The Sports Rumors

My Fantasy Football Squad

My fantasy football league’s draft was today at 1:30. I had the fourth overall pick in my league, which consists of 14 managers. As expected, the first three picks were LT, Steven Jackson and Larry Johnson. I took Shaun Alexander with my fourth overall pick, while rocking my Santana Moss jersey. Actually, let me give you a rundown of my squad:

Starters:

QB: Donovan McNabb (Coming off injury)

RB: Shaun Alexander (Coming off injury)

RB: Tatum Bell (Mike Martz system is why I picked him)

WR: Tory Holt (His nickname is “Big Game”)

WR: Reggie Brown (No more Stallworth means more looks)

WR: Mark Clayton (On the verge of a breakout year)

TE: Heath Miller (Coming off a solid year)

K: Robbie Gould (See my fantasy predictions)

Defense: Washington (See my fantasy predictions)

Backups:

QB: Jeff Garcia (funny how he’s McNabb’s backup again)

RB: Adrian Peterson (Potential starter)

WR: Brandon Jones (Vince Young’s go to guy?)

WR: Mike Furrey (Starter until Calvin Johnson is ready)

WR: Wes Welker (I was tired)

Defense: Green Bay (I don’t care)

I’ve got to say, I’m feeling pretty good about my chances. But who isn’t at this point?  My team is a risky one. I can either have a really, really good year. Or, I can have a really bad one given how my starting QB and RB are coming off of major injuries. I also took some chances with young wideouts who I feel are going to break out. If they don’t, my team will suffer.

Fantasy football day is a great day. Again, if you’re not in a league, I suggest you get in one now or talk to people who’re interested and get in next year. The draft was filled with food, trash talk, greasy keyboards, and spilling mustard on draft research sheets. All this was followed by feeling nauseous from eating too many fries, lots of NCAA on Xbox360 and a thrilling Madden game (which I won on a goalline stand with 2 seconds remaining).

2007 should be a good football season.

Fantasy Football Rankings: WR’s, TE’s, Kickers, and Defenses

As promised, here are my 100% on point, take-it-to-the-bank fantasy rankings 1-5 for the remaining positions. (Scroll down to see the QB and RB rankings from yesterday). Below are the Wide Receivers, Tight Ends, Kickers, and Defenses that you need to take a look at for your upcoming draft. I’m going to hold off on releasing my 6-30 rankings for each of the positions until after Saturday afternoon because that is when my draft is, and since a lot of the managers in my league read this site regularly, I can’t give away my position on players. So check this out for now, then Saturday night you’ll have the rest of my comprehensive rankings.

Wide Receivers: The heart breakers. They’ll either save you or kill you.

My Top Five

1. Steve Smith – Played 14 games last year and had 83 catches with 8 touchdowns. Would have probably ended up with 90 or so catches with 9 or 10 touchdowns had he not missed two games. The MVP of the Panthers who I predicted to win the NFC South. Take him to the bank.
2. Marvin Harrison – Mr.Consistency still has Peyton throwing the ball last I checked. The added third receiver, Anthony Gonzalez,  should mean less attention and doubles on Marvin and we all know how he’s Peyton’s go to guy inside the 20.
3. Tory Holt – I don’t get how this guy doesn’t get the hype that some of the other WRs do. He’s got an arguably top 5 quarterback in Bulger. And I mean, he only had 12, 10, 9 and 10 touchdowns while averaging 1400 yards the past four seasons.. But go ahead and pick Chad Johnson or TO ahead of him and see how many points dancing in the endzone gets you. Give me Holt all day.
4. T.J. Houshmandzadeh – Clearly the sexy pick of this year’s draft.  However, you can’t look past what he’s done the past two years.  He had 90 receptions, 1081 yards, and 9 touchdowns in 14 games last year. As popular as Chad Johnson is, it’s starting to look like Palmer counts on T.J. Who’s Your Mama more during crunch time.
5. Roy Williams – If you have some stones and are a guy who loves to risk for high rewards, take Williams high this year. He had 82 catches, 1310 yards and 7 touchdowns last year and had 8 touchdowns the two years prior. Realize that, and try not to laugh, the Lions will be better this year and Williams should get a lot more open looks with Calvin Johnson lined up on the other side. I predict another 80 plus catch season with 1400+ yards and 10 touchdowns. Be a man and draft him ahead of other popular names.

Almost Top 5 but not quite: Chad Johnson, T.O., Larry Fitzgerald, Reggie Wayne

You’d be an idiot to pick: Marcus Colston ahead of Randy Moss.

Yahoo’s Top 5 Rankings: Steve Smith, Marvin Harrison, T.O., Tory Holt, Chad Johnson

Tight Ends: (Yawn) Boring.

My Top Five

1. Antonio Gates – No need for an explanation
2. Tony Gonzalez – Will be Brodie Croyle’s best friend this year in the passing game.
3. Todd Heap – Baltimore wins with defense, running the ball, and short dump off passes to Todd Heap. Solid as always.
4. Chris Cooley – With Moss and Randle El spreading the field, Cooley will get plenty of looks with a first time starter Jason Campbell at the helm. He already had one great preseason game.  Look for a career year from Capn Chaos.
5. Jeremy Shockey – I hate the guy but he gives you consistent numbers year after year. Giants will be terrible this year but Eli looks for Shockey first; always.

Almost Top 5 but not quite: Jason Witten (hard to leave him off the top 5), Vernon Davis, Dallas Clark, Ben Watson

You’d be an idiot to pick: Alge Crumpler.

Yahoo’s Top 5 Rankings: Gates, Heap, Gonzalez, Cooley, Shockey.

Kickers: Easiest picks of the draft.

My Top Five

1. Adam Vinatieri – Colts score a lot. Vinatieri doesn’t miss a lot. Good mix.
2. Nate Kaeding – Chargers score a lot. Kaeding doesn’t miss unless its clutch time. Fairly good mix.
3. Shayne Graham – Bengals score a lot… You get the idea.
4. Jeff Wilkins – Repeat.
5. David Akers – I have him higher than most. With Dmac back in healthy form, Philly should put up some numbers this year. Red zone offense won’t be good because Westbrook can’t run between the tackles worth a dime so look for a lot of short field goals.

Almost Top 5 but not quite: Robbie Gould (Let Grossman pass in the redzone or kick a field goal? Kick a field goal), Jason Elam, Josh Brown

You’d be an idiot to pick: Sebastian Janakowski because Oakland ain’t scoring jack

Yahoo’s Top 5 Rankings: Vinatieri, Kaeding, Graham, Gould, Wilkins

Defenses – Can turn a mediocre fantasy team into a contender quick.

My Top Five

1. New England – This is a risky ranking by me to put them first but all I know is this: The Pats offense is going to dominate. That means that teams are going to fall behind early against them and will be forced to pass. That presents lots of opportunities for a smart defense to make plays. I like them better than Chicago this year.
2. San Diego – Just like the Pats, their offense will be nasty again. An opportunistic defense with a great offense spells trouble for teams.
3. Baltimore – I don’t need to say anything about a team with Ray Lewis and Ed Reed on it.
4. Miami – Porter, Zach Thomas, and Jason Taylor putting pressure upfront? Good luck scoring on an already established defense.
5. Washington – Hell yeah I said Washington. Don’t forget that their defense was a top three unit just two years ago. Adding London Fletcher to the middle and Laron Landry to go alongside Sean Taylor, plus adding depth at corner? That adds up to a solid defense. I saw them play in preseason and it looks to be the blitz happy, hard hitting Skins’ of a few years ago. A bit of a homer pick but don’t be surprised if they’re wreaking havoc come the start of the season.

Almost Top 5 but not quite: Chicago (If their offense wasn’t a joke, I’d have them number one. But because I see a lot of three and outs in the future of the Bears offense, the defense will be out for long stretches of time. Fatigue will be a factor eventually. Still a solid and safe pick though.), Pittsburgh (Mike Tomlin knows his x’s and o’s), Dallas (Tons of talent)

You’d be an idiot to pick: The Giants. Hahaha the Giants. They’re going to be terrible and I’m going to love watching every minute of it.

Yahoo’s Top 5 Rankings: Chicago, Baltimore, New England, San Diego, Miami

(Capn’ Chaos. How can you not draft this guy high. Click link for story.)

Fantasy Football Rankings: RB’s and WR’s, 1-5

Its fantasy football season folks! Hopefully by now, all of you are in a league. If you are not in one by now and are still stubborn enough to not join the fad, you’re missing out buddy. There is still time to join a public league on yahoo so hop to it.

Now for my well rounded sports fans who already are in intense leagues with their coworkers, college buddies, or random people off the street… this column is for you.

I’ll give you my expert rankings on each position…even though I’m not qualified to be an expert of any sort quite frankly, and even though you can find 10,000 rankings online elsewhere. But since you’re made the choice to come to this site, you might as well check the rankings and praise me when you’re team is 7-1 courtesy of me.

Here’s what you need to know:

Runningbacks: The most important position in fantasy by far.

My Top Five

1. L.T. – No surprises here. He’ll see an even higher load this year and look for him to be used even more as a pass catching back than last year. Lock for the number one pick.
2. Larry Johnson – Yahoo has Steven Jackson as the second rated back and I laugh at that. Herman Edwards knows two things; Run the ball and play defense…and that YOU PLAY, TO WIN, THE GAME… so he knows three things. Larry Johnson is going to be a beast again this year; make no mistake about it.
3. Shaun Alexander – Yeah he had an injury riddled season last year but Holmgren needs to feed this monster the ball 25 times a game to get back as a contender and believe me, he will.
4. Steven Jackson – Hard nosed runner who’s tough to bring down and has a knack for the endzone. Really boring to me but great fantasy pick.
5. Rudi Johnson – Cinci will not have another bad year like last years. They are one of the highest scoring clubs in the league and Rudi loves to punch it in from inside the ten. Look for big numbers from him again this year.

Almost Top 5 but not quite: Travis Henry (because his health is a concern), Joseph Addai, Frank Gore, Brian Westbrook (Mcnabb is back which means good things for B-brook)

You’d be an idiot to pick: Reggie Bush higher than 10.

Yahoo’s Top 5 Rankings: LT, Steven Jackson, Larry Johnson, Joseph Addai, Shawn Alexander.

Quarterbacks: More overrated than Eva Longoria…

1. Peyton Manning – He has a third wideout again which means trouble for defenses. Look for a 35-40 touchdown passing season following last year’s 31, with two WRs.
2. Carson Palmer – I’m so high on Palmer this year. I GUARANTEE a 33 touchdown passing season.
3. Tom Brady – Yes I know Drew Brees had a great year last year but I don’t forsee that happening again and Brady is as solid and consistent as they come. Oh, and they have Randy TD Moss now too. That might help.
4. Donovan Mcnabb – In case you forgot, he was having an MVP season before he got hurt. He won’t get hurt again this year. Take him to the bank.
5. Marc Bulger – Solid and consistent. Plus he has Torry Holt and Steven Jackson.

Almost Top 5 but not quite: Drew Brees, Phillip Rivers, Tony Romo

You’d be an idiot to pick: Vince Young higher than 10.

Yahoo’s Top Five: Peyton, Palmer, Brees, Brady, Bulger

Tomorrow I’ll have rankings 6-15 for each position…

Look for the top five wide receivers, tight ends, kickers, and defenses later today.