Foxsports: Another Fantasy Look; Skins Defense Going Down???

[RunRiggoRun]

Examining NFC players' fantasy stock

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Gregg Rosenthal /

Posted: 4 days ago

http://msn.foxsports.com/fantasy/story/3731968

The NFL sleeps this month, but fantasy junkies do not. We search for scraps of newsworthy information, probably assigning too much importance to every press conference, MRI, and rumor. We adjust our rankings out of boredom. All that ends at the end of July.

There will be more fantasy-worthy news in the first week of training camp than the last two months combined. It's something to keep in mind while checking out our final recap of the winners and losers of mini-camp season. Summer heroes often fade away when the hitting starts. Injuries will shake up depth charts and cheat sheets. But after looking at the AFC last time around, let's look at the final summer movers of mini-camp season in the NFC.

NFC East

Dallas Cowboys

Moving Up: Marion Barber, III, RB Bill Parcells knows running backs. He believed in Ottis Anderson when no one else did. He turned the Patriots offense over to Curtis Martin when many doubted the third-round rookie's speed and durability. He traded down in the 2004 draft because he knew Julius Jones could handle the load. He believes he's found another gem in Marion Barber III.

Hardly a coach to heap praise on young players, Parcells has been giddy about Barber's potential this summer. He loves his skills in the passing game, and believes Barber can spell Julius Jones when necessary. Barber looks to have a defined role as a rookie, while veteran Anthony Thomas may have to contribute on special teams just to make the team. We'd take Barber in deep drafts over A-Train.

Moving Down: Quincy Morgan, WR Morgan injured his shoulder in June, ruining a strong off-season for the No. 3 receiver. It's uncertain whether he'll be ready for training camp. The longer Morgan stays out, the further he may fall behind upstarts like Terrance Copper and Patrick Crayton in Dallas.

New York Giants

Moving Up: Brandon Jacobs, RB We've pumped up Tiki Barber's new backup enough this off-season. But if anyone can handle the weight of expectations, it's a 265-pound running back. New York's only mandatory mini-camp ended a few weeks ago and Jacobs once again made a big impression on teammates. The Bettis-wannabe is one of the most interesting backup running back picks for fantasy leaguers.

Moving Down: Plaxico Burress, WR Forget about the new arrest warrants. Don't worry about the deafening silence around the NFL when Plax become a free agent. We're more concerned with the fact Burress skipped off-season workouts with the Giants all summer. It's hard enough for free agent wideouts to adjust to new offenses, especially with a second-year starter at quarterback. Skipping the chance to establish timing is questionable, but not surprising. Expect a slow start for Burress, and expect him to overrated in fantasy leagues.

Philadelphia Eagles

Moving Up: L.J. Smith, TE His back is finally healthy. Smith recently admitted he could barely move at times last season despite playing every game. It helps explain the promising tight end's disappearance for weeks in 2004. While not a great TE1, he should come cheaply this season and could score 8 touchdowns.

Moving Down: Brian Westbrook, RB FoxSports.com's overlooked source of fantasy nuggets, the weekly Off-season Blitz, had a great note about Westbrook this week. The utter lack of movement on a long-term deal for the shifty running back is a bad sign. There are reports that some within the organization still question his durability long-term. The drafting of Ryan Moats, a similar player, would support this claim. It's not a major concern in re-draft leagues, but keeper leaguers should fear Westbrook heading elsewhere. It's hard to imagine another team taking advantage of his unique skill-set.

Also Moving: Terrell Owens, WR The Eagles won't budge on T.O.'s holdout. That much is clear. It's also becoming more apparent that they'd entertain trade offers for him. While the Jerry Porter-for-T.O. rumors look baseless, don't be surprised to hear similar reports in the next month. While we think Owens will show up towards the end of the preseason, the uncertainty makes him a slightly risky pick right now.

Washington Redskins

Moving Up: Clinton Portis, RB Portis packed on ten pounds of muscle this season. He knows Joe Gibbs is going to run him into the ground. The offense has also changed their running attack this off-season to suit Portis's slashing style. They want to open up the field for him. He didn't have much patience in tight spots last season.

Moving Down: Redskins defense Antonio Pierce is gone and his replacement is Lemar Marshall? Fred Smoot is gone and his replacement is Walt Harris? No. 9 pick Carlos Rogers has a stress fracture in his foot and won't be ready for camp. LaVar Arrington has a bum knee and can't stay out of trouble. The no-name defensive line got no help this season. It will take magic for defensive coordinator Gregg Williams to maintain his powerful defense.

[TD_washingtonredskins]

I don't think there's any doubt that we have a good chance to be a little weaker on D this season. I wouldn't expect the Skins to have a "bad" defense at all, but I'm not really expecting another top-5 ranking.

[budski]

Just call him the magician.

[RunRiggoRun]

Originally posted by TD_washingtonredskins

I don't think there's any doubt that we have a good chance to be a little weaker on D this season. I wouldn't expect the Skins to have a "bad" defense at all, but I'm not really expecting another top-5 ranking.

I agree that we could fall slightly because it is always hard to maintain a high D ranking especially the way they do it with total yards. But to say it is going to take "magic" that is just obsurd, GW will have us around the Top 5 all year.

[ntotoro]

You could have said the exact same thing last year. Here... I'll paraphrase...

"Redskins defense. Jeremiah Trotter/Mike Barrow is gone and his replacement is Antonio Pierce? Champ Bailey is gone and his replacement is Shawn Springs? No. 5 pick Sean Taylor is holding out and won't be ready for camp. The no-name defensive line got no help this season. It will take magic for defensive coordinator Gregg Williams to maintain his powerful defense."

I left out the LaVar part, but he was rather dutifully replaced by Lemar Marshall, another "who?" kind of player.

Not to mention the injured players coming back this year.

Nick

[Beaudry]

We were a better NFL defense than a fantasy defense, anyway. Not many fantasy leagues give points for 3 and outs or yards allowed.

[TimFolk]

I can't stand this. Pierce was a undersized undrafted OLB, what makes these people who didnt even mention him last year think he is unreplaceble. Barrow,Marshal,Holdman,McCune will do his job just as good. And Smoot, while I loved his trash talking he was and always will be a #2 corner. And #2 corner do not get paid the same as #1's (Springs) So he had to go.

[redskin-one]

Originally posted by ntotoro

You could have said the exact same thing last year. Here... I'll paraphrase...

"Redskins defense. Jeremiah Trotter/Mike Barrow is gone and his replacement is Antonio Pierce? Champ Bailey is gone and his replacement is Shawn Springs? No. 5 pick Sean Taylor is holding out and won't be ready for camp. The no-name defensive line got no help this season. It will take magic for defensive coordinator Gregg Williams to maintain his powerful defense."

I left out the LaVar part, but he was rather dutifully replaced by Lemar Marshall, another "who?" kind of player.

Nick

Nice - we will sneak up on people just like last year.

[Idaho fan]

Originally posted by ntotoro

You could have said the exact same thing last year. Here... I'll paraphrase...

"Redskins defense. Jeremiah Trotter/Mike Barrow is gone and his replacement is Antonio Pierce? Champ Bailey is gone and his replacement is Shawn Springs? No. 5 pick Sean Taylor is holding out and won't be ready for camp. The no-name defensive line got no help this season. It will take magic for defensive coordinator Gregg Williams to maintain his powerful defense."

I left out the LaVar part, but he was rather dutifully replaced by Lemar Marshall, another "who?" kind of player.

Nick

EXACTLY.... no need to say any more.:logo:

[Califan007 The Constipated]

Throughout the entire season last year, these same sportswriters kept saying that the Skins defense wasn't as good as it appeared in the rankings..."Wait until they go up against proven offenses", they kept saying over and over again. Well, they went thru an entire season, seeing all kinds of offenses...and still ranked #1 in the NFC and #3 in the NFL. The prognostications of being "exposed" as a defensive unit not nearly as good as it appeared were proven wrong beyond a shadow of a doubt.

Now these same guys are predicting more doom and gloom for the Skins defense...they'll forgive me if I just roll my eyes and ignore their opinions.

[G-Prime]

Well said

[ATLANTASKINSFAN]

Originally posted by ntotoro

You could have said the exact same thing last year. Here... I'll paraphrase...

"Redskins defense. Jeremiah Trotter/Mike Barrow is gone and his replacement is Antonio Pierce? Champ Bailey is gone and his replacement is Shawn Springs? No. 5 pick Sean Taylor is holding out and won't be ready for camp. The no-name defensive line got no help this season. It will take magic for defensive coordinator Gregg Williams to maintain his powerful defense."

I left out the LaVar part, but he was rather dutifully replaced by Lemar Marshall, another "who?" kind of player.

Not to mention the injured players coming back this year.

Nick

I think you hit the nail on the head.

GO SKINS!!!!:helmet:

[Fifty Gut]

I believe in the system, not the players. Other "defensive geniuses" have been hired as coordinators for other teams (like Seattle, Minny), and no matter how many players stay or go, or are brought in, those defenses continue to fail. Everywhere Coach Williams has been, success, continued success, year after year.

Last year you coulda said Lemar Marshall, Antonio Pierce, who are either of these two? Both were starters, but if they were starters somewhere else, I'd doubt they woulda had the same results. We have an elite defensive setup here in Washington.

[grego]

Originally posted by ntotoro

You could have said the exact same thing last year. Here... I'll paraphrase...

"Redskins defense. Jeremiah Trotter/Mike Barrow is gone and his replacement is Antonio Pierce? Champ Bailey is gone and his replacement is Shawn Springs? No. 5 pick Sean Taylor is holding out and won't be ready for camp. The no-name defensive line got no help this season. It will take magic for defensive coordinator Gregg Williams to maintain his powerful defense."

I left out the LaVar part, but he was rather dutifully replaced by Lemar Marshall, another "who?" kind of player.

Not to mention the injured players coming back this year.

Nick

bingo.

[forbeskin]

I forgot how much of a household name Pierce was before last season. We'll be fine, I have confidence in that.

[jrockster21]

Originally posted by ntotoro

You could have said the exact same thing last year. Here... I'll paraphrase...

"Redskins defense. Jeremiah Trotter/Mike Barrow is gone and his replacement is Antonio Pierce? Champ Bailey is gone and his replacement is Shawn Springs? No. 5 pick Sean Taylor is holding out and won't be ready for camp. The no-name defensive line got no help this season. It will take magic for defensive coordinator Gregg Williams to maintain his powerful defense."

I left out the LaVar part, but he was rather dutifully replaced by Lemar Marshall, another "who?" kind of player.

Not to mention the injured players coming back this year.

Nick

Very nice. Excellent post, Nick! :notworthy

[bubba9497]

Originally posted by budski

Just call him the magician.

HOCUS POOCUS..... ALA KAZAM

poof....#1 defense

[ntotoro]

Thanks, guys. Just tellin' like I sees it...

[Beaudry]

It doesn't matter how highly regarded Pierce was BEFORE the season. What matters is how well he played DURING the season. If you don't think this team will be missing Antonio Pierce, you must be insane. Pierce was a great player for us last year. Lamar Marshall was an adequate fill-in guy. If we are lucky, Barrow or Holdman can fill in for him. It's very possible that our MLB will be worse this year than last.

It doesn't matter how much Smoot was paid. He is a flat better player than Walt Harris. Losing Smoot doesn't help this defense. How can you argue that losing Smoot and Pierce doesn't hurt the defense?

[feeshta]

Let's see..... Last year nobody had ever heard of Antonio Pierce, Lamar Marshall, Demetric Evans, Ryan Clark, Andre Lott, Chris Clemons, Ron Warner, or Ryan Boschetti.

All of those players made valuable contributions on defense last year. This year all of them are back with another year in the system, and we are getting at least three of our projected starters back from last year in Arrington, Daniels, and Bowen, with the possible addition of Barrow. How you lose two, gain three, and get worse is beyond my mental capacity apparantly.

Not mention, all of those naysayers, who proclaimed that last year's defense was not as good as their ranking would indicate; they had it backwards. This defense was hands down THE best in the NFL last year. They were put in more bad spots by the offense than any other unit in the league and still recovered and kept us in the game. Another thing to consider is all the very late scores when it didn't matter anymore. Especially the Eagles games looked a whole lot more lopsided on the scoreboard than they were on the field. I think the defense was forced to try to win the game themselves in a few games last year, and when they went balls to the wall they either were the heros and got the ball back one more time(usually to watch the offense flounder and fail) or they got burned as they did against the Eagles. The way I see it, they were better off for having tried than they would have been to play it safe and try to protect a ranking that really means nothing anyway.

This defense will be good again this year, and possibly even better than last year. Harris is much better than people seem to remember, their is a lot of depth behind him and Springs should an injury occur. Someone will step up at MLB, and my hope is that it's Barrow. He made Pierce what he was by helping him learn the system, and there is no more sure tackler in the league than Barrow. Daniels is more of a force than many of you would like to think as well.

[THEHEREAFTER]

Originally posted by forbeskin

I forgot how much of a household name Pierce was before last season. We'll be fine, I have confidence in that.

I understand you guys griping about the notion that your defense may not be as good. I just disagree with the theory that nobody knew Pierce before last season so he couldn't be that important? Is it possible that he was a diamond in the rough that just needed a chance? Wait t'ill superman see's the original analysis.

[ntotoro]

Originally posted by Beaudry

How can you argue that losing Smoot and Pierce doesn't hurt the defense?

The same time, how can you argue that we'll definitely go down? Pierce did play well, but got blown up by bigger backs like Bettis. He wasn't even the projected started going into last season. Very strong mental game, but physically his size ultimately was a compromise. Put his brain into McCune's body and you have a monster. Our LB's will be every bit as good as last year, maybe even better if Barrow is able to start.

Smoot played well, but I don't think the use of Harris is the downslide some people do. Springs was still the better player of the two and Smoot and wasn't big enough to blitz effectively, something that is done quite a bit by CB's in this Defense. Harris will be fine until Rogers comes along.

We were told all this stuff before last season. Nevermind the trash that was talked about our D-Line.

Nick

[ntotoro]

Originally posted by THEHEREAFTER

I just disagree with the theory that nobody knew Pierce before last season so he couldn't be that important? Is it possible that he was a diamond in the rough that just needed a chance?

Not a diamond in the rough, because he didn't show what he did last season, but Schottenheimer was impressed with his brain power when he got him. I think his surprising performance, combined with the fact that we lost him, is making some people think he was the next Mike Singletary or something. His shortcomings because of his size were apparent as the season went on, but it was nice to have him as a field general.

Nick

[bpoch]

Hasn't Gregg Williams alwasy had a top 5 defense everywhere he's coached?

The defense will be just as good, I have no doubt about it.

[Beaudry]

Originally posted by feeshta

Let's see..... Last year nobody had ever heard of Antonio Pierce, Lamar Marshall, Demetric Evans, Ryan Clark, Andre Lott, Chris Clemons, Ron Warner, or Ryan Boschetti.

And after a year, what do we have left? Ryan Clark looks pretty good. The rest had the moments and have potential to be good. Pierece, though, proved himself enough to have teams bidding to give him a fat contract. Antonio was much much much better player than anybody you have listed above.

I'm not arguing that we can't be even better on defense this year. We get Arrington back, which may be huge. What I am saying is that these homer fans deny the part that Pierce and Smoot played in making this defense one of the best in the league. The same fools who say Smoot is just a #2 would be saying that Smoot should have made the probowl, IF Smoot were still here.

Hint: When a player puts on a Redskins uniform, it does not automatically make him a better player.

The best defense is debatable, but we didn't have any of the best stats. I thought the Steeler's defense was probably the best, but we were close.