Archive for June, 2008

Quarterbacks: Out With The Old In With The New

Wednesday, 18 June, 2008

Due to retirement, job demotion, or change of scenery quarterbacks come and go. With that in mind changes are abound as the old filter out and new chances to be a starting quarterback are born. NJG breaks it down in the category of quarterbacks.

Miami: Out: Trent Green, In: Josh McCown/John Beck
If Brady Quinn ever pans out, Miami fans will never get over the fact that the Dolphins chose to sign Trent Green. Everyone knew a team for now was not going to happen with Green and that building for the future was should have been the main objective. Perhaps Ted Ginn Jr. will prove worthy of the ninth choice. First a training camp battle will ensue with John Beck against Josh McCown. It should be a solid battle with no front runner going into camp. McCown has done solid in spot duty starts in Arizona and Oakland, but never has been able to put it together. Dennis Green yanked and reassigned him starter a few times in Arizona, and last season McCown had a few bright games with Oakland but nothing outstanding. Beck’s our favorite to have the job by mid season due to McCown’s past.

Green Bay: Out: Brett Favre, In: Aaron Rodgers
Rodgers steps in with the ageless Favre announcing his retirement. It was a crushing blow to the Packer faithful after last years amazing run. In comes Rodgers who has been learning the game visually from the sideline the last three seasons. In his one game stint last year against the Cowboys, Rodgers showed a glimpse of what he can do. It’ll likely take a good half season to get fully acclimated but Rodgers should be a suitable starter. Much better than the number one pick that year.

Buffalo Bills: Out: JP Losman, In: Trent Edwards
Based upon last seasons games the decision of the Bills to bench Losman made no sense. Edwards did come in and win some games but they were Trent Dilfer type wins. Games won by managing the clock and relying on your defense. Edwards needs to open it up more with the passing game, and at this point does not scratch the surface of a fantasy roster.

Atlanta Falcons: Out: Joey Harrington, In: Chris Redman, Matt Ryan
Hand this starting job over to Ryan before discussions even start. Redman’s a great story line idea to compare coming off being away from the NFL to being pulled back in. He won’t be a Kurt Warner fairy tale and likely won’t touch the field as a starter. Matt Ryan is paid the mega dollars to come in from the gate and grow with this team. Ryan seems to be a quick learner and has some budding young receivers to throw to.

Baltimore Ravens: Out: Steve McNair, In: Kyle Boller
Talk about an athlete that has had numerous shots as a starter. Boller has been a Raven since 2003, and has never been able to lock down or gain the confidence of being a number one quarterback. It’s now or never for Boller as the Ravens are giving him a fantastic opportunity to try and redeem himself one more time. Certain phases of his game have never been doubted. It’s time for him to play like a five year veteran and utilize his skills. Boller is a light sleeper to think about going into your fantasy drafts, only if you draft a sure fire starting quarterback.

Kansas City: Out: Damon Huard, In: Brodie Croyle
Huard’s luck ran out rapidly last season, and in comes Croyle. He got his feet wet last season and did little to stretch the field. Herm Edwards will do his best to keep the young quarterback from having to make too many decisions. Croyle heads into the 08 season as a bottom tier starting quarterback. He’ll have a tough time outdoing his interception to touchdown ratio.

Battles

Shaun Hill vs. Alex Smith
Hill came out of no where last season and showed he can be a decent viable option at quarterback. Enough so that he has created a training camp battle against former number one pick Alex Smith. It’ll take an absolute phenomenal effort and poor of Smith to change the guard this quickly in San Francisco. Smith will be the starter heading in, but with Mike Nolan’s job on the line, a switch will happen quickly if Smith doesn’t produce.

Kellen Clemens vs. Chad Pennington
Pennington can try to change his throwing motion all he wants. A starting job is something that one be in his possession come September. Clemens made a lot of poor choices in his action last season but Pennington just doesn’t seem to have recovered from his past injuries. If Pennington has truly healed and can get back to his 2002 form, than it’ll be an easy lock for him. With what happened last year that is highly doubtful.

Quick Switch Wideouts in New Places

Tuesday, 17 June, 2008

Notjustagame.com

If you blinked this off season you missed some significant changes to rosters. It was far from an average off season and teams were not shy to shake up their depth charts. Usually teams are looking to maneuver for depth behind starters. Not the case this off season as teams unloaded and reloaded at the receiver position. It’ll be interesting to see how these receivers shape out on their new respective teams. Notjustagame breaks down where we see these wideouts.

Javon Walker, Oakland
Clearly Walker is one of the best receivers in the game when healthy. Unfortunately tragedies and injuries have plagued him the past two seasons. We will all be awaiting to see how severe his injuries are from being robbed Monday morning in Las Vegas. At 29, Walker can help develop Jamarcus Russell. Russell has a great arm and should be able to connect on some deep long balls to Walker. The offense of the Raiders is actually in good shape as long as Russell can have a positive start.

Jerry Porter, Jacksonville
Here is a guy that has had a Chad Johnson demeanor for no reason at all. He played behind Tim Brown and Jerry Rice and had it all to be a top wideout. Now entering his ninth season Porter is still looking to make an impact as a consistent receiver. Leaving Oakland might develop the Moss cure for Porter as well. If he comes to camp in the right frame of mind, Porter is going to have all the opportunities in the world to become what Matt Jones and Ernest Wilford couldn’t.

Darrell Jackson, Denver Broncos
Ignore last seasons numbers from Jackson. Blame has to go on the team and quarterback he was playing with. Jackson thankfully gets another shot to find success with the Broncos and emerging quarterback Jay Cutler. Expect Jackson to shake off last seasons rust and get back to the form of his Seattle Seahawks days.

Bernard Berrian, Minnesota
The Vikings felt that Berrian is the guy they needed, but we’re a little hesitant on him. He seems to be more of the Ashley Lelie type. A big play burner with not much else to his game. That’s a great skill set to have but Berrian needs to work more on becoming an all around true number one receiver. Having Tarvaris Jackson as his quarterback also downgrades Berrian to a borderline number two, and decent third fantasy wide receiver.

Ernest Wilford, Miami
Wilferd did a good job in ousting Matt Jones in Jacksonville but is not a fantasy worthy receiver. He will also have to beat out Derek Hagan to garner the number two receiver spot. The plus with Wilford is that he is a big target in the for catches and touchdowns once you cross mid field. Ha, we’re talking the Dolphins here.

Donte Stallworth, Cleveland Browns
This quiet signing by the Browns is tricky scary. Teams that thought they could now blanket Braylon Edwards are not going to be able to. Adding Stallworth gives the Browns one of the scariest offensive threats in the league. Kellen Winslow’s already a beast to go with Braylon Edwards unworldly numbers. Lets just say its going to be a fun show to watch in Cleveland this year.

Bryant Johnson and Isaac Bruce, San Francisco
Combinations just are not working for the 49ers since TO left the 49ers. They tried Brandon Lloyd, Antonio Bryant, Curtis Conway, Johnnie Morton, Arnaz Battle, and the list goes on. In 2007 they revamped and brought in Darrell Jackson and Ashley Lelie. We’re not too sure if these combination is going to work either. Bruce is a great veteran but one that has been on the downside of his career the past few seasons. How much could he possibly have left? Johnson is a guy that was eclipsed in Arizona because of the immense talents of Anquan Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald. That doesn’t alarm us. What does is that Johnson started on many occasions due to injuries of either Fitz or Boldin. When he did Johnson did not play like a capable starting receiver should.

Keary Colbert, Denver Broncos
Colbert has been on fantasy waiver wire radar before but just the hot rumor circuit. Catch him in preseason to see how he fits in with the Broncos offensive attack. Mike Shanahan is not afraid to make moves amongst his roster, so Colbert doesn’t have the second spot for certain.

Drew Carter, Oakland Raiders
If Javon Walker is injury plagued or suffers from injuries from being robbed than Carter jumps in with a starting role. Carter really does not seem the type of receiver that is going to make a home anywhere. His fantasy value is limited and will likely stay that way.

DJ Hackett, Carolina Panthers
A fresh start and great shot at catapulting his statistics is in the hands of DJ Hackett. Steve Smith has never really had a guy to alleviate pressure and defensive schemes from him. Hackett showed with Seattle that he can be a decent threat. We will see how he meshes with Jake Delhomme. What we are more worried about is if he’ll hang onto the ball more consistently. Even at that Hackett goes into 2008 as a solid number two fantasy wide receiver if you load up early on running backs and a quarterback early.

Marty Booker and Brandon Lloyd, Chicago Bears
The true change on this team should have came at quarterback. Neither Lloyd or Bookerhave had decent seasons in quite some time. Either being the second or most of the time third options as a Redskin and Dolphin. It’ll be a long rough year for the Bears offensively and rapid changes will be in the works.

Houston's Backfield

Saturday, 14 June, 2008

When drafting for depth at your fantasy running back position you have to take chances on crowded back fields. This day and age too many teams are utilizing a schematic system based upon specific play calling. Gone are the days of a running back that’s going to get the 25 to 30 carries on the majority of NFL teams. After you round up your sure starters you have no choice but to look for potential value. Houston has that.

Matt Schaub did a sound job in his first year with the Texans before his injury. Chemistry did get messed up a tad when Andre Johnson went down, but the offense clicked on and off all last season. All in all that would explain their .500 record, but that finish exceeded expectations in the tough AFC. The question is can Houston lean on a go to running back? They need to be able to count on someone to carry the load at least twenty times a game.

With Ron Dayne gone and Ahman Greens shaky and questionable injury problems chances are there for a newcomer. Someone has to step up, but who? Ahman Green, Chris Brown, Steve Slaton, Darius Walker, and Chris Taylor are all candidates.

Ahman Green goes into training camp as the number one guy, but has been rattled and plagued by injuries. Two of the last three seasons he hasn’t even been able to complete half a year. With his health better than ever the Texans need to figure a way to keep him on the field. At a time he was one of the best threats in the game, but that time was about five years ago. His better days are behind him but with the Texans explosive offense capabilities he can be a serious threat.

Talk about a sporadic running back, Chris Brown, is the epitome of that. He is the type of guy that drives a fantasy football owner nuts. With the Titans he ballooned out of nowhere on occasion only to dart back off the radar just as quickly. The truth is Brown has never been able to hold off or keep a first string job ever in his career. After a fabulous week one performance against the Jaguars, Brown simply could not muster any solid performances. His carries dropped and before you knew it Lendale White snatched away the job and became the main guy. It’s hard to imagine Brown becoming a threat but he should hold the job as the third down and short yardage guy.

It’ll be very interesting to see how the Texans use Steve Slaton. He lacks the expected size that you’d expect of an NFL caliber back. His value is extremely limited for fantasy purposes until he adds weight and opportunity emerges itself. He’ll be brought in too confuse and put pressure more as a receiving threat than rusher. Slaton excelled in college but the transformation is going to be a difficult one for him. It’ll take him a couple years to get that NFL body.

As it goes currently Green should be the easy pick to hold onto the starting job. He is a crafty veteran that has had some unfortunate injuries. It could be a plus as he hasn’t taken a full season of NFL hits to his body for quite some time. If he can stay away from the injury bug a decent season will be ahead for him. The Texans organization knows that they are in dire need of a budding youthful running back prospect. This committee will work this year but will be a growing concern heading into the 2008 off season.

Await is Over

Thursday, 12 June, 2008

It was a busy off season for Notjustagame. Sorry for the delay folks. Get ready for fresh, new, and beefed up fantasy football coverage all season. We will be rolling out some new things so stay tuned.

Notjustagame