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NFL Draft Biggest Busts by Team: Who's Your Team's Worst Draft Pick Ever?


Everyone makes mistakes. But when those mistakes are magnified by intense scrutiny of the NFL draft, well, they become much more embarrassing than, say, my typical Friday morning, mustard-stain-on-khakis incident.

Which is why the NFL FanHouse braintrust got together to determine who is the biggest bust for each NFL team. They're not listed in terms of stupidity -- they're all stupid relative to a team's total draft performance. Meaning, of course, some teams "bust" is much different than another organization's; we did it this way to avoid just linking you to DetroitLions.com.

Instead, we're putting it in current draft order, sans trades, and allowing this list to serve as a reminder of each's team's ability to properly execute a fail. The "bust factor" was based primarily on three things: statistical production (or lack thereof), position in the draft and other available options during that year's draft.



Trent Edwards Very Much Looking Forward to Playing With T.O.

North America's Team is back on the map. All it took was four consecutive losing seasons, a nine-year playoff absence and a locker room cancer that nobody else wanted. Welcome to Buffalo Bills football, people.

Who knows if Terrell Owens' presence will have any bearing on whether the Bills make the playoffs, but the team, the town and its fans will be relevant again. When the news broke, my first thought was: uh-oh, Trent Edwards won't last to Halloween. We've seen this movie and it doesn't end well: a young-but-promising quarterback still learning the position, playing alongside a guy known as much for his on-field tantrums as his big-play abilities.

Lee Evans 'Shocked' Bills Signed Terrell Owens -- But in a Good Way

On Saturday morning, Lee Evans was the Buffalo Bills' No. 1 receiver. By Saturday night, that distinction belonged to Terrell Owens.

So how does Evans feel about having Owens as a teammate? He says he was "shocked" to learn that Owens is on the team, but he also says he's thrilled at the prospect of seeing less double coverage as defenses devote more attention to Owens.

Fantasy Spin: T.O. to the Bills

This weekend, future Hall-of-Famer (and Hall of Fame cry-baby) Terrell Owens found a new home. He's going to play for the Buffalo Bills in 2009. We all know he's capable of great things on the field and tons of drama off.

Real football-wise, it's hard to see this ending well. This punk hated Jeff Garcia and Donovan McNabb. How's he going to feel about Trent Edwards' inability to get him the ball in the high winds and sub-zero temperatures this coming December? Still, you can't discount the ability of T.O. to find the end-zone. He does it better than any other receiver.

Let's examine the fallout, player by player.

Terrell Owens, Bills Near 1-Year Deal


Soon after the Cowboys released Terrell Owens, his agent Drew Rosenhaus proclaimed that T.O. had several teams interested in him and he would be signed by the end of next week. Bluster, perhaps, particularly since most every NFL team couldn't denounce Owens fast enough. But today, FOXSports.com's Jay Glazer and Alex Marvez reported that T.O. is meeting with the Bills and could sign a one-year deal before the weekend's out.

Eye on the Prize: The Brutus Boys Set You Up and Will Knock You Down

Et tu, Brute?

It's one of the most famous phrases in the history of literature, and it's appropriate in this fantasy football playoff season.

Much like Brutus was a loyal friend to Caesar, helping him all way the to the top, he conspired to stab his former-friend in the back when it mattered most (kind of, just stick with me).

In fantasy football, you've likely had the pleasure of riding some studs to the playoffs. Some of them are primed to pull a Brutus on you and handcuff your team in the playoffs.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Brutus Boys:

Brandon Jacobs, Giants - My fantasy football affection for Jacobs hasn't been a secret, but ever since he tweaked his knee he's been unreliable. The Giants could easily hold him out of the rest of the regular season, as they'll easily walk to the top overall playoff seed.

Marion Barber, Cowboys - He hurt his calf favoring his injured toe. All of a sudden Tashard Choice is coveted in fantasy circles. Even if Barber plays, he won't be 100 percent -- which is really bad in light of his punishing run-style -- and faces the stout Giants and Ravens defenses.

Fantasy Football Playoff Report: AFC East

The playoffs are either upon us or one week away in the majority of fantasy football leagues. With this in mind, Fantasy FanHouse is examining what you can expect from the fantasy relevant players on each team.

New York Jets

The opposing defenses: at SF (28th against pass, 16th against run), vs. BUF (14th against pass,17th against run), at SEA (32nd against pass, 22nd against run)
The skinny: Something tells me the Jets investment in improving the offensive line paid off, because Thomas Jones went from two touchdowns all last season to 11 touchdowns in just 13 games this season. The scary part is that the running game just keeps getting better. In his past four games, Jones has six touchdowns and 487 yards rushing.The passing game has been less reliable, but Favre still has six multiple touchdown games. As a Cotchery owner, I'll tell you, it never feels very safe starting him and I would only insert either him or Laveranues Coles in dire situations -- neither are very consistent. Finally, start Dustin Keller at will as he has an unbelievable 27 catches in the past four games.
The must-starts: Thomas Jones
The likely start: Dustin Keller
The spot-start: Brett Favre, Jerricho Cotchery, Leon Washington, Laveranues Coles
The no-starts: Chansi Stuckey
The D/ST: The Jets defense is one of the best in the league against the run (30th) and worst against the pass (4th). After getting torched by the Broncos last week, I'd say you're better off with an all-around solid defense, but you could do worse than starting them against the sputtering Seahawks.

Shuffling the Order of the Elite: Week 12 Fantasy Football WR Rankings

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, you need more players ranked, or have funky league rules, feel free to shoot us an email question.

There's very little dispute that Anquan Boldin is a beast and/or arguably the best week-in-week-out fantasy receiver on the planet. If you ever miss his name amongst the top five in the weekly rankings, one of us forgot to drink our coffee or we drank too much. That said, every now and then it's safe to switch things up a little bit.

Yup, that's why for this week -- and maybe this week only -- the top spot is going back to Andre Johnson. He's been rather quiet for the past few weeks after his torrid pace in October, however, Sunday should be a 'Dre day. It just seems about time that he breaks out of his mini-slump... if you can even call it that. Also back to prominence this week? Look for Terrell Owens to finally snap his eternal funk. Yes, I like that Tony Romo is back and this game is at home. I just smell the popcorn.

The other usual suspects grace the top of our rankings, as usual. Essentially toss each name into a hat and pull them out for your random order. Yup, you just know what you're getting from the elite receivers... usually. Sorry about Steve Smith last week. Hmm.

Aside from the Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald tandem, keep an eye on Eddie Royal and Brandon Marshall, who should torch the Raiders. Yes, I know all too well about Nnamdi Asomugha facing up with either Marshall or Royal, but I'm not scared. My deep, deep sleeper - check in on Joey Galloway against the Lions. I mean, check in on his health, too, but who can't embarrass the Lions these days?

Speaking of the Lions - isn't it time we just admit that even if he catches only two passes a game, Calvin Johnson is a fixture amongst elite fantasy receivers? Yes, we can, thank you. Let's hit the ranks...

1. Andre Johnson, @ CLE
2. Anquan Boldin, NYG
3. Terrell Owens, SF
4. Greg Jennings, @ NO
5. Reggie Wayne, @ SD

Fantasy Value Machine: Do Not Give up on Lee Evans Just Yet

Value Machine checks out the overall perceived value of fantasy players. If you want to commit a fantasy felony, you'll sell high on the up arrow guys and buy low on the down arrow guys.

Hey, I'm with you. I want to scream today as I hear the name, "Lee Evans." He was in my active lineup on two different teams gathering a nice and plump goose-egg. What's funny about fantasy sports is how we end up hating guys about whom we normally wouldn't bat an eye, and most of the time it's not even their fault. Evans barely even got targeted last night because Trent Edwards was overly quick in checking down through his progressions. He was terrified to throw the ball downfield, which, I guess, is what throwing three picks early in the game will do to you.

Either way, I still don't want to give up on Evans. The Bills face the Chiefs, Niners, Dolphins, Jets, and Broncos for the rest of the fantasy season, and that's hardly a murderer's row of pass defenses. If the offensive line can get any sort of pass protection for Edwards -- and they should, considering the running game from last night should attract attention -- Evans will begin slipping through secondaries again.

Has History Taught Us Anything? Nine Studs for the Fantasy Playoffs

Given that we are in the throes of a recession and have all watched our portfolios dwindle to a fraction of their previous enormities (ha), we'll start this column with the old footnote front and center: past performance does not guarantee future results. Fortunately, the Fanhouse compliance department is far more lax about fantasy football recommendations than they are about stock selections.

Hence, the idea today is to take a look at some of fantasy football's best performers over the past few years throughout weeks 14 through 16 - the fantasy playoffs - in order to help determine some valuable players down the stretch.

(Author's Note: I strongly believe that, due to clinched playoff berths often leading to key players winding up on the bench, week 17 should never be included in the fantasy playoffs. While I can understand the rationale of being so addicted to fantasy sports that it seems wise to extend the season one more week, it is not logical as the best fantasy teams often get hosed.)

Lee Evans - Believe it or not, Mr. Inconsistency himself is a pillar of consistency in the fantasy playoffs. In 2007, Evans nabbed two touchdown catches in week 14 and another one in week 16. In 2006, he caught a touchdown in all three weeks (and one in week 17). And finally, while in 2005 he busted somewhat with only one TD over the three weeks, in 2004 he caught one touchdown in both weeks 15 and 16 and added two more in week 16. Overall, that nets out to ten touchdowns in weeks 14 through 16 in four years. Plus, his trade value is slipping lately, so this is not a bad time to go after him in the secondary market.

Larry Fitzgerald - While I decided to leave Kurt Warner off the list - because despite nine TD passes during these key weeks last year, he also threw five interceptions in a single game - Larry Fitzgerald has dominated these late weeks regardless of Kurt's polarized performances. Fitty has hauled in ten touchdown catches since 2004 during the key fantasy weeks and has been known to drop a multi-touchdown game on more than one occasion.

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