Keepers: Deuce McCallister and Dominick Davis.
I’m indifferent on Nick’s two keepers. One the plus side, I think Deuce will have a tremendous year. Check back with
me at the end of the year, but I bet he leads the league in rushing yards. Davis on the other hand is the ultimate
injury concern. You pretty much have to handcuff him with both his backups (Wells and Morrency). The plus side is
the 8 weeks of production you get out of him. The downside is the rest of the time when he is injured and you’re left
scrambling to find a suitable replacement.
Grade: B+
Draft:
QB: Michael Vick and Joey Harrington.
Vick is the biggest headache to have on any fantasy team. The guy is without a doubt the most exciting player to
watch. But you never know what kind of numbers you are getting. He may rush for over a hundred yards one game,
then not even throw or rush for a hundred yards total the next game. He’s the kind of guy that when you play him,
he does nothing, so you get so frustrated with him that you bench him, then that week you bench him he ends up
throwing for over 250 yards and rushing for another 100 with 3 TD’s. Harrington has the most pressure of any QB
this season. He has the weapons at his disposal, but nobody is sure if he can put it together. He’s worth the risk as
a backup though.
Grade: B+
RB: Marshall Faulk.
The only team to have one RB on his bench. The amount of touches Marshall gets is in question. Early reports is he
is a change of pace back who will be more of a receiving threat. But no doubt about it, Steven Jackson is the man.
Grade: C
WR: Isaac Bruce, Charles Rodgers, Ronald Curry, Bryant Johnson, David Boston, Clarence Moore, and David
Terrell.
The only guy to carry seven receivers, Nick also has the most players that are currently their teams #3 WR. That
could mean two things. Either they all turn out to be huge busts and are dropped to the waiver wire or they are the
next “Brandon Stokely”. Worse case scenario, Nick will have plenty of guys to drop during those bye weeks and
whenever the next big thing to hit the waiver wire comes around (I know how that can be a problem sometimes since
I don’t like to part with any of my bench players.). However, that’s only the start of Nick’s problems. Bruce is no #1
fantasy WR anymore. Rodgers is another high risk/high reward pick. He either scores 10 TD’s or he gets injured
again, b/c some players just can’t stay healthy (he’s like the Ken Griffey Jr. of football, although Griffey managed to
stay healthy this. Maybe a sign of things to come?). David Boston will probably never recover from his knee
problems and David Terrell was recently cut (but even before then the only hope was that being re-matched with his
college QB – Brady, would rejuvenate his career). Two wasted draft picks right there. Although, not to knock all of
Nick’s pick’s. Out of everyone I like Curry the most. With Porter’s hamstring problem and the expectation that the
Raiders will air it out frequently, he could be in for a good year. I think Clarence Moore could be a TD machine for
the Baltimore offense and Bryant Johnson could get a few catches and TD’s next to Boldin and Fitzgerald
(especially if one goes down with an injury).
Grade: C
TE: Antonio Gates and Marcus Pollard.
Gates is one of the top two TE’s, no matter who breaks out this year. Problem is he will miss week one for sure. That
meant Nick had to waste a draft pick on another TE, and Pollard is definitely more than serviceable. Still that will
prevent him from getting an A, b/c I believe you never need two TE’s on your roster. Plus you miss out on a week of
production from Gates.
Grade: A-
K: Mike Vanderjagt.
I predict Vanderjagt will have a bounce back year and be one of the top 3 point scoring kickers in the league. Last
year was a bad year, since Manning decided to break the TD record. That meant more extra point attempts and
less FG attempts. This year, look for more FG’s as Peyton will throw around 10 TD’s less this season (which is still
impressive).
Grade: B+
DEF: Baltimore
The defense that always gets drafted first and earlier than necessary. Sure they are the best, but what really
separates them from say New England or Buffalo. It’ll all come down to how the revised defensive scoring system for
our league changes things. Otherwise, Nick could have waited and bolstered his WR core instead of jumping for a
defense so early.
Grade: B+
Best Draft Pick: Antonio Gates
Worst Draft Pick: David Boston
Team Strengths: RB and TE
Team Weaknesses: Major concern at WR (and another major question mark at QB)
Key to Success: The easy answer to say would be Michael Vick, but I expect him to be adequate. Nothing
great, nothing too bad. The key in my opinion is Charles Rodgers. If the man can stay healthy and regain the
form he showed in 5 games in 2003, is the difference b/w having a weak receiving core and a good one.
Overall Grade: B-
I’m indifferent on Nick’s two keepers. One the plus side, I think Deuce will have a tremendous year. Check back with
me at the end of the year, but I bet he leads the league in rushing yards. Davis on the other hand is the ultimate
injury concern. You pretty much have to handcuff him with both his backups (Wells and Morrency). The plus side is
the 8 weeks of production you get out of him. The downside is the rest of the time when he is injured and you’re left
scrambling to find a suitable replacement.
Grade: B+
Draft:
QB: Michael Vick and Joey Harrington.
Vick is the biggest headache to have on any fantasy team. The guy is without a doubt the most exciting player to
watch. But you never know what kind of numbers you are getting. He may rush for over a hundred yards one game,
then not even throw or rush for a hundred yards total the next game. He’s the kind of guy that when you play him,
he does nothing, so you get so frustrated with him that you bench him, then that week you bench him he ends up
throwing for over 250 yards and rushing for another 100 with 3 TD’s. Harrington has the most pressure of any QB
this season. He has the weapons at his disposal, but nobody is sure if he can put it together. He’s worth the risk as
a backup though.
Grade: B+
RB: Marshall Faulk.
The only team to have one RB on his bench. The amount of touches Marshall gets is in question. Early reports is he
is a change of pace back who will be more of a receiving threat. But no doubt about it, Steven Jackson is the man.
Grade: C
WR: Isaac Bruce, Charles Rodgers, Ronald Curry, Bryant Johnson, David Boston, Clarence Moore, and David
Terrell.
The only guy to carry seven receivers, Nick also has the most players that are currently their teams #3 WR. That
could mean two things. Either they all turn out to be huge busts and are dropped to the waiver wire or they are the
next “Brandon Stokely”. Worse case scenario, Nick will have plenty of guys to drop during those bye weeks and
whenever the next big thing to hit the waiver wire comes around (I know how that can be a problem sometimes since
I don’t like to part with any of my bench players.). However, that’s only the start of Nick’s problems. Bruce is no #1
fantasy WR anymore. Rodgers is another high risk/high reward pick. He either scores 10 TD’s or he gets injured
again, b/c some players just can’t stay healthy (he’s like the Ken Griffey Jr. of football, although Griffey managed to
stay healthy this. Maybe a sign of things to come?). David Boston will probably never recover from his knee
problems and David Terrell was recently cut (but even before then the only hope was that being re-matched with his
college QB – Brady, would rejuvenate his career). Two wasted draft picks right there. Although, not to knock all of
Nick’s pick’s. Out of everyone I like Curry the most. With Porter’s hamstring problem and the expectation that the
Raiders will air it out frequently, he could be in for a good year. I think Clarence Moore could be a TD machine for
the Baltimore offense and Bryant Johnson could get a few catches and TD’s next to Boldin and Fitzgerald
(especially if one goes down with an injury).
Grade: C
TE: Antonio Gates and Marcus Pollard.
Gates is one of the top two TE’s, no matter who breaks out this year. Problem is he will miss week one for sure. That
meant Nick had to waste a draft pick on another TE, and Pollard is definitely more than serviceable. Still that will
prevent him from getting an A, b/c I believe you never need two TE’s on your roster. Plus you miss out on a week of
production from Gates.
Grade: A-
K: Mike Vanderjagt.
I predict Vanderjagt will have a bounce back year and be one of the top 3 point scoring kickers in the league. Last
year was a bad year, since Manning decided to break the TD record. That meant more extra point attempts and
less FG attempts. This year, look for more FG’s as Peyton will throw around 10 TD’s less this season (which is still
impressive).
Grade: B+
DEF: Baltimore
The defense that always gets drafted first and earlier than necessary. Sure they are the best, but what really
separates them from say New England or Buffalo. It’ll all come down to how the revised defensive scoring system for
our league changes things. Otherwise, Nick could have waited and bolstered his WR core instead of jumping for a
defense so early.
Grade: B+
Best Draft Pick: Antonio Gates
Worst Draft Pick: David Boston
Team Strengths: RB and TE
Team Weaknesses: Major concern at WR (and another major question mark at QB)
Key to Success: The easy answer to say would be Michael Vick, but I expect him to be adequate. Nothing
great, nothing too bad. The key in my opinion is Charles Rodgers. If the man can stay healthy and regain the
form he showed in 5 games in 2003, is the difference b/w having a weak receiving core and a good one.
Overall Grade: B-
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