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After the first three games of the ’07 season, Jones-Drew had just 100 yards rushing. Many jumped off the bandwagon and started calling the diminutive back a one-year wonder. This obviously was a mistake as Drew finished the season strong gaining more than 1,000 yards from scrimmage and scoring 10 touchdowns over the next 12 regular season games. Drew may never be a top tier fantasy back because his size will force him to split carries, but with his powerful build and all-around game he’s as steady as they come as a number two option.
It looked like Brown was finally reaching his full potential when he went down in week seven with a torn ACL. At that point, he was the top scoring fantasy running back and was on pace to top 2,000 yards from scrimmage.
Brown has talent that can’t be ignored. He has ideal size, is an excellent pass catcher and showed tremendous burst and speed before the injury. He’s the definition of a high risk/high reward pick.
Fitzgerald’s consistency is extremely impressive as long as he can stay healthy. Over the past three seasons (44 games) he has been held without a touchdown and less than 70 yards in the same game only five times. He’s done this regardless of his quarterback (and he’s had some ugly one’s) and being double covered often. He’s a very nice pick at the end of round two to match with either Tomlinson or Peterson. If you can get him later in round three don’t hesitate unless you already have two wide-outs.
Colston is one of those players that runs very hot and very cold in stretches. In the first nine games of his career he had 54 receptions for 869 yards and seven touchdowns. In his next 11 games he had 42 receptions, 432 yards and three touchdowns. Then, to close out last season, in 10 games he had 72 receptions, 939 yards and nine touchdowns. Those hot streaks are very impressive and make him worth a look in the third round.
Housh went on an impressive run from late ’05 thru week 11 of ’07. In those 30 games he hauled in 202 receptions for 2,382 yards and 25 touchdowns. He had the luxury of seeing very few double teams with Chad Johnson on the other side, but teams started to wise-up late last season and pay more attention to him hurting his productivity. He only scored one TD in the last six games of ’07.
He plays in a good offense and is a fairly safe bet to come close to matching his production in the past three seasons.
In ’07 with the Browns Lewis looked better than he had since his 2,000 yard season with Baltimore in ’03. I still think he’s on the downside of his career. He’ll be 29 when the ’08 season kicks off and he’s got more than 2,100 career regular season carries of wear and tear on his body. Last season may have been a Curtis Martin like last hurrah for Lewis.
On the positive side he’s running behind a very good offensive line and is surrounded by an excellent supporting cast of skill players. Lewis will likely be gone by the end of round two in most fantasy drafts.
Brees suffered through an incredibly rough start in ‘07, but turned it around halfway through the fantasy regular season. In the 10 games from weeks 6-15 he threw for 25 touchdowns and 2,890 yards.
Brees has put up almost identical numbers his first two seasons in New Orleans, more than 4,400 yards and 25 touchdowns, and is a safe bet to match that production in ’08.
Parker was leading the league in rushing when he went down with a broken right fibula in week 16 last year. It’s not considered an injury that would have lingering effects, but it is a major cause for concern. Parker doesn’t have the prototypical NFL running back frame and he’s logged 970 carries in the past three seasons (including playoff games).
The Steelers offensive line is also a major concern as Alan Faneca left for New York and the rest of the Steelers lineman are aging. Parker was also pulled on goal-line carries last season, a trend that will likely continue. All this concern spells a serious downgrade and I think Parker is worth no more than a late second or early third round fantasy selection.
Johnson is probably one of the five most physically gifted receivers in the league. His problem used to be that he played for the Texans, in a putrid offense that gave him and his teammates few opportunities to get into the end zone. Now that head coach Gary Kubiak has gotten the offense to turn the corner a little bit, Johnson’s biggest problem is staying healthy. Contrary to popular belief (which sadly is all based on a ‘what have you done for me lately’ mob mentality) Johnson dose not have a bad track record of injuries. Before last year, when he missed seven games, he had only missed three out of a possible 64 games. His upside is too much to ignore and I think he’s easily worth a third round selection.
This imposing physical specimen was somewhat of a disappointment to fantasy owners in ’07. He missed five full games due to injury, fumbled seven times and scored only six touchdowns, the lowest total of his career.
On the flip side, he showed glimpses of the brilliance that made him a third round pick in most fantasy drafts. What does this all mean? Jacobs’ stock seems even higher this season, much of that is due to the Giants post-season success and more casual fans being made aware of the 264-pound runner. It doesn’t change the fact that he is a sub-par pass catcher, fumbles too much and runs too high. Jacobs, like Ronnie Brown is a tremendous risk/reward selection.