FanHouse Deshaun Foster

While the rest of the NFL is taking part in a free agent spree, the Chicago Bears have been incredibly quiet. I'm not necessarily talking about signing guys, because sometimes that stuff is out of your control. I'm talking about the Bears not being mentioned in any rumors for any free agent or possible trade target.

It's not as though the team doesn't have needs, as I outlined five in the offseason roadmap. I unintentionally omitted another need, which was astutely pointed out by the first commenter -- that they need an able-bodied backup to Matt Forte in the backfield as well. So that makes six pretty important needs.

Because the NFL season never ends, we present our 2009 Offseason Roadmaps for front offices to navigate through the summer.

After the uneventful tenure of head coach Mike Nolan, the San Francisco 49ers decided to promote Mike Singletary to interim head coach during the 2008 season.

After a bizarre debut that saw Singletary address his team without pants, the 49ers finished the season on a 5-4 run under their new coach, ending the year with a 7-9 record. Had it not been for a confusing ending to a Monday night game against Arizona, the 49ers would have finished with a .500 record for the first time since 2002. So close, yet so far.

The San Francisco 49ers have won three of their past four games under interim head coach Mike Singletary, and a week ago helped play a major role in the outcome of the AFC East by pounding the New York Jets, 24-14. On Sunday, they can continue to play the role of spoiler for the AFC East when they travel to Miami, but they'll have to do it without the services of their best offensive player, running back Frank Gore.

Adam Schefter of NFL.com reports that Gore made the trip with the intentions of testing his injured ankle in warmups, but, obviously, won't be doing that.

Gore has rushed for 978 yards on 229 carries this season, while also hauling in 42 passes (second best on the team) for 367 yards. He's scored eight touchdowns for the 49ers this year.

In Gore's absence, San Francisco will be handing the ball off to seven-year veteran DeShaun Foster and Thomas Clayton, who was signed off the practice squad late this week. Foster has only carried the ball 37 times this season for 78 yards. That's 2.1 yards per carry. Yikes. I hope, for the 49ers sake, that Shaun Hill brings his "A" game today.

It's playoff time! FanHouse fantasy positional rankings are compiled in order to provide answers to 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.

I can't say I ever thought we'd see this day.

Look at all the stud running backs, or even the quality running backs who don't split carries. Heading into this season, would anyone have ever thought the top running back in a week of the fantasy football playoffs was DeAngelo Williams? The same Williams who many thought would lose his job completely to Jonathan Stewart by now, or at least be splitting carries with him -- which he still kind of is.

He's just emerged as too much of a stud. The strength of the run defense doesn't matter, DeAngelo shredded the Tampa Bay Bucs, and he made it look easy.

The Denver Broncos have a terrible defense, and the Panthers are especially tough running the ball at home. There is not one player I'd start over Williams this week. Not a single one.

More notes after the rankings.

1. DeAngelo Williams, vs. DEN
2. Adrian Peterson, at ARI
3. Brian Westbrook, vs. CLE
4. Matt Forte, vs. NO
5. Chris Johnson, at HOU

Just in time for the fantasy playoffs, Week 14 provided fantasy owners with plenty of heart palpitations and an awful lot to think about. Going into Week 15, the most nerve-racking of all fantasy weeks in my opinion, we have no less than five superstar running backs with totally uncertain futures after suffering injuries.

At this point, we at Fantasy FanHouse do not know much more than you about these situations, but we will attempt to shed some light on how to approach them (with more definitive updates coming later this week).

Broncos: Peyton Hillis / Tatum Bell - You can't paint a turd. Sure, Peyton Hillis is officially on the injured reserve, which will inevitably lead many fantasy players to jump all over Tatum Bell, but the problem with this situation is you are still talking about Tatum Bell -- the same guy who got cut by the Detroit Lions. It is conceivable that cutting Bell was another event in a long line of boneheaded moves by the Lions, but I wouldn't stake my fantasy playoffs on Bell if I were you. He may have looked decent against the Chiefs, but temper the expectations against better run defenses in Carolina and Buffalo. In fact, if you insist on starting Bell, I have a red hot investment portfolio for you that includes sub-prime mortgages and Lehman Brothers stock that I'd like you talk to you about as well.

The important thing to remember about Sunday for the Carolina Panthers is that the the San Diego Chargers played a very good game. Why is that important? Because the Cats won, that's why.

Jake Delhomme, after completing a highly improbable walk-off touchdown pass to Dante Rosario (see right) was by all accounts pretty emotional, "Oh man, I don't know how to put in words. Let's be honest ... Games like this, they don't happen often. This ranks for me, I promise you, and with good reason."

Delhomme missed all of last season, and believe me when I say that having to watch Mittens mangle your team for an entire season is good enough reason to cry.

The comeback was especially impressive because it came amid an efficient three touchdown performance by Philip Rivers and a near 100 yard game for LaDanian Tomlinson. Of course, it was never a blowout: Carolina showed offensive balance and defensive toughness and in the end, and more importantly, they flashed some of Delhomme's trademark last second luck.

And luck matters a whole hell of a lot more in a short football season than it does in other sports -- a few good bounces and a few close wins turns a decent team into a playoff and Super Bowl contender.

Which is what both of these teams are going to be in 2008, and for likely the same reason: the return of their quarterbacks. It's an encouraging sign for San Diego that Rivers played like he did against a tough and underrated defense, considering he was Captain Strugglesworth last year.

The 49ers have had been pretty busy this offseason. They got rid of offensive coordinator Jim Hostler and replaced him with Mike Martz, used the first two picks of the draft to upgrade the defensive and offensive lines, have a legit quarterback competition, and signed Bryant Johnson and DeShaun Foster to bolster the wide receiver and running back corps, respectively.

Except that not everybody is convinced Foster will be much help to Frank Gore. Pro Football Weekly quotes an anonymous NFL scout/coach/front-office type who isn't all that impressed with Foster:

"DeShaun Foster led the league in fumbles (lost, by a running back) last year. He was never a superfast guy, and when he gained weight, his play really fell off. He needs to keep his weight off to have a chance (in San Francisco)."

Yeah, but other than that, he was awesome. Football Outsiders have been down on Foster for a couple years now ("We think he's very overrated. He happens to have really good games whenever he's on television or playing Atlanta. But a lot of the times he's running into the line for a yard or two every time and then maybe breaking one for 15 and that's the one that shows up on SportsCenter."), so the concerns are hardly new.

Presumably, the 49ers know this, but for $1.8 million over two years, you can't blame them for taking a shot. Worst case: he bombs, San Francisco releases him, and we all get on with out lives. On the other hand, if he's serviceable, and is able to give Gore the occasional breather, it's probably worth a lot more than $1.8 million.

The 49ers went out and got Frank Gore some help this offseason in the form of DeShaun Foster. But new offensive coordinator Mike Martz will still have extremely high expectations of the only proven skill player on the roster. I know this because Marshall Faulk told me as much.

In a wide-ranging interview with the Sacramento Bee's Matthew Barrows, Faulk explained his role in the Martzian scheme and what Gore can expect:

It was all on me. The onus was on me to control a lot of things within our offense. Frank is going to be in that same way. He's the core. It's all going to be built around him.

In a sense, it asks a lot of you, and you've got to ask more of yourself, because you've got to be out there on the field. I can remember a time when Mike would call timeouts and say, 'Catch your breath. We've got to get you back in the game.'

Faulk also talked about the importance of pass-blocking in this offense (Kurt Warner would humbly disagree), and admitted that he didn't know how Gore would fare because he hadn't "seen him in that aspect like he's going to be in this system."

This is great news for Alex Smith/Shaun Hill; it's enough to have to learn an entirely new system, particularly one as complex as Martz's. Having Gore share some of the burden should only make the transition easier. Of course, the entire unit can expect to go through some growing pains, but as long as there's improvement, it'll be an upgrade over what the 49ers were calling "offense" last year.

Fantasy FanHouse will be chiming in throughout the NFL draft with fantasy analysis of each fantasy relevant pick.

This was not what a lot of people thought would happen. I think Ryan Clady was the pick if the Broncos hadn't grabbed him, but Fox and Hurney probably didn't like Otah enough to pull the trigger there. This is also a deep draft for offensive linemen, so that taking Rashard Mendenhall or Jonathan Stewart here wouldn't be out of the question. Unlike, say, taking a quarterback, as many of the draft "experts" seemed to think the Cats might do.

From a fantasy perspective, Stewart is going to be huge sleeper material. Most owners are going to assume -- barring a training camp/pre-season that sees Stewart win the starting job -- that DeAngelo Williams will be the go to guy in Charlotte and a beasty RB2 for fantasy leagues. I don't think it's that simple.

In fact, I think Stewart may end up being the most valuable back out of the two. Stewart is a big, bruising runner who dropped because of issues with turf toe. And if you recall the Panthers teams of a few years ago, with Stephen Davis, you will remember that John Fox absolutely loves to pound the rock. DeShaun Foster and Williams did not allow him to do that. Stewart will.