There were high hopes for WR Bryant Johnson as a first round draft choice to the Arizona Cardinals out of Penn State in 2003.

Several unproductive years later, after being stuck behind star receivers Larry Fitzgerald and fellow 2003 draft choice Anquan Boldin, Johnson is finally getting his chance to be a number one wide receiver in the NFL.

Johnson signed his first free agent contract this off-season with the San Francisco 49ers. The 49ers have been lacking a solid number one ever since Terrell Owens left after the 2003 season, ironically the same year as Johnson was drafted to the Cardinals.

Johnson has shown flashes of talent, which the 49ers have seen in their division matchups, which undoubtedly led to the free agent signing.

However, Johnson has been plagued with inconsistency, as sometimes he’s had a tendency to drop balls and his route-running remains a little sub-par. Johnson will certainly get the opportunity with the 49ers to show he has what it takes to be a star, with aging Isaac Bruce and underachieving Arnaz Battle as the only real competition he has on the depth chart. Continue Reading »

Overall Fantasy Impact: Above Average

Offensive Outlook: Coming off a surprising season in which the Browns ranked 8th in the NFL in points and yards with a young offense, it makes sense that they chose to pretty much stand pat on that side of the ball in the offseason. They picked up some key defensive components instead, which should help to get the offense on the field much more often.

There are a few worries (lack of depth at running back, health concerns for Kellen Winslow), but continued improvement by the young stars should mean more big numbers emanating from Cleveland this year.

QUARTERBACK: Derek Anderson’s emergence was one of the most surprising developments in fantasy football last year. Most assumed he was just keeping the seat warm for Brady Quinn, but 3,787 yards and 29 TD passes later, Anderson is now on the short list of the best fantasy options at the position in 2008.

Quinn’s presence is a bit worrisome for Anderson owners. What if Anderson stumbles a bit out of the gate? The pressure will mount quickly for Coach Romeo Crennel to give the Golden-Domer a chance, which could mean that Anderson could go from hero to bust in fantasy circles very quickly. As such, he is much riskier than some of the other top QB’s on the market. Continue Reading »

Gaining offensive yardage in a pro football game is one of the most teamwork-intensive tasks in all of sports. Eleven players have to execute their tasks on every play, with one mishap resulting in the entire play blowing up. Running a play is comparable to executing a complex choreographed dance routine, only with eleven guys running around trying to mess you up and put you in the hospital in the process.

How does this relate to fantasy football? It’s important because when an offense is running well, everyone is involved and is putting up numbers; whereas a poorly orchestrated offense (even one with talented players who are potential fantasy studs) won’t give you consistent production from anyone on a weekly basis.

Now that the NFL draft has passed and player movement is likely to be minimal from now until September, it’s time to rank the overall offenses for fantasy purposes. This is especially useful if you play in a deep fantasy league and are searching for guys to fill out your roster. As in the real NFL draft, everyone knows who the top players are. It’s the guys you pick up in the later rounds that can make or break your season. Due to the symbiotic nature of offenses, an overall evaluation of the team’s offense is a better tool for evaluating your fantasy draft picks than an individual’s talent. In other words, taking a lower-ranked receiver on a good offense like Anthony Gonzalez from Indianapolis is a much safer bet than going after a starter with a good reputation but is playing on a sputtering offense (Lee Evans in Buffalo is a great example).

Since everybody is going to know what you’re getting out of the top offenses in the league, I won’t spend much time analyzing them. The purpose of this article is to find the offenses poised to break through in 2008, and the ones that will bog down the fantasy production of their quarterbacks and receivers. Continue Reading »

Overall Fantasy Impact: Above Average

Offensive Outlook: These are not your father’s, or your older brother’s for that matter, Pittsburgh Steelers. The 2007 Steelers opened things up on offense and let Ben Roethlisberger throw like he was back in the MAC, while young playmakers like Willie Parker, Santonio Holmes, and Heath Miller put up huge numbers.

The draft brought more weapons in RB Rashard Mendenhall and WR Limas Sweed in the first two rounds, giving the Steelers more skill-position talent than just about anyone else. The only concern is the suddenly-suspect offensive line, which loses its finest player in departed free agent Alan Faneca.

QUARTERBACK: Roethlisberger ascended to the upper echelon of fantasy QB’s last year, with 32 TD passes, good for 3rd-best in the league (and more than Peyton Manning.) He had just one start in which he failed to throw a score and had three games with at least 4 TD’s. And he managed all of this without a 300-yard game, the only blemish to his fantasy record last year.

Not bad considering that his top two receivers missed significant time with injury. Big Ben should be off the board by round 5 and should be worthy of a fantasy start most weeks. Continue Reading »

Fantasy Impact: Below Average

Offensive Outlook: The drafting of QB Joe Flacco and RB Ray Rice certainly signifies that the Ravens are looking toward the future after several years of running in place. Couple that with the retirement of Steve McNair, and you might think that the Ravens might not be the same ol’, same ol’ in 2008.

But the truth is that those rookies are not likely to be major contributors right away, and so, with a few exceptions, Baltimore once again isn’t the place you want to look on Fantasy Draft Day.

QUARTERBACK: The McNair retirement likely puts the ball in Kyle Boller’s hands to start, and that’s not a very exciting prospect. Boller, even when he plays well, is more of a game manager than a light-up-the-board type. Troy Smith beat the Steelers in the season finale and has running ability to get some cheap points if he gets a chance to play.

Flacco is the heir apparent, but his jump from a lower college level to the NFL is far too great for you to expect anything very soon. More than likely he’ll be a cadddy for most of the year, and the Baltimore passing attack will remain uninspired. Continue Reading »

Overall Fantasy Inpact: Average

Offensive Outlook: Perhaps no team is more in flux heading into the season than the Bengals, and it reflects in their fantasy prospects. The Chad Johnson fiasco is looming, just as Coach Marvin Lewis is finally getting tough. Does that mean a trade? Or a holdout? Or just some lingering bad mojo?

But that’s just the beginning. There are all kinds of injury issues at running back, and the release of Chris Henry leaves untested rookies at the backup receiver spots. All this means that the Bengals might not turn out to be the sure-thing scoring machine they have been the last few years.

QUARTERBACK: The only thing that could derail Carson Palmer from being one of the best fantasy QB’s would be if Chad Johnson weren’t on the field. Otherwise, you’ve got a guy who has averaged about 4,000 yards and almost 30TDs over the past three years. You should be looking at him in the third round if you haven’t filled the position.

It’s a good thing Palmer is durable (no games missed the last three years), because the back-up situation is a mess. No one here (Ryan Fitzpatrick, Jeff Rowe, Jordan Palmer) should be considered as a pick-up if Carson Palmer gets hurt, at least until they prove otherwise. Continue Reading »

OVERALL FANTASY IMPACT: Below Average

OFFENSIVE OUTLOOK: The Jets have the makings of a dominant offensive line, with veteran standouts Alan Faneca and Damien Woody joining up-and-comers D’Brickashaw Ferguson and Nick Mangold.

The problem is that there aren’t any electrifying playmakers to really take advatage of it. Expect a grind-it-out approach from Coach Mangini unless Kellen Clemens really develops as a starter.

QUARTERBACK: Clemens was less than impressive in his tryout last year. He completed barely over 50 % of his passes and managed just 5 TD’s in 250 attempts against 10 interceptions.

The funny thing is that Chad Pennington wasn’t doing all that badly, at least in fantasy terms, before Clemens took over, racking up 9 TDs in his first 6 games. It’s clear that no one has a lot of confidence in either Pennington’s arm strength or his ability to stay upright for 16 games, so look for Clemens to take his lumps as the starter and be nothing more than a fantasy third-stringer. Continue Reading »

OVERALL IMPACT: Above Average

OFFENSIVE OUTLOOK: Surprise, surprise: The Patriots didn’t feel the need to tinker much with their record-setting offense in the offseason. Unless you’re worried that the Super Bowl loss and the whole Spygate mess puts some bad psychological mojo on them this year, Tom Brady, Randy Moss and Co. should once again have little difficulty against the weak defenses of the AFC East.

QUARTERBACK: Is it realistic to expect 50 TD’s for a second straight year from Tom Brady? Probably not. There is usually a small letdown from such a monstrous offensive year (see Peyton Manning from a few years back.) It’s also likely that a healthy Laurence Maroney will give just a tad more balance to the proceedings. That said, if you draft Brady in the first round, you can forget about your quarterback position for the rest of the year, which is a nice luxury to have. And the Super Bowl just gives him something to prove, so maybe 50 TDs is a modest expectation after all. Continue Reading »

Alexander is gone and Julius Jones has escaped the shadow of Marion Barber. Is this the season that Jones becomes a stud running back and lives up to the expectations?

Not a chance.

Seattle is going to adopt the dreaded running back by committee approach that kills fantasy players. The reason for this is simple. Seattle will be starting the season with three running backs who are not capable of leading a team and being an every down back.

Supposedly, the Seahawks want to emphasize the run more in 2008. The tight ends they picked up in the offseason are not there to catch the ball only. They are also going to be blocking for the three-headed monster that is Jones, Morris, and Duckett. Continue Reading »