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McGahee was one of the most consistent fantasy backs last season, gaining 100 yards from scrimmage and/or scoring a touchdown in every game until week 14. He did this despite the Ravens having a terrible passing game and season as a whole. If they can turn it around in ’08 McGahee should see a bump in production.
His injury concerns are misleading because of the lingering memories of his horrific knee injury in the ’02 National Championship game, but he has missed only three games in four NFL seasons.
He should still have plenty of juice left. He is only 26 and has not yet reached the 1,200 carry mark. I don’t see much of a difference between McGahhe, Gore or Portis, but I think his ceiling is a bit lower.
Lynch was very good during his rookie season, never totaling less than 80 yards from scrimmage in a game. He did this despite the Bills having average talent on the offensive line.
Lynch did wear down a bit as the season progressed, missing three consecutive games in weeks 11-13. He looks like a safe bet to produce similar or slightly better numbers in ’08. He is the last in line of the second tier of running backs and is worth a late first or early second round selection.
Receivers are notoriously inconsistent, but Wayne has shaken that stigma the past couple of seasons. Last year he only had two games with less than 60 yards receiving and in those games he got into the end zone. With Marvin Harrison nearing the end of the line, Wayne’s status is very secure as the number one receiver on one of the most high powered and consistent passing attacks in the league.
The reason I have Wayne ahead of Owens is because of the consistency factor. Owens had five games where he recorded less than 40 yards receiving and didn’t score. He’s also a risk to melt down and quit on his team. He’s still got a lot of talent and has a higher productivity ceiling than Wayne, but those risks are tough to ignore.
It was a tough call putting Manning ahead of Romo, but you can’t really argue with Manning’s time tested consistency. In 10 seasons he’s never thrown for fewer than 26 touchdowns and only twice has thrown for less than 4,000 yards. He’s also never missed a game in his career due to injury.
Like I said in the previous paragraph, it was a really tough call putting Manning ahead of Romo. My reasoning is that I feel Manning is a slightly safer selection. Dallas plays in one of the toughest divisions in the NFL and Terrell Owens has been known to implode. There have been very few changes in Dallas this off-season, so logically you should project a very similar output for Romo in ’08.
Grant took the Packers staring job in week eight and ran away with it, getting better as he became more comfortable in the offense. He scored seven touchdowns in the last six regular season games. The concern now is Brett Favre’s retirement and the effect it will have on Grant and the rest of the Packers. There’s good chance Grant will see significantly more eight man fronts with out the threat of Favre’s big arm to keep the safeties back. I had Grant ranked number 11 overall before Favre’s announcement.
Beside concerns about the loss of their field general, there are concerns about Grant being a one-year wonder. Sometime when a player gets a shot and starts playing well he will out perform his skill level. I’m not saying he’s not talented, but there’s a reason Grant went undrafted out of Notre Dame.
Last year Maroney was a considered a late first or early second round pick in fantasy drafts. He actually put up better rushing numbers than he did in his rookie season, but this year he’s been pushed into the second round. He obviously didn’t perform up to expectations, but he did finish the regular season strong scoring six touchdowns in the last seven games.
I think Maroney could be in line for a big year since defenses will be focused on stopping Brady and Moss. He still has many risk factors. The two biggest concerns are that he’s never carried the full load and he’s been fairly injury prone going back to his college days at the University of Minnesota.
After an abysmal start to his ’07 campaign, Johnson started to turn around his season rushing for more than 280 yards and scoring four touchdowns in three games (weeks 6-8) before going down with a season ending foot injury. Many people correctly predicted Johnson’s downfall following his record setting 420 carry ’06 season. Much of his demise also has to do with the decline of the Chiefs offensive line. I have sincere doubts Johnson will ever be the same back we saw in ’05-’06, but he could still be a viable fantasy starter, but he’s 28-years-old and the writing is definitely on the wall.
The third-year breakout receiver strikes again. Edwards is immensely talented and plays in a suddenly explosive offense. The only big risk I see with him is Derek Anderson and Jamal Lewis suddenly returning to their pedestrian level making it easier for defenses to shut down the talented young wide-out.