Players Moving up and Down your Draft Board week 3

Well, we saw as much from the starters as we will in preseason so this week’s UberRank Cheatsheet should be as accurate as it can be in preseason. And, as with every week, players are on the move.

The Good:
Eddie Royal, Denver Broncos- Eddie Royal being listed as the good has more to do with Brandon Marshall than it does to do with Eddie, but none the less, he is moving up. Marshall seems determined to end his time in Denver, or he saw Chad OchoCinco kick a field goal and now he wants to be a punter. This makes Eddie Royal the primary target on an offense that has the potential to put up a lot of points. Keep in mind though, his production will be determined by Kyle Orton’s arm so beware.

The Bad:
Baltimore Ravens Running Backs, – These guys are bad because they are good. I know it sounds stupid but hear me out. The internet rumor was the Ray Rice was the projected starter (based on what, I have no idea) LeRon McClain was the goal line guy and Willis McGahee was the problem. Now McGahee is looking great, Ray Rice is still being talked about on the net and LeRon is still a load to stop in short yardage, but a new rumor has it that McGahee will be the goal line guy. Do you know who to draft from this mess, because I sure don’t so…..they all slide down.

The Ugly:
Julius Jones, Seattle Seahawks- The best choise for the ugly is still Brandon Marshall, but we have already talked about him. Julius Jones lost his job in Dallas and almost lost it to Maurice Morris and TJ Duckett last season in Seattle. With this weeks signing of Edgerrin James, Julius Jones, although still on the top of the depth chart is sure to lose at least most of his job yet again. Don’t draft him last year and don’t draft him this year and probably not next year. If you must draft someone from this family, it should be his brother, Thomas.

Wide Receivers- 2009 Fantasy Overview

It is time to start getting ready for the 2009 fantasy football season (if you haven’t already). Time to spend half of your work day researching this year’s Fantasy football cheat sheet. Standard philosophy for success is get running backs and get them early however with more and more teams going to a running back by committee wide receivers are becoming more and more crucial to winning the championship. If you look around at the champions from last year you will be hard pressed to find one that did not have at least one stud receiver on their team when in the past you would be able to get by with mediocre WR as long as you had decent running backs. Not anymore. Here are six questions to help you with this year’s season.

Q) Many of the leagues big-name receivers have either changed teams (T.O.) or might soon do so (Boldin, Edwards). Who of this bunch is the most interesting this season?

A) Anquan Boldin. It will be very interesting to see if there will be a drop off in production when he leaves the pass happy offense with the best wide receiver in the league on the other side of him drawing double coverage.

Q) There are always certain players that everyone is overly high on despite their inability to put of the numbers. Who is this season’s most overrated wide receiver?

A) Antonio Bryant. This guy has had one good season after 6 seasons of almost nothing. He needs to show me more than one good season in a decade to make me a believer.

Q) On the flip side, there are also players who, no matter how well they produce, people are always looking for the to fall on their face. Who is the wide receiver that get the least respect from the pundits?

A) Steve Smith (CAR) – The guy is a mighty mouse. He is small in stature but big in heart. He averaged over 100 yards per game last year and some rankings still have him out of the top 10 receivers, absurd! He should be top 3, maybe top 2.

Q) With 3 big name college wide outs taken in top 20 in the this year’s draft, there will be endless debate over who is the best in class. So , which rookie is best, this year and long-term?

A) Michael Crabtree is the most naturally talented of the rookie crop and Heyward-Bey is the fastest, but Jeremy Maclin is this year’s impact rookie. With Curtis more suited to the slot and Jackson being a pure burner, Philadelphia was in need of a playmaker at WR2, and they got one in Maclin. Philly is also the only team in question whose QB has proven he can deliver the rock. Long term production, will depend greatly on the Bay Area teams developing a QB.

Q) Which projected No. 3 wide receiver is this year’s best bet to take a flier on in late rounds?

A) Without question, it is Steve Breaston. If Boldin does stay Breaston will remain the third guy but will get more looks than the number 2 wide out on most teams. If Boldin leaves, Breaston become the WR2 in the most pass crazy offense in the league.

Q) Each season brings a player who people have said has lost a step….and they are wrong. Who will be the comeback wide receiver of the year?

A) TJ (whose your mama?) Houshmandzadeh. One of the most productive fantasy wide receivers in the last half decade, he is now in a heavy passing offense and finally the number one guy.

Wide Receivers for 2009 Fantasy

It is time to start getting ready for the 2009 fantasy football season (if you haven’t already).  Standard philosophy for success is get running backs and get them early however with more and more teams going to a running back by committee wide receivers are becoming more and more crucial to winning the championship.  If you look around at the champions from last year you will be hard pressed to find one that did not have at least one stud receiver on their team when in the past you would be able to get by with mediocre WR as long as you had decent running backs.  Not anymore.  Here are six questions to help you with this years season.

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1. Several big-name wideouts have either changed teams or may soon do so (Boldin, Edwards). Which of these players are you most interested in this season?

Anquan Boldin. I am interested to see the drop off in production when he leaves the pass happy offense with the best WR in the league on the other side of him.

1. Who is the most overrated wide receiver?

Antonio Bryant. This guy has had one good season after 6 of almost nothing. Needs to show me more then that.

1. Who is the most underrated wide receiver?  (15-25 words)

Steve Smith (CAR) – He averaged over 100 yards per game last year and some lists still have him out of the top 10 receivers. He should be top 3.

4. Which rookie do you like best, in 2009 and long-term? (25-35 words)

Jeremy Maclin -  With Curtis more suited to the slot and Jackson being a pure burner, Philadelphia needed a playmaking WR2.  Philly’s QB has proven he can deliver the rock.  Long term will depend on the Bay Area teams developing a QB.

1. Which projected No. 3 wideout are you most likely to use a late-round pick on? (15-25 words)

Steve Breatson – If Boldin does stay Breaston will get more looks then most No. 2 WR

6. Who is your nominee for comeback wide receiver of the year? Why? (15-25 words) TJ Houshmandzadeh. One of the most productive fantasy WR in the last 3-4 years, traded to a passing team as WR1.

T.O. is on the Move….Again!

It doesn’t seem to matter who he plays for or how well the team does or how productive he is, Terrell Owens cannot find a team that will put up with his immature petulance. Let’s just take a quick look at his History:
San Francisco 49ers 1996-2003:
Averaged over 1000 yards, 10 tds per season
Relationship ended with Owens angry that he was not given the ball enough in critical situations. It was his believe that if he was more involved they would win. Owens also openly criticized his QB Jeff Garcia in the media about his arm strength. He also hinted about Garcia’s sexual orientation. At least he kept it professional.

Philadelphia Eagles 2004-2005:
Averaged 100 yards and 1 td per game. Almost super human numbers for a receiver. He spent the first season talking about how great it was to have a quality quarterback throwing to him. The team went to the superbowl and T.O. was Philly’s favorite son! He spent the second season talking about how “his team” would be better if they had a quarterback like Brett Favre. Relationship with the eagles ended with T.O. doing sit ups in his driveway for the media while telling them that he would do better in a place where he was appreciated. He was cut.

Dallas Cowboys 2006-2008 Dallas Cowboys:
Averaged 1100 yards, 13 tds per season 2 play off appearances
All things looked great, T.O. was best friends with his QB Tony Romo. They bunked together on the road and Terrell even started crying while defending Romo in front of the cameras when the vicious reporters hinted that Romo was unfocused because he spent his bye-week in Cabo with his Bimbette Jessica Simpson before the playoffs. T.O. tearfully told reporters that they were not being fair and they should leave him alone. Last season Terrell Owens shockingly started to become upset with what he considered a diminishing role in the offense. He even went so far as to hint that it was racially motivated that Jason Witten was getting more looks than him. He again started to publically air his grievances……..He was cut.

2009……
Enter the Buffalo Bills.
So, Pro bowlers, Jeff Garcia, Donovan McNabb, and Tony Romo were all not good enough to get him the ball properly, but, TRENT EDWARDS IS THE ANSWER?????!!!!!!!!! Terrell Owens is like that person who tells you about having 14 different roommates in the last 2 years and tells you how they were all impossible to live with. Do you think that all 14 are crazy, or do you think that maybe you are the crazy one?

So, what does this mean to your fantasy team if you are “lucky” enough to have him on your roster???? It means great things for at least next year. If you look at Owens’ history everytime he goes to a new team the first year is a monster. He is playing to prove that the last team was wrong about him. He works extra hard in the offseason and generally has 1200 yards and 13TDs during the year, that is what we would call a top tier WR. So if you have him on your team you will never get what he is worth in a trade so just sit back and get prepared for a good year. If you do not have him trade for him. At least a couple of the guys in your league are too stupid to read this site so you can probably get him cheap. The possible gold nugget at the end of this rainbow is he is only signed to a 1 year contact so if Buffalo doesn’t pay him off next year, which they won’t(small market teams generally don’t spend a ton), you could ride the TO hurricane for a second big season. As a note of caution if the next team that signs him does it for more then one year make sure you fire sale his ass before then end the that first year.