 AM