Empty the Bench

- Willie Parker enjoyed a massive 2006 with 1,700 total yards and 16 total TDs, but he finished with 70 yards or less rushing in seven games and failed to score in six games. That inconsistency and his diminutive stature are the only reasons he wasn’t a consensus top-6 pick in drafts. Well, he’s likely to surpass his 2006 stats this season and outproduce his 9th overall ADP. This week new HC Mike Tomlin declared, “We’re going to ride Willie until the wheels come off . . . He’s game for that, he’s in great physical condition, he wants the ball, he’s a competitor and he’s showing he’s capable of doing that.”

In the preseason Tomlin also suggested that Parker would stay on the field more in third-down and goal-line situations. Early indications show Tomlin means it with Parker on a 400-carry pace. The Steelers’ new spread offense has also been a big success thus far, keeping the offense on the field more than last season.

In redraft leagues this is nothing but good news for Parker owners, but for keeper league owners it may be cause for concern. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette goes on to point out the “Curse of 370″ which is backed by decades of statistical evidence and stipulates that “a running back with 370 or more carries during the regular season will usually suffer either a major injury or loss of effectiveness the following year, unless he is named Eric Dickerson.” And that, friends, is a big part of why I said on draft day that I wouldn’t touch Larry Johnson until the second round after his record-setting 416-carry, 457-touch season.

- The Star-Ledger is saying that while Chad Pennington will start for the Jets in Week 3, he “could be facing a quick hook following the fourth-quarter performance of [Kellen] Clemens last week.” Rightfully so. Pennington just doesn’t have what it takes anymore in terms of health, confidence, physical passing ability or decision making. Clemens is the future of this franchise, and he’s a personal favorite of ETB. We like the kid a lot. He put up a gutty performance against one of the premier defenses in football last weekend, finishing with 260 yards, 1 TD and 2 INTs on the road.

If he becomes the Jets’ starting quarterback, Clemens is going to be a viable backup for fantasy teams this year. Starting in Week 4 New York plays @ BUF, @ NYG, vs PHI, @ CIN, vs BUF and vs WAS before their Week 10 bye. In fact, the only tough matchups they face for the passing game are vs. PIT in Week 11 and @ NWE in Week 15. Those of you who drafted Donovan Mcnabb, Drew Brees or the like with no insurance policy may want to invest an end of the bench roster spot in the talented Clemens.

- You know those umbrella buckets they put out by the door in restaurants and churches? On rainy days you can leave your umbrella there and pick it up on your way out. What do you do when you return to that bucket and your umbrella isn’t there anymore? That’s right, you help yourself to the best one left. You’ve been wronged and you deserve it. Bengals WR Chris Henry does it too. In the midst of an 8-game suspension from NFL action, apparently Henry’s had been stolen. So he took the best one Hertz had to offer, free of charge, “Police recovered a stolen vehicle Wednesday evening from the home of Chris Henry. An officer spotted a car he did not recognize parked in the Cincinnati Bengal’s driveway, ran the license plates and discovered the car had been reported stolen by a rental-car company. Henry told investigators that his own vehicle had been stolen in Louisiana, where he is from originally, and he rented a car from Hertz . . . Authorities said Hertz had not received payment from Henry or his insurance company, and the car was reported stolen.”

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Two weeks down, fourteen to go; it’s time to get into the nitty and the gritty of weekly fantasy football–who to start, who to bench and who to add for spot starts. To aid your worthy cause, each week during the 2007 NFL season ETB will break down a few key fantasy matchups at all the positions that matter. For each roster spot we’ll lay out our Five Strong Plays, two players you need to Temper Your Expectations for, one Sneaky Play of the Week, and one Dud of the Week.

Note that these are not always the guys we think will score the most points or the least points: there will always be obvious situations and choices we ignore. These also aren’t all sneaky plays. These are just the matchups that we feel deserve mention*.

Make sure to check back on these matchups the following week to see how each one of our picks actually fared. That way you can either bow at the ETB altar or chuckle at our incompetence.

Good luck, and godspeed.

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There’s a lot of similarity in playing fantasy sports and playing the stock market. In both, you want to try to buy low and sell high. To do so, you need to keep your finger on the pulse of the market. You never want to pay market value or above, and getting in on the ground floor with an emerging player can absolutely make your portfolio. Everybody is searching for that penny stock that could explode. With that philosophy in mind, ETB sorts through Week Two results and takes a look at a few of the players who have seen the biggest gains and losses in their value.

Big Gainers:

Matt Schaub, QB, Houston Texans: As long as Schaub has Andre Johnson making him look good he could be a Jake Delhomme-type of fantasy player. There probably won’t be huge totals to be had, but he’s proving that you can expect modest production and feel comfortable using him for spot starts or in good matchups. We didn’t know a lot going into this season, but the early returns are good. His value will increase once the bye weeks begin, and will most certainly decrease if Johnson misses any extended time.

**UPDATE** Johnson has been diagnosed with a sprained left knee and could be out for several weeks.

DeShawn Wynn, RB, Green Bay Packers: Brandon Jackson has been given every opportunity to seize the featured back role in Green Bay and has simply disappointed. We were psyched to see Jackson face the soft Giants defense, but while he was rushing 17 times for 35 yards and no scores, Wynn toted the rock just 10 times and racked up 50 yards with a pair of TDs. Where Jackson failed to capitalize, the little-known Wynn excelled with his opportunities. HC Mike McCarthy said his role could increase this week at home against a tough San Diego defense. Not a great immediate matchup, but he’s a must add nonetheless.

Wes Welker, WR, New England Patriots: The Pats gambled by basically retooling their entire WR corps during the offseason, and so far two of their three big acquisitions are paying big dividends (Donte’ Stallworth has been nearly invisible.) In the shadow of Randy Moss’ two monster performances, the Pats’ new slot receiver has quietly recorded 14 receptions, 152 yards and a touchdown in the season’s first two weeks. Those are easily WR3 numbers, and the rapport with QB Tom Brady appears to be legit. Look for opposing defenses to key in on Randy Moss more and more as the season progresses, dropping a lot of safeties back into coverage and leaving the flat and the middle of the field open for Welker to operate.

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- Greg Oden, C, Portland Trail Blazers: The comparison is almost too facile, but word that top overall pick Greg Oden will miss his entire rookie season begs the question: Does Portland have the next Sam Bowie on their hands? What’s more disconcerting than this missed season is the nature of the surgery: microfracture. We never know how a basketball player will respond to microfracture. Some like Amare Stoudemire, Jason Kidd and Zach Randolph have been just fine. Others, like Jamal Mashburn, Chris Webber, Antonio McDyess, Allan Houston, Anfernee Hardaway and Brian Grant have never been the same, losing nearly all of their explosiveness.

It appears that each individual’s body healing properties provide the best prognosis, which may not be a good sign for Oden. Apparently there was some indication that he had knee troubles in pre-draft physicals, but in general his body appeared to be worn down and beat up all over. It’s been said that he’s in the physical condition of a 30-year-old veteran. It’s not a good sign for such a young kid. We’re hoping for the best.

- Charlie Bell, G: Will someone please sign this kid? Bell is a proven combo-guard commodity who can log heavy, effective minutes at either guard position when the need arises. He’s an ideal third or fourth guard for an NBA team, and yet he’s not getting any attention. Apparently he and agent Mark Bartelstein were so offended with negotiations with the Bucks that Bell has vowed not to play for them in 2007-08, saying he’d go to Europe if need be.

Why haven’t the Miami Heat come calling? Or the Cleveland Cavaliers? Or the Boston Celtics in the wake of the KG deal (Boston doesn’t have the cap space now)? Bell’s career averages as a starter warrant more consideration: 14.8 points, 3.3 rebounds, 3.3 rebounds, and 1.7 three-pointers on 44.7 FGs and 77.4 FTs. There are a lot of teams that could use a reserve capable of those numbers.

UPDATE: Just hours after we wrote this, the Miami Heat stepped up and signed Bell to an offer sheet. Further proof that Pat Riley is an avid ETB reader. Bell is a restricted free agent, but after publicly stating he would not play for Milwaukee this season it appears unlikely the Bucks will match the offer.

UPDATE 2: Well, well, well. After lowballing Bell all summer and offering in the neighborhood of 3 years and $9 million, the Bucks stepped up and matched the offer sheet of 5 years and $18 million. It’s an odd move by Milwaukee as they don’t appear to have as great a need for Bell’s services and he’s bound to be upset about it after vowing never to play for the Bucks again. The guess here is that money heals all wounds and Bell shows up to camp happy and productive. Meanwhile, the Heat’s offseason just keeps getting worse. Miami isn’t looking like one of the top-5 teams in the East at this point.

- Rasheed Wallace, PF/C, Detroit Pistons: A motivated ‘Sheed Wallace is a deadly ‘Sheed Wallace, and despite rumors of being on thin ice in Detroit after his on-court collapse in last year’s Eastern Conference Finals, it looks like the league’s biggest enigma has rededicated himself this offseason. Chris McCoskey reports for The Detroit News that Wallace has lost some 25 pounds this summer and is already in the best shape of his Pistons career; Dumars has even nicknamed him “Slim Jim.” That Wallace, who just turned 33 years of age, has voluntarily ramped up his conditioning should bode well for his mindset coming into the season, and he’ll obviously be quicker on his feet.

In the same report, McCoskey says that right now it appears Antonio McDyess will start at power forward, with Wallace sliding over to man the center spot. That means he’ll likely regain his C-eligibility in most fantasy leagues, and should be considered a top-10 pick at that position because of his statistical versatility. On the flipside, Wallace doesn’t exactly relish banging around in the post as it is, and with his lighter girth you can expect the big man to float the perimeter as much as ever, which is good when he’s on and bad for his field-goal percentage when he’s not. He’s also going to struggle guarding some of the East’s more beastly centers (Howard, O’Neal, Curry, Okafor), but the talent around him should make up for it.

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- Chad Johnson did not disappoint fans who were looking forward to his Dawg Pound leap. He recorded 11 receptions for 209 yards and 2 TDs. Chad faked out the Dawg Pound on his first TD in the second quarter, then leaped into the crowd after his second score in the third. Fans who were watching the game live saw one Cleveland fan give him an extended, angry, stubby middle finger and another douse him with a $9 beer. Good stuff Cleveland fans, it had me laughing for a while. Entertaining and classy. Cleveland has now given up an astounding 10 touchdowns through the air in two weeks, and it’s a trend that’s likely to continue for a defense that only has one decent defensive back.

- Watching Sammy Morris carry the ball more times than Laurence Maroney through three quarters against the ‘Bolts had to feel like a kick in the gut for his owners. Two weeks into the season, Maroney ranks 19th in carries, 15th in yards rushing, 18th in YPC, and hasn’t reached the endzone. Don’t give up yet, as the beastly second-year back is still recovering some from offseason shoulder surgery and the staff seems loathe to throw the kind of full load at him that most featured backs carry. Still, this is cause for concern and Morris has become a must-add for Maroney owners everywhere.

- Jamal Lewis is a back ETB was not high on heading into the season, but he had a fantastic game against a Cleveland defense that simply didn’t show up all day. It’s pretty difficult to put up 45 points against the Browns and lose, but that’s exactly what they did. This performance really doesn’t do much to change our opinion of a running back that has been south of 4.0 YPC the last two seasons. Lewis always puts up big numbers against Cincinnati. In 12 games against the Bengals he has 1,458 yards on the ground (5.5 YPC) and 10 touchdowns. With games at Oakland, versus Baltimore and at New England in the next few weeks now is the time to sell high on Lewis. Like, right now. He won’t play Cincy again until week 16. If you own him, go make some offers.

- While we saw some Najeh Davenport in mop up time, Willie Parker continues to be The Man for Pittsburgh and he’s looking like a top-8 back in all formats. Coming into the season head coach Mike Tomlin said they were going to use Fast Willie more on third down and around the goal line, and they’ve been true to their word. He now has 50 rushing attempts in two games, tying him with Edgerrin James for most in the NFL. The Steelers only have four games on the schedule that should give their running game much trouble (weeks 7, 9, 14 and 15) so keep riding Parker, he’s going to be a consistent workhorse all year. With this volume of touches every week, the inconsistency problems that dogged him during an impressive 2006 campaign will be a thing of the past.

- The Lions offense came out gunning, going to the shotgun early and throwing ten passes with only one rushing attempt on the first drive (which ended with a Kitna pick in the endzone). It’s becoming more apparent that they have no faith in Tatum Bell, and with the more versatile and talented Kevin Jones set to return in a limited capacity next week Bell’s fantasy relevance for the season may already be over. Mike Martz is itching to get Jones back in the lineup because he’s vastly superior to Bell in the short passing game, so don’t think that Detroit’s starting running back isn’t worth starting. When Jones is up to full speed in Week 4 or 5, he’ll be one of the best flex plays in fantasy football. And feel free to dump Bell if there’s something else out there.

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We’re all about bold predictions here at ETB. Sure, we’ll analyze and second guess other people’s decisions, but we also enjoy putting ourselves on the line as well. That’s why in the days leading up to Sunday every week we’ll be gazing into our crystal ball and both of us will post the ten predictions our meditations generate.

Of course, not all of them will come true. But when they do, we’re going to be bragging about them. And when they don’t, feel free to let us know about it because we certainly are not going to bring it up. Without further delay, ETB’s NFL Week Two Crystal Ball (in no particular order).

Andrew’s Predictions:

1. Romeo Crennel is making a case for least patient and least decisive head coach in the NFL. He knows his job is on the line, and he’s got ants in his elastic waistbanded pants. Brady Quinn attempts at least ten passes this weekend and gets sacked three times.

2. The Man With the Golden Foot, Green Bay kicker Mason Crosby, boots four field goals through the uprights in the Meadowlands, one from 45+ yard out.

3. The injury to thoroughly mediocre Bills CB Jason Webster makes an already dreadful defensive secondary even worse. Playing on the road against the new look Steelers passing attack, look for Buffalo to give up three passing scores to Ben Roethlisberger and for Santonio Holmes to establish himself as a WR3 with 5 receptions for 80 yards and a score.

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Everybody can pencil in the obvious studs at running back, quarterback and wide receiver. That’s the easy part, but fantasy titles are won in the plethora of peripheral decisions made each week. These are the choices we agonize over again and again right up until 5 minutes before kickoff, the ones we’re kicking ourselves about just 5 minutes after kickoff, and the ones that (sometimes) make us look like fantasy geniuses. We’re talking about the RB2, the WR3, the WR/TE Flex Play and the WR/RB Flex Play.

Unless you’re prepared to carefully groom the fringes of your roster–both in the draft and in free agency–and make the right decisions with those players occupying secondary and tertiary roles every week, your team will crash and burn. These decisions are rarely easy or clear-cut, but fortunately there’s a ton of info out there at your disposal to help you settle on the players you’re most comfortable with. If you’re right, you deserve to win. If you’re wrong, well, you don’t.

Every week for the 2007 NFL season, in addition to addressing specific players in our Matchups column, we’ll also do our best to rank “fringe” players who are likely causing you some consternation. Not sure if you should go with Maurice Jones-Drew or Adrian Peterson? Losing sleep over whether to start Mike Furrey over Demetrius Williams? We’re here to help. It’s Week Two of ETB’s Peripheral Starter Cheat Sheet.

Week 2 Rankings

Week 2 Wide Receiver #3 Ranks

1. Demetrius Williams, Baltimore Ravens vs. NYJ
2. Vincent Jackson, San Diego Chargers @ NE
3. Calvin Johnson, Detroit Lions vs. MIN
4. Joey Galloway, Tampa Bay Bucs @ NO
5. Brandon Marshall, Denver Broncos vs. OAK
6. Chris Chambers, Miami Dolphins vs. DAL
7. Wes Welker, New England Patriots vs. SD
8. Kevin Curtis, Philadelphia Eagles vs. WSH
9. Darrell Jackson, San Francisco 49ers @ STL
10. Patrick Crayton, Dallas Cowboys @ MIA

Fortune Cookies: With Mark Clayton hobbled by an injured toe, he might be limited to third-down plays, which means more snaps and scoring opps for Demetrius Williams. Plus, Kyle Boller–who’ll likely start this week in place of an injured Steve McNair–loves to throw the deep ball… After dropping a sure TD against the Bears last week, Vincent Jackson gets on track against a Patriots’ defense focused on stopping LT and Antonio Gates… Megatron is the real deal, and though he’s still not technically a starter in Mike Martz’s offense, Calvin Johnson will earn more snaps in his second week and will find the endzone for the second time… The Saints are going to put up some points at home this week, so Moonball Garcia will be forced to throw for most of the second half; Joey Galloway is his only reliable threat… 5’11″ CB Fabian Washington just doesn’t have the size or strength to keep up with the 6’4″ Brandon Marshall, who will benefit from all the attention on Javon Walker… We saw last week that the Cowboys secondary can be exploited, and Chris Chambers is by far Trent Green’s go-to guy… That chemistry between Tom Brady and Wes Welker (6 catches, 61 yards, 1 TD) in Week 1 is real. No official word yet if Welker is carrying his baby… Kevin Curtis‘ toughness over the middle and deep speed make him an attractive option at home vs. two corners who can’t keep up with him and in a game where Philly will pass often… Darrell Jackson went about his business rather nonchalantly last week against the Cards, short-arming one pass and kind of dogging it overall. We have our doubts about him now that’s been handsomely paid… With Terry Glenn likely not missing the season after just getting his knee scoped, there’s no time like the present for Patrick Crayton to make an impact…

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- There’s been an encouraging development in the horrific spinal injury to the Buffalo Bills’ Kevin Everett. A day after his surgeon revealed that Everett would very likely never walk again, Dr. Barth Green says “we may be witnessing a minor miracle” after Everett voluntarily moved his arms and legs on Tuesday. Going from being an elite athlete who makes his living with his body, and sports is his livelihood, to being paralyzed would be unimaginable. Our thoughts are with Everett and his family, and we’re hopeful he experiences a full recovery.

- Detroit Lions’ WR Roy Williams loves to talk fantasy sports. In a wide-ranging interview on WDFN-AM (1130), the Pro Bowler revealed he’s in five fantasy leagues, apologized to his owners for only reeling in 20 yards and 1 TD against the Raiders, and–get this–said that “when we’re at the stadium and they show the highlights or the stats on the screen, I’m definitely one of the guys who is paying attention to them.” Awesome. This is also the interview where he laid down Calvin Johnson‘s “Megatron” nickname. (Thanks to Freep.com for the CJ/Megatron photo.)

- It’s the end of his Jets career as we know it (probably): ESPN is reporting that Chad Pennington will likely sit out the team’s bludgeoning at the hands of the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday. We could not confirm reports from our sources that his actual injury is a swollen vagina. If Kellen Clemens does reasonably well against the ransacking defensive unit of the Ravens, we don’t feel there’s any reason to put Chad back in there. The Jets aren’t going anywhere this season, so there’s no time like the present to plan for the future–one that doesn’t include Pennington.

- Steven Jackson laid a big, fat egg on Sunday. After just one contest he’s already lost as many fumbles this season as he did in all of 2006. What’s worse, after losing cornerstone Orlando Pace the Rams offense figures to stagnate a bit. We still think this is a potent unit, but Jackson is suddenly looking a lot closer to Joseph Addai, Frank Gore and Shaun Alexander in value. It’s crazy how much can change in a few hours of NFL action. Despite all the negative news, ETB encourages all Jackson owners to hold onto their first-round pick. Early September is not the time to panic, sell off assets or make drastic changes of any kind.

-Although Steve McNair wasn’t able to find him more than three times, ETB favorite Demetrius Williams quietly had nine looks on Monday night. To put it in perspective, Chad Johnson had only eight looks in that game (which he converted into 5 receptions, 95 yards and a score) and Randy Moss tied Williams for nine looks (resulting in 9 receptions, 183 yards and a score). Williams was able to convert two of the early pass attempts into 20-yard receptions, but with superior quarterback play he could have had a huge game. Most importantly, while Demetrius is third on the depth chart, he was thrown to six more times than hobbled WR1 Mark Clayton. With his big-play ability, skills at the line of scrimmage and hands, if Williams continues to receive this kind of attention he’s going to be a fantasy mainstay for years to come.

-We’re not fans of kickers here at ETB. In the ETB Fantasy Football League we don’t have a roster spot for them. They ruin games with their foppish antics (real life and fantasy), require no skill or knowledge to use, and score in a manner than is nearly devoid of statistical correlation and defies analysis. Despite all that, we have our first kicker recommendation of the season: Mason Crosby. Learn the name, he’s going to stick around.

Mason is a great add this week for people who rotate kickers, but he should stick on your roster for a while with that golden leg of his. On Sunday it looked like he could be nailing field goals from 70 yards out. If your league awards bonus points for long field goals you should go make a move now. Crosby is on a team that is likely to move the ball but have trouble punching it into the endzone, which is a recipe for fantasy kicker success. Don’t worry about the winds and weather of Lambeau either, the kid played for Colorado in college. Make a move, make a move, everybody make a move.

- We’ve noticed that Devin Hester is still being added and started on a slew of fantasy teams in our leagues. Don’t you commit that sin as well.

- Fantasy owners “stuck” with the 4th – 6th overall pick in their league’s draft were likely faced with The Shaun Alexander Connundrum: should I gamble on him and his previously broken foot, or reach for someone younger and with more upside? I took him sixth overall in one league, and was pleased by his Week One performance (27 carries, 2 receptions, 117 total yards, 1 TD). The foot seems fine, though the Tacoma News Tribune reports that at yesterday’s practice, Alexander wore a brace on his left hand. He’s not on the injury report, but keep an eye on this. If he’s nursing any kind of break there (total speculation) and injures it further, he could miss time. His 29 touches against the Bucs were enough to make him the league leader heading into Sunday.

- We’re big Chargers fans here, and love this quote from the team’s linebackers coach, Ron Rivera, where he told his players that “Rex (Grossman) was kind of a mental midget, so you can get into his head and create that thought.”

-On a final, more serious note: We at ETB spend a lot of time thinking about the future. Specifically, we long for the day of cyborg athletes. We hope we live to see that day. Can you imagine the spectacle? 30-foot vertical leaps into the endzone. 100 MPH QB passes that snap the wrists of pesky defenders in half. Safeties with spiked bones of steel grafted onto their shoulders. Bone-crunching hits that literally kill men. We wait and we hope the day comes soon.

With the regular season in full swing, it’s time to get into the nitty and the gritty of weekly fantasy football: who to start, who to bench and who to add for a spot start. To aid your noble cause, every week during the 2007 NFL season ETB will break down a few key fantasy matchups at Quarterback, Wide Receiver, Running Back, Tight End, and Team Defense. For each roster spot we’ll lay out our Five Strong Plays, two players you need to Temper Your Expectations for, one Sneaky Play of the Week, and one Dud of the Week.

Note that these are not the five players we predict to score the most points or the least points: there will always be obvious situations and choices we don’t mention. These also aren’t all sneaky plays. These are just the matchups that we feel warrant mention*. As always, feel free to post your take or critique for any of the picks in the comments section.

Make sure to check back on these articles the following week, as we’ll be updating how each player listed below actually performed. That way you can either bow at the ETB altar or laugh at our incompetence.

Good luck, and good hunting.

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Playing fantasy sports and playing the stock market have a lot in common. In both, you’re always trying to buy low and sell high. The smart man needs to keep his finger on the pulse of the market. You never want to pay market value or above, and getting in on the ground floor with an emerging player can absolutely make your portfolio. Everybody is searching for that penny stock that could explode. With that philosophy in mind, ETB sorts through the recent results and takes a look at a few of the players who have seen the biggest gains and losses in their value over the last week.

Big Gainers:

Travis Henry, RB, Denver Broncos: It’s always a nerve-racking experience to roll with a Denver back as your RB1 and put yourself at the mercy of Mike Shenanigan’s whims, sort of like turning on a new episode of The Simpsons and hoping it captures the glory of seasons 3 – 9. But though Henry owners were sweating about another no-name rookie–Selvin Young–following in the footsteps of Mike Anderson, Rueben Droughns, Ron Dayne, Mike Bell, etc and stealing carries from the premier guy, the new Bronco quickly laid those worries to rest with a fantastic Week 1 performance. 23 carries and 3 receptions for 183 combined yards is a strong debut (we sort of called it, projecting 26 carries, 125 rushing yards and a pair of touchdowns). Don’t worry about the touchdowns, they’ll come. There’s some tough matchups on his schedule, but at least you now know that Henry is “the guy” when healthy.

Nate Burleson, WR, Seattle Seahawks: Brian is more skeptical, but as a Viqueens fan I’ve seen Nate Burleson make some impressive plays before he signed with the ‘Hawks last year. He doesn’t possess the pure physical tools of many starting NFL wideouts, but he’s sure-handed, goes over the middle well and excels in yards after the catch. He’s also got a nice stiff arm. While the Seahawks don’t think incumbent D.J. Hackett has a season-ending injury, they admit he’s going to be out a while with the dreaded high-ankle sprain. In other words, Hackett is out indefinitely. Seattle has a fantasy-friendly offense and a nice schedule, so those in need of a WR4 could do a lot worse right now.

Eric Johnson, TE, New Orleans Saints: Those in Point Per Reception leagues, take notice. Reggie Bush, Drew Brees, Marques Colston, etc owners were busy furrowing their brows and shouting at John Madden to just SHUT UP ABOUT CHICKEN FRIED after the Saints’ putrid opening night performance in Indianapolis. Meanwhile, those who took an early flyer on the team’s new starting TE were wondering if they hadn’t found a reliable backup or even starter on their fantasy squad.

The Saints won’t be dinking and dunking and flailing about much like they were last Thursday, but at the very least we learned that Brees has no qualms about dumping it off to Johnson when necessary. The five-year vet finished with 8 catches for 57 yards on the night; if a TD was in there too, that’d be a very strong output at the TE spot on any fantasy roster. Two years ago, Johnson caught 82 balls for 825 yards and 2 TDs; he’s clearly capable, especially with very few sure bets at TE. Drew Brees also has a history of using his tight end often (Antonio Gates), so this performance doesn’t look like a total fluke. Give it some time, though: the Saints offense certainly needs it.

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