Listen in as Anthony Stalter and I discuss Week 1 and how it affects fantasy owners going forward. Among the topics we discuss are Tom Brady’s injury, Vince Young’s strange night, Marques Colston’s thumb and Aaron Rodgers’ terrific debut.
(The opening and closing music is Cymande’s “Bra” – my favorite funk song of all time.)
Georgia running back and Heisman Trophy candidate Knowshon Moreno is good…real good.
Check out the hops he displayed last week in UGA’s romp over Central Michigan.
The San Francisco 49ers placed quarterback Alex Smith on injured reserve with a fractured throwing shoulder. Smith will miss the entire season.
What’s been known since Saturday night is that Smith has a fracture in the same shoulder that was badly separated last year. The results of the MRI have been examined by Dr. James Andrews, the orthopedic surgeon who operated on Smith’s shoulder in December. Presumably it was Andrews’ recommendation that prompted the 49ers to put Smith on IR. Smith has said that surgery is an option for the latest injury.
Smith’s future with the team also is dubious. Last week Scot McCloughan said that the team couldn’t afford to keep Smith next season if he is not a starter. Smith is scheduled to earn just under $10 million in base salary in 2009.
It’s kind of ironic that the same week Aaron Rodgers successfully made his debut in Green Bay, Alex Smith appears finished in San Francisco. The top two quarterbacks from the 2005 NFL Draft are heading in different directions and before this season, it looked like Rodgers was the one whose career was in flux. If J.T. O’Sullivan strings together a decent season, we’ll see how the 49ers handle the situation with Smith.
For someone who stands 6’1” and 235 lbs., Chris “Beanie” Wells rushes with the speed of a 100-meter sprinter and the finesse of a rhythm gymnast. He’s able to see the tiniest of pockets in a defensive line, or seems to have a sixth sense for where they’ll open up. After using this intuition to map his route, he exploits his opposition’s vulnerability like no other. He spins out of tackles using his craftiness, burrows through them with his strength, and gathers extra yardage with his exceptional speed.
Wells once told his father that he wanted to be the first freshman to win the Heisman Trophy. Though this did not come true, Wells was a true freshman in his first year at Ohio State, playing in all 13 games. Even though he was just one player on a talented offense, Wells still finished second on the team in rushing with 576 yards on 104 carries.
By his second year, the spotlight was officially on Wells, and he was voted Most Valuable Player by his teammates. Wells rushed for 1,609 yards and 15 touchdowns, which ranked him fourth among all-time OSU single-season running backs and first among sophomore rushers.
But a memorable 38-24 loss to LSU in the 2008 BCS title game still haunts Wells and the Ohio State campus. In his third (and likely final) college season, Wells is projected by many to win the Heisman. Along with quarterback Todd Boeckman and an outstanding defense, Wells is expected to lead the Buckeyes to yet another BCS national championship.
An Ohio boy through and through, Wells was raised by his parents in Akron, Ohio along with his ten siblings. Ohio State was always the first choice for Wells, who was scouted by many prestigious schools after his time at Akron Garfield High School. It’s only been two years at OSU, but former Buckeye and two-time Heisman Trophy Winner Archie Griffin is already comparing “Beanie” to Jim Brown.
Obviously, this young man has boundless potential. If he can get over his nagging ankle and wrist injuries, he’ll likely fulfill it.
Wells on the Web
Ohio State Buckeyes: Official player page for Wells
Find career stats, highlights and a bio on Wells at OSU’s official player page.
ESPN.com player profile page for Wells
Find game by game stats, scores and a small bio on Wells at ESPN.com.
Rotoworld player page for Wells
Check out all the latest player news on Wells at Rotoworld.com.
The best Chris Wells fansite
A fansite dedicated to Chris “Beanie” Wells.
Latest on Wells
Wells will return for his junior year at Ohio State. Based off his phenomenal sophomore year— rushing for 1,609 yards and 15 touchdowns—he is a likely candidate to win this year’s Heisman Trophy.
News and Commentary
Sports Illustrated.com: 2008 Heisman candidate breakdown
SI.com expects Wells to be among one of the leading vote-getters for the Heisman in 2008.
Is Wells the next Jim Brown?
The Cleveland Plain-Dealer discusses whether or not Wells is the next Jim Brown, a legendary runner for the Browns.
Beanie says ankle injury nothing to worry about
Even though Wells is expected to compete for the Heisman Trophy in 2008, he does have a history of injuries.
Wells Says
On his nickname
“I got the nickname because when I was a baby, I came out and my big brother said I had a bean head.”
On Americans being fed up with Ohio State
“We don’t have to prove ourselves to anyone. We just go out there, play our game, and move on.”
On Archie Griffin comparing him to Jim Brown
“It’s just incredible to even be mentioned in the same sentence as Jim Brown, let alone have Archie Griffin, a two-time Heisman Trophy winner, say it.”
On how often he thinks about winning the Heisman
“All the time.”
Braylon Edwards speaketh the truth:
“LeBron (James) isn’t a Cleveland guy. LeBron only plays for the Cavaliers, and who knows if he even likes the Cavaliers? He doesn’t like the Indians. He doesn’t like the Browns.”
The Browns receiver made his comments after LeBron James hung out on the Dallas sidelines during pregame warmups prior to the Cowboys/Browns game Sunday afternoon, hugging Terrell Owens and Adam “Don’t Call Me Pacman” Jones, chatting with owner Jerry Jones, and wearing a Yankees cap.
Of course, it was a Yankees cap that first had people questioning LeBron’s loyalty to his hometown. As a (tortured) Cleveland fan, I was pretty fired up when LeBron wore a Yankees hat to Jacobs Field for the Indians’ opening playoff game against the Yanks last year:
Cleveland is most definitely a football city, but LeBron is without question the face of Cleveland sports right now. That doesn’t mean that he has to root for every Cleveland sports franchise, but he crossed the line when he wore a Yankees hat to the game last night. That’d be like David Ortiz donning a Peyton Manning jersey during a Colts/Pats game in New England or, even worse, Tom Brady wearing a Yankees hat to a Sox/Yankees game at Fenway. You just don’t do it.
At the time, what irked me most wasn’t that LeBron wore the hat to the game, but that he taunted the fans — who are, of course, his fans during basketball season — by holding the hat above his head and egging on the crowd. It was an immature and classless move, and at the time I said that it spoke very poorly of his so-called loyalties to his hometown.
And now this.
As I mentioned previously, athletes are fans too, and they can root for whomever they want. I’m not ragging on LeBron for being a Cowboys fan or a Yankees fan or even a Bulls fan, all of whom he rooted for as a kid growing up in Akron. I do think it’s fair to call him a frontrunner, since all three of those teams were winning titles back then, but that’s not the point.
In fact, LeBron choosing to publicize his allegiances in front of Cleveland fans and, in the Indians/Yankees case, even taunting the fans in the process, isn’t even the point anymore. The point now, as Braylon Edwards pointed out, is simple: LeBron James isn’t a Cleveland guy. And that’s very bad news for the Cavaliers and their fans.
LeBron can opt out of his contract after the 2009-10 season, at which point the Cavaliers will be able to offer the star forward more money than any other team in the league. That may sound like a big advantage for the Cavs, and maybe it will prove to be. But working against Cleveland is the fact that LeBron’s contract with Nike will reportedly pay him more if he moves to a larger market like New York or LA. Maybe that’s just a rumor, because I haven’t found any concrete numbers on this, but it’s a widely reported rumor that LeBron has never bothered to shoot down. Add on top of that the fact that LeBron would make even more money in endorsements playing in a big city while also inflating his already enormous worldwide popularity, and however many more millions the Cavaliers can offer LeBron will look like chump change in the final equation.
And then, of course, there’s LeBron’s buddy Jay-Z, who just happens to be part owner of the New Jersey Nets. The Nets just happened to shed a bunch of salary by trading Richard Jefferson this offseason. They also just happen to be planning to move to Brooklyn and open a brand new arena in 2010. And Brooklyn just happens to be LeBron’s “favorite borough” in his favorite city of New York.
Throughout all of this city-wide “will he stay or will he go?” fretting, the one ace the fans thought they had up their sleeve was the fact that LeBron was a hometown guy who actually wanted to stay in Cleveland. Well, I’m not buying it, and neither is Braylon Edwards:
“He’s a guy from Akron who likes everybody but his hometown. I don’t know how that’s possible, but it is what it is, and he is who he is. You know, it’s LeBron.”
Preach on, Braylon.
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