Marc Bulger - Steppin Up or Steppin Down?

[Kilroy 0]

Marc Bulger enters his seventh season in the NFL after being selected in the 6th round of the 2000 draft by the New Orleans Saints. After signing with the Rams in the 2001 offseason, it was only a year later that the then third string quaterback found himself starting in place of an injured Kurt Warner and Jamie Martin. Bulger made the most of his oppurtunity that year and after Kurt Warner made it through the 2003 opener with what was believed to be a concussion, Bulger took over in Week 2 and hasn't looked back since.

 

While playing in Mike Martz' system the past four seasons, Bulger has managed to post some impressive totals. His first two years starting for the Rams he threw for over 7800 hundred yards and completed an impressive 65% of his passes. He was on pace to set a career high for himself in both yards and touchdowns thrown last season before missing the better part of the year with an injured right shoulder.

 

Entering the 2006 season, Bulger no longer finds himself playing in the heavily pass oriented offense Mike Martz was accustomed to. Instead, he'll be playing for first year head coach Scott Linehan who comes from Miami where he worked as Nick Saban's offensive coordinator during the 2005 season. Prior to that he worked on Mike Tice's staff in the same capacity from 2002-2004. During those seasons Linehan helped make the Vikings one of the best offensive teams in the league and in his one season in Miami he helped wide receiver Chris Chambers on his way to his first thousand yard season.

 

While it's true that Martz' offense lended itself to producing big numbers in the passing game, Linehan knows how to run a more balanced attack that makes both the pass and the run more efficient. With the talent already in place on the Rams offense, St. Louis should remain as potent a scoring threat under Linehan as it was under Martz.

 

Will Bulger be able to digest Linehan's system his first year running it, or is he a QB that has been more or less a product of Martz' system and the talent surrounding him, which will ultimately lead to a dissapointing outing from the six year vet this season?

[Guest fantasyfreak64]

i want him in the 5th round and i'm hoping he'll be awesome

[Kilroy 0]

i want him in the 5th round and i'm hoping he'll be awesome

 

I'd like to grab him a little later than the 5th, but I think he'll have a lot of things in place to put together a great season.

[redtodd 7]

He will be of great value.

[akaoni 0]

I say stepping down. I just don't trust that shoulder. Hasn't he injured it two years in a row now? Admittedly, if they run more he should be hit less, but I think his shoulder's toast. Add that to the new system and I think I'm passing on Bulger.

[SoloMatisse 0]

I think youve gotta be crazy to expect Bulger to hold up an entire year, or for longer than 7 or 8 weeks, once their schedule becomes brutal, but he'll contribute to many teams making the playoffs this year with his early season performance, imo. But if you draft Bulger, just make sure you get a solid backup or 2 for the playoff drive in case Bulger's not around. On a per game basis, Bulger will again be top 5 this year.

[thebook 1]

With Bulger, it's all about staying healthy. If he can last through the season, he can easily be a top-5 QB with the weapons he has around him (Holt, Bruce, K.Curtis, S.Jackson, etc.).

 

I took him in Round 5 last year and was happy until the Monday Night Game when he tried to tackle someone with a shoulder-charge after an INT. His fragile nature would make me take him no sooner than Round 7-8 this time around. The loss of Martz should also raise the run:pass ratio.

[HeirCoryell 0]

Will Bulger be able to digest Linehan's system his first year running it,

 

If Culpepper could digest it and even thrive in that system, so could a chimp. I love Bulger and all those weapons in the new system and don't think they will have any problem running it at all. The injury concerns seem to very legitimate though. Without the injury concerns I'd take him late third to early fourth round. With the injury concerns, I think I am looking more along the lines of the fifth round and later

[RamslovaMartzhata 3]

While people are rightfully concerned about Bulger's shoulder, I do have to say that Martz did seem to have a problem in leaving QB's vulnerable. I have to thnk that Linehan will do a better job protecting the QB... if at the very least with the emphasis in the run game.

 

Bulger has got the skills... he is incredibly accurate and can make the throws, and (the couple of years before last) he even surprisingly has some good rushing TD numbers... but he is questionable as far as he will come back from his latest injury. Still though, I like Linehan's track record and him as a coach so I am going to biasedly say steppin up.

[Belushi 9]

Stepping dow. Or at least side-ways. I don't see him holding up for the whole year, and I'm not sure that it wasn't just Martz that made him look good. In any case, I don't see that passing less will help his stats at all. It may keep him healthier, but I don't see him lasting a full season. I don't think he's ever thrown more than 22 TD's in a season. I can't see him surpassing that this season.

[HawgWild 0]

Injuries are a concern (as they are with everyone) but I say stepping up!! Just too many good weapons to work with...

[Byars41 0]

DOWN

 

too many injury questions and i'm not sure what the Rams O will look like w/out Martz. i expect them to commit to the run alot more. that may keep Bulger healthy but it will hurt his #'s too. i still like Bulger for fantasy just not as much as before.

[Polamalu43 0]

I say steppin up based on the added emphasis on keeping the QB on his feet in Linehan's system. A balanced offense should help as well keeping drives going. Frerotte had a decent year in Miami in that system, so I'd guess Bulger would do even better with the cast he has around him.

[Kilroy 0]

I say steppin up based on the added emphasis on keeping the QB on his feet in Linehan's system. A balanced offense should help as well keeping drives going. Frerotte had a decent year in Miami in that system, so I'd guess Bulger would do even better with the cast he has around him.

 

 

I'm thinking along the same lines you are.

[RamslovaMartzhata 3]

Marc Bulger is going to throw for 5000 yards

[cherry garcia 0]

Steppin up.

 

For all the reasons mentioned above and all the guy really has to do is stay healthy to put up some very good ff numbers.And with his injury last yr and the pass happy Martz gone in favor of a more balanced attack with their new guy I think he could be a real steal in the 5th rd or so.

[larrymcirish 0]

Same old, same old. "If he stays healthy he will do very well". This would not be my opinion at rb or wr but at qb, there are plenty of qb's available to get a quality #2. I'd take Bulger, knowing I'd get a good #2 & hope for the best. If he doesn't get nailed, bonus. I don't know where I draft yet but I have Bulger @ the #10 qb on my list.

[Raider 84 29]

24-26 tds. Hopefully 15 to Holt! Still a great value pick for Bulger.

[Marshall_Law 0]

Same old, same old. "If he stays healthy he will do very well". This would not be my opinion at rb or wr but at qb, there are plenty of qb's available to get a quality #2. I'd take Bulger, knowing I'd get a good #2 & hope for the best. If he doesn't get nailed, bonus. I don't know where I draft yet but I have Bulger @ the #10 qb on my list.

 

#10?!? It's safe to say that you will not be getting Bulger then. I don't know how you can say that there are plenty of QBs to get a solid #2, and that you would be willing to gamble on Bulger, then say he is your #10 QB? Saying you would take Bulger as the #10 QB is like saying you will take LT as the #6 RB, it ain't gonna happen.

[Gepetto 989]

He'll be top 5.

 

Hasselbeck is the QB that's overated this year.

 

Check their ff ppg and you'll understand.

[32383 0]

Bulger is going back up. He'll be a great value pick in the middle rounds and a very solid # 2 QB. He has the potential and the weapons to be a solid # 1 QB IF he can stay healthy. folks that draft him this year will be pleasantly surprised and glad you did. IMHO

[ellisonb11 0]

Bulger is going back up. He'll be a great value pick in the middle rounds and a very solid # 2 QB. He has the potential and the weapons to be a solid # 1 QB IF he can stay healthy. folks that draft him this year will be pleasantly surprised and glad you did. IMHO

 

itll be very tough to draft him as a #2 QB, and if u do u will be lacking depth at other positions.

[SoloMatisse 0]

I think this thread should be appropriately titled "Standing Up or Falling Down". If Bulger stands up more than he falls down, he'll blow up. Id expect some pretty respectable #s from him in the way of 3800yds and 24TDs and about 15INTs. Giving him credit for a full season. Hopefully, his line will protect him better this year and the Defense will help keep the Rams in games to the point that they wont abandon the run.

 

 

 

By the way, I did just draft Bulger as the 10th QB in a 12 team league, so people are obviously undervaluing him a bit right now....and I cant say that I blame them. There are alot of variables to consider, but I was thankful to get him so late.....mid 7th round.

[Kilroy 0]

By the way, I did just draft Bulger as the 10th QB in a 12 team league, so people are obviously undervaluing him a bit right now....and I cant say that I blame them. There are alot of variables to consider, but I was thankful to get him so late.....mid 7th round.

 

I think you got a steal there. I'm not surprised that he would slip to the 10th QB off the board, but I'd probably have him ranked right around #5 and hope that I could get him in the 7th round like you did.

[Swagger 0]

I say stepping down. I just don't trust that shoulder. Hasn't he injured it two years in a row now? Admittedly, if they run more he should be hit less, but I think his shoulder's toast. Add that to the new system and I think I'm passing on Bulger.

 

One of those injuries was from a stupid mistake, so the injury bug could have been AVOIDED last year. Still has a some of the best WRs to throw to.

[Nasboat 0]

Let's keep in mind that Scott Linehan is the man behind arguably the two best seasons of Daunte Culpepper's career, including one in which he would've been league MVP were it not for Manning breaking the TD record.

 

Linehan will be calling the plays on offense and will obviously have a huge hand in things even as the head man in charge in St. Louis, so I look for Bulger to similarly thrive. The one negative with Linehan when he was in Minnesota is that he didn't run the ball enough at the goal line (save for Moe's double-digit TD season), which could hurt owners of Steven Jackson but mean even GREATER things for Bulger owners.

 

I took Bulger in the sixth in a recent draft of mine, then picked up Leftwich as a back-up. I'm feeling pretty comfortable at this point.

[9-Route 0]

everyone thinks linehan will make him an elite qb. he will be good, but he wont post upper elite stats. the guy cant stay healthy for 16 games (his shoulder is like papier mache`); thus, his 270yd/gm avg looks nice, but always translates to ~3800-3900yds, not the 4300+ mark. he has posted 21, 21, and 14 tds the past 3 yrs despite their high pass attempts, and they look very committed to running jackson.

 

he'll be the same(~3800-3900yds, 23tds, 14ints) or maybe even lower (due to more run-pass balance).

 

so steppin nowhere (for poll purposes, steppin down).