FanHouse MarkBradley

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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While other people were hung up on the logistics of the trade this past week -- which sent Matt Cassel to the Chiefs, among other pieces -- I was busy running through the fantasy fallout of the deal. You see, just because our season doesn't start for another six months doesn't mean you should entirely forget about fantasy football during the offseason.

This particular move helps the fantasy value of several people, while also hurting the value of a few others.

What if I had told you in Week 7 that I'd rather have all Chiefs in my fantasy starting lineup than all Eagles? I can pretty much guarantee you'd think I lost some sadistic bet, whereby I was forced to sacrifice all my fantasy credibility in publishing an insane piece. Either that or you'd just think I was really freaking stupid.

Just six weeks later, and it doesn't sound so crazy. In fact, I don't even think it's close.

First of all, let's check out the schedules.

The Eagles' sked runs like so through Week 16: vs. Cards, at Giants, vs. Browns, at Skins

There are some good matchups in there, I guess. The Cards at home shouldn't pose a huge amount of resistance, and they should shred the Browns. I don't think I like them at all against those division rivals on the road, though. We should also consider the recent trouble they had against the Bengals, so by no means are the Iggles a sure thing against a weak opponent.

Each week in the NFL, there are players that impress and players that distress. One week a certain quarterback might toss four touchdowns and run around with his finger in the air while the next he's laying on his back, holding his facemask as the other team returns one of his three interceptions for the game-winning score. With that in mind, here's Studs and Duds.

Here's Week 9 at a glance, where we point out the horses destined for the Kentucky Derby and jeer those headed to the glue factory.

Studs

Tim Hightower, RB Arizona (22 rushes, 109 yards, 1 TD) -- Edgerrin James is a name that will be quickly forgotten in West Phoenix if Hightower continues these games. The rookie running back, in his first game as starter, averaged five yards per carry and made one of the worst rushing teams in the league relevant again on the ground. While James has pouted about his role in the offense, Hightower has quietly snagged carries, and Ken Whisenhunt took notice. Good news for Tim -- you have the 49ers and Seahawks the next two weeks. If Hightower is available in your fantasy league, you need to grab him and also get smarter friends.

Training camp is finally here and FanHouse breaks down the most important position battles heading into the season, team by team.

Seriously, I tried to narrow this down and actually spotlight one positional battle like all the rest. Other than just picking the offensive side of the football, where could we even begin? I could simply spotlight the anemic duo at QB like everyone else, or take the easy way out and sort through Kevin Jones vs. Matt Forte at RB.

That's just not good enough. The fact of the matter is that half the offense is up for grabs in training camp. Let's take a little stroll through Halas Hall's proud offense ...

The Bears' top receivers last year were Bernard Berrian and Muhsin Muhammad. Both are now gone.

So why on earth would Chicago wide receivers coach Darryl Drake say he thinks the team is in better shape at receiver this year than last year? That's what he suggested in talking to the Chicago Sun-Times.

But when you also consider that he said his best receiver right now is Rashied Davis, you realize that the team is sorely lacking in experienced wide receivers. Yes, Davis and Devin Hester and Brandon Lloyd and Mark Bradley and Earl Bennett all have talent, but Marty Booker is the only guy on the roster who has accomplished much of anything as an NFL wide receiver.

Although the Bears' quarterback controversy will be the talk of training camp, the wide receiver situation may be the team's biggest question mark. Neither Rex Grossman nor Kyle Orton can be confident that he'll have any good receivers catching his passes.

Most of the attention paid to Bears minicamp this week was trying to figure out Cedric Benson's whereabouts. There was another potential offensive starter missing as well, though, and it wasn't until Wednesday's media day that word came on why Mark Bradley wasn't practicing. It's because he underwent arthroscopic knee surgery earlier this month.

This is not good news for the Bears. One of the reasons they were so willing to let Bernard Berrian skip town was because they believed Bradley was ready to step into the spotlight. That belief wasn't shaken by his inability to stay healthy, he's had two ACL reconstructions, and this surgery reinforces what a gamble it was to pencil Bradley into the starting lineup. If the Bears are surprised that Bradley's ailing, they need to do better homework.

The Bears are saying that Bradley's shot at the job won't suffer but how much can you count on a guy with half as many knee operations than NFL catches? He's being called questionable for training camp and, for now, Marty Booker and Brandon Lloyd hold down the starting wide receiver spots. Devin Hester and rookie Earl Bennett figure to get some looks as time goes on and Bradley's absence gives them extended reps. That's a muddled mess without a clear-cut number one receiver and maybe not even a number two.

Conventional wisdom says you shouldn't use high-priced skill-position players on special teams, even if, prior to hitting the jackpot, they were pretty good at returning kicks or punts. I don't know if I buy it, and it sounds like the Raiders aren't ruling out the possibility of DeAngelo Hall doing just that, but CBSSports.com's Clark Judge puts an odd twist on an old story.

Look, we all know what Chicago has in Hester as a return specialist. What we don't know is how playing more like a full-time wide receiver will affect him. But I know how it could. It could exhaust him. He could be injured.

Yeah, I suppose he could be exhausted or injured, but, you know, this is football. Players are bound to get tired, and they even get hurt occasionally. Usually, though, the argument goes the other way, so at least give Judge credit for mixing it up.

That said, I'm not completely convinced. I mean, you can always make the "HE'LL GET INJURED" argument, and Judge even quotes another NFC special teams coach who says he'd much rather face a player who has other duties outside of returner kicks and punts.

Several teams are going the "blow it up and start over" route this off-season. The Dolphins are fully embracing this approach to roster building, and the Bears, while not quite as single-minded, are also looking to get younger.

Which explains why right tackle Fred Miller, defensive tackle Darwin Walker and wideout Muhsin Muhammad were all canned yesterday. Offensively, the Bears have needs at quarterback, running back, and now wide receiver. With Muhammad gone and Bernard Berrian a soon-to-be free agent, Chicago could have more trouble scoring points in 2008 than it did last season.

It's too early to start the "who will the Bears take with the first-overall pick in 2009" conversations, however; the team has contingencies this off-season. One option is to franchise Berrian, a career No. 2 receiver who may not be capable of transitioning to the No. 1 job. Another option, mentioned last week by FanHouse's Josh Alper, is to reunite with Marty Booker. (If that's the plan, the Bears better get on the horn; Booker's visiting the Patriots today and they don't like to wait around.)

And finally, there's this:

Most discussion of the wide receiver position in Chicago has focused on Bernard Berrian. The Bears must decide if they will franchise him or let him hit the open market before February 29th. Even if they do decide to keep Berrian around, though, the team needs to bring in more talent at receiver. Mushin Muhammed's salary isn't comensurate with his performance, Mark Bradley's done nothing and Devin Hester is still learning the position.

That leads us to Marty Booker. In 2002, Booker became the first Bear receiver to make the Pro Bowl since 1972 and he caught a franchise-record 100 balls the year before. The Sun-Times reports there's still a great deal of affection for Booker, cut by Miami in a cap purge, inside Halas Hall, with Jerry Angelo sometimes referring to him as "our Marty Booker." He could fill a role with the Bears if they cut their ties to Muhammed

If they think he can replace Berrian as the number one wideout, however, they'd be mistaken. He's slowed down a lot since those halcyon days of his first run with the Bears, averaging just 11 yards a catch this season, and his NFL future is as a second or third option. In that role you can utilize his hands and experience to exploit teams geared toward stopping another, better receiver.