The NFL Season is just two weeks away, and Fantasy Football drafts are happening all over the country. My eyes are about to pop out of my head from watching 40+ NFL preseason games either in entirety, in fast forward (stopping to catch several key plays) or even on the NFL.com highlight reel. My two DVRs are jam-packed still, but time is a-wastin’.
With that in mind, I have gone through my offensive player rankings for Footballguys for perhaps the last time before Week 1. For obvious reasons I cannot provide my entire rankings list here (subscriber only content), but I can tell you about a few tweaks that I made. There are several changes across the board, mostly minor upticks and downgrades, but I thought it would help some to know about the major moves I made and why:
Tight Ends:
Take a look here for my overall TE redraft rankings as well as several other Footballguys staff’s opinions.
Tight Ends are often overlooked and discounted as not worth much in Fantasy Football, but certain players can make a key difference and win you several games over the course of a fantasy season. Here at Footballguys we focus on ranking TEs based solely on touchdown and yardage (no points per reception bonuses), so if those come into play in your particular league also keep that in mind. Every point matters.
Based on what I have seen, read and heard over the past few weeks, I have only one player that is really moving up a lot and it shouldn’t surprise you if you read my changes at wide receiver. Pittsburgh is going to throw more this year and I think that benefits not just Santonio Holmes but also Heath Miller. Miller will be going deeper and down the seam more, and I think he could crack the Top 10 TE list for 2007.
Tennessee is struggling to find competent receivers. Last season, Vince Young relied on his two tight ends - Bo Scaife and Ben Troupe - to help him to sustain drives. This year it appears that it is all about Scaife and there are even rumors that Troupe is on the trading block. Target Scaife and move Troupe down your list.
Jacksonville is also a WR nightmare. The TEs are also jumbled, but it got a little clearer when Jermaine Wiggins (former Viking) was released. Marcedes Lewis should take over this position, but I’m still wary about the entire Jaguar passing game.
Green Bay will throw quite a bit this year (big surprise), and Brett Favre still loves Bubba Franks. Donald Lee was supposed to push him out of a job, but Franks never got that memo.
Lastly, many who have followed my writings about later round TEs know that I am a big fan of the Carolina Panthers’ new starter, Jeff King. King was a standout at Virginia Tech, and now he gets his big shot. Carolina has issues in their passing attack and they need a “go to” guy without Keyshawn to move the chains on third down. King can be that guy.
Good luck everyone.