Archive for the 'Team Focus' Category

Overall Fantasy Impact: Average

Offensive Outlook: The Raiders are an extremely hard team to gauge entering the 2008 season.

So many newcomers are playing key roles on the offensive side of the ball that it’s hard to say who will be the productive fantasy players and who will be forgotten men.

One certainty is that the JaMarcus Russell era is beginning, and that’s cause for excitement for fantasy players hoping he’s the next dynamic quarterback to come down the pike. Throw in first-round running back Darren McFadden, and you can see why the Raiders will be fun to watch in ‘08.

QUARTERBACKS: The Raiders let Russell sit for most of his rookie season after he signed late. He got a chance to start the season finale and threw for 224 yards and a TD. That’s all you have to go on right now, so watch the preseason carefully. Russell likely will take his lumps this season, but his electric talent will shine through at times. He’s strictly fantasy back-up material to start the season, although he might be useful later in the season when he starts to get comfortable. Continue Reading »

Overall Fantasy Impact: Average

Offensive Outlook: The Chiefs are a bit of an odd case.

They’re coming off a year in which they finished 31st of 32 NFL teams in offensive yards and points, and yet they have two bona fide fantasy stars in Larry Johnson and Tony Gonzalez, and a legitimate up-and-comer in Dwayne Bowe.

Johnson’s season-ending injury in Week 6 obviously hurt them last year, and a full season of health should do wonders for the team’s offensive numbers.

But can this trio of standouts overcome a less-than-impressive quarterback situation and a very green offensive line? Continue Reading »

Overall Fantasy Impact: Average

Offensive Outlook: The Broncos had little trouble moving the ball last year, but scoring points was another matter entirely. Despite finishing 11th in the league in yards, they were only 21st in the league in points.

Denver is trying to rectify this problem this year by adding a trio of veteran receivers who had flamed out elsewhere. But big question marks still abound:

Can Selvin Young carry the load at running back?

Will Jay Cutler’s diabetes diagnosis be a problem?

And will off-the-field nonsense derail the promising career of Brandon Marshall? Continue Reading »

Overall Fantasy Impact: Below Average

Offensive Outlook: The idea in the offseason in Tennessee seemed to be to surround Vince Young with some talented skill-position guys in the hopes that it would ignite the talent that seemed dormant last season.

Three draft picks in the first four rounds plus a smattering of free agents added a lot of quantity, but whether those additions provide quality is questionable.

Young is still lacking in the kind of top-flight receiver that a quarterback needs to get to the next level.

As such, this playoff team from a year ago might once again have to do it with an opportunistic defense and a buttoned-down offense that does not play to its star’s prodigious talents. Continue Reading »

Overall Fantasy Impact: Average

Offensive Outlook: With an overpowering running attack and a quarterback who minimized mistakes, the Jaguars offense kicked into another gear last season, finishing 7th in yards and 6th in points. The offseason changes were minimal, with a change at back-up quarterback and a slight shuffling of the deck at receiver the only significant moves.

The problem with the Jags for fantasy purposes is that they don’t have any offensive superstars carrying the whole load. The receiving corps is completly up for grabs, and their top two running backs split the load, keeping their value down. As a result, it’s hard to get overexcited about any individual Jaguar despite the good team numbers. Continue Reading »

Overall Fantasy Impact: Above Average

Offensive Outlook: The Colts are the gold standard for consistent offensive production in the NFL. Year in and year out, you can’t go wrong with taking the Colts main offensive producers high in your fantasy draft. They weathered the departure of Edgerrin James two years ago, and they survived a fragment of a season last year from Marvin Harrison. 2007 Indy numbers: 5th in the league in offensive yardage, 3rd in scoring, without breaking a sweat.

That’s because Peyton Manning is the constant, running an offense that doesn’t change much but still confounds opposing defenses. They’re also practically slump-proof, which means that you shouldn’t be nervous about taking several Colts on draft day if you have the chance.

QUARTERBACK: If someone told you before the season that your fantasy quarterback was going to throw for 4,100 yards and 30 TDs, chances are you’d take it sight unseen. Well, those are the average numbers for Manning’s 10-year career. Others may have big seasons here and there, but with Manning, you have no worries. Tom Brady will likely go before him in most drafts this year, but don’t be surprised if Manning brings in numbers similar to or better than his New England counterpart. And he never gets hurt, so don’t bother with a handcuff pick of Jim Sorgi. Continue Reading »

Overall Fantasy Impact: Average

Offensive Outlook: The Texans were a middle-of-the-road fantasy producer a year ago, which wasn’t bad considering the disaster they had been in years past or when taking into account all the injuries they had a year ago.

Their top quarterback, running back, and receiver all missed significant time.

This is still a team with a messy running back situation, but if the Matt Schaub to Andre Johnson combo can stay healthy and develop the chemistry they showed early last season, Houston’s offense could conceivably take another step up. Continue Reading »

Overall Fantasy Impact: Above Average

Offensive Outlook: Coming off a surprising season in which the Browns ranked 8th in the NFL in points and yards with a young offense, it makes sense that they chose to pretty much stand pat on that side of the ball in the offseason. They picked up some key defensive components instead, which should help to get the offense on the field much more often.

There are a few worries (lack of depth at running back, health concerns for Kellen Winslow), but continued improvement by the young stars should mean more big numbers emanating from Cleveland this year.

QUARTERBACK: Derek Anderson’s emergence was one of the most surprising developments in fantasy football last year. Most assumed he was just keeping the seat warm for Brady Quinn, but 3,787 yards and 29 TD passes later, Anderson is now on the short list of the best fantasy options at the position in 2008.

Quinn’s presence is a bit worrisome for Anderson owners. What if Anderson stumbles a bit out of the gate? The pressure will mount quickly for Coach Romeo Crennel to give the Golden-Domer a chance, which could mean that Anderson could go from hero to bust in fantasy circles very quickly. As such, he is much riskier than some of the other top QB’s on the market. Continue Reading »

Gaining offensive yardage in a pro football game is one of the most teamwork-intensive tasks in all of sports. Eleven players have to execute their tasks on every play, with one mishap resulting in the entire play blowing up. Running a play is comparable to executing a complex choreographed dance routine, only with eleven guys running around trying to mess you up and put you in the hospital in the process.

How does this relate to fantasy football? It’s important because when an offense is running well, everyone is involved and is putting up numbers; whereas a poorly orchestrated offense (even one with talented players who are potential fantasy studs) won’t give you consistent production from anyone on a weekly basis.

Now that the NFL draft has passed and player movement is likely to be minimal from now until September, it’s time to rank the overall offenses for fantasy purposes. This is especially useful if you play in a deep fantasy league and are searching for guys to fill out your roster. As in the real NFL draft, everyone knows who the top players are. It’s the guys you pick up in the later rounds that can make or break your season. Due to the symbiotic nature of offenses, an overall evaluation of the team’s offense is a better tool for evaluating your fantasy draft picks than an individual’s talent. In other words, taking a lower-ranked receiver on a good offense like Anthony Gonzalez from Indianapolis is a much safer bet than going after a starter with a good reputation but is playing on a sputtering offense (Lee Evans in Buffalo is a great example).

Since everybody is going to know what you’re getting out of the top offenses in the league, I won’t spend much time analyzing them. The purpose of this article is to find the offenses poised to break through in 2008, and the ones that will bog down the fantasy production of their quarterbacks and receivers. Continue Reading »

Overall Fantasy Impact: Above Average

Offensive Outlook: These are not your father’s, or your older brother’s for that matter, Pittsburgh Steelers. The 2007 Steelers opened things up on offense and let Ben Roethlisberger throw like he was back in the MAC, while young playmakers like Willie Parker, Santonio Holmes, and Heath Miller put up huge numbers.

The draft brought more weapons in RB Rashard Mendenhall and WR Limas Sweed in the first two rounds, giving the Steelers more skill-position talent than just about anyone else. The only concern is the suddenly-suspect offensive line, which loses its finest player in departed free agent Alan Faneca.

QUARTERBACK: Roethlisberger ascended to the upper echelon of fantasy QB’s last year, with 32 TD passes, good for 3rd-best in the league (and more than Peyton Manning.) He had just one start in which he failed to throw a score and had three games with at least 4 TD’s. And he managed all of this without a 300-yard game, the only blemish to his fantasy record last year.

Not bad considering that his top two receivers missed significant time with injury. Big Ben should be off the board by round 5 and should be worthy of a fantasy start most weeks. Continue Reading »