Week One Fantasy Football Roundup | Sharapova's Thigh

Week One Fantasy Football Roundup

Posted by Matt Clapp | 9/10/2009 07:30:00 AM | , , , , , , , ,

Drew Brees might throw for 400 yards against the Lions on Sunday.

The 2009 NFL season, AND of course the 2009 fantasy football season are back. It's my favorite time of the year.

This also means that it's time for my weekly fantasy football roundups. For those of you(well, most of you) that weren't around for last year's roundups, I include many rankings, projections, injuries to monitor involving notable fantasy players, useful fantasy football articles from around the web, and make some picks of my own.

It's only Thursday, so many sites haven't released their main fantasy football articles this week. With that in mind, I'll continue to add projections, rankings, update the injuries to watch, and provide more articles from around the web until the early games start on Sunday. So keep checking back for updates.

If you come across any good articles that aren't on here, or have any yourself, don't hesitate to e-mail me: sharapovasthigh@gmail.com.

And some picks of my own(based on standard league scoring systems):

Week One's Best

QB: Drew Brees... In 2008, Drew Brees was just 15 yards shy of breaking Dan Marino's single-season passing yardage record. Now he starts off 2009 at home against a Lions team that was winless last season(did you hear?), and had a pass defense that ranked 27th in the league. He has a good chance to be the highest scoring player overall in fantasy this week.
RB: Adrian Peterson... You'll remember why he was the first player taken(or should've been the first player taken) in your fantasy draft after he runs all over a Browns defense that ranked 28th against the run in 2008. If you ever sit this guy, you should immediately be removed from your league.
WR: Marques Colston... After two sensational seasons to start his career, Marques Colston didn't accumulate the numbers fantasy owners expected in 2009, due to a broken thumb that sidelined him for five weeks. He's healthy now and has Drew Brees throwing his way which always helps. And of course like Brees, he'll be facing the Lions this week. Look for him to get 2009 going in a big way and get his name back in the discussion for the elite fantasy wide receivers soon.
TE: Greg Olsen... The Bears' tight end is entering his third season, and has moved ahead of Desmond Clark on the depth chart. Big things are expected and he looked terrific with new Bears quarterback Jay Cutler in training camp. Olsen figures to be Cutler's main target, and Cutler will surely be looking his way a lot in his first game in a Bears uniform Sunday night at Green Bay. Olsen's also put up four+ catches with 45+ yards in three of his four career games against the Packers.
K: John Carney... The Saints should be scoring over 30 points against the Lions. Yes they'll probably be just getting in the end zone rather than settling for field goals, but the 45-year-old is a safe pick to at worst be a solid fantasy kicker this week.
D/ST: Baltimore Ravens... Arguably the best defense in the league will have a bad Chiefs offense at home. New Chiefs quarterback Matt Cassel has an MCL sprain which makes his status for this week questionable(as are his chances to be a very good quarterback out of New England). I'll be surprised if the Ravens allow over a dozen points in this one, and expect a few turnovers.

Sleeper Picks

QB: Carson Palmer... He's being very overlooked. He's healthy(the ankle he injured in preseason is fine now) and looked terrific in camp. At home Sunday, he'll get the Broncos and their pass defense that ranked 26th in the NFL in 2008.
RB: Fred Jackson... I've taken this guy in about every draft(and I've had a lot, trust me). He's been falling into the very late rounds, and for a solid backup running back that will be starting the first three games of the season for the Bills with Marshawn Lynch suspended. He averaged 4.4 yards per carry over 130 carries last season, and added 37 catches out of the backfield. So for PPR leagues, he could be terrific over these next few weeks, and should have some very good fantasy production this week against New England.
WR: Donald Driver... The Bears' best player in the secondary, cornerback Peanut Tillman, is very questionable for Sunday night against the Packers. Their other projected starting cornerback in Zackary Bowman only played in one preseason quarter after dealing with injury, and the rest of the Bears' defensive backfield is very iffy. So, Greg Jennings and Donald Driver are set up to have big weeks.
TE: Jeremy Shockey... Shockey was a huge disappointment last season, catching no touchdowns. That's pretty pathetic when you consider his quarterback, Drew Brees, threw 34 of them on the season. Saints tight end Billy Miller is done for the season, so Shockey should see more targets this year. He also looked great in the preseason. Oh, and he's playing the Lions this week.
K: Steven Hauschka... The 24-year-old is taking over kicking duties in Baltimore. He has a good matchup this week as his Ravens should get scoring opportunities at home against the Chiefs, but they also struggle to get into the end zone.
D/ST: Seattle Seahawks... Facing the Rams at home should mean a good week to play any defense.

Shit Picks

QB: Brett Favre... I just had to put him here to start the year. That's what you get for pissing us all off. But really, I wouldn't expect the Vikings to come out throwing too much in this game at Cleveland. Why put pressure on the new quarterback to get it all done when you have the best running back in the league to hand off to? Additionally, the Browns surprisingly were second in the NFL last year in interceptions, and Brett Favrah is the league's all-time leader in throwing them.
RB: Chris Johnson... The Steelers allowed just 80.2 yards per game on the ground last season, for second in the NFL. Johnson's an absolute stud who will have a huge season, but don't expect too much out of him in this one.
WR: Brandon Marshall... He just finally got to practice, and likely has a long way to go in getting comfortable with new Broncos quarterback Kyle Orton. Josh McDaniels is making it sound like Marshall could be a big part of the gameplan Sunday, but I'm skeptical. I wouldn't have him in my top 25 for this week.
TE: Visanthe Shiancoe... An underrated tight end that will have some very productive games this year, but I don't think it will be in this one as the Vikings likely won't call too many passing plays for Favre in week one.
K: Adam Vinatieri... The veteran kicker didnt get a field goal attempt when the Colts played the Jaguars in Indianapolis last year.
D/ST: Chicago Bears... Much of this is for the reasons I described when talking about Donald Driver. The Bears' secondary looks like a mess at the moment. Additionally, the Packers put up 37 points on the Bears at Green Bay last year. Aaron Rodgers, the extremely underrated Packers quarterback, threw only 13 interceptions in 536 passing attempts last season.

UPDATE(9/11, 11:00 PM ET): As FFBaller said in the comments, Saints running back Pierre Thomas is officially out, so Good news for Mike Bell and Reggie Bush owners. Also, I added a few more links and will keep doing so, as well as update the injury concerns.

UPDATE(9/12, 5:30 AM ET): Added a few links and updated the statuses of the the players with injuries to watch. I took Wes Welker off there, as he appears good to go for Monday night.

UPDATE(9/13), 2:00 AM ET): Browns rookie running back James Davis is a late addition to the injury report, and in odd fashion. Davis was in a car accident Saturday and is dealing with what they're calling a head injury. He's officially "Questionable" and considered a game-time decision. Either way, I'd advise not having him in your lineup against the Vikings' terrific run defense.

UPDATE(9/13, 2:50 AM ET): A bunch of links added. In the morning(well today in like eight hours), I'll be adding more updates leading up to the start of the 1 PM ET games, especially with injuries and/or weather conditions.

UPDATE(9/13, 11:18 AM ET): Vikings wide receiver Bernard Berrian reportedly will play today.

Saints running back Mike Bell, who was expected to be #3 on the depth chart this season, will reportedly get the majority of the carries today against the woeful Lions. Pierre Thomas would be the starter, but he is out, and Reggie Bush apparently isn't near 100%. Even if Reggie is, Bell figured to get a good amount of carries anyway. He should be a very good play today, so consider picking him up right now and putting him in your lineup if he's still available in your league.

UPDATE(9/13, 11:39 AM ET): Chiefs quarterback Matt Cassel is inactive today against the Ravens. You were crazy to play him anyway against the Ravens unless you're in a two-quarterback league with 16+ teams. Nobody knows what he'll do out of New England, and Baltimore was sure to make his debut a rough one regardless with their outstanding defense. Brodie Croyle will instead start... yikes.

Meanwhile, Broncos quarterback Kyle Orton and rookie running back Knowshown Moreno reportedly will play today against the Bengals. And another little fun Broncos nugget, Chris Mortensen reported on ESPN that Mike Shanahan planned to release wide receiver Brandon Marshall after the Pro Bowl had he not been fired. Brandon Marshall will play today by the way.

UPDATE(9/13, 12:05 PM ET): Texans wide receiver Kevin Walter is inactive. Walter had eight touchdowns last season, the same amount as teammate Andre Johnson.

UPDATE(9/13, 12:12 PM ET): Browns running back James Davis was in a car accident a day ago and reportedly had a "head injury". Well, one day later, he's playing. We still don't know what his workload will be regardless of health, and he's facing the Vikings' Williams Wall.

UPDATE(9/13, 2:58 PM ET): Anquan Boldin is apparently active today. Now back to drinking and watching all these games.

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