Follow@cimini

Over the last five years fantasy owners have become much more cognitive in drafting for depth. Not just ordinary depth but quality depth. A key strong draft gives you the leverage to assist your team properly. Whether you need it all season long puts you in position for key injuries or upgrading via a trade for a disappointing starter.

Injuries occurring to a fantasy team is inevitable. What also is inevitable are a handful of games that non top ten ranked players will put up a disappointing week. Daring fantasy football owners aren’t afraid to take proper risks of benching a player on occasion. Utilizing your team 100 percent is how you win a fantasy football league title.

Bragging rights in the offseason to your buddies is mixed amongst each other. One will say they led the league in points, another that you eked out a lot of close wins, etc. It’s no different than professional sports when it comes to a win or loss. A win is a win.

Protecting yourself at quarterback is a position that can’t be understated. I’ve seen too many people rely on one main quarterback and think that they are all set. Sure, you’d hope that your Pro Bowl quarterback would compete like one every week, but that just doesn’t happen. There are few players that you can unquestionably start.

One quarterback that should be on many fantasy football players radar is Ryan Fitzpatrick. He is a veteran quarterback that doesn’t necessarily have the brightest track record. One thing he has done well though is perform well in stretches. Being that you should have a solid number one quarterback, Fitzpatrick is that spot stretch starter that can be of use.

More than likely you shouldn’t have to start your backup quarterback more than four to five times. Once for the bye week of course, possible minor injuries, and a better matchup. For the first time in his career Fitzpatrick will actually have a roster of receivers with high fantasy value. You could not say that certainly in Buffalo or last year in Tennessee. His best was spot starts in Cincinnati.

On top of a solid group of receivers, Fitzpatrick will have the benefit of Arian Foster. That should open up things for Fitzpatrick to hit targets and utilize his legs on occasion.

From a future bet standpoint, many are likely going to still discount the Texans after what happened a year ago. Not too many people are high on Fitzpatrick due to the amount of teams he has bounced around from. But this could be the perfect stop gap for Fitzpatrick for another two to three years. With the team healthy this could be a solid bet on the over. Remember the bulk of their losses was a result of Matt Schaub’s horrendous play that dismantled the team.

For a spot starting fantasy quarterback keep your eyes on Fitzpatrick. He’ll be worth the handful of starts.

Follow@cimini

In Denver, John Elway still resonates as the king of history for the city. He is considered one of the best quarterbacks of all time. As a general manager for the Broncos he has quietly positioned himself to rewrite the ending he had to his career for Peyton Manning.

His first proper move was the perfect handling of Tim Tebow. Many people do not talk about how the Broncos handled moving him out of the picture. Tebow did win games but he showed a Vince Young type of uncanniness that was unsettling too watch. The NFL catches on quickly, and it was only a matter of time before Tebow’s magic ran out. And it did in disaster situations in New York and New England.

Elway being the former quarterback great that he was, knew to move on. His eyes were squarely on Peyton Manning. The Broncos landed Manning and you can say that the first two years were right there. Denver squandered a late lead on a hail mary Joe Flacco bomb, and ran into a defense they just weren’t prepared to counter.

In between those rough ending seasons, the Broncos went out and signed Wes Welker and discovered a gem of a tight end in Julius Thomas. Manning can still be Manning with his high IQ, but it’s apparent the Broncos plan on utilizing a strong running game. Towards the end of John Elway’s career the Broncos did the same thing with Terrell Davis.

The platoon the Broncos used last year worked out well, and should continue to gain with Montee Ball, Ronnie Hillman, and CJ Anderson. The dollars both Eric Decker, Champ Bailey, and Knowshown Moreno wanted were spent more wisely on Aquib Talib, DeMarcus Ware, Emmanuel Sanders, and roster fillers.

The entire staff and team knows that this is the season to finally finish things off with a Super Bowl title. This team has endured being one of the best regular season teams only to fall short in the playoffs. The NFL is similar to college basketball in my opinion. Once the post season begins the best team may not always be crowned. It’s a sport where one play can be the deciding factor of it all.

Denver’s 2012 season was ended because of their defensive struggles, which allowed a deep bomb to Baltimore’s Jacoby Jones. Last year the offense’s inability to move the football and early turnovers cost them a chance to win against Seattle.

Both sides of the football and the front office led by John Elway are ready to finish things off.

Look for Peyton Manning and the Broncos to get right back to the Super Bowl. They may not be the best team in football but may get help from the NFC. The right matchup does wonders, and I’m not sure the Seahawks can return to the promise land.

Either way look for this Broncos team to have the San Antonio Spurs mentality exhibited this year and in the playoffs. The mental fortitude to shake off a hard title loss and use it as motivation to get the job completed.

Follow@cimini

The names ring a bell but do the have any fantasy football value? Surely if the opportunity presents itself they might end up being a starter. In some situations they are already in position to win the job or improve upon their season from a year ago. Kurt Warner set the stage for veteran success on multiple occasions.

Look around the NFL and there are several elite quarterbacks still performing at a high level past the age of 35.

Here are some quarterbacks that likely won’t get drafted but may end up on fantasy football rosters sooner than later.

Kyle Orton
It’s hard to believe that Orton is just 31 years old. He’ll have to beat out Brandon Weeden to retain the backup duties in Dallas. Without question, the Cowboys have the offensive tools to make either an adequate fantasy fill-in if Tony Romo were to go down. Based on Romo’s injury history, chances are high that Orton could see the field once again.

Carson Palmer
Palmer gets to his second season under center in Arizona this fall. You could say the same patterns of problems with Carson that were issues in Oakland and Cincinnati plagued him in 2013. Unless he cuts back on his ill-advised interceptions, it could be a short lived second season as a Cardinal. Arizona has Drew Stanton as a backup and drafted Logan Thomas as another prospect.

Thad Lewis
Buffalo is hoping that they can count on EJ Manuel to remain healthy this season. If not, Lewis, will be called on once again to handle duties. Lewis won a key game at Miami and exhibited fair capabilities for a backup quarterback.

Jason Campbell
Out of all the backups in the league, I’m still not sure I know why Campbell never got a true chance to be a starter beyond Washington. His days in Oakland don’t count. As a starter for the Redskins he seemed to be a poised quarterback capable of being a yearly starter. Obviously the rest of the NFL did not see it that way, and Campbell is now settled in as a journeyman backup. With the talent that the Bengals have and the high tension from fans and the media on Andy Dalton, Campbell could see the field as a Bengal.

Brian Hoyer
Hoyer had the most detrimental injury of all quarterbacks last season. He was playing so well in a couple of games as a starter, and winning games on top of it. Who knows how much different May’s draft would have been if the Browns had won more games with Hoyer under center. The future is obviously Johnny Manziel. The question will be if Hoyer can hold off Manziel in camp. Also, if Johnny wins the job if he can remain healthy an entire season.

Ryan Fitzpatrick
It’s not often a career journeyman quarterback gets the starting job so often. Fitzpatrick’s needs to pay his agent just a smidge more after his latest job in Houston. From the Rams, Bengals, Bills, Titans, and now Texans, Fitzpatrick has seen it all in his ten year career. For everyone of those teams he has been a starter. Three of those cases were due to injury (Titans, Rams, Bengals). One thing Fitzpatrick does do, is he goes out and lays it on the line each time he is on the field. Houston needs that desperately after what occurred last season.

Mike Vick
Does anyone besides the Jets PR writer, believe that the Jets truly expect Geno Smith to be their starting quarterback all season? The second Mike Vick was signed a kindergartner could put two and two together of what the future lies for the Jets. It’ll be Mike Vick likely before the preseason ends as the starter. Smith just does not have the accuracy or savvy to be a starting quarterback. This high draft pick mistake the Jets can admit their wrongdoing and move on accordingly. Unlike what they did with Mark Sanchez. Vick has been waiting for a true chance to push forth. He had it momentarily in Philadelphia, but got caught in his injury woes and Andy Reid’s last stand as an Eagles head coach.

If there is any veteran quarterback that can climb himself back into legitimate fantasy worthiness it’s Vick.

AP Photo

Follow@cimini

What Calvin Johnson did in 2013 was as ridiculous a season a wide receiver can have. The closest that I can remember having a season like that was David Boston’s lone breakout year, Terrell Owens, and Randy Moss’s 1998 season. For Boston and Moss that ceiling would never be replicated to that extreme. Owens was able to still be a fantasy touchdown machine for a string of years.

Owners know Johnson’s last season is long gone old news. His numbers almost single handily gave fantasy owners the gateway to a fantasy playoff birth. By having him on their team owners were able to count themselves an easy double digit checkoff week to week. And this wasn’t the normal double digit variety some receivers posted. Sky high results in standard leagues he sometimes posted high twenty to low thirty results. I won’t even step into the realm of his PPR results.

Quick trigger fantasy owners are going to be absent minded in putting any thought into Johnson’s 2014 potential season. He is megatron after all. Results don’t need to be thought upon.

Well maybe they should. As noted earlier athletes that have a premium season tend to regress some. At the position of receiver any type of downgrade can put you in the mix of ten to fifteen receivers. There just is not as high of a gap between receivers like there is in other football positions.

That has to be a factor when deciding on drafting Calvin Johnson.

Another is Johnson faced the poorest division in terms of NFL secondaries last year. Chicago and Green Bay were banged up all season in the secondary, and Minnesota’s young cornerbacks were going through growing pains. Of those nearly 1500 receiving yards, Johnson also faced the Cowboys for an all world game of nearly 300 yards receiving and the Steelers for nearly 200.

Both of those defenses were also torched consistently. To the point that quarterbacks such as Andy Dalton and every NFC East quarterback had extreme success.

Take away those key signature games and fill them in with average Johnson receiving yards, and he would have likely finished around 1150 yards receiving.

That puts him still as an elite receiver but not by a huge stretch in terms of yardage. Johnson’s never ending value comes in the area of touchdowns. He can be banked upon to reach double digit touchdowns year after year. His size and uncanny leaping ability is undeniable.

But will the rest of the NFC North finally catch up to Johnson and limit his consistent big numbers versus them? And will Johnson’s matchups in the AFC and non-division NFC teams gear up to stop him better?

It’s all a higher probability than last season.

This isn’t a bust label on Calvin Johnson. Rather it is a cautious high first round alert. Fantasy owners are becoming more unconscious with the new norm of drafting a non-running back in round one. Using that train of thought can come back to bite you in a quick hurry.

Follow@cimini

Aaron Rodgers has lit up the NFL and fantasy football world year after year. Any fantasy football stat tracker on a Sunday will showcase Rodgers points moving upward like a hot stock on Wall Street. He has earned the top spot as best quarterback in football and therefore fantasy football.

Age has a lot to do with why people will still draft Rodgers without thinking twice. His counterparts that still rank high in fantasy football efficiency are several years older than him. Players such as Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Drew Brees, and even Tony Romo.

Hot stocks in Wall Street are the ones that can bite you in a hurry. Aaron Rodgers has some gray areas that are evident but not being discussed.

For one he is a quarterback that has never had a proper running game. The Packers have made things work with a plethora of below average running backs. That has partly had to do with injuries occurring at a high rate. Things may be looking upward in that department with the combo of Eddie Lacy and Jonathan Franklin. But will either or be a viable option consistently?

Another area being over looked is the tenure between Rodgers and head coach Mike McCarthy. McCarthy has been the Packers head coach since 2007. There is no reason to consider firing McCarthy, but there is a common link between coaches and starting quarterbacks. They don’t go hand in hand over a long period of time without failure.

Look at over the course of even the last ten to fifteen years and you’ll notice the regression amongst good coaches and great quarterbacks. At some point or another that coaches system breaks down and effects the quarterback on the field.

That hasn’t happened to a noticeable effect yet, but you can see teams are better prepared for the Packers aerial attack than in years past. It’s similar to the way teams have been able to limit the Saints offense when big games occur. You’ll notice that since the Packers and Saints Super Bowl wins their playoff success and regular season success against winning teams has waned.

The biggest area to cast a shadow of doubt with Rodgers is his injury history. Injuries are so common now in fantasy football that some aren’t even factoring it in to their drafts. Their idea is to secure themselves for the inevitable with depth.

Well just like a scout team and personnel in major sports, drafting a player requires thinking of all possibilities.

Rodgers is coming off a year in which he missed six games due to injury. It was the first time he has missed more than one game in a season. In prior years he has only missed an individual game. Some would say back then he shook off injuries a week or two earlier than he should have to get back on the field.

Either way he has shown a history of injury concerns.

Rodgers time as an elite fantasy quarterback is not coming to an end. I’d just be a little bit leery drafting him without a proper top notch backup fantasy quarterback. If you’re in a top spot and someone wants to trade up to get Rodgers, maybe that’s a safer option.

Follow@cimini

NFL talk has actually calmed down quite a bit. Typically it is an oversaturated area from the sports media even in the off-season. Qualms about possible draft picks and off-season player movement are endless debates.

One of the hot media topic teams continues to be the New York Jets. They’ve had an bevy of key personnel decisions made the last several years that have gone awry. The latest appears to be the signing of Mike Vick.

To the Jets credit, Vick was likely the top viable free agent quarterback for them to sign. With young prospect Geno Smith looking like a shaky starter, the Jets needed to bring in another candidate. But Mike Vick?

Some Jets fans would argue that they should have went through the NFL Draft for their new talent. Don’t rule it out yet Jets fans as the draft is just a few weeks away.

Is the team stunting it’s possible forward growth if Vick is named the starter? I believe so. Vick has had his opportunities in this league, and frankly does not have the durability to be a full time starter. As blessed as he is with freakish athletic ability, he does not have an edge in the health department.

The risks he takes scrambling and taking a beating by prolonging plays have caught up to him. He has had every imaginable physical ailment possible as a quarterback. Ranging from hamstring injuries, ribs, shoulders, and the whole nine.

He is a battered quarterback not only physically but mentally. Chip Kelly disregarded Vick the second Vick suffered yet another injury. Could have Vick been a better quarterback than Nick Foles for the duration of last season? It’s likely a 50/50 debate.

Where Chip Kelly gets the kudos as a first year coach, is the realization that it was time to move on from Vick. By keeping Foles as the starter, Kelly moved forward with the team’s future. It’s the same scenario you see coaches do with rookie quarterbacks replacing an unheralded starter.

The Jets just can’t seem to put their foot forward at the quarterback position. Without a shadow of a doubt they held on to Mark Sanchez far too long as a starting quarterback. The quick use of Geno Smith looks like a foreseeable mistake that will haunt the rest of his career.

Why can’t the Jets make the proper moves at quarterback to reclaim a reputable team?

You can’t platoon players at quarterback like the Vikings tried a year ago. Mike Vick is who he is. He may start the season with two to three solid games, but it’s going to fade quick. He is comparable to an old pitcher that starts the season strong but can’t keep hold up past a certain point.

Hopefully the Jets front office has a backup plan to the backup plan. Lets see what they do on draft day.