QB Tom Brady UP
With Welker back in the lineup, the Patriots and Tom Brady looked to be in 2007 form week 2 against Atlanta. I’m not saying that he’ll throw 50 touchdowns, but having a healthy Welker in the lineup certainly improves his fantasy stock.
WR Wes Welker UP
Good to see him in there and healthy. In fact, if I didn’t see it myself, I wouldn’t have believed that this guy was ever in a freak injury accident week 17 last year. Leading the league in receptions last year despite missing 3 games with injury makes this guy a PPR god, and he’s pretty good in normal leagues too.
RB Fred Taylor UP
Fred Taylor looked great in the Patriots’ 2nd preseason game with 11 carries for 54 yards and a score. He probably won’t be their starter, but look for them to use him often this year. That makes him someone to target late. He’s being overlooked in fantasy circles this year.
RB Laurence Maroney DOWN
Maroney didn’t play at all in his 2nd preseason game. This is probably just Bill Belicheck trying to mess with fantasy football owners and Maroney will still be the lead guy this year, but it’s still not encouraging.
RB CJ Spiller UP
With Lynch and Jackson out, Spiller dominated with 10 carries for 54 yards and a score, looking like he was still in college and dominating ACC defenses. Lynch and Jackson will be back before week 1 presumably, so he’ll still give carries to them, but he has a chance in the preseason to prove himself and push for more work and if he keeps running like this, he’ll get it.
RB Julius Jones DOWN
Jones didn’t start the 2nd preseason game, and looked horrible in the action he did get with 14 yards on 5 carries. He will have some fantasy value if he becomes the lead back there, but that doesn’t look likely at the moment.
RB Justin Forsett UP
Forsett started the 2nd preseason game against the Packers, but didn’t use the opportunity to prove himself like he could have, rushing for 13 yards on 5 carries. It looks like Pete Carroll will use his backs as he did at USC, spreading around the carries, which could be very frustrating for fantasy owners. Forsett is probably the most valuable Seattle back though as I do feel he is the most talented and best equipped to take advantage of his carries.
RB Leon Washington UP
Washington was the best Seattle back during the 2nd preseason game with 4 carries for 19 yards. He appears healthy and will definitely be in the mix this year in Seattle.
RB Brandon Jacobs DOWN
So much for being healthy, Jacobs missed the 2nd preseason game with a neck injury and now it is being reportedly by ESPN’s Matt Mosley that Ahmad Bradshaw will be the feature back for the Giants this year and could get up to 2/3rds of the carries.
RB Ahmad Bradshaw UP
Bradshaw impressed with Jacobs out with 28 yards and a score on 6 carries and appears in line to be the feature back in New York over Brandon Jacobs.
WR Jacoby Jones DOWN
So much for being a sleeper. Jones was back to the 2nd team during the Texans week 2 game.
WR Kevin Walter UP
Walter was back in the first team offense with Houston. Houston is one of 5 offenses in the league, New England, Indianapolis, New Orleans, and Green Bay being the other 4, where, a player has fantasy value just for being a starting receiver. Walter is now an interesting late round sleeper. Remember this guy has 800 yards and 8 scores just 2 years ago.
RB Larry Johnson DOWN
Johnson was allowed to showcase what he had this week, in an attempt to win the starting job. He rushed for 4 yards on 8 carries. Chances are, he’s not winning that job.
RB Clinton Portis UP
Portis hasn’t been amazing in his first two preseason games, but Larry Johnson struggled in his showcase game week 2 and I don’t expect Willie Parker to be much better next week. It appears Portis will at least start the year as the starter, though don’t expect too much out of him.
RB Ryan Torain UP
Willie Parker, Larry Johnson, and Clinton Portis are all old. Ryan Torain is a talented kid out of Arizona State that has had a disappointing career so far thanks to injuries. He’s in his 3rd year and he was drafted by none other than Mike Shanahan, who liked him so much that he brought him over from Denver to Washington. I’m not saying he’ll start the year as starter, but Torain, who has 18 carries for 64 yards in his first two preseason games as a 2nd teamer, could end up being the starter in Washington sooner or later, so remember the name.
RB Matt Forte UP
Forte was amazing in his 2nd preseason game going for 109 yards and a score on 5 carries. 89 of those yards were on one carry, but he looked solid the whole night and has looked better than Chester Taylor the entire preseason. Forte will probably win the job in Chicago and if the signing of Taylor has motivated him to get back into shape, he could be a legitimate fantasy sleeper again.
WR Jabar Gaffney UP
Gaffney has been used in the #1 receiver role in Denver this preseason and had 6 catches for 98 yards on 7 targets in his 2nd preseason game. It appears it will be him, not Demaryius Thomas or Eddie Royal who is the impact receiver in Denver this year. Gaffney had 21 catches for 282 yards and 2 score in his final 2 regular seasons last year.
WR Chaz Schilens DOWN
Schilens missed the Raiders’ 2nd preseason and has missed some practice time with a foot injury, as well as a knee injury. This is the same foot that cost him 8 games last season so this is hardly a good sign for the man who has the inside track to be the Raiders’ #1 receiver for 2010. There is also speculation that he needs knee surgery.
WR Louis Murphy UP
With Schilens out, the 2nd year Murphy shined. Murphy was their best receiver when he played last year, with Darrius Heyward Bey struggling and Schilens not 100% after his foot injury, and if Schilens is less than 100% again or misses anytime, Murphy could be a solid WR3 for a few weeks. He’s worth a look late in your fantasy draft. He’d be a huge fantasy player if Schilens missed any time with a foot injury or knee surgery.
RB Darren McFadden DOWN
McFadden has missed about two weeks and counting of practice and two preseason game with a very limiting foot injury. In the meantime, his competition for the starting job, Michael Bush, has been shining brightly both in practice and in games. This competition looks almost over. It appears McFadden will be the backup.
RB Michael Bush UP
Bush has taken advantage of McFadden’s injury and looks in line to win the starting running back job in Oakland. He’s a very talented back and will almost certainly be a 1000 yard guy if given 250+ carries. He also has decent hands and good size near the end zone, provided the Raiders make it to the end zone with more consistency this year than years past.
RB Marion Barber UP
For the 2nd straight week, Barber has been the first string back for the Cowboys. It appears that despite rumors than Felix Jones was their guy and Barber was trade bait, Barber and Jones have had no change in their roles from last year. Expect Barber to match his 2009 stats and likely surpass them as he did play most of 2009 with a lingering hammy problem.
RB Felix Jones DOWN
So much for Jones as lead back. He could overtake Barber as starter at some point this year, but at least for the start of the season, Jones isn’t a fantasy starter caliber player. He’s still worth a bench spot, but you can do a lot better with a mid round selection than Jones.
WR Derrick Mason UP
Despite all the new weapons the Ravens gave Joe Flacco this offseason, he’s still doing what he knows how to do best in the preseason, throwing it to Derrick Mason. Mason only has one season of 1000 yards or less in the past 10 years and could challenge for another 1000 yard season this year, even with all these new weapons around him. Even if he doesn’t get 1000 yards, he’ll be close and he’s extremely undervalued this year.
WR Anquan Boldin DOWN
Boldin only has 2 receptions in his first 2 preseason games and simply is not being targeted as much as Flacco’s longest tenured target, Derrick Mason. This could continue into the season, even though Boldin is more physically impressive.
QB Jimmy Clausen DOWN
Clausen stunk up the joint in his 2nd preseason game against the Jets. I don’t think he can win that starting job after that performance.
QB Matt Moore UP
Moore wasn’t much better than Clausen in their 2nd preseason game as, even without Darrelle Revis, the Jets secondary completely shut down the Panthers aerial attack. However, Clausen’s performance was so bad he all but eliminated himself from the starting job competition. Moore looks like the guy and therefore an interesting late round sleeper. Despite his 2nd week performance, Moore is still a talented and underrated quarterback who put up solid numbers to end the last year. He is the reason why I believe the Panthers will win many games against the NFL Spread. This is a very underrated bunch.
WR Larry Fitzgerald DOWN
Whether it be Leinart or Anderson, the Cardinals couldn’t do anything offensively against the Titans in their 2nd preseason game. For what it’s worth, Leinart was worse, but they both sucked. With Leinart it was all checkdowns and underthrows and with Anderson it was a bunch of inaccurate overthrows. Fitzgerald is good, but he can’t throw the ball to himself. He also has a lingering knee injury and lingering injuries sapped a lot of his production last year. He may have issues reaching both 1000 yards and 10 touchdowns this year.
WR Steve Breaston DOWN
It’s looking more and more like the Cardinals are going to be a horrible offensive bunch and as a horrible bunch, it’s going to be tough for them to have two fantasy caliber receiver. Breaston is going to have minimal value as the #2 to Fitz this year.
WR Sidney Rice DOWN
Rice has confirmed that he did have hip surgery and will miss at least 8 weeks and could miss the entire season, as with these injuries, the recovery time is often longer than reported. This is a huge hit for one of my top 5 receivers. Don’t expect him to be a top 5 receiver once he’s back either. I don’t think he’ll have much more than 500 yards and 5 scores this year. If you want to draft him still, you’ll have to use up a bench spot on him for a while. I’d let someone else deal with this mess.
WR Bernard Berrian UP
Rice has a bad hip and will miss at least 8 weeks. Harvin just fainted on a football field. All of a sudden, Berrian looks like an interesting late round option.
QB Brett Favre DOWN
The reason Favre had a career year at age 40 last year, probably had something to do with the fact that he was working with one of his more talented receiving corps. With Rice out and Harvin also nowhere near game ready, those receiving corps don’t look as great.
TE Visanthe Shiancoe UP
With the 6-4 Rice out of there, Shiancoe will continue to be Favre’s favorite end zone target. He should get double digit scores again and should also be more involved in the passing game between the 20s as well.
RB Chris Wells DOWN
Wells once again did not get a carry until the 2nd quarter. It looks like, at the very least, he will be splitting carries with Hightower in their pass heavy offense, as Hightower is the far superior pass catcher and pass blocker.
RB Tim Hightower UP
Hightower got the start again but only managed 3 yards on 5 carries. Still, the start is more important for fantasy purposes.
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