Category: Fantasy Football (Page 305 of 324)

Domanick Davis continues to struggle with pain in his knee and it is becoming increasingly clear that he may not be all that effective this season. Antowain Smith is there, but he’s not very explosive. Vernand Morency and Wali Lundy are next in line to start if Davis can’t go. Lundy looked particularly good in the Texans’ first preseason game…Clinton Portis has a separated shoulder, but it’s unclear how much time he’s going to miss. His Antsports’ ADP of 1.04 will surely take a beating until he returns to the field. If Portis is out for any extended time, look for Ladell Betts to be very productive in Al Saunders’ offense…Curtis Martin is still being held out of practice, and it looks more and more that he might be out for the season. The Jets have Cedric Houston, but they’ve been inquiring about the availability of several backs around the league, including Tennessee’s Chris Brown…Mike Shanahan has anointed undrafted rookie Mike Bell as the #1 RB for the time being, moving Ron Dayne to #3 after Tatum Bell. By most accounts, Dayne was having a very good camp, but it appears that Shanahan is impressed by M. Bell, at least for now. Every year, Denver’s running back situation is dicey, so it’s best not to commit a high pick on any of these guys…LenDale White spat in the face of Titans’ safety Donnie Nickey. It’s bad enough to spit at your opponent, but it’s far worse to spit at a teammate you have to play with for an entire season. Maybe White’s personality was the reason he dropped so far in the draft…Philip Rivers went 15 for 21, throwing for 169 yards in the first half in the Chargers’ win over Green Bay. Anyone worried about the effect of the departure of Drew Brees on LaDainian Tomlinson and Antonio Gates has to feel good about Rivers’ performance.

While in training camp, Clinton Portis lobbied hard for less playing time for starters as preseason neared.

Portis didn’t want himself or any other key component to be injured and therefore jeopardize the momentum that the Redskins had built after going to the playoffs last season.

In an unfortunate display of foreshadowing, Portis partially dislocated his left shoulder in a 19-3 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals Monday night.

He took one handoff for eight yards and then blocked for quarterback Mark Brunell. When Keiwan Ratliff intercepted Brunell’s sixth attempt, however, Portis extended his left arm to make a tackle and partially knocked the bone part of the way out the shoulder socket.

“After that 8-yard run, I was like, ‘Get me out of that game,'” Portis said. “That’s what I was thinking. It’s football. It can happen to anyone. It happened to me.”

“For whoever’s watching: Let’s get rid of some of these games,” Portis said. “Four games is ridiculous. Then you play a 16-game season and the playoffs behind that.”

Portis knows that this kind of thing can happen to any player at any time. It’s just unfortunate to have star players like Portis, who rushed for a club-record 1,516-yards last year, go down in just the first preseason game.

So, what does this mean for the Redskins?

Well for one, with no timetable set for Portis to return (at least not yet anyway), Ladell Betts will take over the starting roll. Betts rushed for 338-yards on 89 carries last year and did rush for 92-yards in a game against the 49ers.

Betts isn’t as shifty as Portis in between the tackles, but is a bigger back at 223-pounds and could share the load with special-teams guy Rock Cartwright.

The biggest thing that possibly dooms the Redskins is that they play in the NFC East and there is no room for error in a division that could house multiple playoff teams. However, Washington only plays two division games (at. Dallas Week 2; at. NY Giants Week 5) before their BYE week and that might give Portis enough time to return.

With Washington relying so much on Portis to open things up for Brunell in the passing game, this is going to put a lot of pressure on the Redskins defense to keep them in games. Brunell resurrected his career last year, but he needs a running game now, more than ever and can’t do it on his own.

UPDATE: Coach Joe Gibbs said that Portis will miss the remainder of the preseason, but the goal is to have him back by the season opener if his shoulder recovers from soreness in time for him to rehab.

Ashley Lelie, the disgruntled wide receiver currently of the Denver Broncos, may be getting closer to his wish of a new NFL destination.

A report from ESPN.com Insider has Lelie being swapped with former first round draft pick DT Michael Haynes of the Chicago Bears.

The Daily Herald (IL) reported on Wednesday that Haynes was not on the Bears’ training camp premise on Tuesday night. However, Chicago GM Jerry Angelo said that was due to Haynes receiving treatment, not because of the trade rumors.

This would be an interesting swap if it did go through and is certainly one that could potentially benefit both teams. Lelie hasn’t showed up to any of the Denver Broncos offseason minicamps, training camps or even stop by for a cup of coffee.

He wants nothing to do with the team and has been stirring up trade talks from as far back as the Broncos’ loss to the Steelers in the AFC title game last season.

The Bears desperately need a receiver to compliment Muhsin Mohammad in their offense and Lelie would provide QB Rex Grossman with a nice down field target. Lelie hasn’t been a touchdown machine, but his 18.3 YPC average would certainly help the Bears in the vertical passing game.

On the flip side of the equation, the Broncos are in desperate need of someone who can rush the passer. Haynes has fallen out of favor in the Chicago organization due to lack of productivity, but could prosper in a Broncos system that has re-birthed former Browns’ miscasts Gerard Warren, Courtney Brown and Ebenezer Ekuban.

The Broncos are solid against the run, but often used complicated blitz packages in order to get pressure on the opposing teams quarterback last year. Haynes could potentially give Denver a better rush with its front four if acquired.

One of the biggest question marks heading into the season is Bengals QB Carson Palmer. If healthy, Palmer probably deserves to be the second QB off the board (behind Peyton Manning, of course), but at the very least his talent makes him a top-three guy, depending on how you view Tom Brady. But Palmer’s postseason knee injury makes his draft prospects a bit tough to gauge. Questions remain about just how healthy he’ll be this season following extensive reconstructive surgery to repair two torn knee ligaments and a dislocated kneecap, and even more doubts surround his ability to take the field week 1 against the Chiefs.

Well, the news that the Bengals have ramped up Palmer’s practice workload is certainly promising for his fantasy owners as well as Bengals fans the world over (yes, we believe there are some outside of Cincinnati):

The move came after Palmer publicly lobbied for more snaps, and privately implored coach Marvin Lewis to give him more work. It also came after a weekend in which Cincinnati coaches and executives huddled with doctors and trainers to review the status of Palmer’s rehabilitation.

The result: Palmer, who took only about 40 percent of the repetitions with the first-unit offense during the opening week of camp, logged roughly 70-80 percent of the Monday practice snaps. That level of activity is expected to continue through this week, unless Palmer has a setback, which is not anticipated.

“He feels like the more snaps he gets, the better he feels,” Lewis said. “We told him to wait until the second week and see how he felt and got through the first week. Now we can begin to ratchet up the snaps. He can get them when he’s on the field. When he’s not out there, [backups Anthony Wright and Doug Johnson)]can go back and kind of split it.”

Of course, this news still doesn’t guarantee that he’ll be ready for the Chiefs September 10, but the chances appear to be improving by the week.

So what does this all mean for Palmer’s fantasy stock? Well, not much, I’d say. He’s still a risky bet as the second or third QB, but it’s a bet that could certainly pay off for whoever decides to roll the dice on him. Personally, I’m not touching Palmer this season unless he really slips, but that has more to do with my own draft strategy than it does with Palmer’s recovery. With so many quality starters available in the middle rounds, nabbing Palmer in the third or fourth isn’t all that appealing to me. But I’m not taking Brady there either, nor would I draft Peyton in the first round.

All of that said, if you’re intent on taking a quarterback early, the odds of Palmer being an elite fantasy QB this season are better today than they were yesterday.

The Cowboys say no, but apparently ESPNews reported earlier today that a lingering hamstring problem would keep Terrell Owens out of action for the entire preseason. The fact that ESPN.com hasn’t run the story makes it quite possible that they’ve since backed off their statement, but with news that Owens definitely will miss the Cowboys’ preseason opener Saturday with his sore hammy, this pseudo-news certainly bears watching.

Warning bells should be sounding for fantasy owners (and, of course, Dallas fans) right now, considering T.O. is 32, so any signs of his body breaking down are alarming to say the least. Aside from that, though, if T.O. doesn’t get his reps with Drew Bledsoe in this summer, the two could be out of synch once the season begins. Not a good start to T.O.’s comeback season.