Upon Further Review 3/6
- Be sure to follow me on Twitter. (www.twitter.com/craig_davis) - So, the Terrell Owens sweepstakes begin. I guess I can’t say I’m surprised the Cowboys released the drama king, but I am a bit perplexed as to why it took so long. His agent, Drew Rosenhaus, claimed there might be as many as 14 teams interested in T.O., but one of them is NOT the Tennessee Titans, according to the Tennessean. Despite Owens and his agent being spotted in the Nashville airport recently and the fact it would make perfect sense for a team like the Titans to add a receiver with a pulse, numerous reports say there’s absolutely no chance he ends up wearing a Titans uniform in 2009. The Raiders and Niners are still viable options, but in the end I believe Owens will end up with a team that has a strong-willed head coach. - New Colts HC Jim Caldwell recently said in an interview that he was going “tweak the Tampa-2 defense” that they’ve run so effectively in the past under Tony Dungy. What exactly did he mean by that? “From a schematic standpoint offensively and defensively we do not anticipate any drastic changes, but here’s the thing you have to understand about football. Every year, we take a total review and take a look at everything that we’ve done and often times there’s little tweaking that goes on because of the fact that maybe the opposition had caught on to a certain phase offensively or defensively or maybe your kicking game, so you have to make some adjustments there.” Well obviously something has to change because the Colts continue to let their LBs test the free agent waters, and now they’re basically down to Gary Brackett, Phillip Wheeler (second-year player coming off surgery) and Clint Session (remember the penalties in the San Diego playoff game?). Since the Colts are just a mere $5 million under the cap, they have just enough money to sign their rookies, meaning you won’t see them make much of a splash in free agency. Either way, Wheeler could be the difference between this defense succeeding in 2009 or allowing it to struggle. With Tyjuan Hagler and Freddy Keiaho checking out the free agent market, the LB corps is thin in Indy and you know they MUST fill a few of those voids before the start of mini-camps. - Have I mentioned how much I like the Matt Cassel trade for the KC Chiefs? I’ve been reading a few idiots’ commentaries about how Cassel is going to be a bust in KC and how fantasy “prognosticators” wouldn’t put him any higher than the 16th-18th overall QB. Hmmm, interesting. I understand the argument that he’s changing systems and you never know how a “green” QB is going to be able to adjust to such a drastic change, but he’s going from one pass-happy offense to another. Remember, Todd Haley is now the new head coach in Kansas City, not Herm “We Play to Win the Game and run the ball” Edwards. We all saw just how innovative Haley’s offense was in Arizona and you can absolutely guarantee he’s preaching that to his current offensive coordinator, Chan Gailey, right now. This team will come out throwing from the word “go” and won’t look back. You’ll see Dwayne Bowe’s numbers increase and I can bet Jamaal Charles will be a bigger part of the offense, especially in the passing game, in 2009. Downgrade for Larry Johnson (if he can go any lower); upgrade for Cassel, Charles, and Bowe. To me, Cassel is probably very close to being a top 10 fantasy QB and I believe, when all is said and done, he’ll finish closer to #5 than #10. It’s early, but I have a sneaking suspicion Cassel is going to surprise a lot of people. Stay tuned. - The FantasyFootball.com Early Mock Draft is in progress and we’re currently mid-way through the fifth round. Obviously we’re not including rookies at this point, but these results should give you an idea of exactly where we think certain players should (and might) be drafted when fantasy football season (2009) rolls around. Feel free to leave comments in a forum thread we’ve started. MY TEAM THRU FIVE ROUNDS: RB Michael Turner —- Got him fourth overall. Some will say it’s a bit early for Turner in a PPR league, but I couldn’t disagree more. This offense will not change from last year to this year and Turner was an absolute beast, getting better as the season went along. His numbers were similar to those of Adrian Peterson and he scored 7 more TDs than the consensus #1 overall pick in 2009. Even if he doesn’t catch 10 passes again this year, his TD total of 17 should remain about the same and I believe his yardage totals could actually increase. RB Steve Slaton —- Some have criticized his overall size, but that didn’t stop him from being one of the best second-half-of-the-season backs. He catches a ton of passes and Matt Schaub has nothing but positive things to say about him. Slaton was a no-brainer this late in the second round. WR Dwayne Bowe —- Critics will tell me I should have taken a WR like Marques Colston or Wes Welker in the second round, but I believe Bowe will prove to be a WR1 in 2009 with the addition of Todd Haley at HC and Matt Cassel at QB. Bowe will be coming into his third season with the Chiefs and I fully expect double digit TDs from this youngster. WR Vincent Jackson —- Finished 13th WR overall in non-PPR format with seven TDs and over 1000 yards receiving. Must improve on his 59 receptions and he can be a legitimate WR2 again. QB Tony Romo —- Might have been a slight reach here with T.O. gone and Roy Williams as the only real threat (right now) at WR1, but with Witten, Crayton and the up-and-coming Austin Miles, Romo should still have another top 5 finish and I felt I couldn’t pass that up. Might have waited for Rodgers or Cutler or Rivers a little later, but I have a feeling a QB run is about to start. - Speaking of the Dallas Cowboys, they are quietly shopping for another DE with the recent loss of Chris Canty. The name that keeps coming up is Chargers DE Igor Olshansky, who visited Dallas on Wednesday and played under HC Wade Phillips when he was in San Diego. If signed, Olshansky would compete with Jason Hatcher and Stephen Bowen for the starting RDE gig. Out.
