FanHouse Courtney Taylor

T.J. Houshmandzadeh finally made his free agency choice today, taking the Seattle Seahawks up on their offer to pay him $40 million ($15 million guaranteed) over five years.

From a football perspective, Housh's decision is huge: the Seahawks are immediately made better while the Bengals, well, hey, at least they're the Bengals. From a fantasy perspective though, this makes things extremely interesting.

Because the NFL season never ends, we present our 2009 Offseason Roadmaps for front offices to navigate through the summer.

Mike Holmgren has long been one of the primary identities of the Seattle Seahawks. He took them to the Super Bowl and made them a perennial winner of the NFC West. Then last year happened. As Holmgren's retirement tour rolled along, more and more injuries piled up, Seneca Wallace had to start at quarterback for a few games, and the Seahawks stumbled to a 4-12 record.

The Panthers got rid of Keary Colbert (okay, fine not really, but you know ...) after three horribly mediocre years. He was promising as a rookie, catching 47 passes for 754 yards but never topped 350 again. And just to be clear, the Panthers let him go -- I want you to know that such a transaction says very little about his future.

Of course, you wouldn't have known that based on the three year, $7.2 million deal that the Denver Broncos foolishly handed him this offseason. But then you might be deceived by the news that Jay Glazer dropped today.

Seattle has swapped a late-round draft pick for Broncos wide receiver Keary Colbert, FOXSports.com has learned.

Or perhaps you would know it. After all, for a team to be at the point that they need to acquire Colbert midseason, well, things are not going well.

On the other hand, this is kind of like finding out you were your girlfriend's eighth choice of guys to take home from the bar, so it's not like Colbert is loving life either.

But the Seahawks weren't done! No, sir! They also inked former 'Hawk Koren Robinson. So, they're not stacked, but they're certainly better off than they were yesterday. I think.

Fantasy Spin: Despite that awkward "Yeah, you were all we could get" type of thing going on here, Colbert and Robinson are actually interesting adds because the Seahawks like to pass. I like Robinson better for upside, but as mentioned, Colbert did catch almost 50 passes his rookie year and he is literally all the Seahawks have at wideout right now. This does not say anything good about Courtney Taylor either.

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.

We here are at Fantasy FanHouse are deeply committed to helping the desperate. And you may be among them. If that's the case, we have some lovely last-minute gambles for you to try out in fantasy this week. Fourth and 26 isn't an "ideal" situation, but sometimes it works out.

Quarterback
JaMarcus Russell, OAK -- No way he's owned in your league. Seriously. No way (unless it's a keeper league I suppose). And you may remember from that Monday night snooze fest that Russell ended up going 17 of 26 for 180 yards and two touchdowns; respectable numbers, even in a blowout. And the Broncos are slightly better than the Chiefs. And by "slightly" I mean "the rough equivalent of "USC over OSU". (Warning: Comparison could backfire.)

Kerry Collins, TEN -- He doesn't have any receivers, and the Titans will probably lean on the running game and defense to win. But if you're considering him, you're pretty desperate. And the Bengals are pretty bad. So you could do worse.

Running Back
Tim Hightower, ARI -- Hightower might actually be a pretty good start this week; Edgerrin James had 100 yards last week, but it took him 26 carries, and Hightower saw some goal line action. Also, Miami is not good.

Road Chalk and Alaskan Pipelines is Will Brinson's NFL gambling column at FanHouse. Because everyone loves a loser.

And what a loser I narrowly avoided being. Or, alternately, "7-9 doesn't make me that big of a loser". Even if Brandon Lang went 2-1. The real problem though, is that I didn't just stick with my "Take All the Favorites" philosophy, which would have netted me an 10-6 week (and would have been 11 if not for that whole Tom Brady thing.)

So, yeah: Season Record (6-10)

I also figure I'm going to pick three STONE COLD TUNGSTEN PIPERS (caps for effect!) each week. Those will be highlighted by an asterisk. And I suppose it would be unfair to go back and pick them for Week 1. I know, I know. It seems silly. But if I get ice cold/white hot, you should make some money. And that's all that matters.

Remember, each week is a season unto itself ... or some crappy motivational phrase like. Anything to make me forget a sub-.500 Week 1.

FanHouse fantasy positional rankings are compiled weekly by the staff in order to provide answers to possible lineup questions. These are assuming most leagues use Fleaflicker's standard scoring structure. If you need clarification, or have funky league rules, feel free to shoot us an email question.

More Rankings: OVER/UNDER | Quarterbacks | Running Backs | Tight Ends | DSTs | Kickers

Gimme some Reggie Wayne over T. O. this week. Oh, I know ... here come an onslaught of commenters to tell me that 81 is gonna outscore Wayne. By how much, though? Is it really gonna cost anyone anything? I hate T.O. He's fourth here. Deal with it. Cue: "Waaaah, waaaah. You're jealous! You are a hater!"

- I have to point out, my Wayne love may be caused by hearing "REGGIE" chants in Indy. Nostalgia reigns supreme.

- On Torry Holt, I expect the Rams to force him the ball this week in order to make up for the embarrassment that was last week. Don't give up.

- Concerning the omnipresence of Eddie Royal love this week, you need to remember two things ...
1. The Raiders freaking suck.
2. Those touches he received now belong to Brandon Marshall. That was a one week treat for anyone lucky enough to start him. If you wasted a high waiver priority on him, sorry about'cha.

- I'd rather have Courtney Taylor, because Matt Hasselbeck is going to throw to someone.

1. Reggie Wayne, Colts, @ MIN
2. Larry Fitzgerald, Cards, vs. MIA
3. Plaxico Burress, Giants, @ STL
4. Terrell Owens, Cowboys, vs. PHI
5. Randy Moss, Patriots, @ NYJ

The one bright offensive spot for the Seattle Seahawks during Sunday's beatdown at the hands of the Bills was Nate Burleson. And how could he not be? After his star rose briefly in the absence of Randy Moss in Minnesota, he fell just as quickly, becoming a great punt returner (not a compliment) in Seattle. But this year ... this year was different. After all, with Bobby Engram and Deion Branch both out, Nate was set to become Matt Hasselbeck's next great target.

Until he got hurt for the entire season.

... Burleson suffered a torn knee ligament in the third quarter of Sunday's loss in Buffalo, and will undergo season-ending surgery. Burleson caught five passes before leaving, including a touchdown. He led the team in scoring receptions last season with nine.

This is the very definition of a devastating blow to a Seahawk team that was struggling already to find an identity and straight up reeling after the loss to Buffalo. This now also makes Courtney Taylor the number one wide receiver on Seattle's roster.

And it also guarantees that Branch, who may or may not have any business coming back seven months after ACL surgery, will be playing in Week 2. It's Holmgren's last season and this is a team that had serious Super Bowl aspirations with a stout defense and a revamped running game, so seeing Branch continue to sit would be surprising.

Fantasy Spin: Drop Burleson, obviously. And I'd go grab Branch, because honestly, I think he'll be back next week. Taylor is a pretty nice add at this point too, because someone's gotta catch the passes.

The one bright offensive spot for the Seattle Seahawks during Sunday's beatdown at the hands of the Bills was Nate Burleson. And how could he not be? After his star rose briefly in the absence of Randy Moss in Minnesota, he fell just as quickly, becoming a great punt returner (not a compliment) in Seattle. But this year ... this year was different. After all, with Bobby Engram and Deion Branch both out, Nate was set to become Matt Hasselbeck's next great target.

Until he got hurt for the entire season.

... Burleson suffered a torn knee ligament in the third quarter of Sunday's loss in Buffalo, and will undergo season-ending surgery. Burleson caught five passes before leaving, including a touchdown. He led the team in scoring receptions last season with nine.

This is the very definition of a devastating blow to a Seahawk team that was struggling already to find an identity and straight up reeling after the loss to Buffalo. This now also makes Courtney Taylor the number one wide receiver on Seattle's roster.

And it also guarantees that Branch, who may or may not have any business coming back seven months after ACL surgery, will be playing in Week 2. It's Holmgren's last season and this is a team that had serious Super Bowl aspirations with a stout defense and a revamped running game, so seeing Branch continue to sit would be surprising.

Fantasy Spin: Drop Burleson, obviously. And I'd go grab Branch, because honestly, I think he'll be back next week. Taylor is a pretty nice add at this point too, because someone's gotta catch the passes.

The outcome of this game should not come as a huge surprise. The Bills were better than their record last year, have an offense on the rise, and the Seahawks offensive unit is currently best classified as "in shambles".

Okay, perhaps that's a bit strong -- there are plenty of signs that Seattle will end up being alright this season. Such as: Matt Hasselbeck's second half performance, the Bills scoring two touchdowns on special teams, Nate Burleson didn't even play in the second half and, um, the rushing game gained positive yards.

Or, to put it more accurately: the Bills played like a team that was interested in putting the rest of the league on notice. Which they did. Marshawn Lynch, a.k.a. Beast Mode (in whose style of prose I was tempted to type this entire recap) bulldozed in for an early 21 yard touchdown. Lee Evans got 102 yards on four catches. Robert Royal hauled in a TD. Brian Moorman (punter of you-got-jacked fame) threw for one. So, really, routine stuff.