Fantasy Preview: the Buffalo Bills

The premise is simple: I'll tell you what players you can confidently start the season with, and what players should cause your stomach to wobble if you have to start them.

Buffalo Bills
2006 stats at NFL.com and pro-football-reference.com

There is one Bill I would be excited to start week one:

Lee Evans (WR): I love deep threat, big play wide receivers, but I'm not always thrilled to have them on my fantasy team. I had sort of envisioned Lee Evans as an inconsistent WR capable of monster games and monster plays, but not consistent enough to be a good fantasy starter (after all, in 2006 he did have 5 games with 2 or less receptions).

But then I looked closer at his game logs. He only had four games with less than 50 yards. He scored at least one TD in 7 of 16 games (he really scored a lot late in the season when J.P. Losman was coming on, and Losman's progress is another reason to be hopeful about Evans). He had 90+ yards in 6 of 16 games. In 2006, Evans' breakout year, he was actually fairly consistent (and capable of monster games, like his 11-265-2 game against the Texans).

I'd love to start Lee Evans week one.

But on this team, that's it. Marshawn Lynch may be the best rookie fantasy player this season, but I'd still consider it a risk to go with him as a starter at the beginning of the year. If he's one of your two best RBs, you are really going to need him to help. J.P. Losman hasn't yet been a good fantasy QB, though he has been playing better and there have been suggestions that new O-coordinator Steve Fairchild is opening up the offense. Losman might be worth a late pick or an early free agent pickup, but you really shouldn't go into the season with him as your fantasy starter.

Start Lee Evans; puke on your shoes if you start another Bill.