The past two seasons have been rough for the Detroit Lions, to say the least. After going winless in 2008, the Lions only won two games in 2009, which was franchise quarterback Matthew Stafford’s rookie year. Even though the team’s recent record has put them at the bottom of the NFL hierarchy, there is no shortage of talent in Detroit, and second-year tight end Brandon Pettigrew will be a big part when the team turns it around.

One of the best gifts a team can give a young quarterback is a big target who can be a reliable receiver over the middle of the field. Stafford has that in Pettigrew, who caught 30 passes for 346 yards and two touchdowns in 11 games in his rookie year before tearing his ACL late in the season. Before his injury, Pettigrew had some big games, catching seven balls for 70 yards and a touchdown in a week nine loss to the Seattle Seahawks, and six catches for 72 yards and a score in a thrilling 38-37 win over the Cleveland Browns in week 11. Reports indicate that Pettigrew has started practicing again, and is working his way back to full participation.

If he can stay healthy and move past the ACL injury, he can have a big sophomore season. With superstar wide receiver Calvin Johnson being the focal point for defenders, and Nate Burleson joining the Lions after catching 63 passes for 812 yards with three touchdowns for the Seahawks last year, Pettigrew should get plenty of looks. If rookie running back Jahvid Best has a productive season, the Lions could boast a dangerous assortment of weapons. The Lions did also add tight end Tony Scheffler from the Denver Broncos, who is a solid tight end, and will take away some looks from Pettigrew, but the Lions should give Pettigrew a good amount of opportunities to produce.

Both Pettigrew and Stafford were rookies last year, and they will struggle and grow together. Being at the same stages in their careers should call for good chemistry between the two as they mature, which will result in Pettigrew being a go-to guy for his quarterback for years to come. At 6’5” and 265 pounds, Pettigrew is big enough to take the hits he’ll receive. His size is especially important when you consider the AFC North defenses he will be going up against. The Packers, Vikings, and Bears all have physical and intimidating defenses, so size on offense is an important advantage.
There’s a lot of work to be done before Pettigrew can become a top NFL tight end, but his numbers will improve along with his team. As Stafford works to develop into a consistent NFL quarterback, and the team finds the leaders who can get them out of their losing years, Pettigrew can assert himself as a threat. It may or may not happen in 2010, but Pettigrew is a player worth keeping an eye on, and can be a smart draft pick if he plays well early this season.

By Vidur Malik

The shelf life for an NFL running back is usually short, and when the prime years have passed, it happens abruptly. Running backs can go from putting up a string of 1,000+ yard, 10 touchdown+ seasons, to being demoted to a third-down or situational back in the matter of a season or two.

The Washington Redskins currently have three backs who could fall into this category. Larry Johnson, Willie Parker, and Clinton Portis have all been considered elite running backs at one time in their careers, but have since dropped from that level. Here’s a look at all three Redskin backs, and how they could fare this year:

Clinton Portis-

Portis looks to be the starter coming into this season, and is not far removed from his 1,000 yard years. He only put up 494 yards and one touchdown last year, but missed half the season because of a concussion. Only two years ago, Portis had 1,487 yards and nine touchdowns, so his elite number days are probably not behind him. One good sign is that his yards per carry average has usually stayed around the 4.0 mark recently. One of the signs of an aging running back is a significant drop in yards per carry, and even though Portis is far from the impressive 5.5 yards per carry he had his first two seasons, he has still been solid in that category. He did take a few dips into the 3.8-3.9 mark a few years ago, but if he can keep it to around 4 this year, that should result in a productive season. He should be able to approach the 1,000 yard mark if he has been able to shake off the concussion, and if he can stay healthy, Portis should be a back you can draft pretty confidently.

Larry Johnson-

Johnson is not the back he once was. After putting up back-to-back 1,700+ yard seasons in 2005 and 2006, Johnson has not been able to get past a foot injury, which has sidelined him for games, and made his numbers take a severe drop. Last year, with the Cincinnati Bengals, he recorded only 204 yards with 0 touchdowns, while Cedric Benson resurrected his career with an All-Pro season. It doesn’t look like Johnson will be able to do the same in Washington. He’ll have to beat out Portis, or at least compete with him to get significant playing time, and with new quarterback Donovan McNabb and a solid group of receivers on offense, it will be tough for Johnson to get many reps. It’s sad to see a guy who was once the class of running backs struggle to get carries, but the situation isn’t ideal for Johnson, and unless you’ve got a late pick that you don’t know what to do with, it might be smart to hold off on him.

Willie Parker-

It looks like the man they used to call “Fast” Willie Parker will need to find a new nickname. Parker’s drop in production may be the most difficult to reverse of all three Redskin backs. While Portis and Johnson haven’t performed as well as they used to, it isn’t as difficult for them to show flashes of their former selves, because they are both downhill runners who make one cut and use their vision to explode through holes. Parker only relied on his quickness to gain yards in his glory days as a Pittsburgh Steeler, and when the speed goes, a running back’s time on the top is usually gone as well. After three consecutive 1,200+ yard years, Parker suffered a toe injury in 2008, which was the beginning of the end for him. He only had 98 carries last year, and didn’t score any touchdowns. Reports indicated that Parker lacked speed at the Redskins’ minicamp, which means that he isn’t a guy worth drafting.

By Zack Cimini
Notjustagame23@gmail.com

For a minute the football world looked like it would be TO free for 2010. The media was jumping on the fact that Terrell Owens had little interest for months. Teams would speculate at the possibility but ultimately say they were going to look in a different route. The Jets, Seahawks, etc. all decided that Terrell wasn’t worth a years deal. By looking at what happened last season it was not too hard to predict this was coming. Buffalo was pretty much the only team that had strong interest last off-season. Were pretty sure if Terrell had serious options he would have went elsewhere. Come on, who would sign on to play where they knew getting the football would be as hard as Jamarcus Russell throwing an accurate pass over five yards?

A team that is not afraid to be contrarian is the Cincinnati Bengals. They’ve brought in and resigned troubled players in the past like Chris Henry and Tank Johnson. They’ve been subjected to numerous internal issues with players getting in trouble off the field. As the business goes any signing is a risk. Faulting a team for making a mistake is the way things go. No one expected Cedric Benson to resurrect his career. Turning from a third or fourth running back on many fantasy teams to being the main running back. It paid off.

The signing of Terrell Owens is as sneaky as can be. He goes in without having to have the responsibilities of the sole main option at receiver. All the years Terrell Owens has been a number one receiver he played opposite second receivers that were more comparable to a third or fourth receiver. In San Francisco it was JJ Stokes, Philadelphia Reggie Brown, and in Buffalo Lee Evans followed by a bunch of no names. Call it a perfect link but teaming up with Chad Johnson and Antonio Bryant is Owens best fit maybe of his career. Balls are going to be a plenty as well. Definitely at a higher clip than was in Buffalo. Throw last year out, and Cincinnati had some formidable years with there receivers one through three putting up fantasy stats. Chad Johnson, TJ Housh, and Chris Henry were one of the best triple threats in the league.

A Hall of Fame player such as Owens may be putting on the Hollywood smile right now. Away from the camera he is on a mission to show that he still has it. He wants to prove to teams and owners throughout the league that not entertaining or submitting an offer to him was a big mistake. Sure he may have lost a step but he has the smarts, physical tools, and playmaking ability to be that additional threat that makes Cincinnati a scary team.

Compared to last season things look golden for TO. The Bills pathetic offense had a hard time mustering 100 yards a game through the air, and that was a losing team usually down early. Carson Palmer had his ups and downs last season but is now two full years from his 2008 season ending elbow injury. Besides that last year Palmer struggled to find other options besides Chad Johnson. Chris Henry was out with injury before his tragic death, and they had let Housh go. Guys that had been with Carson for years were gone and the high hopes for Lavernues Coles meeting expectations just didn’t happen.

The Bengals have upgraded their offense a few notches with TO and Antonio Bryant. We expect TO to be an above average second receiver. Lots of owners will probably be able to be lucky enough to have TO as their third fantasy wide receiver. Even as a second fantasy wideout on your teams we believe he will pay huge dividends. The yardage totals may not be as large as his prime years but hovering near double digit touchdowns should become an actuality. Last year we had TO on our list of top ten busts, this year we love him. What a difference a one year contract makes.