With Fantasy Football season ready to kick in high gear, Fantasy FanHouse is here to preview each and every team. Listen closely, you're almost guaranteed to win your free fantasy football league, only over at Fleaflicker. Meet The ...
Boys finally freed from the albatross that is Shaun Alexander. I'm guessing Mike Holmgren feels like a gigantic weight has been lifted from his chiseled physique with the departure of the former superstar. A franchise QB will help the offense move forward, along with the freedom to actually play whichever running back runs the hardest.
The Breakout
Just like I said in the Browns preview about Donte' Stallworth, we've been down this road with Nate Burleson before. And just like I said there, I'm ready to gamble again. It's a problem, I know. He did have a breakout season in '04 with the Vikes where he racked up 1006 yards on 68 catches ... nine of which went to paydirt. Since then he hasn't been playing full-time whether injury or being buried on the depth chart was the culprit. Last year he found the end-zone nine times again, and he didn't play near full-time. This year he will, with Deion Branch scheduled to miss some possibly significant time. I expect a baseline of 1000 yards on 75 catches to go with 8 TDs. Anything after that is gravy, considering his current ADP (48th WR).
The Bust(s)
Maurice Morris has been getting constant action the past two years because of the embarrassment that became of Alexander. T.J. Duckett doesn't go anywhere without getting goal-line looks -- otherwise why even pay him? I'm telling you this to illustrate that things aren't all rosy in the world of Julius Jones. Don't get sucked into believing that he's finally going to have a job all to himself after getting out of Dallas. It's just not that easy. Also worth nothing is that Bobby Engram set a career high in catches and obliterated his previous career high in yardage last year at age 35. Don't pay for those numbers on draft day. They are not in the cards again.
The Depth Chart
QB1 - Matt Hasselbeck
QB2 - Seneca Wallace
RB1 - Julius Jones
RB2 - Maurice Morris
RB3 - T.J. Duckett
RB4 - Justin Forsett
WR1 - Deion Branch*
WR2 - Nate Burleson
WR3 - Bobby Engram
WR4 - Ben Obomanu
WR5 - Courtney Taylor
TE1 - John Carlson
TE2 - Will Heller
K - Olindo Mare/Brandon Coutu
*Branch is out for at least the first month of the season and probably more
The D/ST
Very underrated group here. Again, defensive points are quite variable as there isn't a true "standard" format, but in my league they were fifth overall. They lack the luster of big name stars, but have several under-the-radar studs. Must be that East Coast Bias people like to mention, because Patrick Kerney (14.5 sacks), Julian Peterson (9.5 sacks, 2 picks), and Marcus Trufant (7 INTs) should be household names along with a few others. You also have the potential of Burleson taking one to the house. Nothing of impact has changed, so you should expect a very solid pick here once the perceived top five is off the board.
The Skinny
There are a good amount of fantasy options here without having any real elite ones. Hasselback is probably the best of the bunch, and he's a lower-tier starter in 10 team leagues. Burleson and Engram are quality options as your third or fourth receiver depending on league size, and the D/ST is definitely startable.
Tight end and kicker are in limbo at the moment, so in early drafts you should just ignore.
Finally, think about Obomanu as a deep sleeper. The 'Hawks have a penchant for using a variety of receivers throughout the course of a season -- they had four last year with at least one big game -- and Obomanu isn't even listed on a mockdraftcentral ADP chart (it has 82 receivers total -- and he should be higher than that). It's gotta be late in a big league (14-16 owners), but at that point he's a quality gamble.
