Fantasy Football Fix August 13th 2010

Fantasy Football Fix August 13th 2010

Let the C.J Spiller era begin! Fred Jackson will miss the rest of the preseason with a hand injury, and Marshawn Lynch is also said to be dealing with an ankle injury.  Spiller is a rookie with RB2 upside now that he will likely be getting all the first-team reps for the rest of the preseason. You can and should draft in RB3 territory. Spiller has tremendous hands and will used all over the field but will probably lose some goal-line work to either Lynch or Jackson, so keep that in mind when preparing your cheat sheets or trade offers.

Football Outsiders have developed a plus/minus rating for football that can help predict breakout performances as well as busts. Lets see the names that Bill Barnwell via ESPN provides for us based on this metric. The overvalued list includes Reggie Wayne who should see his numbers drop a tad due to an unsustainable catch rate; he also mentioned Robert Meachem, Jacoby Jones and Greg Camarillo.  The potential breakout WR’s based on this metric include Roddy White, Louis Murphy, Mohamed Massaquoi and Roy Williams.

Antonio Gates vs Dallas Clark is the latest ESPN fantasy football man to man debate and we agree with Gates. They are pretty even in skill and impact but V-Jax being out potentially for the whole season makes this one a no-brainer in our eyes. If you really must have an elite TE and your decision boils down to these two remember that Gates will be a true #1 on an offense that is without their starting LT Marcus McNeal who much like V-Jax is holding out for a new contract.

Are there any ‘must-own’ players? Yes, there are like AP, CJ and Ray Rice, but draft order will determine whether or not you can land them and nothing else. Christopher Harris of ESPN compiled a list of ten names and his list included Donald Brown, Jamaal Charles, Johnny Knox, Laurent Robinson, Beanie Wells and Mike Wallace. The names we mentioned we agree with and the names we didn’t mention include Santonio Holmes, Joe Flacco and Jacoby Jones. We do not agree with Bernanrd Scott.