ESPN’s Adam Schefter confirms that the Lions have acquired tight end Tony Scheffler and a 2010 seventh-round pick from the Broncos, as part of a three-team trade that also sent linebacker Ernie Sims to the Eagles in exchange for a 2010 fifth-round pick. (The Broncos get the fifth round pick from this deal.)

There are some concerns that 2009 first rounder Brandon Pettigrew isn’t recovering from the torn ACL he suffered last season and that’s why Detroit needed Scheffler. But to give up a solid playmaker in Sims in order to acquire a semi-productive Scheffler and a seventh round pick is questionable to say the least.

Sims is coming off his worst year as a pro after only recording 49 tackles in 11 games during an injury-plagued season. But in his three previous seasons, he produced an average of 124 tackles without missing a game due to injury. When healthy, the 25-year-old can be extremely productive and therefore was a great catch for an Eagles team that desperately needed help at the linebacker position.

Maybe Detroit GM Martin Mayhew knew that the Lions weren’t going to re-sign the former first overall pick, which is why he decided to fill his need at tight end and get something for Sims now. But in terms of value, only Matt Millen could appreciate a deal like this (which is maybe why they made the move in the first place – to wash their hands of anything Millen ever touched). The Eagles essentially traded a fifth round pick for Sims, while the Lions traded Sims for Scheffler. That’s what this trade boils down to, which is an awful deal if you’re a Detroit fan.

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]]> http://www.scoresreport.com/2010/04/19/eagles-fleece-lions-in-three-team-trade-that-sends-lb-ernie-sims-to-philly/feed/ 0 http://www.scoresreport.com/2009/10/20/six-pack-of-observations-broncos-34-chargers-23/ http://www.scoresreport.com/2009/10/20/six-pack-of-observations-broncos-34-chargers-23/#comments Tue, 20 Oct 2009 05:19:07 +0000 Anthony Stalter http://www.scoresreport.com/?p=27108

1. Royal is making his presence felt in other facets of the game
After hauling in 91 receptions for 980 yards and five touchdowns as a rookie last year, Eddie Royal has largely been a bust in his second year. But he proved Monday night that he could contribute in other areas, especially on special teams. He returned a 93-yard kickoff return for a touchdown in the first quarter and a 71-yard punt return in the second quarter. As Denver’s offense sputtered in the first half, Royal provided a major spark.

2. The Broncos’ offensive line has been fantastic
Kyle Orton has turned out to be a great fit for Josh McDaniels’ offense, but he owes a lot of his success to his O-line. They’ve protected him like Fort Knox all season and did so again Monday night. Orton had all day to throw and was accurate when his receivers broke free from defenders. The Broncos’ front five continues to be one of the better units in the league.

3. The Chargers’ defense is a mess
One would have thought Ron Rivera would have fixed some of San Diego’s defensive issues during the team’s bye week. But the same problems that the Bolts had heading into the bye were evident again tonight: They couldn’t generate any pressure, they didn’t tackle well and they couldn’t come up with the big stop when they needed it. The Broncos did whatever they wanted offensively in the second half.

4. Turner needs to get Sproles a more active role in the offense
A player as explosive as Darren Sproles should never touch the ball less than 15-20 times a game. Yet tonight, Sproles had one carry for zero yards and one reception for four yards. That’s absolutely unacceptable and while Sproles can make his presence felt on special teams (which he did on a 77 yard punt return for a touchdown right before half time), Norv Turner needs to figure out ways to get him more involved. The Chargers have enough weapons to score 30-plus points a game. But if Turner isn’t going to use all of them, then San Diego’s offense will never reach its full potential.

5. Dumervil is a beast
Elvis Dumervil has emerged as one of the better young defenders in the game. He was almost a one-man wrecking crew in the second half tonight and finished with five tackles, two sacks, a forced fumbles and one tackle for loss. He’s already compiled eight sacks on the season.

6. Scheffler abused San Diego’s safeties
The Chargers’ safeties had no answer for Denver tight end Tony Scheffler tonight. He made an incredible touchdown catch over Eric Weddle in the second half and also had a 52-yard catch and run to set up a Brandon Stokley score in the fourth quarter. He could continue to see more opportunities in the Broncos’ offense as teams concentrate on doubling Brandon Marshall on the outside.

LOVE ‘EM

Jamal Lewis has a great matchup with a Broncos rush defense that is 26th against the run. On average, they allow 5.1 ypc (2nd worst in the league) and 1.3 rush TD per game. The Browns are likely planning to establish the running game to help Brady Quinn get settled in his first game as the starter. Lewis should gain 80-100 yards and find the endzone at least once…Braylon Edwards is also a solid start against the Denver pass defense, which is 27th in the league…Brandon Marshall and Eddie Royal are both worth starting against a Browns secondary that hasn’t been great against opposing WRs. On the whole, the Browns have a pretty good pass defense, but they allow quite a few fantasy points to wideouts…Ryan Torain looks like a sneaky good start against a Browns rush defense that is 28th in the league and yields an average of 148 yards and 1.1 rush TD per game. Be warned, Mike Shanahan is just as likely to pull a free agent off the street and go with a RBBC as he is to give Torain a full load.

LEAVE ‘EM

There are no players that I would bench based on the matchup, but I’m not feeling good about the chances of Tony Scheffler returning this week. He’s listed as questionable and didn’t sound positive earlier in the week when asked about the injury.

As always, I’m here to help. Below you’ll find the team you could have had. The rules? Pretty simple. To ensure the player is available, we have to draft him a round early. That is, if the player has an Average Draft Position (ADP) of 3.02, we have to take him in the second round. The plan is to start one QB, two RB, two WR and a TE, and I’ll leave the K and DT to your imagination. I’ll mow through the first twelve rounds so that we have a starter and a sub at each position.

Keep in mind, this draft is for a 12-team, Points Per Reception (PPR) league, with the Antsports’ High Performance Scoring System.

Off we go…

Round 1 – Reggie Bush (2.07)
Drafted: RB12
Actual: RB3
Someone actually gave me grief about considering Bush in the second round of my Industry Insiders league, and while there are a lot of (Reggie) Bush haters out there, the fact of the matter is that in a PPR league, the guy produces. Through two games, he’s averaging 127 total yards, 7.5 receptions, and 0.5 TD per game. He’s on pace for a 120-catch, 2000-yard season.
Alternate: Tony Romo (2.09)

Round 2 – Jason Witten (3.11)
Drafted: TE1
Actual: TE1
I know, it seems way too early for a TE, but Witten is as solid as they come and gives this team an advantage just about every week he plays. He has 13 catches for 206 yards, so he’s on pace for 104-catch, 1648-yard season. He hasn’t even caught a TD yet, but with numbers like that, who cares?

Round 3 – Willie Parker (4.08)
Drafted: RB20
Actual: RB5
A lot of people (myself included) were down on “Fast” Willie this offseason after the Steelers used a first round pick on Rashard Mendenhall. It’s not often that a team burns a first round pick on a RB and doesn’t at least utilize him in a RBBC approach, but the Steelers have given Parker the vast majority of the workload, and he’s responded with 122 rushing yards and 1.5 TD per game.

Round 4 – Dwayne Bowe (5.06)
Drafted: WR 23
Actual: WR15
No sophomore slump thus far for the talented Kansas City wideout. Even with the likes of Brodie Croyle, Damon Huard and now Tyler Thigpen throwing to him, Bowe has still racked up an average of 5.5 catches, 70 yards and 0.5 TD per game. The Chiefs look like they’ll be trailing for the rest of the season, so Bowe should get plenty of work against loose secondaries in garbage time.

Round 5 – Santana Moss (7.03)
Drafted: WR29
Actual: WR4
There isn’t a player with an ADP in the sixth round that is playing better than Santana is and, besides, we need to keep our Round 6 pick open for a certain QB. Moss hasn’t been hurt by the Redskins’ move to the West Coast Offense. He has posted an average of 6.0 catches for 100 yards and 1.0 TD per game. He looks like the Santana of old.

Round 6 – Jay Cutler (7.04)
Drafted: QB9
Actual: QB1
I advocated drafting Cutler in the sixth or seventh for those owners that missed out on one of the top six QBs – Brady, Peyton, Romo, Brees, Big Ben and Palmer. Brady is out for the count, Palmer is struggling big time and Roethlisberger looks a little iffy (though I think he’ll finish with great numbers). Back to Cutler, who is not only the top fantasy QB, he’s also the top fantasy player. In short, Cutler is off to an awesome start and I’d be happy as hell to have him on my roster right now.
Alternate: Matt Forte (7.08)

Round 7 – Chris Johnson (8.11)
Drafted: RB36
Actual: RB9
The Chris Johnson hype started sometime in the middle of the preseason. The table was set for the young speedster. He was joining an offense that featured a great running game and a veteran back (LenDale White) who had taken up residence in the head coach’s doghouse. Throw in a lack of talent at receiver and you have the makings of a very nice fantasy season. Thus far, Johnson has racked up an average of 124 total yards, 2.5 catches and 0.5 TD. He makes a heckuva RB3.

Round 8 – Tony Scheffler (9.11)
Drafted: TE11
Actual: TE2
Since we have the Denver QB, we might as well draft the Denver TE. The sure-handed Scheffler is averaging 3.5 catches for 68 yards and a TD through two games. And with the receiving corps surrounding him, there’s no worry that he’ll be double-teamed.

Round 9 – Aaron Rodgers (10.05)
Drafted: QB19
Actual: QB3
Thus far, this kid has succeeded under enormous pressure. How would you like to spend your first offseason as the presumed starter answering countless questions about Brett Favre and his on-again/off-again retirement? You take the field on Monday night, knowing full well that half your fan base is wishing #4 was still under center. Then, over two games, you average 253 yards and 2.0 TD, while rushing for another 30 yards and 0.5 TD. I drafted Brady in one league and was fortunate enough to have Rodgers on my bench to step in. Whew!

Round 10 – Chris Perry (11.09)
Drafted: RB44
Actual: RB33
Granted, the Bengals offense is really struggling, but Perry averaged 50 yards and 0.5 TD per game versus the Ravens and the Titans, two very tough defenses. Those are adequate numbers for our RB4. Plus, he has some upside.

Round 11 – DeSean Jackson (13.04)
Drafted: WR51
Actual: WR12
It’s tough to count on rookie WRs, but the writing was on the wall in the preseason. Always keep your eye on a talented rookie wideout headed to a team with a good QB that is desperate for playmakers in the passing game. Jackson surely benefited from injuries to Kevin Curtis and Reggie Brown, and now that he’s started his career with consecutive 100+ yard games, it doesn’t look like he’s giving up his starting spot anytime soon. (By the way, had he not made the bonehead fumble play against the Cowboys, he’d be WR9 right now.)

Round 12 – Eddie Royal (15.01)
Drafted: WR58
Actual: WR3
Not to toot my own horn (which inevitably leads to someone tooting their own horn), but I had Royal ranked as my #1 Impact Rookie WR back in late August. (I had DeSean Jackson ranked #3. Who was #2, you might ask? Josh Morgan. Hey, they can’t all be winners.) Royal had a great preseason and he carried it over to the regular season, posting nine catches for 146 yards and a TD, making DeAngelo Hall look foolish in the process. In his encore, even though running mate Brandon Marshall almost set a record for catches in a game, Royal still caught the go-ahead TD and 2-point conversion against the Chargers.

So after 12 rounds, here’s our squad:

QB: Cutler (QB1), Rodgers (QB3)
RB: Bush (RB3), Parker (RB5), C. Johnson (RB9), C. Perry (RB33)
WR: Bowe (WR15), S. Moss (WR4), De. Jackson (WR12), Royal (WR3)
TE: Witten (TE1), Scheffler (TE2)

Alternatively, if we had taken Romo instead of Bush in the first and Forte instead of Cutler in the sixth, this would have been our squad:

QB: Romo (QB5), Rodgers
RB: Parker, Forte (RB8), C. Johnson, C. Perry
WR: Bowe, S. Moss, De. Jackson, Royal
TE: Witten, Scheffler

Obviously, either squad would be the favorite to win a title at this point in the season, but I prefer the first team.

Feel bad? Don’t fret, you could have this team:

QB: Brady, Bulger
RB: Maroney, R. Brown, R. Johnson, McAllister
WR: Colston, Ocho Cinco, Walker, Ginn
TE: Da. Clark, Crumpler

Is there a more motley crew of fantasy football n’er-do-wells?