FanHouse SammyKnight

Hear that? It's the pitter-patter of fantasy football season approaching. Fantasy FanHouse is here to get you ready by previewing every team from a fantasy perspective.

Meet The ...
David who slayed Goliath ... and you know how that goes in the world of fantasy football. At least you should. The residue of a strong post-season run by a team almost certainly means several players are going to be overrated the next fantasy season. I'm looking right at you, Thomas Jones. So the question with the Giants is, can you look past the post-season and judge flatly on what you think they'll do in this regular season? Imagine the Giants had lost in the first round at Tampa Bay. Now judge their fantasy players. That should be an accurate rating system. For example, settle down about Eli Manning. Sure, you can believe he's taken a giant (pun unintended, but I'm keeping the word choice) step forward in terms of maturity and taking care of the football. You also should remember that 13 QBs outscored him in fantasy points in '07. His last name doesn't do him any favors either. Hypnotize yourself into believing that Eli Smith lost in the first round to the Bucs. Now do you like him as a top ten QB? Me neither.

The Breakout
Brandon Jacobs ... I already covered him.

With each pick of the FanHouse mock draft, we get into the head of an NFL general manager and let you know who he'll pick and why.

Can Jerry Reese and the New York Giants strike gold twice?

The defending Super Bowl Champions will head into draft weekend looking to do exactly what they did last year: select several players that will have an immediate impact on the team. It's a formula that obviously worked well for them and something they'll look to duplicate.

With so many pressing needs, New York will have several options when their turn finally rolls around. They could trade down for additional picks, draft a linebacker, cornerback or safety, or just go with the best player available.

Based on FanHouse's mock draft, Jerry Reese will actually get to do two of those things at once. Not only will he be able to draft the best player still available, he'll also be able to fill an area of need.

Kenny Phillips is considered by many to be a top-20 player in this year's draft and by far the best safety available. With the departure of Gibril Wilson to Oakland, New York desperately needs a young talent to help anchor that secondary. It's obvious that Sammy Knight is not the long-term answer, and despite an adequate Super Bowl performance, the organization cannot feel too comfortable with James Butler.

Phillips is a very physical and instinctive player with great hands. He plays well in both man and zone coverage's and does a good job against the run. He seems like a perfect fit for a Tom Coughlin run team and Steve Spagnuolo defense.

The Skinny:
Team Needs - CB, LB, S, OT
Player Selected - Kenny Phillips, S, Miami (FL.)
Also Considered - Dan Connor, LB, Penn State

Previous Pick: No. 31, Cheating, New England Patriots

Cleveland Browns running back Jamal Lewis appeared on ESPNews today and talked about his off-season activity of studying at Harvard:

"It's a great experience and a good networking tool," Lewis said, adding that NFL players including Ty Law and Sammy Knight joined him at Harvard Business School in classes this off-season.

Oscar De La Hoya is the best businessman in American sports, but one of the approximately 120 NFL players who spend their off-seasons taking business courses could some day rival De La Hoya for that title. Lewis, who owns his own trucking business, sounds serious about planning for his post-NFL life, and he could end up making more money in business than he has in football.

Three years ago, Lewis spent his off-season in federal prison on drug charges. Now he's spending his off-season at Harvard. Lewis is a guy who has put his mistakes behind him and has his life going in the right direction.
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Shortly after Gibril Wilson bolted town to join the Oakland Raiders, the New York Giants filled that void by signing veteran safety Sammy Knight to a three-year, $5.15 million contract. Unfortunately, the move did not seem please many fans. At 32-years of age and known for being notoriously slow, the move appeared to be a bit of a downgrade. However, upon further investigation, it became blatantly obvious why the Giants chose Knight over some of the other free agents -- his leadership and ferocity.

"Sammy Knight is a durable, physical player with 42 career interceptions," said Head Coach Tom Coughlin. "He comes to the line of scrimmage extremely well. He's a smart player who gets everybody lined up. He played in Kansas City for (Defensive Backs/Cornerbacks Coach) Peter Giunta, so we know all about the quality of the man. We feel like with his love of the game and his attitude about the idea of team that he'll be a real nice fit for us."

Make no mistake about it, his knowledge of the game will be very valuable for the Giants, but it's his physicality that caught their eye.



If you're a fan of the New York football Giants, you are already counting down the days until you see Terrell Owens or Santana Moss take that kind of hit.

Someone needs to tell Jordan Gross that sitting and staring at his phone isn't going to make it ring.

Yes, the offensive tackle is eager to get a long-term deal from the Carolina Panthers, and by all accounts, Carolina wants to give him one, but it appears they're using that franchise tag as a crutch and focusing on other deals for the time being. One way or another, Gross will be a well-paid tackle for the Panthers in 2008, but he's clearly bothered by Marty Hurney's pace on this deal.

Of course, Hurney is juggling a lot of deals right now. His focus appears to be on bringing back Mike Rucker and Brad Hoover, though the availability of Alge Crumpler may be complicating Hoover's deal. The Panthers would seem set at tight end with youngsters Jeff King and Dante Rosario, but if the team brings in Crumpler, John Fox could move Rosario to fullback, which would mean less playing time for Hoover, who has a lot more mileage on him.

Plus, while Crumpler might be an upgrade at tight end, signing him wouldn't give Caroilna any real inside knowledge of the Falcons coaching tendencies. (Arkansas won't be on the Panthers' schedule this year.) The perfect player for that? Sammy Knight, who started at safety for the Jacksonville Jaguars last season. Former Jaguars defensive coordinator Mike Smith is now the Falcons' head coach. Then again, the Panthers still don't care who their other safety is, do they?

NFL Offseason Roadmap is a series focused on the needs of NFL teams as they begin the offseason.

1. Offensive Tackle. The Rams have been lucky to have an incredible franchise left tackle for the last 11 seasons, and his play did as much for The Greatest Show on Turf as anyone else. But Orlando Pace has been ludicrously brittle the last two years and, at 32, can't really be depended on anymore. The drop-off in production without Pace has been glaring. On the other side, Alex Barron has been disappointing as a first-round pick; there's so much yellow cloth at Barron's feet on gameday that you'd think he stuffed his jersey with Terrible Towels. In the last four years, Barron ranks behind just Robert Gallery in penalties. On top of the starters, after all of the injuries the Rams endured on the line last year, depth should be considered critical. The easy and obvious answer is Jake Long, who should be available when the Rams pick second. Long can play both sides, which certainly helps, and he can immediately take over for Pace should something happen. If the team needs further depth, Kwame Harris or Damien Woody could be affordable options, and Woody triples as a possible guard and center.

Every week, NFL FanHouse hits the lowlights from Sunday's action, looking at those players who did the most to move their head coaches that much closer to returning to the Bed and Breakfast business.

Philip Rivers, Chargers
All together now: PHILIP RIVERS ... OVER-RATED! Since Marty Schottenheimer has been elevated to sainthood status (thanks, Norvell!), looking back at his time in San Diego, there's not much he did wrong. Sure, maybe he ran the ball too much, but, hey, the guy won, a concept foreign to Norv Turner.

Anyway, Schottenheimer seemed content to let Drew Brees run things in San Diego, but general manager A.J. Smith had other ideas. He traded 2004 first-overall pick Eli Manning to the Giants for Rivers, and after two years sittin' and learnin' behind Brees, Rivers was named the starter.

Rivers was pretty good last season; Brees was an MVP candidate. This year, Rivers is doing a fine Ryan Leaf* impression, and the 2007 Chargers look a lot like the 2000 team.
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In what was probably the easiest pick of the season, Bernard Pollard was named AFC Special Teams Player of the Week. Pollard, of course, was rewarded not only for his spectacular punt block, but for recovering it in the end zone for a big touchdown, and also for making two tackles on special teams. As special-teams legend Steve Tasker said after the punt block, Bernard Pollard may be my new favorite player.

Of note in that same link: Larry Johnson was a runner-up for AFC Offensive Player of the Week, and Sammy Knight was a runner-up for AFC Defensive Player of the Week. I haven't done the research, but I would bet that is the first time in a very long time, or perhaps the first time ever, that the Chiefs had a nominee in each category for the same week.

But back to Pollard: maybe the pick wasn't so obvious. Or at least it wasn't to Peter King, who didn't even mention Pollard. Pacman Jones, perhaps I can understand, but Mike Furrey? King seriously thinks that downing a punt at the 1-yard line merits the award over an acrobatic punt block returned for a touchdown, in a game with far more meaning than Detroit (far out of the playoff hunt) vs. Dallas (playoff spot already secured)? Call me biased, but I will need more evidence before putting Furrey ahead of Pollard. (And not to embarrass Mr. King, but he may be interested in knowing that a Detroit special teamer did win the NFC award, but it wasn't Furrey).

I've given up on playoff scenarios. The Chiefs need to rely on the Bengals, Titans, and Denver to lose to make the playoffs. Miracles have happened before, but I think we all need to face reality: the Chiefs are not going to make the playoffs and the sooner we realize that, the sooner we can finally enjoy 2007 as "a new year."

Not that it really matters. Let's face it: this Chiefs' team is not as good as we thought they were. I'm sick of talking about this season. Each time I talk about this season, I want to vomit all over myself. Let's start talking about next season, shall we?

The Chiefs MUST re-sign:

• Tony Gonzalez - without Gonzalez, the Chiefs go from average to really bad on offense. Pay him whatever it takes. He may be old, but he's not a player that relies on speed.
  
• Jared Allen - The Chiefs have a terrific defensive foundation and Jared Allen is one of the most important pieces.
  
• Randy from accounting - you keep crunching those numbers, Randy. I've got your back.

The Chiefs MUST pick up:

• Jessica Alba - Seeing her on the sidelines might keep me from crying after every disappointing loss.

It's Week 6 and the Chiefs are coming off two impressive victories. Their momentum is on the up and up. Then again, the Pittsburgh Steelers are not the Arizona Cardinals or the San Francisco 49ers. The Steelers also aren't the Super Bowl Pittsburgh Steelers we saw last year. They haven't established the running game like they did last year--they miss Bettis a lot more than they thought they would. Big Ben still seems frazzled.

I don't know if it's due to the lack of a running game or due to his motorcycle crash/appendectomy, but Big Ben looks very tentative in the pocket and has often found himself throwing the ball into spots where there isn't a Steeler jersey within miles. The defense is still a Steel Curtain, but it also isn't the same dominant defense we saw last year and, again, you can't help but think that this is largely due to their inability to establish a running game and control the clock.

When the Chiefs are on Defense:
Run Defense:
Are you getting the hint? The Steelers' absolute number 1 priority is to establish a running game. The way Big Ben has been throwing and the way the Chiefs' pass defense has been playing, you simply cannot put the onus on Big Ben to win on Sunday. The Chiefs' run D, on the other hand, has been good but not great. It seems like the Chiefs' run defense has revolved around bending, but not breaking, and they have done a very good job at this. They will often give up 5-10 yard runs, but they make stops when they need to. So far this season, they have mostly kept teams out of the end zone or at least to long field goals.

However, it might be difficult for the Steelers to run on the Chiefs. The matchups don't really align. Parker was built for speed, but so too is the Kansas City Chiefs' defense. Tamba Hali and Jared Allen are two defensive ends who can get to the outside very quickly. More importantly, Derrick Johnson and Kawika Mitchell, in particular, can absolutely explode to the outside and Sammy Knight has been terrific at blowing up run plays early by anticipating the direction of the run. The new Gunther Cunningham defense, carrying back to last year, has been very impressive sealing up outside runs. If the Chiefs are to be beat, the Steelers will need to establish an interior running game. They must attack the Chiefs' tackles, which is probably the softest spot on the revamped Chiefs' defense. Really, this is a game where the Bus would take over. I'm not sure that Parker, Davenport, or Hayes are nearly as equipped to do the same.