Category: Fantasy Football (Page 308 of 324)

It’s never too early…

With new HC Herm Edwards already annointing Larry Johnson as the starting tailback in Kansas City, there may be a new sheriff in town. In the world of fantasy football, the #1 pick went one of two ways last season – LaDainian Tomlinson or Shaun Alexander. Looking forward to next season, you can now add Larry Johnson to that list. If Shaun re-ups with Seattle, it’ll be a tough decision whom to choose with that #1 pick.

On the anniversary of the hiring of former 49ers offensive coordinator Mike Holmgren as their head coach, the Green Bay Packers went back to the well and made an offer to current San Francisco OC Mike McCarthy to fill the head coaching position vacated by Mike Sherman. The offer comes on the heels of general manager Ted Thompson’s furious interview schedule, where he visited several coaches over the last week and a half. McCarthy is highly regarded in Green Bay, where he served as the quarterbacks coach in 1999 before being hired as the Saints’ offensive coordinator in 2000.

This is an unorthodox move – offensive coordinators whose teams rank last in the league in total offense aren’t usually tapped for head coaching jobs. McCarthy does have a few nice items to put on his resume as he did lead the Saints to a team record 432 points in 2002. It’s unclear what this hire will mean for defensive coordinator Jim Bates, who was thought to be a frontrunner for the head job. He turned a sorry defense into a top 10 performer this season, and it would be a shame for the Packers to let him go.

The bigger question is how this move will affect Brett Favre’s decision to come back for another season. McCarthy does have a relationship with Favre (remember, he was the QB coach in ’99) and has continued to stay in touch with the future Hall of Famer since then.

The hire could be the defining decision of Thompson’s brief career with the Packers. If this backfires and the Packers don’t start winning soon, the organization will almost certainly clean house when the duo’s contracts are up.

There are now eight vacant head coaching positions in the NFL – Green Bay, Oakland, Minnesota, Houston, St. Louis, New Orleans, Detroit and Kansas City. Of that group, only the KC opening was voluntary as Dick Vermeil decided to retire. It appears that there are going to be more openings than there are big-name candidates, so more than a few fans are going to be left scratching their heads when the positions are finally filled.

ESPN’s John Clayton says that the Houston job is the most attractive – coming off a two-win season, there is nowhere to go but up and the team has some talented skill position players in David Carr, Andre Johnson, Domanick Davis, along with dibs on Reggie Bush if they so choose.

Every week, I submit six names our fantasy football owners – three marginal players to start and three to bench. Let’s see how I did last week:

START

David Garrard, JAX – 216 passing yards, 27 rushing yards, 1 rushing TD (HIT)

Ryan Moats, PHI – 78 rushing yards, 1 TD (HIT)

Jimmy Smith, JAX – 6 receptions, 70 yards (PUSH)

BENCH

Mike Vick, ATL – 122 passing yards, 2 INT, 35 rushing yards (HIT)

Willis McGahee, BUF – 50 total yards, 1 TD (MISS)

Mushin Muhammad, CHI– 3 catches, 40 yards (HIT)

On to this week’s picks:

START

QB – Steve McNair, TEN
McNair’s matchup against a suspect MIA secondary is a good one.

RB – Carnell Williams, TB
Cadillac has a pretty good matchup against a Falcons rush defense that is not playing too well.

WR – Samie Parker, KC
Parker may still be available on your waiver wire if you need help. He’s been playing well lately and the KC/SD game should be a high scoring affair.

BENCH

QB – Brett Favre, CHI
Favre faces a very tough Bears defense on the frozen tundra in Green Bay.

RB – Edgerrin James, IND
HC Tony Dungy has said he’ll be treating this game as a preseason affair, so don’t expect to see any major Colts out there for more than a half.

WR – Deion Branch, NE
Beware of Pats this week, as the team has nothing to play for. Plus, Branch faces a good Jets pass defense.