Fantasy Football News for August 7, 2008
Mercifully, the Brett Favre situation is over. I can’t think of too many sports stories that I was more sick of than this one. There was just so much talk about this over so many days, with so little actual new events to discuss. After weeks of speculation, Favre was finally traded to the Jets which should make all sides happy. Favre got a chance to be a starter again, the Jets got a legitimate starting QB to go with the rest of the signings they made, and the Packers got rid of Favre, got a pretty good draft pick out of it (depending on Favre’s performance), and got him out of the NFC. Let’s take a look at the fantasy impact of this move.
Aaron Rodgers: I actually worry more about him than I did before. Rodgers has just had so much more pressure put on him by Favre. If he struggles at all, the national media will be all over the story, saying he stinks and the Packers should have welcomed Favre back with open arms. With all that being said, I don’t adjust my ranking on him.
Brett Favre: He goes to a team with a remade offensive line, a decent RB in Thomas Jones and two good enough WRs in Jerricho Cotchery and Laverneous Coles. He slates in around the 10-15 range as far as QBs rank and could have a super year in New York if he can keep the picks down.
Thomas Jones: His value increases now that the passing game has a chance. Before I had no faith in Clemens or Pennington. With a legitimate QB, Jones may climb the rankings a few ticks, but not too much.
Chad Pennington: He was immediately released by the Jets after the trade was finished. He will land somewhere, but I doubt he will be a starter. I have read some early rumors of Miami or Minnesota, where he stands a chance of starting. See where he lands to see where his value might end up.
Kellen Clemens: obviously the backup again this year, stay away from him this season. Favre does have that record games started streak ya know.
Jerricho Cotchery: for the first time will have a QB that can actually throw the ball down the field accurately. I believe he stands the most to gain from this trade. He can be a deep threat, and with Favre throwing the ball, he should have a very good season.
Laverneous Coles; same as Cotchery, he definitely goes up the rankings, although he is more of a possession receiver than Jerricho. He could easily play the Donald Driver role for the Jets this season, which, if you look at his numbers is a good role to play with Favre.
Carolina’s Steve Smith was suspended by his team for the first two regular season games last week for getting into a fight and breaking the nose of teammate Ken Lucas. Lucas will miss some time as his injury requires surgery. This hurts Smith’s value somewhat since he will miss actual regular season time, but I can’t bump him too far down the rankings if at all. Your season will not be won or lost in the first two weeks.
Broncos’ WR Brandon Marshall has been suspended the first three games of the regular season for violating the league’s personal conduct policy after he was arrested multiple times in the offseason. Marshall also had an incident in the offseason which required surgery which he said he ran into a TV horsing around with his brother. This guy has a ton of talent on the field, but seems pretty immature off of it. He is appealing the suspension, and if he goes through counseling could get it down to two games. Look for that to happen, and although I really like Marshall, these problems that he is having are concerning me somewhat. The new commish doesn’t take any crap, and I only hope he learns his lesson quickly.
Other news from Thursday’s preseason games:
Giants’ WR Sinorice Moss caught two passes for 55 yards as he attempts to have some sort of role on the team for the G-Men. He needs to surpass Steve Smith to gain any sort of significant playing time.
Lions’ WR Calvin Johnson caught four passes for 78 yards. Look for Calvin to have a far superior second season to his rookie year. He is so physically gifted, it would be hard to believe he catches less than 75 passes.
Brady Quinn was 13-17 for 133 yards tonight. Not saying he has any chance of being the starter out of camp, but if Derek Anderson struggles to start the season, I wouldn’t be surprised if Brady got his chance at some point this year.
LaMont Jordan played almost the full game for the Patriots and rushed 19 times for 76 yards. I don’t feel that the Patriots are completely sold on Laurence Maroney as their every down back, so Jordan could have a decent sized role with the Pats this year.
Larry Johnson scored in his first preseason game of the year. You don’t expect his stats to be anything special, so the fact he rushed for only 17 yards is nothing to be concerned about. He still ranks in the top 10 of RBs.
Devin Hester caught only one pass in his preseason debut of 2008 for the Bears as he tries to make an impact on the offensive side. I’m still far from convinced that this experiment is going to work. Keep an eye on Hester this preseason.
Rookie RB Matt Forte rushed seven times for 25 yards in the game. Word from Bears camp is that he has been pretty impressive so far, and looks like the Bears best option at running back. They did sign Kevin Jones away from Detroit, but does that excite anyone?
Matt Leinart was 7-8 for 91 yards as he recovers from his latest injury, a collarbone break in 2007. I have been waiting for him to break out, and perhaps this is the year he claims the job with no questions asked.
Saints WR Robert Meachem stole the show against the Cardinals. Meachem was the Saints’ 1st round pick in 2007 who missed the whole season due to injury. He caught four passes for 139 yards and a TD. Keep a close eye on this guy in the preseason, he could be another Marques Colston as far as his first year’s impact is concerned.
Your questions and comments are always welcomed at fightingchancefantasy@gmail.com. I guarantee a response within 18 hours.
