Month: August 2012

Packers say James Starks is “week to week” with turf toe

stevenlourie News, Packers

In a weekly press conference, Packers Head Coach Mike McCarthy described James Starks’ turf toe injury as “week to week” rather than day to day, putting his week 1 availability in doubt. Starks has a history of injury problems, dating back to his days at the University of Buffalo, which is why he fell to the 6th round in 2010, and has never had more than 133 carries in an NFL season.

When you combine this with recent reports that Starks was struggling in Training Camp and his struggles in the Packers’ 1st preseason game, it becomes increasingly clear why the Packers caved and signed a veteran running back, Cedric Benson, after spending all of the offseason committed to a youth movement at the position with guys like James Starks, Alex Green, and even Brandon Saine and Marc Tyler. Before Benson’s signing, Starks, heading into his 3rd year in the league with 162 career carries, was the veteran of the group. Once a potential breakout candidate and fantasy sleeper, Starks has seen his fantasy value sunk this week and now might not be worth anything more than a late round flier.

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Patriots activate Logan Mankins

stevenlourie News, Patriots

Patriots fans can breathe a sigh of relief. 4-time Pro Bowler Logan Mankins has been activated from the PUP roughly 6 months after having knee surgery and will almost definitely start week 1. He’s only missed 1 game in 8 years after going in the 1st round in 2005, but it was unclear if he’d be back for the start of the season after partially tearing his ACL in the Super Bowl. The Patriots’ tight lipped nature with injuries didn’t help either, but he appears to be fine.

The bigger issue on the Patriots’ offensive line is right guard, as Brian Waters still has not reported and could retire rather than play his age 35 season. Waters made his 6th Pro Bowl last season in his first year in New England after spending 11 with the Chiefs and graded out as ProFootballFocus’ 4th ranked guard. In his absence, center Dan Connolly, a mediocre player, has shifted back to guard and Dan Koppen, who is coming off a broken leg that ended his 2011 season week 1 and heading into his age 33 season, will be the center.

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Chad Clifton, Plaxico Burress to visit Patriots

stevenlourie News, Patriots

The Patriots will play host to two of the most prominent remaining free agents, Chad Clifton and Plaxico Burress. Clifton was cut by the Packers earlier this offseason after failing a physical and looked likely to retire at age 36, but if he can prove he’s healthy, he might be solid veteran depth behind 2nd year left tackle Nate Solder, who is going into his first year as a full time starter, in the absence of the retired Matt Light. Solder struggled in the Patriots’ 1st preseason game last week.

Burress, meanwhile, caught 45 passes for 612 yards and 8 touchdowns last season, but as drawn no interest this offseason, heading into his age 35 season. That seemed strange, considering guys like Randy Moss, Chad Ochocinco, and Terrell Owens all signed, but apparently he had too high of an asking price, which he has since dropped. He’s drawn interest from the Cowboys and Patriots since doing that. If signed, he’d be nothing more than the 4th receiver at best in New England and would have to compete with Deion Branch, Donte Stallworth, Julian Edelman, and Matt Slater for a job. He’d likely see most of his snaps in short yardage situations.

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Bengals’ Carlos Dunlap sidelined a month with a knee injury

stevenlourie Bengals, News

According to the Bengals’ official website, Carlos Dunlap is expected to miss about a month with a knee injury, which puts his availability for week 1 in serious doubt. Dunlap is one of the league’s most underrated players as the 2010 2nd round pick graded out as ProFootballFocus’ 7th rated defensive end last season, with 5 sacks, 13 quarterback hits, and 29 quarterback pressures on 302 pass rush snaps, good for a rate of 15.6%, as a situational player.

Heading into his 3rd year in the league, he was expected to have a larger role, after the losses of defensive ends Frostee Rucker and Jonathan Fanene this offseason, and with Robert Geathers also expected to miss about a month with a knee injury. However, it appears the Bengals will be without his services for a couple of games, bad news for a team thin at defensive end.

With Rucker and Fanene gone and Geathers and Dunlap hurt, Michael Johnson is the only member of their 2011 defensive end rotation still likely to play week 1 and he graded out as the 2nd worst pass rusher of the bunch, with 7 sacks, 6 quarterback hits, and 15 quarterback pressures on 433 pass rush snaps (6.5%). He could have to start next to Jamaal Anderson, a bust and career journeyman who has never had much success anywhere.

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Cardinals approach Daryl Washington about long term extension

stevenlourie Cardinals, News

According to the Associated Press, the Cardinals have approached Daryl Washington about a long term extension and that the two sides have “talked back and forth,” though no official offer has been made. Washington, a 2010 2nd round pick, still has 2 years left on his rookie contract, but, with no players of note heading into contract years, it appears the Cardinals are looking to get a head start on negotiations with Washington.

Washington was Arizona’s leader in tackles last season and graded out as ProFootballFocus’ 10th ranked middle linebacker, grading out above average against the run, in coverage, and as a blitzer, adding 6 sacks, 5 quarterback hits, and 19 quarterback pressures. Heading into his 3rd year in the league, he has a good chance to make his first Pro Bowl in 2012.

I don’t expect the two sides to reach a deal this offseason though, as it’s more likely that the Cardinals are just having preliminary talks with him so there’s less to do next offseason, when he becomes an obvious extension candidate. The Cardinals likely want to see him prove it again and they have him under contract for 2 years at just over a million dollars combined. It’s very rare to see a player extended after just two seasons. Antonio Brown and Rob Gronkowski are obvious exceptions from this offseason, but Brown would have been an unrestricted free agent in 2013 and Gronkowski is just on another level.

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Mike Tolbert to replace Jeremy Shockey in Panthers’ offense

stevenlourie News, Panthers

When the Panthers signed Mike Tolbert this offseason, it was a head scratching move for both parties. Tolbert has rushed for 1225 yards and 17 touchdowns on 303 carries in the last 2 seasons, along with another 79 catches for 649 yards and 2 touchdowns. He has the talent to be part of a running back tandem somewhere in the league. Meanwhile, the Panthers already had two talented backs in Jonathan Stewart and DeAngelo Williams.

However, Tolbert reportedly wanted to go to Carolina, play for his hometown team, and raise his children in the Carolina area, even taking less money and touches to play there. At 8.4 million over 4 years, he was too good to pass on for the Panthers, even if they didn’t have an obvious role for his talents.

After he signed, there was a lot of speculation that the Panthers could trade either the overpaid DeAngelo Williams or Jonathan Stewart, who was in a contract year. The Panthers didn’t do that; instead they extended Stewart, and it was announced that Mike Tolbert would play full back and serve as a weapon out of the backfield as a pass catcher, which made sense because of his size (5-9 243 pounds) and his pass catching ability.

Now, Head Coach Ron Rivera has said that they view him as the replacement to Jeremy Shockey, a tight end who caught 37 passes for 455 yards and 4 touchdowns last season. He remains unsigned as of this writing, heading into his age 32 season. Rivera went on to explain that they used so many two-tight end sets last season because of the lack of a “true fullback,” and that Tolbert would serve that role. It’s also possible they could use him as a “move” tight end or h-back, as well. #2 tight end Gary Barnidge will not see the field as much as Shockey did for this reason. The 2008 5th round pick has just 12 career catches and is coming off a season ending injury, but the team is high on him.

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Rams, James Laurinaitis discussing long term extension

stevenlourie News, Rams

After extending one pillar of their defense recently, Chris Long, the Rams are currently in talks with another, James Laurinaitis, about a long term contract extension, as the 2009 2nd round pick heads into the final year of his rookie deal. He has graded out positively overall on ProFootballFocus in each of the past 3 years as a starter and ranked 14th overall among middle linebackers in 2010. He’s managed 100+ tackles in each of his first 3 years in the league, good for a combined 376 tackles, a whopping 310 of which were solo.

The Rams would be wise to extend him now as the franchise tag is not a realistic option next offseason. The linebacker franchise tag value (8.8 million in 2012) is inflated by the salaries of rush linebackers and thus non-rush linebackers rarely get tagged. After an offseason in which Curtis Lofton, Stephen Tulloch, and David Hawthorne got 27.5 million, 25.5 million, and 19 million respectively over 5 years, the Rams are unlikely to commit 8.8 million to Laurinaitis over just one season.

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Giants’ Terrell Thomas expects to play this season

stevenlourie Giants, News

Though it originally looked like Terrell Thomas could miss a 2nd straight season with a torn ACL, it appears he merely “aggravated” and “stretched” the surgically repaired ACL. He will still miss at least 3-8 weeks and will almost definitely begin the season as a gameday inactive. 2011 1st round pick Prince Amukamara would then take his place in the starting lineup opposite Corey Webster.

It’s also possible he misses even more than the start of the season. The timetable is ominously vague, 3-8 weeks, and you never like to see someone re-aggravate an injury that cost him a whole season last year and have to miss any portion of significant time. He should play this season, but Giants fans should not expect to see him on the field for at least the 1st quarter of the season.

Amukamara should be able to adequately fill in for him in the starting lineup and it’s not like they missed him a ton last season, when they won the Super Bowl. However, this was not what the Giants had in mind when they guaranteed Thomas 11 million this offseason (4 years, 17.4 million total), and, after losing Aaron Ross as a free agent this offseason, the Giants really lack depth at the cornerback position. Jayron Hosley, a rookie 3rd round pick, is their 3rd string cornerback with Thomas out, but the Giants don’t seem to trust him as they are expected to move safety Antrel Rolle to the slot in sub packages.

It’s unclear who would come in at safety for them in that situation as 3rd string safety Tyler Sash has been suspended 4 games, but it would make sense for them to call up Deon Grant, who played significant snaps as a 3rd safety last year. He’s still a free agent, but for good reason, heading into his age 33 season. It’s also worth noting that Rolle struggled on the slot last season, allowing 32 completions on 42 attempts (76.2%) for 334 yards (8.0 YPA), as opposed to 41 completions on 57 attempts (71.9%) for 507 yards (8.9 YPA) as a safety, which I guess isn’t much better.

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Jets won’t use Shonn Greene on 3rd downs

stevenlourie Jets, News

The Jets’ running back situation is an interesting one. They are going to run the ball a lot, but they only have one proven back, Shonn Greene, and he’s a pretty marginal talent as a runner, though he’s definitely proven he can carry a load. He had 283 touches last year and, as the Jets will run more, he’s expected to get even more touches this year, maybe even over 300. However, he’ll lose some goal line carries to Tim Tebow and now it appears he won’t play 3rd downs either.

The Jets will have Joe McKnight and Bilal Powell competing for the 3rd down job and Powell reportedly is the favorite, though both have had very disappointing NFL careers to this point, going in the 4th round in 2010 and 2011 respectively and averaging 3.9 YPC and 1.6 YPC respectively, though Powell also has 13 career carries so he could bounce back in his 2nd year in the league. Greene didn’t handle 3rd down duties last year either and still had 283 touches so he could definitely still have 300+ this year.

Greene is underrated in fantasy circles, going in the 5th round on average. He won’t catch a ton of passes or score a lot of touchdowns or average a large YPC (4.3 YPC in his career), but he’ll get you plenty of volume yardage and he’s a natural fit for offensive coordinator Tony Sparano’s new blocking scheme. His YPC could also be increased by Tim Tebow’s presence, like Willis McGahee’s was last season. He has very little competition for carries and he’s one of the few running backs in the league who can say that.

However, because his value is almost totally tied to his volume of carries, he does have some downside because he’s only a marginal talent and someone like Powell could break out and eat into his carries, even though it’s unlikely. If you draft Greene in the 4th round or so, where he’s still a good value in a weak year for running backs, it might be wise to handcuff Powell with a late round pick or, at least, monitor Powell and pick up him if he starts stealing carries.

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6th round rookie LaVon Brazill competing for starting spot for Colts

stevenlourie Colts, News

The Colts are having a three way competition for Pierre Garcon’s old job as the starting receiver job opposite Reggie Wayne, between Austin Collie, the incumbent slot receiver, Donnie Avery, a free agent acquisition, and LaVon Brazill, a rookie 6th round pick. Brazill is interesting because he is similar to Mike Wallace and Antonio Brown, two later round selections who had great success in Bruce Arians’ offense in Pittsburgh. Arians is the new offensive coordinator in Indianapolis.

Collie, meanwhile, seems like he’d be best remaining in the slot, so Avery makes the most sense as the starter opposite Wayne. Avery has only caught 3 passes in the last 2 seasons thanks to injury, but he had 100 catches for 1263 yards and 8 touchdowns in 2 seasons combined in 2008 and 2009 on a bad passing offense in St. Louis. Now seemingly healthy, he’s a good fit for the Colts’ offense, and there’s some upside with Avery in fantasy football, who would be the major beneficiary of a Wayne decline, a strong possibility as he heads into his age 34 season.

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