Fantasy Sports 2008

Available on the WW are K Walter, M Mohammed, D Mason, B Engram, D Branch, L Moore, A Toomer. Could any one of these be a worthwhile pick up to replace V Jackson?

I’d probably ride out Jackson a bit longer. He hasn’t been too terrible. But from that list I’d look at branch first and then engram if you are set on replacing Jackson.

My RBs are Addai, Forte, Larry Johnson and Chester Taylor. I could pick up McClain for V Jackson and trade him and one of my recievers to a guy who needs RBs but has Jennings as a #3 on his bench. M Bush is out there too.

If you can get that Jennings trade to go through you have to make that trade. Regardless RB depth is always a good thing to have. Vincent Jackson is never going to get you too much from production or trade value but McClain has a ton of potential. So make that McClain pickup for Jackson.

Winslow is on bye… Carlson, Fasano, K Boss, Rosario and Shianco are available…. I just need someone for the bye week and then i could get back to Winslow. Any thoughts?

Carlson against the Giants then Fasano against SD would be the two best options to replace Winslow during his bye.

This week’s mailbag question features a waiver wire no brainer.

Ok, so heres my team:

Another guy in the league just dropped Santonio Holmes for E Royal! Should I pounce on Holmes …. or is there a reason he was dropped that i don’t know about. Is it the tough matchups that PIT has this season… or could it be just a first game disappointment. Just not exactly sure why he could’ve been dropped the 1st week, any ideas on what i should do? He might not be on the waiver wire for too long! (KB)

Add Santonio Holmes immediately. Talk about an overreaction drop. Once Brandon Marshall comes back Royal won’t get the same number of looks. But as for Holmes he is the Steelers main deep threat. I doubt whoever dropped him was looking at the Steelers extremely tough schedule but regardless he is still going to get plenty of looks. Sure he’ll have a few more games like last week but mostly because the Steelers will be dominating the game. Roethlisberger only threw the ball 14 times and completed 13 of them. They controlled the game with Willie Parker and looked mostly over the middle for Heath Miller and Hines Ward. It was just one of those weeks. There is no need to worry about Santonio Holmes going forward.

Not sure how your waiver wire works but you should look to add Santonio Holmes for his nice matchup against the Browns this week. If you were offered Santonio Holmes for Joey Galloway or even Roddy White you would accept that in about a nanosecond. So make this pickup as soon as possible.

Now that I drafted who do you like as immediate waiver wire pickups? (Sean - Jersey City, NJ)

A few names jump to mind. With Chris Brown out for the year in Houston, Steve Slaton moves up the depth chart and has fantasy relevance. The other three guys I’d keep an eye on were mentioned in our sleeper picks. Zach Miller (OAK, TE) might have been drafted in your league but if not and you are scraping the middle tier of TEs keep the trigger finger ready on him. Also Tim Hightower (ARI, RB) and Jason Wright (CLE, RB) are certainly worth a stash on your bench. Especially Hightower, since Edgerrin James is on the decline in Arizona and he should be getting some goal line looks.

Should I start Selvin Young against Oakland or Edgerrin James against SF in week 1? (Brad - Pittsburgh, PA)

I’m hoping this is not a question about your #1 RB spot. If it is, well, next year stay away from the Iron City while drafting. To answer your question though they both have remarkably similar situations going into the week. Both figure to not get goal line looks and both are going against mediocre defenses. That said Selvin Young is the better bet to break off a long TD run and really deliver something meaningful for you in week 1.

Thanks to all those who sent us their questions. If you have more questions, send them to fantasy@sportsoverdose.com and we will either send a direct response or post the answer in our next mailbag.

We are a relatively new site but our fantasy rankings and other articles are creating a buzz so we figured why not open our experts up to everyone. With that said, any fantasy issue you might have whether it be who to draft, who to start in week 5 or which guy to kick out of your league let us know. fantasy@sportsoverdose.com is the place to send any of these burning questions. We will either send a direct response or post the answer in our mailbag.

Sincerely,

Scott
SportsOverdose Fantasy Writer

Reuters Pictures

Is it time to welcome Laurence Maroney to the top 10 of running backs in 2008?

Laurence Maroney | RB | NE
Maroney had a down year last in 2007 due mostly to slow start caused by injury. He came on strong during the end of the season with 6 TDs in the last 7 weeks (not to mention 3 TDs in his 3 playoff games). Maroney is healthy in preseason and all signs point to a bigger role in the Patriots offense. It’s certainly reasonable for Maroney to crack the top 10 of RBs this season and jump ahead of the likes of Willis McGahee, Jamal Lewis and Marshawn Lynch. Currently being taken around the middle of the 3rd round that kind of value in that spot is what wins leagues. And even if he has a similar season to last year are all those TDs during fantasy playoffs a bad thing?

Jason Campbell | QB | WAS
Campbell started to find his rhythm in week 10 last season with a 215 yard 3TD performance against Philadelphia. He followed that up with a few more strong efforts but then he suffered a season ending injury. Look for Campbell to build on his brief success from a season ago as Washington has bolstered the options for Campbell with the addition of rookies Devin Thomas, Fred Davis and Malcolm Kelly. Draft Campbell as a top end #2 fantasy QB.

Ted Ginn Jr. | WR | MIA
Ginn Jr. is a guy on a lot of sleeper lists for all the right reasons. He is now the clear cut go to WR in Miami and he actually has someone with experience and some talent throwing to him in Chad Pennington. Also the Dolphins backfield isn’t exactly the most solid situation in the NFL, so you can expect they will getting the ball into the hands of Ginn Jr. however they can. It is a lock that he will have a breakout year in 2008 it’s just a matter of how big that breakout will be. 70 Rec, 1100 Yards and 5 TDs seems conservative.

Getty Imagesk

Is Leinart the man to get the ball to
Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin
for Arizona? At some point he will
be.

Matt Leinart | QB | ARI
It’s not certain whether he’ll be the starter in week 1 but there’s certainly the chance. You got to believe it’s been-there-done-that with Kurt Warner for Arizona and it’s time to see if Leinart was worthy of the 10th pick in the 2006 draft. Leinart will get his shot at some point if not right away and there’s not many better targets out there than Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin.

Jerious Norwood | RB | ATL
Somewhat of a forgotten man in Atlanta with the acquisition of Michael Turner, Norwood has run for over 600 yards and over 6 yards per carry the past two seasons. If anything he’s more proven than Turner and could easily emerge as the top guy in Atlanta. Regardless Atlanta will be running the ball plenty behind rookie QB Chris Redman. A 1,000 yard season with 6-8 TDs is absolutely within reach for Norwood. He’s also a good pass-catcher so in a PPR league he has that much more potential.

Zach Miller | TE | OAK
It’s been said all over the place but the fact remains that new Oakland Raiders QB JaMarcus Russell threw 16 of his 66 attempts last season to Miller. He won’t put up huge yardage numbers with those receptions as a lot of times he’s a safety valve but he will get plenty of looks this season and probably his share of TDs. Especially if you are in a PPR league Miller is someone you should be jumping on as your #2 TE and asking questions later.

Julius Jones | RB | SEA
After a lost season in Dallas in 2007 Jones is poised to regain his 1,000 yard form from 2006 in Seattle. Jones is being drafted after the likes of Edgerrin James, Thomas Jones and Rudi Johnson. In Seattle with a solid offense and Matt Hasselback as his QB Jones should see plenty of touches and easily outperform some the guys being drafted right before him.

Ahmad Bradshaw | RB | NYG
Bradshaw did nothing until week 16 in 2007 but he did it in a big way with 17 carries for 151 yards and a TD in Buffalo. There’s a lot of question marks around Brandon Jacobs health and to some extent his ability. If you are looking for a late round RB with Ryan Grant potential Bradshaw has as good a shot as anyone.

Jason Wright | RB | CLE
2003 was a long time ago and Jamal Lewis isn’t getting any younger. The Browns offense figures to be high-powered once again so someone has to get those carries if Lewis can’t hold up. Wright is the best bet for that duty. He might not necessarily be someone to draft, and you can certainly get him in the last round or two if you decide to draft him, but he should at the very least be the first person on your watch list and at the first sign of trouble for Jamal grab him off the waiver wire a week before anyone else.

Tim Hightower | RB | ARI
Hightower is currently slotted to play in the short yardage and goal line situations behind Edgerrin James in Arizona. However, it’s no longer 2000 and the shelf life on Edgerrin is about to expire. Sure it might not be this year but we’re not going to bet against it. Hightower seems to have things lined up for a breakout season this year or next.

Also, since we are awesome and want you to have as much information as possible, check out what other experts around the web are predicting for their 2008 fantasy sleeper picks: CBS Sportsline, Fox Sports, NFL.com and FFToolbox.com.

As always, you can keep up to date with the latest injuries, who’s starting, and trade rumors reported by local newspapers and beatwriters on our NFL rumors and news page.