Most fans of the National Football League, even the ones who watched "Big Fan" and thought "What a lightweight," find preseason football about as stimulating as listening to this guy. However, in between your perusal of things such as Christopher Harris' list of "must-draft players," Brad Evans' ADP Progress Report and Bill Simmons' analysis of the 10 types of holdouts, all fantasy football players should find some room in their busy August schedules to catch a few preseason games.
I'm not saying you should shell out the legalized-extortion money that teams charge fans to come to their stadiums and see future high school coaches play for an entire half. I'm also not saying you need to stay tuned for every last two-minute drill. But I am saying that preseason games can offer some clues about how certain players will be used in the regular season (and whether said players are worthy of our draft/auction consideration). A few examples:
Who will carry the rock? (And I don't mean Rex Ryan's gut): Giants vs. Jets, Monday, Aug. 16, ESPN. Ryan has already signaled that he will break with NFL tradition by playing his starters beyond the first quarter. But he has not shown his hand when it comes to his starting running back. LaDainian Tomlinson is the newcomer and a former fantasy MVP, but he's taken more abuse than the Bluesmobile. Shonn Greene has been called the Jets "bell cow," but how many mistakes would it take for him to find the bench?
Playing a game of catch: Cowboys at Texans, Saturday, Aug. 28, CBS. Miles Austin saved many a fantasy player's bacon with his breakout 2009 season. But Roy Williams seems to be eager to dispel the notion that the Cowboys paid a king's ransom for a court jester. And then there's Dez Bryant, who's out of his cast and may be ready to play when this game comes around. And we haven't even discussed the potential of a Kim Kardashian factor yet.
Some people call me ... Tim: Steelers at Broncos, Sunday, Aug. 29, Fox. The Broncos could have simply traded for Brady Quinn and had him match up with Kyle Orton in an old-fashioned quarterback competition. Instead, they traded up to get Tim Tebow and throw a monkey wrench at every fantasy football player. Tebow is a truly long shot for the starting job, at least in his rookie season. But what happens if the Broncos decide to use him in some option packages? Will they have to make Quinn or Orton the emergency third quarterback? Will we be able to draft Tebow as a tight end? Will we be able to take him seriously after this?
(Those of you who have NFL Network will get a head start on the rest of us. They'll be broadcasting Denver's game against the Bengals on Sunday.)
All of the above: Eagles at Bengals, Friday, August 20, Fox. Then there are games like this one that offer multiple questions. How will Kevin Kolb and Michael Vick split their quarterback snaps? Can Chad Ochocinco and Terrell Owens co-exist once they realize that only one of them will be the Bengals' No. 1 receiver? Who's going to fill Michael Westbrook's shoes as both a running back and a target of fantasy players' ire?
You can wait like everyone else to read the game stories, or you can watch and try to answer these questions for yourself.
We'll be back with our NASCAR predictions.
No comments:
Post a Comment