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Injuries to Watch: Week 12

Posted: Nov 21st 2008 5:18PM by Ryan Dembinsky (author feed)
Filed under: Fantasy Football, NFL Injury Report

Every week when the dinner bell rings on Friday evening, we'll be here to provide you a comprehensive commentary of the key injuries for the NFL weekend to follow. For those injuries that go right down to the wire, drop by our Fantasy Fanhouse expert live chat from 10:30am to 1pm EST every Sunday and we'll take care of you on those bloody game-time decisions. As always, please feel free to chime in with opinions, updates, and rumors in the comments.

The Atlanta Falcons

Roddy White - This season's superstar bust-out receiver missed Wednesday and Thursday practice with a back injury. The deep back bruise is not expected to cause White to miss time and he practiced on Friday, but keep him in the corner of your eye just in case.

The Baltimore Ravens

Derrick Mason - Despite a partially dislocated shoulder, Mason made good last week with seven catches for 82 yards. He should be good to go this week as well.

The Cleveland Browns

Kellen Winslow - Quickly becoming one of this year's leading fantasy frustrators, Kellen Winslow has not returned to practice despite an MRI indicating no structural damage in his shoulder. While normally the positive MRI would be a good sign, Coach Crennel says the only way he sees the field is if he shows full motion in the shoulder, which I assume means actually practicing. You might be wise to plan on another option should Junior disappoint yet again.

Brady Quinn - Quinn suffered a small fracture his right index finger last week against the Browns. While Quinn played with the injury and should play again this week, this is enough to bench him if you previously considered him for the starting spot this week.

Continue Reading Injuries to Watch: Week 12

Waiver Wire Wonders: Week 4

Posted: Sep 28th 2008 8:40PM by Ryan Dembinsky (author feed)
Filed under: NFL Waiver Wire, Fantasy Football, NFL New Studs

3 COMMENTS

Weeding through those unwieldy waiver wires requires a keen eye and a quick trigger. Thus, Waiver Wire Wonders provides a weekly snapshot of players worthy of consideration who should be available on a good portion of league waiver wires. Enjoy those pickups...

Week 4 provided more of the same - big breakout games by our waiver wire friends. Not as many of this week's crop of eye-popping stat producers are necessarily worthy adds to the roster at this point however, so we'll filter through the noise and bring you the music.

Muhsin Muhammad (Carolina Panthers) - Looks like the Smothers Brothers are back together. After years together as a dynamic duo in Carolina, Muhammad parted for Chicago. Fast forward a couple of disappointing seasons filled with lots of whining and Moosh is in step again with Jake Delhomme. Although, Steve Smith should develop into the primary target, don't underestimate this veteran receiver and the great chemistry with his QB.

Steve Breaston - (Arizona Cardinals) Breaston actually looks like a great pickup at this point. Unfortunately, a big reason for Breaston's value uptick is the vicious helmet-to-helmet hit that Anquan Boldin took. And it looks like Boldin could be out for the near future. Breaston racked up nine catches for 122 yards with Boldin in the game, so he could assume a big role without him in the lineup.

Continue Reading Waiver Wire Wonders: Week 4

Epic Battle Between Seahawks and Niners Somehow Needs Overtime to Finish Failing

Posted: Sep 14th 2008 11:45PM by Will Brinson (author feed)
Filed under: 49ers, Seahawks, NFC West

3 COMMENTS

Let's go ahead and get the good news out of the way first. Julius Jones rushed for 127 yards and a touchdown on 26 carries, flashing the revamped running game that Mike Holmgren had mentioned bringing back around the Northwest.

As for the rest of the news (all bad), the Seattle defense allowed: San Francisco to score 33 points, J.T. O'Sullivan to throw for 321 yards, and Isaac Bruce to catch 153 yards worth of passing. Yipes. On offense, John Carlson seems nice ... which is good because he's all they've got in the passing game. Courtney Taylor -- fresh off bemoaning his potential release -- was nonexistent, and Seneca Wallace didn't catch a single pass. That could be because he got hurt before the game, joining Logan Payne, Nate Burelson, Deion Branch and Bobby Engram on Seattle's Red Cross list.

Also, Matt Hasselbeck was a horrid 18 of 36 for 189 yards and two interceptions, probably because he has no receivers.

So, yeah, Seattle is more or less finished at this point, in all honesty. The crazy thing is that if 'Beck can somehow manage to get kind of healthy and Branch can come back, they could still win the NFC West.

Why's that? Because the Niners, who needed two shots at victory (Joe Nedney whiffed the potential walk off field goal) to topple these pathetic 'Hawks. And they're the second best team in the division. Epic fail indeed.

Continue Reading Epic Battle Between Seahawks and Niners Somehow Needs Overtime to Finish Failing

Digging Deeper For Wide Receivers

Posted: Sep 2nd 2008 12:15PM by Ryan Dembinsky (author feed)
Filed under: NFL Position Rankings, Fantasy Football

0 COMMENTS

In searching for undervalued wide receivers, a key stat to note is the number of times a particular player is targeted. While obviously the number of targets correlates pretty closely to the number of receptions, a better way to uncover value is by including the number of receptions in the equation. In other words, look at the catch to target ratio (catches divided by targets). By analyzing this stat, it gives a better sense of the efficiency of a particular quarterback to wide receiver connection. In doing so, you can undercover some gems in two different ways.

The first is obvious; by looking at those players who convert the highest percentage of their targets into receptions. A high catch to target ratio should imply consistency from any of these picks. In looking at the top 50 wide receivers in 2007, the range of percentages of catches per target ranged from 42.7% to 77.2%. Amongst the top ten, two were tight ends (Owen Daniels and Jason Witten) and two were running backs (Reggie Bush and Brian Westbrook). Obviously, those positions have higher efficiency numbers based on these receptions being quick strikes and screen passes. Of the remaining six, Wes Welker (77.2%), Anquan Boldin (71.2%), Bobby Engram (70.1%), Marques Colston (68.5%), Donald Driver (67.2%), Reggie Wayne (66.7%), and T.J. Houshmandzadeh (66.3%) posted the strongest numbers. While Donald Driver will be playing with a new quarterback in Aaron Rodgers and Bobby Engram is banged up, the other four wide receivers should be up on your radar in their respective ADP ranges.

Continue Reading Digging Deeper For Wide Receivers

Arnaz Battle Back to Work After Missing Time for "Personal Reasons"

Posted: Jun 10th 2008 12:24PM by Tom Mantzouranis (author feed)
Filed under: 49ers, NFC West, San Francisco

0 COMMENTS

Larry David's right -- you can get out of just about any question as long as you say "it's personal," unless, of course, you're being questioned by Roger Goodell, who will have a league of upstanding citizens even if it requires surveillance in the homes of every single player. Luckily for Arnaz Battle, the questions he's facing aren't regarding legal matters, so no one will press any further on why the receiver missed team activities last week now that he's back.

"It's just a lack of communication," Battle said. "This is not a mandatory camp and I felt there were some personal things I needed to take care of. I put it on my shoulders. I didn't communicate it, and that's that."

Apparently everything's been cleared up and the team is satisfied. It's obviously best for everyone involved if Battle is present, especially now that he's missed a week of lessons on Mike Martz's new offense. But Battle isn't concerned about that.

"I played quarterback," he said. "I feel I have the intelligence to (be able to) come in and learn the position and get out there and make plays and make things happen"

Quarterback? Battle should switch positions, he might have a better chance of starting if he's under center.

Arnaz Battle is M.I.A.

Posted: Jun 2nd 2008 7:57PM by Tom Mantzouranis (author feed)
Filed under: 49ers, NFC West, San Francisco

0 COMMENTS

This may seem a bit, you know, obvious, but it's never good when a player doesn't show up for organized team activities. It's even worse when the team has no idea where that player is or why they're not present. Arnaz Battle was nowhere to be found today, and Mike Nolan was at a loss for explanations.

This may not seem like a big deal to casual fans or people unfamiliar with the 49ers, but Battle was their best receiver and most reliable player on offense last year (which isn't saying a lot, I'm aware). He's an underrated player and would be coming off a much better season if the team had anything resembling competent quarterbacking last year. He's currently projected as the team's third receiver behind Isaac Bruce and Bryant Johnson, but the 49ers undoubtedly have a big role for him planned.

The most common reason a player misses offseason activity is because of contract problems, but a 600-yard season and subsequent drop on the depth chart isn't really time to ask for more money. Besides, Battle has already attended other team activities this offseason.

I guess we'll know soon what the deal is, but it's important for Battle to get to work learning the new offense -- it's sort of complex.

Despite What You May Have Heard, the 49ers Shouldn't Go Receiver in the First Round

Posted: Apr 14th 2008 12:34PM by Tom Mantzouranis (author feed)
Filed under: 49ers, NFC West, San Francisco

1 COMMENT

Lots of mock drafts and pundits have the 49ers taking a receiver in the first round. Based on the fact that mock drafts and pundits usually do their work on the previous season, that seems fair -- the receivers offered Alex Smith just about as much help as his offensive line did (which is to say, not very much).

But there's a problem with this way of draft prognostication -- it ignores player development and, uh, a little thing called free agency.

By adding Bryant Johnson and Isaac Bruce in free agency, the team has already improved drastically. Johnson is sort of anonymous to a lot of fans, because he played understudy to Anquan Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald thus far, but the former first-rounder has a ton of big-play ability. Bruce is ancient but can still offer a lot in the intangibles department and is a reliable target.

And then there's Jason Hill, a project receiver the 49ers took last year who has skills comparable to DeSean Jackson (one of the incoming rookies most linked to the 49ers). Hill had a rough rookie year (as do most projects) but has reportedly made tremendous strides. With the aforementioned duo and Arnaz Battle locked into the team's top three spots, Hill wouldn't be relied on for much and if he proves capable of doing that drafting a receiver early would be totally unnecessary.

Now Vernon Davis ... who knows what's up with that dude.

NFL Offseason Roadmap: 49ers

Posted: Jan 26th 2008 1:20PM by Tom Mantzouranis (author feed)
Filed under: 49ers, NFC West, San Francisco

0 COMMENTS

NFL Offseason Roadmap is a series focused on the needs of NFL teams as they begin the offseason.

1. Offensive Tackle. There is a reason the 49ers gave up the most sacks in the league last year. There's a reason Frank Gore had a letdown year (a few, actually, but this is one). The 49ers are off to a good start at overhauling the position with Joe Staley, but Staley's moving over to the left side, and it's up in the air how he'll respond. Backup Kwame Harris is a free agent, and the 49ers aren't really fans of either him or Jonas Jennings. The team is going to need a starter at right tackle, whether that's Jennings or someone new. But the team need a general upgrade in talent and depth. Bad news. The 49ers don't have a late first round pick. They could hope that Jeff Otah, Ryan Clady, or Sam Baker fall to them. An intriguing pick for later in the first day is Heath Benedict from Newberry. They'll have to get some help out of the draft, because free agency is scarce. Max Starks looks to be the the best available, meaning someone will grossly overpay for him.

Continue Reading NFL Offseason Roadmap: 49ers

Mike Martz Begins His Takeover of the San Francisco 49ers

Posted: Jan 12th 2008 4:15PM by Tom Mantzouranis (author feed)
Filed under: 49ers, Rams, NFC West, San Francisco, St. Louis

2 COMMENTS

Maybe I'm alone here, but I was always under the assumption that the Rams wouldn't welcome Isaac Bruce back and Bruce would go home satisfied while waiting for Canton to call. I mean, he's won a Super Bowl, been a four-time Pro Bowler, and sits sixth all-time in receptions and third in receiving yards. At 35, what is there left to prove?

But Bruce, amazingly, is still playing at a high level. And if he's out of a job in St. Louis, he might have a home in San Francisco.

If the Rams cut WR Isaac Bruce rather than pay him a $2 million roster bonus this spring, Bruce almost certanly would be welcomed in San Francisco with open arms by Martz. Martz certainly could use a veteran like Bruce. The 49ers had the worst offense in the NFL last season, averaging 219 yards per game. Arnaz Battle was the 49ers' top receiver last season with 50 catches for 600 yards and five touchdowns.

I don't know. This rumor seems too much like an easy connect-the-dots type of thing, but Mike Martz is a control freak, so I guess it's conceivable; he does like to bring in "his guys." I don't know what kind of a move it would be to commit at a notable salary to a 35-year-old receiver -- high level or not -- but, really, who's making personnel decisions? Is it Scot McCloughan (that is technically his job description)? Is it still Mike Nolan (the Martz hire proves that Nolan still has the Yorks by the shorthairs)? Or is it Martz (who's notoriously prickish about getting his way)? I don't know, I don't think the 49ers do either.

Sunday Wrap Up: Week 14

Posted: Dec 10th 2007 9:00AM by Will Brinson (author feed)
Filed under: Fantasy Football, Sunday Wrap-Up

7 COMMENTS

Walk It Off, Son
That was the theme as the San Diego Chargers completed a thrilling come from behind victory in Tennessee during the early set. LaDanian Tomlinson reminded why he's the best player in fantasy football and Philip Rivers bounced back from an embarrassing first half and an awkward little encounter with LT to throw two touchdowns and put the game into extra periods. (Which, by the way, should be switched to the college format. Imagine the fantasy football possibilities.) Anywho, give props to Phil too, as he walked off what looked like a serious knee injury to come in and lead the comeback. But the biggest walk off of all was LT's bust around around the left hand side of the line on first and 10 for a touchdown, putting the Chargers within one win of locking up the AFC West and sending the Titans to a potentially long off season.

Since you don't want to face the same fate in your fantasy league (that of the Titans), we're taking a different spin with the Sunday Wrap Up tonight. Instead of running through every game, we're going to focus on some of the best and worst fantasy playoff matchups and then highlight some major points from Sunday's action.

Playoff Matchups
Harumphs