FanHouse's crack squad of savvy fantasy football personnel put our five heads together and amassed consensus rankings for non-keeper, standard scoring leagues. We'll update as the season gets closer, but this is our "incredibly early yet still fun" version.
Was last season the year of the quarterback or what? You still had the old reliables like Drew Brees, Peyton Manning, Kurt Warner and Donovan McNabb doing their thing, but a whole new crop of passers have elevated themselves. Aaron Rodgers, Philip Rivers and Jay Cutler led the way for the youth movement. You could have even waited toward the end of your draft and landed stud QBs in Matt Ryan and Tyler Thigpen (who would have been waiver-wire fodder). Team all that with Tom Brady's Week 1 injury, and we had a really interesting season. Let's see how they fall out presently for 2009.
Earlier this week, EA Sports released the player ratings for Madden 10. And now, with the NFL Draft in the rearview, and nothing else to do between now and training camps, we'll ponder the important questions. Like: How is [Player who is obviously rated too high] rated above [Player who is obviously rated too low]?
With the draft approaching, we ignore projections and identify the dream scenario for each team in a series we call The Perfect Draft.
Yes, the Carolina Panthers are late to the party. But I thought it only appropriate given that the Cats have no first round pick in this year's NFL Draft. Of course, that's not necessarily a bad thing whatsoever. Last year, the Panthers traded this year's first-rounder (plus 2008's second and fourth round picks) for the Eagles' first round pick (No. 19 overall) and selected Jeff Otah. Carolina made the playoffs and looked like a Super Bowl contender late in the season.
Jake Delhomme is a controversial figure in the Carolina Panthers organization, despite his quiet off-field demeanor and the success he's brought to the team in his time there. Much of that controversy stems from a horrible season-ending game against the Arizona Cardinals in last year's playoffs.
Expect to hear even more fan reaction now, after it was announced today that Delhomme and the team reached an extension. Particularly when it's to the tune of "five years, $42.5 million, with $20 million guaranteed." Yes, Panthers fans are going to freak out. But maybe they shouldn't. Why? Because delusional rationalization is an option.
Jake Delhomme is the undoubted goat of the Carolina Panthers' failures last season, because of the 72 six turnovers he had against the Cardinals in the playoffs. Whether he deserves total blame or not is an entirely different issue, but Panthers fans are still going to blame him.
That should make the news that the Cats are talking contract extension with the 34-year-old quarterback go over quite smoothly with the Carolina faithful.
Because the NFL season never ends, we present our 2009 Offseason Roadmaps for front offices to navigate through the summer.
John Fox and Marty Hurney headed into 2008 with their jobs on the line after an underwhelming 2007 that featured a whole lot of Mittens and not a lot of excitement in Charlotte. They decided to throw caution to the wind and play for "now" by trading their 2009 first-round pick for a chance to pick up both Jeff Otah and Jonathan Stewart in the first round of the draft.
With a healthy Jake Delhomme, Julius Peppers finally deciding to care, a road-grading offensive line and a rejuvenated Smash and Dash running game that featured DeAngelo Williams and Stewart, the Panthers surprised some people by winning the NFC South and looking like a Super Bowl-caliber squad.
In a game where experience is usually overrated to the extreme, quarterbacks who lack Super Bowl experience have spent a lot of time in the spotlight. In fact, it's been more than 20 years since the Super Bowl featured two quarterbacks who had already earned a ring. That run will end this Sunday, as Roethlisberger and Kurt Warner hook up in Super Bowl XLIII.
In a game where experience is usually overrated to the extreme, quarterbacks who lack Super Bowl experience have spent a lot of time in the spotlight. In fact, it's been more than 20 years since the Super Bowl featured two quarterbacks who had already earned a ring. That run will end this Sunday, as Roethlisberger and Kurt Warner hook up in Super Bowl XLIII.
The Arizona Cardinals are famous in 2008 because Kurt Warner, Larry Fitzgerald (currently an unstoppable force), and Anquan Boldin comprise a ridiculous aerial attack. But the truth is that the Cardinal defense deserves a lot more credit than they're getting.
Look at the score, folks: it's 24-6. That's not just because the Cards offense is good and the Eagles are struggling. Troy Aikman keeps mentioning "missed opportunities" for the Eagles offense (right before Adrian Wilson comes tearing off the corner to smother McNabb), and I distinctly remember everyone (guilty as charged) blaming the totality of the Panthers' loss on Jake Delhomme and not the Cardinals defense.
And Brad Hoover, P-Cats fullback and Davidson County (woot, woot, etc) native, thinks they probably abandoned the run a touch early. Well, duh.
"Our plan was to try to run the ball on them. That's what we've hung our hat on all year, being successful in the running game, and I still think we could have done it," Hoover said. "Not to question things but, when you start putting yourself in a hole, and we did pretty fast, it's hard to just run the ball when you've put yourself in pass situations."
And, hey, not to question a coaching staff for giving Jake Delhommemore throws or anything, but the game kind of unfolded like a Madden mismatch (me = Lions, my brother = Patriots) where one team just doesn't have the kind of firepower/gameplan to play catch-up and just ends up making more mistakes.
FanHouse's crack squad of savvy fantasy football personnel put our five heads together and amassed consensus rankings for non-keeper, standard scoring leagues. We'll update as the season gets closer, but this is our "incredibly early yet still fun" version. 
With the draft approaching, we ignore projections and identify the dream scenario for each team in a series we call 
Jake Delhomme
Jake Delhomme
Because the NFL season never ends, we present our 
The most recent Super Bowls have featured quarterbacks such as 
The Arizona Cardinals are famous in 2008 because 
The Carolina Panthers got 
