FanHouse Zach Thomas

Training camps have wrapped up, the NFL season is right around the corner, and it's still hot as sin outside. But instead of cooling you off with a warm island song, FanHouse break out ye old heat check for our 2009 NFL Season Previews. We'll rate each club in 5 categories on a scale of 1 to 10, high score wins.



In 2006, the Kansas City Chiefs finished with a 9-7 record and lost in the first round of the playoffs to Indianapolis. Since then, the Chiefs have won just six games -- four in 2007 and two last season -- causing a major overhaul of the front office and coaching staff prior to the 2009 season.

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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Texans running back Ryan Moats and Dallas policeman Robert Powell made national headlines recently when Powell was caught on video stopping Moats for running a red light near a hospital in Dallas, then pulling his gun on Moats while refusing him entry into the hospital to visit his dying mother-in-law.

Powell, after being publicly lambasted, was reassigned to what can best be called the "Favra Shift," rocking out some heavy desk duty for the rest of his life until the public moves on to finger-wagging Donte Stallworth.

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It seems like officer Robert Powell has been busily enforcing the law -- to the extreme, and without discretion, good judgment or common sense -- for some time now. Last week, Powell detained Houston Texans running back Ryan Moats and his wife in a Dallas-area hospital parking lot as they were rushing to be with a dying relative.

If you wanted a little indication that Ray Lewis will not be joining the Dallas Cowboys next season, this might be it.

Jerry Jones and the 'Boys have agreed to a three-year deal with former Falcons linebacker Keith Brooking, who will help out a Cowboys defense that gave up 77 points in the two "must-win" games at the end of the '08 season to miss the playoffs.

Talk had been heating up that Dallas wanted Ray and Ray wanted Dallas, but this has to be a move in the direction of leaving Lewis in Baltimore.

This is probably a discussion for another time given that the Ravens and Cowboys are playing the biggest game of their respective seasons in less than three hours, but, well, it doesn't hurt to bring it up now, I suppose.

NFL.com's Adam Schefter raises an interesting off-season possibility should linebacker Ray Lewis not end up re-signing with Baltimore, the team that drafted him in 1996: Dallas owner Jerry Jones could be very interested in his services.

Training camps are underway, the NFL season is a month off, and to get you ready for 2008, FanHouse previews all 32 teams, "heat index" style. We'll rate each club in 10 categories on a scale of 1 to 10, high score wins.

Quarterbacks: The Brett Favre Fallout ended up with Chad Pennington coming to Miami. Good thing, because the Dolphins didn't have a quarterback on their roster. Well, technically they did ... but when you are having a three-man race to figure out who might be able to handle the job ... you have no QB. Pennington gives Miami what they need: an experienced, accurate passer. He's a winner, but not the kind of guy who makes those dynamic plays. Right now, they don't have great receivers, either, so a guy that can hit his target is key. Chad Henne may be the future ... but that's what we thought about John Beck last year. Heat Index: 4

Running backs: This is the biggest strength of this offense. During their 1-15 season last year, the fact that Ronnie Brown was having an outstanding season was lost on many people. Brown was worthy of a Pro Bowl spot before he tore his ACL in mid-season. All indications are that he's healed. Brown will share duties with Ricky Williams. Yep, he's back and he's bad! I can't believe I'm saying this, but Ricky has been a model teammate. He's basically lived at the Dolphins complex, is in supreme physical shape and could get back to his pre-retirement form. Of course, that is all the good. The bad is that your steadiest part of the team involves a guy with a major knee injury and another who is now 31, barely has played over the last several seasons, already has two strikes and is unreliable. At least he's not on the hippie lettuce anymore. Heat Index: 7

Training camps are underway, the NFL season is a month off, and to get you ready for 2008, FanHouse previews all 32 teams, "heat index" style. We'll rate each club in 10 categories on a scale of 1 to 10, high score wins.

Quarterback: We know that Tony Romo isn't a fluke. He stepped in last year and had another fantastic season, setting team records in the process. There are questions remaining about distractions (Romessica) and winning a playoff game (none in his two years) which Romo must answer if he wants to take a place among the NFL's elite. Dallas is putting all their eggs in that basket as the only fallback if Romo gets hurt is 39-yr old Brad Johnson who isn't quite the risk taker. Heat Index: 9

Running backs: It's rare when a team loses their starting running back and everyone is fine with the position. Julius Jones is gone, but rookie Felix Jones is in. Jones (Felix) will get a ton of carries this season to keep Marion Barber fresh. Barber, who only started the Cowboys' playoff game, is the NFL's version of Mariano Rivera -- he dominates late in games and finishes drives off. Jones and Barber will combined for that classic "lightning and thunder" combo and should be quite successful doing it in what supposed to be a more run-friendly offense. Heat Index: 7

This is pretty cool. Blogging the Boys' Dave Halprin is in Oxnard, CA at Cowboys training camp and in addition to covering every on-the-field detail, he's also got some behind-the-scenes stuff from the parking lot of players' hotel.

Specifically, to get this Cowboys-decaled Hummer signed by as many Cowboys as possible. As of this writing, Kevin Burnett, Roy Williams, Adam Jones and Zach Thomas all signed, but it's Halprin's conversation with Thomas that makes the story.

We told Zach that we were bloggers; he turned kind of semi-serious on us and said the blogs always hate on him because he's short. I told him we were hyped to have him in Dallas and we are calling him the tackling machine. He liked that.

Well, credit to Thomas for knowing what a blog is (Braylon Edwards, you've been put on notice ... or something), but I can't remember once reading anybody taking shots at him for being short. In fact, it seems like Thomas is pretty popular because of his height (in addition to, you know, also being a very good football player).

Now, if Thomas had said blogs always hate on him because he can't dance, then, yeah, he's got an argument there.

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 ...
Team everyone is sick of hearing about. If not, give it some time. You already have the circus around The Artist Formerly Known as Pac-Man and constant updates on Tony Romo's social life ... mix in the storylines involving my personal least favorite player in the NFL (he wears #81), speculation about the head coaching situation, and anything involving Jerry Jones; and it's a cornucopia of maddening media attention.

The Breakout
Actually, most of the guys on this team are properly rated, but since I have to pick one I'm going with Patrick Crayton. He has been steadily improving since his rookie season in Dallas each year, and exploded once last year (7-184-2 in week 4). With Terry Glenn back in the fold some fantasy owners may downgrade Crayton's value. The thing is, he's still gonna be their second outside option. I like him to be a top-40 wideout for '08. He quietly set career highs in everything last year (50 catches, 697 yards, seven TDs) and will far exceed those.