|
Would
anyone want to buy two lambchops, the front quarter of a cooked chicken,
a package of green beans, most of a gallon of Fudge Ripple ice cream, a
half loaf of cinnamon bread, and a small bag of blueberries? There are
also three plastic containers, the contents of which are unknown to me.
A recent check reveals that we have these items in our freezer. They'd
be a good buy for someone. The lambchops are circa 1999. That was a good
year for lambchops. Most everyone likes ice cream and blueberries and
some of the stuff in the plastic containers will probably turn out to be
beef cooked with vegetables in a Chinese manner.
This one-time opportunity for some lucky person is available because my
wife and I cleaned out the freezer last night. These are things we
thought were too good to throw away. In order to make room for upcoming
leftovers and occasional holiday treats, we had to throw away the
current ones that no longer interest us. Last week, my family and
I made a commitment to move. After near 10 years at the same home, we're
preparing to pack-move-unpack ourselves across town at the end of this
month. Oh joy.
A short time after the family move is completed, I will begin making
similar roster-type decisions for my fantasy teams, deciding whom to
cut. In a 'keeper' league, often owners must select which players to
drop and which to protect from their roster during the off season.
Commonly there is a maximum number of players than can be carried over
from the prior season. All others are re-drafted. The challenge is to
protect and drop the right players. Oh joy.
As an example, RB Mike Alstott was once a positive
fantasy prospect. Yet, in each of the last two seasons, he was
given a golden opportunity to be the Bucs star and he responded by
losing the football with the frequency that Donald Duck loses his
temper. Plus, after starting his career with 65 receptions, the Bucs
have steadily drop his total reception to only 1 per game. Dropping the
ball is bad, bad, bad. After September, he never had more than 10 rush
attempts in a game. Then in November, he was injured, missing four
games. Thus, Warrick Dunn is now the primary Tampa Bay rusher and
Alstott is no longer a TC target player. A better RB3 is needed.
Emmitt Smith is a long-time favorite of mine, and is being
considered in this clean up. His 1200 rushing yard and nine scores
produced nearly twice the fantasy points as any other Cowboy. He is no
longer considered for All-Everything status, but he will continue to
bare the main burden of the Cowboy's running attack on a team that is
unable to overpower teams at the goal line. It remains to be seen if
Emmitt can squeeze one more Pro Bowl season out of his thirty-three year
old legs. I think he'll have every opportunity to duplicate his
Best-In-Dallas fame and Smith will be protected for another season.
Having WR Jeff Graham on a FF roster was only a tiny
bit better than having no Chargers on your roster. He started 13 games
and had four 100+ yd games. He produced 55-900-4 numbers, proving that
there is competence without excitement among many fantasy WRs. Passer
Flutie will be an active addition, and should raise their points per
game above last season's 16, but.. I consider Graham a 'lambchop' type
player. I'll draft him or another similar talent as a bench player
later.
Having Steve Beuerlein or Rob Johnson as my QB2 does
not scare me. Yet, I'm unsure that I want either of them counted as a
protected player. They are fine bench players that I had drafted
them back-to-back, in hopes that one would lead me to a championship.
Instead, they experimented to prove that the football field makes a
lousy whoopie cushion. They may have lead the NFL in sacks per attempt
with their joint effort. (To save face, I'll tell ya the rest of the QB
story. Griese was obtained post-draft via trade. He plus Beuerlein were
a positive pair.) Fantasy owners should realize that Beuerlein has
produced 55 TD passes and over 8000 passing yards over the last seasons.
That's some backup. If I could I'd protect him.
Silly me. I *still* believe QB Rob Johnson can also be a very good
fantasy player. All he must do is remain focused and return to the
performances that earned him his $5M salary. Between injuries and
Flutiemania, Johnson has not played much the last three seasons. In
those seasons, he's only thrown 43% of the Bills passes. What kind of
fantasy starter is that? Better starters than that can be found in the
auto graveyard. During the past three games, he started only eighteen of
the Bills' forty-eight games. Yet, I have no trouble in viewing him as
fella that will successfully stretch the field with his cannon arm. The
Bills offense will improve with Johnson as the solo quarterback.
The best part of dropping these passers is that I really like both
players, and that may cause me to hold back a while longer than normal
in claiming them as a not-so-popular backup QB. I have options.
Of course, RB Jamal Anderson is a keeper, too. The Falcon
returned from his '99 knee injury to be a nice fantasy starter. And,
while 1000 yards rushing is no longer 'elite', he performed at an elite
level during his 1400 yard, six score season. Imagine his numbers, if
Atlanta improves just a tad? He's a copy of Smith, regarding his teams'
dependence on him. Better yet, he's a real threat to score any time he
touches the ball. I don't want to play against him.
The rest of the roster guys are fairly common drop-em-and-redraft guys; RB
Kevin Faulk, WR Bill Schroeder, a TE, two PKs, and both
defenses. Each are very replaceable. I feel good about starting Y2K1
with QB Griese, RBs ESmith and JAnderson, WRs Harrison and Owens
as the five on my pre-draft roster in this league. Oh joy.
TC~
Everyone
knows TC. He is
entering his 16th season as an active fantasy football participant and
his seventh season as a leading member of the online FF community. In
addition to hosting the popular YouthFantasyFootball.com
and FanEx websites, he is
active in various other projects within our hobby. Specifically, he has
become a popular freelance writer whose work has been widely published
both online and in print. Yep, everyone knows TC... sooner or later.
|
