The Bills Backfield

It’s been widely reported, but in case you missed it, here is a quick run through of the story:

It’s a good thing the Buffalo Bills used their first-round draft pick on a running back this year. They will need one during the preseason.Fred Jackson was wearing a cast on his broken left hand while watching practice Monday and says he’ll be out four to six weeks. Fellow running back Marshawn Lynch is expected to miss three to four weeks because of a sprained ankle.That leaves rookie C.J. Spiller carrying the load for the Bills and gives Joique Bell and Chad Simpson a better chance to make the team.Jackson hopes to be ready for the Sept. 12 opener against Miami. That would put him right on schedule for his return.

via NFL.com news: Ailing Bills RBs Jackson, Lynch out for rest of preseason.

At first glance, who cares, right?  Chances are both players will be back for Week 1, or at the very least the first quarter of the season.  Neither has suffered a season ending injury, so it’s just CJ Spiller’s job for the meantime right?

Not so fast, my friend.

If you watched Spiller when he was at Clemson, you know how talented he is.  He jumps off the screen at you as if you were wearing a pair of $100 3-D glasses.  Unfortunately for Spiller, he was drafted by a team with two entrenched (I use that term loosely for Lynch) running backs.  I figured he would be a change of pace, pass catching running back much like the Patriots use Kevin Faulk.  That could all change now, though.  The new Bills coaching staff has no alliance to Jackson nor Lynch.  If Spiller impresses in the last two preseason games, which is quite possible, he could steal the spot.  As unfair as it may be, it’s happened before (i.e. Drew Bledsoe and Tom Brady) where an unfortunate injury leads to the explosion of somebody else’s stardom.

I’ll be keeping my eyes on the situation, and it may actually force me to watch a Bills preseason game, and you should too.

2010 Fantasy Football Position Rankings: Quarterbacks

It’s finally that time!!  Pre-season football is back (I think I hear some of you groaning, well have fun watching baseball while I dive headlong onto the gridiron)! Before heading to your draft this Summer, please check out my position outlook for the 2010 quarterbacks and my “Sweets, Sours and Sleepers” for the quarterback position.

If you’re too impatient and want to get right to the rankings, here they are…  2010 Fantasy Football Position Rankings: QBs The PDF will open in a new window. Before diving in, I suggest you take a look at the notes at the bottom of this article.

The Ultimate Cheat Sheet

For anybody who picks up pre-season Fantasy Football publications, you know how wildly popular the “cheat sheet” has become as a buzzword. They toss them in there for various scoring settings and various league compositions. At times, I find it difficult to process all the information, especially when you’re trying to weigh the opinions of different magazines. So, I decided to put together an “Ultimate Cheat Sheet” to help aid in your preparation and the first few rounds of your draft. I only included the top starters for each position, but as we get deeper into draft season, I’ll expand it so you can use it as your resource for later rounds as well.

Like myself, I’m sure everybody has their own favorite preview magazines, so please let me know what your go-to is. I’m interested in checking out as much as possible. Right now, my room is littered with upwards of 10 preview magazines for pro and college football, so chances are I’ve checked it out, but who knows, maybe I missed a great one! Don’t use the rankings as the final word of advice from these publications, if you like what they have to say, go out and buy a copy and support your fellow fantasy fanatics!

Happy drafting!

2010 Ultimate Cheat Sheet PDF

NFL.com news: Report: Favre informs Vikings officials he will retire

Is this it?  Is the Favre run really over?

As we’re all aware, there is no easy answer to a question about Favre’s off-season status, so I’ll hold out a few weeks before believing the news.

In the meantime, though, get ready for the deluge of Favre-love and Favre-hate that will flood the popular  media outlets.

Most interesting for me, is the impact on the fantasy football world.  A decent percentage of players have already drafted, and I’d bet there is a lot of buyer’s remorse today.  In ESPN fantasy leagues, Favre is 100% owned, so every league will have somebody trying to find another QB to take his roster spot.  Good luck.  In my ESPN standard league, the best choices are Matt Cassell, Matt Hasselbeck and Alex Smith; none of which will win you a championship like Favre could have.  Furthermore, the ripple effect should effect the value of WRs Percy Harvin and Sidney Rice as well as TE Visanthe Shiancoe.

All of this thought may be for naught when Favre comes out in two weeks and announces he’ll play, but until then, buckle up and enjoy the ride that Favre is taking us all for.

MANKATO, Minn. — Quarterback Brett Favre has informed the Minnesota Vikings he will not return for a second season with the team, a person with knowledge of the situation tells The Associated Press.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity Tuesday morning because the team had not made an official announcement. The person says the 40-year-old Favre called coach Brad Childress to say his injured ankle is not responding as well to surgery and rehabilitation as he had hoped.

The Minneapolis Star Tribune was the first to break the story.

Favre also told the Vikings last year he wouldn’t play for them but ultimately changed his mind and joined the team immediately after it broke training camp.

Favre injured his ankle in the Vikings’ NFC Championship loss to the New Orleans Saints.

Many had anticipated Favre would return for his 20th NFL season, especially after getting the Vikings one game from the Super Bowl. Favre had

via NFL.com news: Report: Favre informs Vikings officials he will retire.

2010 Fantasy Football Position Rankings: Running Backs

The regular season kickoff is still over a month away.  But… fantasy football fans, rejoice, it”s draft season!!

Any good fantasy drafter goes in with a slew of printed cheat sheets.  I usually create my own, but I also bring copies of position rankings from other sites like KFFL.com and FFtoolbox.com.  Unless you’ve got a perfect record in all of your leagues, I suggest you do the same.  No single list, whether it’s your own or published by a “professional”, will be perfect, so relying on an amalgamation of multiple sheets is a good practice.

In addition to this week’s Running Back list, I’ve also included my “Sweets, Sours and Sleepers” for the season.