Fantasy Football Advice

The best wide receivers usually stay that way, thankfully, but us fantasy footballers have to roster quite a few wide receivers which means we have to grab value late.  I have our first 45 receivers up here today.  We’ll be adding even more, but this post was getting to be too tome-like.  And I teach the ADD riddled youth of America and know not to go on too long.

Tier 1

1. Andre Johnson 29 — The best receiver with the best situation.

2. Larry Fitzgerald 27 — He will make Leinart better.  He makes me better and I live on my couch.

3. Calvin Johnson 25 — Too young and talented not to rank high.  I think Stafford will pan out.

Tier 2

4. Vincent Jackson 27 — As long as he can keep from getting DUI’s, Rivers to Jackson will become annoying.

5. Reggie Wayne 31 — He’s rock steady.

6. Miles Austin 26 — I liked what I saw out of Austin last season and Romo continues to improve.

7. Brandon Marshall 26 — Not sure where he’ll end up, but he’s still young and very good and possibly a butt-head.

8. Roddy White 28 — He’s the main man in Atlanta.  Not much competition for catches.

Tier 3

9. Randy Moss 32 — He’s old, but has a few good years left.

10. DeSean Jackson 23 — He’s very young and very fast, but Maclin should steal from him.

11. Greg Jennings 27 — He’ll be living in Mr. Rodgers’ hood for years to come.

12. Marques Colston 27 — Great skills, but Brees spreads the ball around a little too much, bastard.

13. Santonio Holmes 26 — As long as Big Ben isn’t incarcerated he’ll be steady.

Tier 4

14. Michael Crabtree 23 –  He looked good even after couch sitting for part of the season.

15. Sidney Rice 24 — If his QB sitch was more stable he’d be higher.

16. Hakeem Nicks 22 – He looks poised to break out and continue to do so.

Tier 5

17. Steve Smith (CAR) 31 – How do I trust him? Dunno, but I know Moore does.

18. Wes Welker 29 – Too good too drop far because of his injury.

19. Steve Smith (NYG) 25 –This other Steve will go higher in ppr leagues.

20. Dwayne Bowe 26 – He has his troubles, but he is too good not to grab in the top 20.

21. Anquan Boldin 29 – Hard to put him this low, but he’s aging and been beat up.

Tier 6

22. Mike Sims-Walker 25 – He has the skill to thrill.

23. Percy Harvin 22 – His potential will be hard to live up to, but he has the potential to, uh, you know.

24. Chad Ochocinco 32 – Getting oldish, but he should continue to do what he do.

25. Pierre Garcon 24 – Looks like he Pipped Gonzalez.

26. Jeremy Maclin 22 – Young and on a pass first offense.

Tier 7

27. Robert Meachem 26 – Saints’ receivers are scary, but he showed his worth last season.

28. Kenny Britt 22 – He’s currently behind Gage and Washington, but not for long.

29. Eddie Royal 24 – McDaniels pulled a McDaniels on him, but he should turn it around.

30. Steve Breaston 27 – The #2 in Zona won’t be as productive as recent years, but he’s still good.

31. Devin Aromashodu 26 – His status next season isn’t a given, but I believe he’ll be the #1.

Tier 8

32. Braylon Edwards 27 – He is who he is.

33. Jerricho Cotchery 28 – More reliable than Edwards, but not as much upside (or the coinciding down side).

34. Hines Ward 34 – I love old, steady players in redrafts, but tough to foresee how long they’ll be around in dy-nastys.

35. Donald Driver 35 – Look up a centimeter.

Tier 9

36. Johnny Knox 23 – He will be the deep threat for Cutler and with Martz he should get his shots.

37. Mike Wallace 24 – He will be hit and miss with Ward in the picture, but his hits are usually TD’s.

38. Jacoby Jones 26 – Bringing Kevin Walter back hurts, but I think he’ll beat him out or up.

39. Malcolm Floyd 29 – He’s the #2 WR in a pass heavy offense.

Tier 10

40. Julian Edelman 24 – Tough to gauge his worth, but you know he’ll be good for the first half of next season.

41. Terrell Owens 36 – Depends on where he ends up, but he’s TOld.

42. Austin Collie 24 – If he’s in the slot and Peyton is throwing to him, well, you get it.

43. T.J. Houshmandzadeh 33 – Not even sure he should be this high, but Carroll’s offense will be pass happy.

44. Antonio Bryant 29 – I like him even if he is a freak.

45. Nate Burleson 29 – He should be happy to be across from Megatron.  Just hope he stays healthy.

As you can tell, we have quarterbacks lower (or higher, which is it?) than other sites.  This is an age old tradition of the perts that we are upholding while others seem to be going away from. I’ve seen some perts say that since this has become a quarterback’s league they are worth more and you need to grab them earlier.  Hrmm?  With ten 4,000 yard passers last season there were plenty to go around in a 12 team, single QB league.  I’m not saying you should wait until Daunte Culpepper is the only QB left on the board, but you can wait.  With 2-3 RB’s and 3-4 WR’s needed in most leagues, grabbing a Rodgers/Manning/Brees in the first/second round is a waste.  Much will depend on your individual leagues and next season’s ADP, but 9 out of the top 10 point leaders last season were QB’s and that won’t change this year.  If you grab that ninth placed QB while getting a couple top 10 RB’s you will be sitting pretty and that’ll be true even if you ugly, u-g-l-y, you ain’t got no alibi, you ugly, eh hey, you ugly. Check out our top 20 behind this word.

21. Drew Brees: You probably won’t see Brees go this late, but I wouldn’t take him any earlier for the reasons above.  But he is probably a little more predictable than even Rodgers who is above him.  Much of Rodgers’ lead in fantasy points comes from his rushing TD’s which can vary, even though he keeps scoring them, the bastard.  The Saints offense can function with a bunch of no-names as long as Brees is at the helm.  Projection: 4500/36/14 — 30/2

22. Roddy White: Roddy finished as the 7th best fantasy wide receiver last season even though he was hurting toward the end.  We’ve got him as the 6th receiver this year, but I think he could move up a smidge.  Matt Ryan was injured and had a bit of a sophomore slump.  He should rebound well this year and give White plenty of opportunities. Projection: 90/1225/10

23: Vincent Jackson: I probably would have put VJax ahead of White and Moss if it wasn’t for his probable suspension for DUI’s.  It looks like it may just be one or two games which wouldn’t put a huge dent in his numbers.  And he should have plenty of numbers with the Chargers not having much of a running game and Rivers near the top of the awesome heap. Projection: 75/1250/9

24: Peyton Manning: He’s as solid as they get, but I doubt I’ll own him.  He will anchor your team, but so will a lot of QB’s you can grab later. Projection: 4300/33/13 — 15/1

25: Calvin Johnson: Last season Megatron had a down year due to injuries and inconsistent quarterbacking.  He is of course a bounce back candidate, but I doubt his ADP will drop too much because he is a magical creature from the land of Narnia.  I do think he got a little frustrated last season and didn’t play as well as he could so I’m not 100% sold he can return to top 5 form with a young Stafford, but I do believe he will return to top 10 form without much trouble. Projection: 75/1200/9

26: Brandon Marshall: He will probably be on another team soon which could move him up or down a little, but he is too good to drop no matter what team he is playing for.  He is a ppr beast, but much depends on the offense he ends up on.  Yeah, I know, I’ve said that already. Projection: 100/1175/9

27: Pierre Thomas: Reggie Bush and Mike Bell caused P.T. a lot of grief last season and there is no reason to think they won’t do the same again.  If Thomas stays healthy and takes some incriminating photos of Sean Payton, he may get the bulk of the goal line touches and move into second round value, but I just don’t trust Payton enough. Projection: 1050/7 — 40/325/2

28: Lesean McCoy: As things are, Shady is the main man in Philadelphia right now.  I have a feeling that the Eagles will look for a veteran like Tom Jones, but if that doesn’t happen he could be a steal, especially in ppr leagues. Projection: 1000/6 — 50/450/2

29. Fred Jackson: Finding a starting running back that you can depend on is tough this season and all the seasons before, but who cares about those.  Jackson held the starting position over Marshawn Lynch after he returned from his suspension and ran with it.  There has been talk of Lynch being traded, but it’s starting to look less and less likely.  If Jackson remains the man he is a great pick here, but we’ll have to keep an eye on Lynch; he may pull a gun on Fast Freddie, and talk about a dude who is u-g-l-y and Lynch sure didn’t have no alibi. Projection: 1100/6 — 45/375/1

30. Matt Schaub: Schaub was very good to all those fantasy players who had high expectations for him last season.  He went from injury risk to leading the NFL in passing yards.  I’m not going to factor in injury risk with quarterbacks.  They get hit and lose consciousness, them’s the breaks.  If he plays all 16 games, he will easily be worth a 3rd round pick.

There is no off season here at Razzball (except for that 48 hour bender right after the Super Bowl). We’ve already got ourselves a slow mock draft happening to kick off the beginning of the 2010-2011 season.  Yes, there will be a lot of changes as the so-called off season moves players around and brings in new, younger ones, but doing mocks is a great way to see how others value players and helps solidify where you value players.  Here are my co-conspirator mockaletes.

1. Matt Schauf – RapidDraft.com

2. Melissa Jacobs - TheFootballGirl.com

3. Melissa Greenhawt – GoGameFace.com

4. Chet Gresham – This Guy

5. Jim Day - FFWhiz.com

6. Charlie Tourtillotte — Tourinct

7. Mike Clay – FantasyDC.com

8. Steve Adler - FantasyDaddy.com

9. Paul M. Bourdett – BaseHeads.com

10. Drew Silva – Rotoworld.com

11. Bryan Fontaine – RookieBlitz.com

12. Knox Bardeen – Fanhouse.com

We’re still mocking each other so I’ll keep you updated on our progress.  My picks are in bold.  Here are the first three rounds for your amusement:

Round One

1. Maurice Jones Drew

2. Chris Johnson

3. Adrian Peterson

4. Ray Rice

5. Michael Turner

6. Andre Johnson

7. Frank Gore

8. Steven Jackson

9. Jamaal Charles

10. Matt Forte

11. Aaron Rodgers

12. Ryan Grant

– The first round had most of the usual suspects in it, but MJD at #1 was a little surprising. He’s in my 1st tier and I can see him being a #1 pick, but I’m a little worried about Garrard getting him to the goal line as much as he needs. Matt defends his pick here.

– I felt good about getting Ray Rice 4th.  If I had to choose a draft position it would be one of the top 4 or at the turn at 11/12.  I don’t think you can go wrong with any of the top 4 picks and if you get 4th you don’t have to decide!

– Drew went with Forte at #10 which is within the realm of where his ADP will be, but I will probably pass on him unless it’s a ppr league.  Martz likes to use his running backs in the passing game, a lot.

– Aaron Rodgers will be in the running for the #1 quarterback off the board, but after last year’s ten 4,ooo yard passers, I’ll be waiting on a quarterback.

– Since I’m pro Chris Johnson, getting him at #2 is good value, but no picks really stood out to me as steals.  I have Jamaal Charles ranked higher than he went, but that second tier is pretty fluid with Gore, A.J., SJax and Charles.

Round Two

13. Drew Brees

14. Larry Fitzgerald

15. Peyton Manning

16. Rashard Mendenhall

17. Calvin Johnson

18. Reggie Wayne

19. Pierre Thomas

20. DeAngelo Williams

21. Chris Wells

22. Philip Rivers

23. Tom Brady

24. Miles Austin

– The second round saw a big run on quarterbacks.  Once again I just can’t grab a QB with the first 2 picks.  It’s against my code of fake football ethics.  Running backs or wide receivers for me please.  My options at RB were dwindling fast, but I had a difficult time choosing between Beanie, Moreno and Benson.  But for my money, Beanie has the highest upside of the 3.  Whisenhunt won’t put as much of the game in Leinart’s hands, especially with a back as talented as Wells showing his worth toward the end of last season.

– I am a little worried about DeAngelo Williams after Jon Stewart went crazy after D. Willy went down toward the end of the season.  I could even see Stewart out playing him this year, but any way you look at it he isn’t guaranteed the bulk of the carries.

– The same could be true for Pierre Thomas, but I am a little more concerned about him staying healthy than being the primary back.

– I think one of the best picks of round 2 was by Matt who grabbed Miles Austin with the last pick.  I thought about snagging him, but just liked Wells too much.  Austin could easily be a top 3 wide receiver with a full season as the #1 WR in Dallas. Witten will be his only real rival for looks unless Jones gets an itchy finger and tries for a Boldin/Marshall trade.

Round Three

25. Randy Moss

26. Brandon Marshall

27. Ronnie Brown

28. Vincent Jackson

29. Greg Jennings

30. Roddy White

31. Matt Schaub

32. Tony Romo

33. DeSean Jackson

34. Steve Slaton

35. Knowshon Moreno

36. Marion Barber

– It’s interesting to see how far Randy Moss fell.  Even in a not great season he was a fantasy stud with his ability to get into the endzone, but he is also starting to show his age whileWelker could be gone for a big chunk of time which will get Moss a lot of attention if Edelman doesn’t go nuts.  I like Moss here, but I’m still trying to decide if I like him earlier as well.

– I felt good about Vincent Jackson in the third.  The Chargers will once again have to rely on the passing game and VJax should continue to improve.

– Brandon Marshall’s value is still up in the air since we aren’t sure where he’ll end up, but if he can have a big year with Orton, he has a shot of having a big year anywhere.

– I think both Slaton and Barber went too early as they don’t have the starting job wrapped up for next season.  I won’t own a Texan’s running back this season unless they trade for Purple Jesus or his like.  I also won’t own a Cowboy running back unless Felix Jones really slips.  Jones could get the most touches next season, but his injury history is worrisome.  I’ll pass.

– My favorite pick of round 3 is probably Knowshon Moreno.  The Broncos are a bit of a question mark with Josh McDaniels taking multiple power trips, but Moreno is their back and Buckhalter, though awesome last year, isn’t getting any younger and should continue to pop up on the injury report.  And Moreno will have a full off season and preseason compared to his holdout last year.

It’s that time of the year where we look back on our stupid moves and pretend to learn from them.  Did you just waste away your life hoping Matt Forte would stop sucking? No! You have become a better person for it! Or, you are still curled up on your bathroom floor in the fetal position, either or. Let’s take a gander at some of the more sucky of the suckiest suckers in the NFL and laugh at them instead of ourselves!

I used Fantasy Football Calculator for 2009 ADP and ESPN fantasy points for how each player finished.

Matt Forte: 4th RB off the board, finished 17th — Why was Matt Forte such a high draft pick? Well, he scored 12 touchdowns, caught 63 passes and totaled 1700 yards in his first season for a team led by Kyle Orton.  If he comes close to that he’s a top fantasy back and there wasn’t much reason to think he couldn’t improve with a better QB at the helm.  But of course it didn’t work out the way we thought.  Will Forte bounce back from this season?  It’s hard not to see him getting into the end zone more than 4 times, but I’m hesitant to call for a huge year.  He says he was battling a MCL sprain all season and we know how poor the O-line play was, but he just doesn’t have the elite speed and open field ability to make his own yards.  As long as he continues to be the every down back he will be worth starting, but I’m already seeing him going very early in mock drafts and unless he falls he won’t be on my team.

Michael Turner: 3rd RB, finished 22nd — Turner is an interesting case.  A lot of perts have been patting themselves on the back for predicting Turner to have a down year, and of course they were correct, but a high ankle sprain doesn’t automatically come from overuse from the previous year.  It didn’t help, but there’s no reason to think he can’t heal completely from that injury and return to ‘08 numbers. This season he averaged 4.9 yards per carry and the 8th most fantasy points per game.  He also scored 10 touchdowns and is a certified TD machine. I am of course a little worried about his health, and there are a ton of good backs to choose from, but if he slides in ADP he will have value.

LaDainian Tomlinson: 6th RB, finished 20th — I was worried about LT going into the season, but I should have been more worried.  He was still 29 years old coming off a season with turf toe that I felt could heal up, but it wasn’t just the toe that was keeping him down.  His 12 touchdowns barely kept him in the top 20, which shows you just how bad his rushing and receiving stats must have been.  If he’s even in the league next season, there is absolutely no reason to draft him in the top 30 running backs.

Calvin Johnson: 4th WR, finished 23rd — In ‘08 he was able to play well on a horrible team with horrible QB’s.  We all were living in an ‘08 bubble of Megatron goodness and that bubble burst.  I haven’t seen too many mock drafts yet, but I don’t think he’s going to fall too far in drafts.  He was injured, has elite ability, and will have a lot of time to get in synch with Matthew Stafford in preseason.  I don’t see any reason to be scared away from him next season and if he falls just a little in drafts he could have value.

Steve Slaton: 9th RB, finished 35th — In many ways Slaton had a better ‘08 season than Forte.  He had much better yards per carry, his running style kept him from getting hit as much, and he was on a better offensive team.  But then the S.S. Slaton took a fateful trip into the Kubiak Triangle.  There is now talk that the Texans will draft a running back and you can’t discount Arian Foster’s play.  It’s a situation to stay away from.

Brandon Jacobs: 11th RB, finished 29th — Mr. Jacobs is an enigma wrapped in a monsterous package.  Ahmad Bradshaw clearly outplayed him this year and that was with two broken feet!  Jacobs broke down toward the end of the season and it’s impossible to trust his health or his playing time coming into next season.

Greg Jennings: 6th WR, finished 20th — Jennings came into the season with a lot of hype, including hype of the Razzball variety.  If you were to tell me at the beginning of the season that Aaron Rodgers would be the #1 fantasy quarterback and Greg Jennings wasn’t going to get hurt and finish as the 20th best receiver I would have punched you in the throat.

Brian Westbrook: 12th RB, finished 62nd — He was risky coming into the season so this outcome wasn’t too hard to foresee.  Him and the guy that follows are the reason you draft young and on the rise instead of . . .

Clinton Portis: 13th RB, finished 56th — old and on the skids.

Jason Witten: 1st TE, finished 8th — This year 10 tight ends finished with 100 points or more which is a record and there is no reason to think that number is going to start falling anytime soon.  Jason Witten didn’t have a horrible year, but he was nowhere close to being worth the 41st overall pick.  The 40th overall pick was Ray Rice.  Unless you are in a 2 TE league, and why would you be?, there is absolutely no reason to reach for one.  I’m not saying punt, just be patient.

Reggie Bush: 23rd RB, finished 40th — This is just to remind you that even though Reggie Bush can put up insane single game numbers, he won’t put up insane full season numbers.

Eddie Royal: 21st WR, finished 82nd — This is one of the most baffling drop-offs of the year.  He never seemed to get a chance and it’s hard to tell if that was due to his inability, Orton’s inability, or McDaniels’ stupidity.  McDaniels mentioned after the season was over that he regretted Royal not getting more work and who knows where Brandon Marshall will end up.  Royal is already hitting sleeper lists, and unless he gets hyped too much he’s probably worth a flier next season.

Pittsburgh Steelers: 1st D, finished 16th — The Steelers’ defense averaged as the 86th overall pick in last year’s draft.  This is the reason you do not draft a defense early.  Let’s take a look at some players that went after the Steelers; Percy Harvin, Ahmad Bradshaw, Derrick Mason, Tim Hightower, Brett Favre, Rashard Mendenhall, Miles Austin, etc… Yes, you might have drafted Lavernues Coles instead, but what are the chances that you will pick a defense that is startable every week?  None whatsoever!  The #1 defense in fantasy this year was the 49ers who weren’t even drafted this season and the #2 defense, the New York Jets, were drafted 127th overall.  Draft a defense with upside late in the draft, then stream the hot D (does that sound dirty?).

It’s the first annual Razzball Fantasy Football awards!!! This is your last chance to reminisce and pretend that football season’s not over with and that, after the playoffs, you won’t be stuck watching the NBA.

When the fantasy season ends, or when all their teams are out of contention, most people just shut it down until late August. I think it’s worth it to reflect on the year a little bit; it helps you to recognize trends and patterns that develop and sharpens your decision-making the following season. So if nothing else, this is an opportunity to do that.

Razzball Football is a 365 day a year operation. In this, our first season, we have built and expanded upon our fan base more than we thought possible. You can count on fresh content every single day of the year so if you’ve got a football itch, you know where to go to get it scratched.

Some of our readers may not have checked out the Razzball Baseball site yet. This is actually where Razzball began. Grey does an incredible job with baseball and he’s year-round as well. So if you play Fantasy Baseball, be sure to check out our baseball site and stay tuned all season long. It’ll pay huge dividends in the way of you winning your league this year.

Greatest Player in the History of the Universe (for 2009)

Chris Johnson: his preseason ADP was 12^th despite the huge numbers last year because people feared the newer, thinner version of LenDale White would steal touches. That turned out not to be the case. We have entered an age of the NFL where splitting touches between two or three running backs is the norm. In addition teams game plan to contain the biggest threat on the other team. Regardless of all of this Chris Johnson had a ridiculous season. Look at the numbers: 2,006 yards rushing, 50 catches for 503 yards.16  total touchdowns (14 rushing, 2 receiving). In .5 PPR Johnson put up 368 points for the season! The second best position player was Adrian Peterson with 304 points, a difference of over 4 fewer per game. On the surface I know people will say “It’s not that big a deal, one player always has a good season.” The distance from his competition, though, is shocking.  It’s akin to having owned Albert Pujols in Fantasy baseball last year. In 2010 Johnson will clearly be the consensus #1 player in every format. This year the big debate was “AP or MJD?” Some people threw Turner in the mix, which I thought was stupid. In 2010 we shouldn’t have to listen to any of that mind-numbing conversation.

MVP’s by Position

The end of the season brought a lot of surprises to the NFL. After clinching bye weeks in the playoffs several teams elected to sit their starters or bench them mid-game. This was disastrous for fantasy owners because these teams (Colts and Saints in particular) were high powered offenses and contained some of the best quarterbacks in the league. It’s uncertain what the long term ramifications will be; the NFL wants teams to go full strength the entire regular season. If that doesn’t happen we might have to occasionally re-think owning certain players. Personally, I’m hoping that Peyton Manning and Drew Brees’ value take a slight hit so I can own them next season on the cheap.

The reason I bring up the fact that a lot of teams rested their starters is that it mixed up this section of the awards, particularly at quarterback. Peyton Manning had a great statistical season and Drew Brees broke the record for completion percentage. But none of that mattered because they killed your team in weeks 16 and 17. Statistically speaking, Rodgers and Rivers hung with Peyton and Brees anyway. But the fact that the young guns carried you in the playoffs while the veterans hung you out to dry tips the scales in their favor. I put the runners up in parenthesis.

Quarterback: Aaron Rodgers (Phillip Rivers)

Running Back: Chris Johnson (Maurice Jones-Drew)

Wide Receiver: Andre Johnson (Larry Fitzgerald)

Tight End: Vernon Davis (Jason Witten)

Return League MVP

Josh Cribbs was a beast this season. Let’s just look at the numbers: 1,994 return yards, 4 return touchdowns. MONSTER season on that alone but then wait, there’s more: 20 receptions for 135 and a TD, 381 yards rushing with one TD, and he threw for 18 yards but no touchdown and there was an interception. So in other words if you were cagey enough to grab Josh Cribbs in the draft you ended up with 2,500 all purpose yards and 6 total touchdowns. In a year when there weren’t a lot of good return men that’s HUGE differential.

IDP MVP

Patrick Willis is a man-child. His hobbies include stomping kittens and single-handedly conquering small countries. His numbers this year were ridiculous: 152 tackles (114 of them solo), 4 sacks, 8 passes defended, 3 interceptions, and one touchdown. Basically, Lawrence Taylor but with less sacks and without the rampant cocaine use.

Sleeper(s) of the Year

You know all those Chuck Norris one-liners that make him out to be a deity? Basically you can cross his name out of all those and replace it with Jamaal Charles. Here at Razzball we’re not afraid to pat ourselves on the back. We were touting Charles from the beginning of the season as a player with huge breakout potential. He didn’t get much playing time until mid-season but once he did Charles became a top producer on a weekly basis. Through 9 weeks in .5 PPR he’d only accumulated 36.9 points. Consider that he finished with 207.7 points while only starting from week 10 on. Once he took over he averaged 24 Fantasy points per game! There were some nice sleepers this year in fantasy but in my mind there’s only one top Sleeper of the year- Jamaal Charles

Quarterback: Aaron Rodgers, Phillip Rivers

Running Back: Cedric Benson, Jamaal Charles, Jerome Harrison

Wide Receiver: Miles Austin, Mike Sims-Walker, Steve Smith (NYG), Sidney Rice

Tight End: Vernon Davis, Brent Celek

Team Defense: San Francisco 49’ers, NY Jets

Hyped Players that were Busts

What’s the secret to successful fantasy football? The first thing that comes to mind is “picking the best sleepers.” That is certainly a huge part of it, and probably the most fun thing about fantasy football. More important than that, however, is avoiding the biggest busts.

Each season certain players are touted by the fantasy universe as breakout candidates. We all target these players in our drafts and feel uber-smart when we get them, even if we reached. They are like sticks of dynamite on our roster, waiting to explode and carry our team to greatness.

Some of these players end up exploding like dynamite and having a huge impact on our team, but in a negative fashion. If you had several of these players on your team you probably didn’t fare too well.

Quarterback: Jay Cutler, Matt Ryan

Running Back: Matt Forte, Steve Slaton, Pierre Thomas

Wide Receiver: Eddie Royal, Calvin Johnson, Dwayne Bowe, Antonio Bryant, Roy Williams

Tight End: Zach Miller

Team Defense: NY Giants, Pittsburgh Steelers

Veteran Players that Busted

Quarterback: Matt Hasselbeck, Carson Palmer

Running Back: Marshawn Lynch, Derrick Ward, Brian Westbrook

Wide Receiver: Terrell Owens, Greg Jennings, T.J. Houshmandzadeh

Tight End: Surprisingly, there weren’t any players that fit in this category. Jason Witten was extremely disappointing early in the season but he finished really strong.

Rookie of the Year

Doing the awards for this season has makes you realize how very sub-par this draft class was. There are some nice players out there, I loves me some Jeremy Maclin for shizzle; but think about who would have been up for these awards last season and the type of numbers they put up. There’s a lot more talent overall in this year’s NFL draft class (which we’ll be covering extensively) and that’s exciting for Fantasy next year. I didn’t end up with hardly any of the rookies from this year’s class on my teams because they were being drafted too high for my blood- the monster 2008 rookie campaigns that Steve Slaton, Chris Johnson, etc. had boosted the price too high. Anyway, back to the awards:

Quarterback: Do we really have to give an award out for this one? Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco both played well and led their teams to the playoffs last season, making it difficult to pick who was better. This year we get to choose between Stafford and Sanchez, both of whom had flashes of brilliance but no consistency. As an aside if I were to choose between these two for next season I’d probably go with Stafford; but for this season, the award has to go to Mark Sanchez. Congratulations, Mark; don’t go all “Matt Leinart” on us (a.k.a. Poor Man’s Joe Namath) in the offseason now.

Running Back: It’s really surprising that none of these players took the bull by the horns and ran away with this award. Here’s a stat that’s hard to believe: number of rookie running backs with 1,000 yards rushing this season- 0. Clearly this is a race between Moreno, McCoy, and Beanie Wells. Knowshon you’re not a bad guy, I think you will be undervalued next season and I will probably own you, but you just didn’t do enough this season. Beanie Wells closed out the year solidly but Tim Hightower stealing the goal line work really killed his production. Congratulations LeSean McCoy, but don’t get too big of an ego. You wouldn’t have even been in the conversation for this award last year.

Wide Receiver: This was clearly the best position for Fantasy this year in terms of rookies. It’s a difficult position to come in to the NFL and be productive at. Jeremy Maclin put up huge numbers but wasn’t really integrated in to the game plan until mid season. Michael Crabtree was very productive but the holdout stymied him having a breakout season. The player who wins this award didn’t close out the season that strong, due to injuries and other factors. Even so, Percy Harvin compiled 60 receptions for 790 yards and 6 touchdowns. He also had 1,156 return yards and two touchdowns.

Tight End: There were no real impact rookies at Tight End this season. Brandon Pettigrew was the best with 30 receptions for 346 and two touchdowns. He went on IR but if he’s healthy coming in to next season I will definitely be touting him as a sleeper at TE.

Surprise Season from a Veteran Player

Quarterback: Brett Favre

Running Back: Thomas Jones (Ryan Grant)

Wide Receiver: Chad Ochocinco

Tight End: Visanthe Shiancoe

Best Kicker

David Akers, Nate Kaeding