FanHouse LarryJohnson

Cincinnati the NFL's halfway house, where lost souls go to find their way. In the past, it has usually ended badly; the Bengals doubled as the league laughingstock, and any efforts to offer players one last shot at redemption often blew up in the organization's face.

But now Cincy is 7-2, well on their way to an AFC North title, and suddenly look much less desperate when they take a flier on a guy who probably has no business earning a living playing professional football. But running back Larry Johnson, the Chiefs' 2003 first-round pick, is now a member of the Bengals after a tumultuous month that included calling out his former coach while throwing in a few homophobic slurs for good measure. Last week, Kansas City decided to cut their losses.

In the days since his release, speculation has been rampant as to where former Pro Bowl running back Larry Johnson would eventually end up. Almost immediately, the Washington Redskins were a hot rumor. The shoe fit because Dan Snyder likes signing big names -- even if they are washed up has-beens -- and starting running back Clinton Portis recently went down with a concussion.

Wednesday, though, head coach Jim Zorn ruled out the possibility of the 'Skins bringing in the maligned veteran from Penn State.

Maybe Texans coach Gary Kubiak was just doing the standard NFL coach non-answer thing. When asked yesterday about his team having interest in just-released Chiefs malcontent RB Larry Johnson, Kubiak hemmed and hawed, called Johnson "a good player" and said, "We'll take a look at him." And this might mean nothing, of course. Might mean Kubiak really can't say whether his team is interested, because maybe he doesn't want him but the owner does or vice-versa or something like that. If they do end up pursuing the guy, it won't help negotiations much if the coach is out front saying, "Yeah, we really want him." So Kubiak said basically what he's supposed to say, and reading too much into it is probably a mistake.

But regardless of what's really going on behind the scenes, and regardless of the muddle they have going on right now with Ryan Moats playing on running downs and Steve Slaton playing on passing downs or whatever they're trying to with their running backs, I think the Texans ought to take a pass on Larry Johnson. I think they have too much good stuff going on there right now to bring in his kinds of issues.

Larry Johnson's time in Kansas City is apparently over as the Chiefs announced Monday that they have released the oft-troubled running back into the ether of NFL free agency.

Johnson was, of course, fresh off a suspension based on his recent social media activity and attitude towards reporters, although the official release from the Chiefs doesn't really indicate why he's gone (though it should be obvious):

As the season nears, FanHouse's fantasy football team decided to put our heads together for another set of updated positional rankings. In this installment, we'll hit up the thoroughbreds.

The thing that sticks out to me, when viewing the running backs for this season, is what a muddled mess the group is. I stared at a group of about 15 players -- those ranked from six to 20 -- for probably 45 minutes while tinkering with how to rank them. Some will pan out, and some will end up being viewed as busts. May the force be with you. (Last Updated: 8/27/09)

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For those who may use a different term or are new to fantasy football, "handcuff" is the term used when you own insurance for one of your players in the form of owning his real-life backup. It's usually a running back, but you could conceivably handcuff a quarterback. The theory is that some or all of the production is automatically replaced should you lose a high draft pick to injury, meaning you need to insure a high draft pick by grabbing his backup.

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Cut-N-Go is Fantasy Football FanHouse's daily gathering of links from around the web, covering the goings-on in NFL Training Camp which have an impact on fantasy value.

Obviously, with training camp comes a certain level of optimism surrounding every team. At Bears camp, the entire offense has been a veritable hype machine, due mostly to the acquisition of pro bowl quarterback Jay Cutler.

Devin Hester is getting rave reviews from every source who has seen camp as well. Most recently, Dan Pompei of the Chicago Tribune penned an entire column gushing about the progress of Hester as a receiver and the prospects of him becoming a legitimate star receiver. And he hasn't always been a Hester-at-wideout fan.

Cornerback Larry Brown was the first defensive player I remember who parlayed an MVP Super Bowl performance into a big payday. Brown intercepted quarterback Neil O'Donnell two times to help the the Cowboys defeat the Steelers during Super Bowl XXX. That offseason he signed with the Raiders for a nice little sum based primarily on that one performance.

He played just 12 games in two years with the Raiders, and he was out of football a year after that. I was reminded of Brown when reading about former Bucs safety Dexter Jackson. Jackson won MVP honors when Tampa Bay throttled Oakland in Super Bowl XXXVIII. And like Brown, he used the experience to pad his bank account.

With Fantasy Football season ready to kick in high gear, FanHouse is here to preview each and every team -- one per day until we've done them all.

Meet The ...
Conclusion of the Butt Chiefs. That lousy 2-14 Chiefs squad from 2008 has nowhere to go but up from here, so they will no longer be the butt of everyone's joke. Remember that explosive offense for the NFC Champion, Arizona Cardinals. Well, former offensive coordinator Todd Haley assumes his first head coaching job this season in Kansas City. In other words, the Chiefs offense just became very relevant for fantasy football owners. Sure, Haley still faces a massive challenge in terms of personnel, but you can rest assured that this season, the Chiefs' offense will make plays just like Haley's Cardinals did.

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On Second Thought is Matt Snyder's look back at the initial FanHouse staff rankings, which were compiled nearly a month ago. As we all know, fantasy players' value changes frequently, even when no games are being played. Today, we look at running backs.

As teams continue to use two-backs systems, running back has become an increasingly deep and unpredictable position. Thus, you don't have the predictable first two rounds of years past. Injuries and the progress of young backs will shuffle backfields throughout the preseason. As that happens, the fantasy values of the running backs continually shift. Let's take a look.

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