FanHouse Toddheap

If you're still having trouble finding a decent tight end option at this point, you're doing something wrong. The tight end position has been consistently deep and productive over the first two weeks of the season. The Big Four is becoming more like the Big Dozen -- well, maybe.

There's simply no shying away from what Dallas Clark did on Monday night. He is essentially a No. 2 wide receiver for this Colts offense with Anthony Gonzalez down and out. However, you already knew that, right? And so, we must stick to our guns for yet another week with Mr. Clark leading the tight end rankings.

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It's been said in his space on numerous occasions that the tight end position holds plenty of depth this season. The argument was to not panic if you missed out on any of the big names during the draft, because you'd find an equally serviceable option in the end. And if anything Week 1 simply enhanced the notion, with at least 11 of the top 20 projected tight ends going over 60 yards and 11 total TDs mixed in. That's pretty solid if you ask me.

And so, this week we're gonna take the leap for Todd Heap. He was mentioned last week by R.J White as a sleeper for Week 1. Well, nobody should be sleeping this time, as he gets to face the Chargers who were simply awful against tight ends last season. And you may also recall that Zach Miller just throttled them on MNF. That said, Heap appears healthy and has a growing rapport with Joe Flacco. As for the rest of the rankings let's take a look.

1. Dallas Clark, IND at MIA
2. Tony Gonzalez, ATL vs. CAR
3. Chris Cooley, WAS vs. STL
4. John Carlson, SEA at SF
5. Jason Witten, DAL vs. NYG

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It happens every year at training camp, yet every year seems worse than the ones that preceded it: players get injured, sometimes seriously, and an offseason worth of plans suddenly become meaningless.

The Eagles will be without middle linebacker Stewart Bradley for the season, and things aren't looking good for Falcons wide receiver Harry Douglas (and this is while the club tries to negotiate an extension with Roddy White).

And on Sunday, the Ravens' No. 2 wideout, Mark Clayton, strained a hamstring that will keep him out 2-3 preseason games. Compared to Bradley or Douglas, that's good news, but Baltimore also doesn't have much depth at receiver. More than that, quarterback Joe Flacco is just in his second season. Spreading the offensive burden seems like the best strategy to build on the success he had last year, but that becomes problematic if Flacco doesn't have anybody to throw to. Or maybe it doesn't.

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.

After the big three positions in fantasy football, tight end is next in importance. Since you only play one tight end, though, we'll also fill this entry out by discussing some fantasy defenses as well.

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With the draft approaching, we ignore projections and identify the dream scenario for each team in a series we call The Perfect Draft.

In 2007, the Ravens finished a disappointing 5-11, stuck with an offense that created scoring opportunities about as effectively as a broken Brita filter cleans water. A draft later, the Ravens picked up lesser-known Joe Flacco, who fell into the job as starting quarterback and led Baltimore to the AFC Conference Championship, eventually losing to the NFL Champion Steelers. The Ravens filled holes at running back last year when they snagged Ray Rice in the second round.

Now, the Ravens know they can win even with a spotty offense, but it is something they need to focus on. Last year, only one wideout, Derrick Mason, caught over 700 yards, and he is 35.

Last February, the Eagles franchised tight end L.J. Smith even though he was coming off an injury-plagued 2007 season where he played in just 10 games, caught 22 passes for 236 yards and hauled in a lone touchdown.

But the team's 2003 second-round pick had been a key cog in Andy Reid's version of the West Coast offense, and seemed worth the average salary of the league's top-five tight ends, especially since it was just a one-year deal.

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

It was improbable. The Baltimore Ravens made another playoff run in 2008 based on a defense that used the art of suffocation (oh, and Ed Reed) and an offense that improved dramatically over the previous years. John Harbaugh was impressive as coach, putting a rookie quarterback out to toss the ball around and sticking with him through thick (17-29, 248 yards, 2 TDs in Week 9) and thin (11-28, 115 yards, 2 INTs in Week 15).

Now the team has to figure out what to do about a superstar in Ray Lewis, and how they should handle other important positional players (hello Mr. Stover) in order to return to (and move past) the AFC Championship game without their defensive coordinator.

There are several different fantasy playoffs models, so it's difficult to accommodate everyone when doing any set of fantasy advice for the real playoffs. Most common models require you to do a bit of prognosticating as far as the actual game winners. To that, I say good luck. This isn't like last year, where we all knew the Patriots were going to the Super Bowl. This season the playoffs are wide open, and no, I don't think the Giants are a sure thing to make the big game. They are the surest bet, but it's still a bet.

Anyway, we're going to analyze some of the players.

First, here are the regular-season defensive rankings for the teams playing this postseason.

Team (overall rank, rushing rank, passing rank, scoring rank)

Pittsburgh Steelers (1, 2, 1, 1)
Baltimore Ravens (2, 3, 2, 3)
Philadelphia Eagles (3, 4, 3, 4)
New York Giants (5, 9, 8, 5)
Minnesota Vikings (6, 1, 18, 13)
Tennessee Titans (7, 6, 9, 2)
Indianapolis Colts (11, 24, 6, 7)
Miami Dolphins (15, 10, 25, 9)
Carolina Panthers (18, 20, 16, 12)
Arizona Cardinals (19, 16, 21, 28)
Atlanta Falcons (24, 25, 22, 11)
San Diego Chargers (25, 11, 31, 15)

There are several different fantasy playoffs models, so it's difficult to accommodate everyone when doing any set of fantasy advice for the real playoffs. Most common models require you to do a bit of prognosticating as far as the actual game winners. To that, I say good luck. This isn't like last year, where we all knew the Patriots were going to the Super Bowl. This season the playoffs are wide open, and no, I don't think the Giants are a sure thing to make the big game. They are the surest bet, but it's still a bet.

Anyway, we're going to analyze some of the players.

First, here are the regular-season defensive rankings for the teams playing this postseason.

Team (overall rank, rushing rank, passing rank, scoring rank)

Pittsburgh Steelers (1, 2, 1, 1)
Baltimore Ravens (2, 3, 2, 3)
Philadelphia Eagles (3, 4, 3, 4)
New York Giants (5, 9, 8, 5)
Minnesota Vikings (6, 1, 18, 13)
Tennessee Titans (7, 6, 9, 2)
Indianapolis Colts (11, 24, 6, 7)
Miami Dolphins (15, 10, 25, 9)
Carolina Panthers (18, 20, 16, 12)
Arizona Cardinals (19, 16, 21, 28)
Atlanta Falcons (24, 25, 22, 11)
San Diego Chargers (25, 11, 31, 15)

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.

Not much shakeup at the top, except for one surprise. Yes, it's time to bump Antonio Gates down just a peg. Let's face it, anytime your star tight end puts up a goose egg as he did against Oakland in a critical game, something must give.

The great Tony Gonzalez continues to ride out the hot streak, and he just loves playing the Chargers. Look for Jason Witten and Tony Romo to get back on the same page this weekend after they both took blame for the collapse in Pittsburgh last week.

Climbing up the tight end ladder this week is an old familiar face in Jeremy Shockey. Let me explain. Since he took the scolding from Drew Brees on the sideline against Atlanta, here are his averages in the past four games; five receptions per game and 53 yards per game. Yup, he hasn't scored a TD yet this season, but it could be coming Thursday night against Chicago.

Welcome back to earth Dustin Keller. You can thank your QB for the slippage this week. And now let's tap into the rest of the rankings.

1. Tony Gonzalez, SD
2. Jason Witten, NYG
3. Chris Cooley, @ CIN
4. Dallas Clark, DET
5. Tony Scheffler, @ CAR