Chad Johnson showed up to minicamp, proving once again that summer holdout talk is inherently worthless. Nothing to see here folks - keep drafting him as you normally would.

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)

Mandatory minicamp is often the final place to take stock of what, if anything, has changed before training camp. I'll occasionally take a look at the main points fantasy leaguers learned from finished minicamps.

1. Larry Johnson is healthy enough to practice every day

It's practically the only information we need to know about this Chiefs offseason. Contact work, of course, is a whole different matter. But L.J. has recovered as well as can be expected. That doesn't mean we are taking him in the top-20 picks.

Continue reading "What we learned: Chiefs minicamp" »

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 04:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (16)

Hard to believe, but a lot of teams are wrapping up their OTA/minicamp season with mandatory work this week.

Some relative bombshells (for June) to come out in a two hour span.

The problems with success, Part I: Plaxico Burress is refusing to work until he gets a new deal. A training camp holdout sounds possible, although we wouldn't get overly concerned.

Former Pro Bowler LeCharles Bentley asks for and receives his release because he doesn't like being a reserve after being hurt for two years. What does he expect? Cleveland's offensive line still has plenty of depth.

Continue reading "Drama Day at minicamps" »

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 02:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I spend an inordinate amout of time on this blog talking about Jaguars receivers, so I'll try to keep this one short. Those playing in deep dynasty leagues should not forget the name Mike Walker. He's a massive injury risk, but this article reminds us that he's probably got the best "number one receiver" skills on the team. I have some sources close to the Jaguars and they are uniformly convinced he is going to be a starter in the league for a long time - if he stays healthy. It probably won't happen this year, but he's worth stashing away.

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 10:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tiffany and I talk Marshawn Lynch, Cedric Benson, Terrell Owens, and the Bedpost Avenger.

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 09:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Eagles fans finally have something fresh to worry about. Donvan McNabb was shut down for the rest of OTAs Tuesday with shoulder tendinitis. This wouldn't be a story with most players, but McNabb is past getting the benefit of the doubt when it comes to injuries. Cue insane talk radio callers!

My head knows that it's not a big deal; Peyton Manning and Tom Brady are among the quarterbacks also on pitch counts. The difference is they rarely sit out for weeks at a time and they play 16 games every season.

Continue reading "It was too calm in Eagle Nation" »

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 03:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)

Outstanding article about Clinton Portis today by Pancake Blocks defending blogger of the year, Jason LaCanfora of the Washington Post.

The article takes a look at the many sides of Portis, with good inside scoops at how he got preferred treatment under Joe Gibbs. LaCanfora is above writing a puff piece, and his main point that Portis is starting to take his job more seriously is a good sign as he enters his seventh season.

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 03:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)

The Jake Plummer saga in Tampa is done. Basically, the Bucs traded a late seventh-round pick for $3.5 million. That's a deal every owner in the league would welcome. Chris Simms also doesn't sound long for Tampa, taking shots at his head coach in the Tampa papers.

Continue reading "Skinny Posts: Tampa shedding QBs" »

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 09:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (13)

So Cedric Benson is already gone. The only question is what the Bears do in their backfield now. The easy answer is that they give Matt Forte the ball 300 times and see what happens. They love his three-down skills, but they can't rely on a rookie that much without insurance.

Forte is the presumptive starter, but I suspect they want more than Adrian Peterson and Garrett Wolfe behind him. Until we know who the veteran is, we can't fully evaluate Forte's 2008 fantasy value.

I expect the Bears to start snooping around available backs (Kevin Jones, Shaun Alexander, and Travis Henry are options) to find a backup. If their prices are too high, Ron Dayne and Anthony Thomas could be alternatives. Just imagine, the A-Train and Marty Booker back together in Chicago. We'd be a Craig Krenzel away from reliving the worst offense of the last five years.

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 05:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)

Lifting a page straight out of Aaron Gleeman's playbook, I'm going to open up the floor for questions to be answered later this week. I'll answer mostly football questions, but any inquiry is welcomed. And yeah, this is the type of original thinking that happens on a 100-degree day in New York, with my air conditioner feebly trying to keep up.

***

On a completely other note, some readers have asked us for copies of the study that ranked us first among the top-15 fantasy sites in 2007 projections. FFLibrarian posted about it on Sunday, and you can download her results. We finished first in the top 100 rankings and the combined score of the position ranks. (Including first at RB, WR). This is an impossibly high standard we can't keep up, but I'm proud that 2007 was such a great year.

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 04:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)