http://www.yardbarker.com/content/player/2355 Recent articles about Brandon Jacobs en-us Position battles, especially ones that ensue at the RB position, can really swing the value of a player from starter status on your fantasy football roster to one that is thought of only as a handcuff at best. If you don't believe me, ask Chester Taylor owners from yester-year! Taylor left the Baltimore Ravens for the Minnesota Vikings in 2006 and became the team's starter, immediately having an impact in the fantasy world. A year later the Vikings drafted a kid by the name of Adrian Peterson. In a blink of an eye Taylor goes from a key RB keeper on many fantasy teams to a guy that lost pretty much all the value that he had held. And, that is why my friends, the great Bruno Boys Nation, MUST pay attention to these battles closely. But, just so you don't get overwhelmed from having to do all of the homework yourself, we, the Bruno Boys, have done the work for you! Which is why you should pay particularly close attention to these articles as they all will contain key information that can really make or break your draft! To ease your pain about the RB battles, I, Bruno Boys Ziza, am here to carry you on my back and take on your burden! Just don't grab my man boobies! Now let's get the RB's ready to rumble… To read more, click the link... Thu, 07 Aug 2008 02:41:59 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/302294 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/302294 Tiered running back rankings for the 2008 fantasy football season. Wed, 06 Aug 2008 11:23:16 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/301860 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/301860 As a diehard Giants fan I am going to break down the fantasy impact from the defending Super Bowl Champions for 2008-09. Quarterback: Eli Manning emerged late last season, going on a run of epic proportions. Manning led the Giants on the road to Tampa Bay, Dallas, Green Bay and Phoenix for the Super Bowl to beat the Bucs, Cowboys, Packers and Patriots. His leadership skills are not questioned, what is questioned is his on field decision making. He threw only one interception in the postseason, but he threw 20 in the regular season. Eli is coming along but he is not a top tier guy, yet. He will be around in the middle rounds of your draft, but don't take him ahead of David Garrard, Ben Roethlisberger, Donovan McNabb or the equivilant. Backing up Manning this season will be either David Carr or Anthony Wright, avoid at all costs. Running Back: Brandon Jacobs just barely eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark last season, battling injuries along the way. This moves Jacobs, a bigtime touchdown threat, out of the first 10 or so running backs and into that second round, early third round area. He is a great pick though as the Giants are a run-heavy team and will give the big man lots of carries. The area that still needs to be decided in who backs up Jacobs. Both Derrick Ward and Ahmad Bradshaw played well last season backing up Jacobs. Ward ran for over 600 yards in his time and Bradshaw came on late to provide some speed when Ward went down. Problem is they will probably split the backup carries, making neither of them a strong fantasy play. Wide Receiver: Plaxico Burress is an elite receiver. He is the big man on the Giants roster and is numero uno in the red zone, see Super Bowl winning TD. Burress is a strong pick in the second or third rounds. After him there will be a big fall off to Amani Toomer, Steve Smith, David Tyree, Sinorice Moss and rookie Mario Manningham. Smith emerged late and Toomer was hurt last season. They will both see probably 30-35 catches this year, but not many touchdowns, maybe five between them. Tyree and Manningham will be non-factors. Tight End: Kevin Boss has become a very important late-round draftpick with the trade of Jeremy Shockey. Manning likes to use his tight ends and Boss proved last season he can make the big play when necessary. Boss isn't worth drafting ahead of more proven veterans but if he is on the board in one of the final rounds, he is worth grabbing and stashing if you have space. Kicker: Lawrence Tynes is good, but not great. It's fantasy football and kickers are not important, if he's there you can get him, he will get a lot of chances to score, but he didn't have a great FG percentage last season. Defense: The Giants defense is one of the five best in the game. They will get you a ton of sacks, even without Michael Strahan, and will cause a lot of fumbles. They are prone to giving up some big points but will make plays all over the field. Their defensive backs should have decent INT numbers this season with Aaron Ross, Corey Webster, Sam Madison and Kenny Phillips out there. Mon, 04 Aug 2008 16:16:07 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/300761 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/300761 The most in-depth look at the New York Giants anywhere on the web. The Super Bowl Champs are covered from Eli to the ball boy. Sun, 03 Aug 2008 09:56:43 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/300099 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/300099 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3RocbkSz3c For people who happen to read Mike Florio at Pro Football Talk, you should already know that he thinks the Colts are going to be passed by the Jaguars.  He backs up this ridiculous thought with bad information and the twisting of facts.  On the link posted above, you can see Mike Florio spouting off his usual "The Colts are doomed.  There time is up." crap that he has been saying since the offseason started.  He pretty much gives us three reasons on why the Colts are doomed: There are a bunch of injuries, the Colts give out big contracts which causes a lack of depth, and the Jaguars spent a lot of money this offseason. True, the Colts do have a lot of injuries.  They also have said and shown that everything is fine.  Bob Sanders has said that he is almost at 100%.  Dwight Freeney has been running in practice, which gives me the right to assume that he is around 90 to 100%.  Peyton Manning had an infected bursa sac which is not a big deal at all.  Marvin Harrison is 110% and is only missing tomorrow night's game just to be careful that he wouldn't reinjure them. The contract comment was ignorant and stupid.  If the Colts have bad depth, then teams with good depth should have multiple Pro Bowlers on the bench.  Here are all of the players that were projected starters or contributors going into training camp that missed multiple games: Marvin Harrison Anthony Gonzalez Tony Ugoh Ryan Diem Dwight Freeney Anthony McFarland Raheem Brock Robert Mathis Rob Morris Freddy Keiaho So we didn't have 9 starters and our first round draft pick for multiple games, and still went 13-3 losing to the 2 teams who played in the AFC Championship Game by a combined score of I think it was 7 and a game where we rested the starters. That comment was made out of pure ignorance to what happened last year.  He chose a little fact, and he ignored the other facts to make it seem like it was a problem.  Jeff Saturday will get a big contract this offseason or at least the franchise tag.  It won't hurt the team.  Sure, Tyjuan Hagler might have to leave, and some players might be cut, but it won't affect the team. Throw in Cato June, Nick Harper, Jason David, and Dominic Rhodes, all of whom started in the Super Bowl season left, and we had a better playoff seed this time around. Also, his comment about the Jags spending money was another dumb one.  In that case, I guess the Redskins should win the Super Bowl, the Knicks should win the NBA Championship, the Yankees should win the World Series, and USC should win the BCS National Championship Game.  The teams that spend the most money don't always win the most games.  It's not how much money you spend.  It's how wisely you spend it.  The Colts signing Peyton Manning, Marvin Harrison, Reggie Wayne, Dallas Clark, Dwight Freeney, and Bob Sanders to big contracts is better than giving players like Jerry Porter big contracts.  These players are proven stars.  Jerry Porter hasn't done anything recently to deserve that contract. Good teams don't spend money in the offseason on big name free agents.  Look at the Patriots.  They have drafted well over the past 8 years and made smart trades to get Welker and Moss, and they did great last year.  The Chargers did well drafting LT, Luis Castillo, Shawne Merriman, Antonio Cromartie, and signing Antonio Gates as an undrafted free agent.  The Giants drafted Corey Webster, Justin Tuck, Brandon Jacobs, Gibril Wilson, Osi Umenyiora, Michael Strahan, Ahmad Bradshaw, and made a draft day trade for Eli Manning.  All of these guys were key to the Super Bowl victory. My point is, signing big name players in free agency does not make a winner.  Sure, the good teams all have some players that were acquired through free agency.  The Colts have Adam Vinatieri.  The Patriots have Rodney Harrison.  The Giants have Plaxico Burress.  However, none of these teams have been out signing every big name free agent that comes their way.  That's what the Raiders do.  They get players like Javon Walker and suck.  Free agency is not the way to build a team.  Drafting well and making smart personnel moves is. So to sum it up, Mike Florio is as knowledgable as a five year old in Pakistan about the NFL and the game of football in general. Sat, 02 Aug 2008 18:56:34 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/299955 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/299955 Fantasy Sports Girl Katie checks out how the Super Bowl Champion New York giants are looking going into training camp this year. Fri, 01 Aug 2008 18:11:23 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/299580 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/299580 In the next installment of fantasy football strategy, Foxsports.com fantasy writer John Juhasz examines multiple scenarios for whether it's best to draft a running back or wide receiver in the third round. Wed, 30 Jul 2008 21:11:17 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/298384 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/298384 In our earlier article on breakout running backs we looked at statistics and used criterions to improve our chances of finding a breakout running back. In this article we looked at the candidates for 2008 and tell you which ones we believe are most likely to breakout and which are worth drafting based on their average draft position. Wed, 30 Jul 2008 06:09:50 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/297897 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/297897 A list of the top 40 fantasy NFL running backs heading into the 2008 season. Fri, 25 Jul 2008 13:22:04 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/295576 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/295576 The top 10 of high risk and high reward players looks at players who have great potential this season but who have either had injury problems in the past or whose role could be reduced this year. Find out who made our list. Thu, 24 Jul 2008 06:50:34 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/294779 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/294779 In 2007, not only did we see a rise in wide receiver production, which led to more depth at the position heading into 2008, we also saw a decline in everydown running backs. In fact, in '07 just 17 running backs topped the 1,000 rushing yard mark, while in 2006 we saw 23 different rushers achieve that feat. On the flip side, 23 wide receivers surpassed 1,000 receiving yards in '7, while just 19 went for over 1,000 yards in '06. With this in mind, we knew that the depth at the running back position would drop off after the 2nd round, so we went in targeting the best available option at the running back position. Plus, with the rapid growth in the Running Back By Committee approach in the NFL, we wanted to make sure that our top ball carrier was someone who is going to get 20+ touches per contest. To find out who Bruno Boys Fantasy Football took with their second pick, click below.... Tue, 22 Jul 2008 00:05:23 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/293615 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/293615 Fantasy football drafts are right around the corner, so who looks to be the hits and misses? This guide's a long read, but it's in-depth, and it channels the wayback machine for some who are older than they'd like to admit (or buy lots of old DVDs). Sat, 19 Jul 2008 14:36:53 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/292572 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/292572 We've done the Big Dog RBs and the Second Tier RBs, now it's time to look at the next wave of RBs. These are likely your #2 backs unless you opted to go QB or WR early (which isn't a bad idea). Willie Parker - Fast Willie piled on the yards last year (1316 to be exact), but didn't make many trips (2) to the endzone. I don't see Big Ben tossing as many TD passes next year so that number should go up. The problem I have with Willie is the drafting of Rashard Mendenhall. He scares me if I'm a Willie Parker owner. Jamal Lewis - Jamal had a terrific season (1552 total yards, 11 TDs) last year with Cleveland, but I just don't trust him to be my #1 RB. I expect their passing attack to take a step back next year, which will make it harder to run. Ryan Grant - Ryan Grant came in and answered Green Bay's prayers for some balance. Lost in the whole QB debate is whether or not Grant will be a fluke. If Rodgers struggles at QB, things could get difficult for Grant. I'd hate to pin my hopes on him. Maurice Jones-Drew/Fred Taylor - MJD gets the TDs. Fred Taylor gets the yards. Will the recipe be the same in Jacksonville next year? Most likely. They compliment each other so well. Unfortunately for fantasy owners it makes it difficult to rely on either one. Obviously I give MJD the edge because of his age and his ability to reach paydirt. Laurence Maroney - Did you see Maroney run in the playoffs? I'm sure the Patriot Coaches did. Heck, they probably even have video on it. Bad jokes aside, I see the Patriots running a more balanced attack next year. With the holes the passing game should open, Maroney should run wild. Ronnie Brown - Until he got hurt, Ronnie Brown was having one of the best years by any RB. Unfortunately he blew out his knee following an Interception (thanks Cleo Lemon) and will likely take a year or so to get back to form. Brandon Jacobs - Brandon Jacobs is a beast. He should have plenty of opportunity to score TDs. He needs to prove he can stay healthy. He'll likely have to share carries with some capable running mates. Edgerrin James - Edge had over 1400 total yards last year, but will turn the dreaded 30 next month. That usually doesn't go over very well for a Running Back. The Cards have two extraordinary WRs to keep defenses honest, but I'd be shocked if Edge replicates his 2007 campaign. Darren McFadden - This one is based on potential, but Run DMC sure seems to be this year's version of Adrian Peterson. I don't see him running for as many yards, or breaking any records, but I wouldn't be surprised in the least if he finished in top ten for RB fantasy scoring. Fri, 18 Jul 2008 10:34:08 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/292182 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/292182 With several New York Giants either receiving or demanding new contracts, it's caused quite a logjam for the defending Super Bowl champions. But which players deserve these extensions? Plaxico Burress certainly does, says Giants 101. But how about Brandon Jacobs? Fri, 18 Jul 2008 07:37:47 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/292103 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/292103 When we talk about players as being RB1 or RB2 caliber, we are not trying to confuse you. Okay. Okay. Well, maybe we are just a tiny bit, but that's a small satisfaction of mine. I have to compensate for all the spammy emails I get from Russia that make me feel "small," okay? There exists in the fantasy football lexicon a set of definitions that helps in classifying your expectation for players. These definitions break down the projected performance of a player over the course of a season. "RB2" is just one of many. Associating these tags with players on your cheat sheet -- maybe by tiering them off into RB1 and RB2 categories -- you can better prepare for the kind of team you want to build and better evaluate potential trades. Wed, 16 Jul 2008 16:24:33 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/291286 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/291286