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.
New York Giants
2006 stats at NFL.com and pro-football-reference.com
Eli Manning (QB): Eli Manning is worthy of criticism as a quarterback. He hasn't been terribly accurate. But look at his number totals in his two years as starter: 3,762 yards and 24 TDs in 2005, 3,244 yards and 24 TDs in 2006. That makes Eli Manning a decent fantasy quarterback. Oh, he'll crush your very will to breathe on any given week. But he actually threw a TD pass in 14 of 16 games last season, so mostly, he's going to get you points.
Plaxico Burress (WR): Two WRs caught touchdown passes in 10 different games last season: Terrell Owens (in 16 games) and Plaxico Burress (in 15 games). He's a very good fantasy start.
Jeremy Shockey (TE): Shockey is probably an overrated player, but as far as TEs go, he's one of the top ten and worthy to be in your fantasy lineup.
Unfortunately, I cannot provide any real insight about the most pressing fantasy question surrounding the Giants: will any RB take over Tiki Barber's production? Will Brandon Jacobs get more of the rushing yards while keeping the red zone carries (either way, he's not likely to match Barber's production receiving)? Will Reuben Droughns be the good system RB he was in Denver (either way, he's never scored a lot of TDs, so Jacobs is still likely to get the red zone carries)? I like drafting proven producers in good situations. Sure, I'll draft a guy with a brief CV and long potential, but late in a snake draft or cheap in an auction draft. For these big questions, I'd rather let somebody else take the risks. I'd let somebody else find out whether Reuben Droughns or Brandon Jacobs or some other RB you've never heard of will be a big fantasy producer. If your draft is held after the preseason, however, you might have more information leading you to start a Giant RB.
i set up a pole to see what others think about the JETS WR debate.
ReplyDeletei see your point about drafting for more certainty rather than higher ceiling, but watching JETS last year i thought cotchery was actually a better WR. coles has a lot more catches because chad looks for him in tight spots. but coles speed has slipped a little, and he still has this annoying habit of jumping when he doesn't need to, causing him to lose YAC.
anyway, i put up a poll on the question on my new blog.
I definitely think this is going to be Mannings breakthrough season
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