akaoni

Both are great backs coming out of college, but I think that their value this year mainly rests in the folks they're backing up. Both Foster and Dillon have had some injury problems, but I think that most would agree with saying that Foster is probably the more fragile back. Corey sounds like he's on a bit of a mission this year, but his running was subpar at best last year. Maroney might get some touches, but it will likely be a RBBC situation. Plus, since Belichick games the injury listings so much, you never know who's starting week to week anyway, you'll never know if Dillon or Maroney will be starting, it's just a major headache. So I'll take DeAngelo on those facts alone. Foster's just more likely to go down giving Williams a chance to shine. Additionally, when you factor talent into the equation, I think it swings even farther in Williams' direction...

Certianly, Evans has upside, he had upside last year, and performed better the 2nd half of last year. But there are two problems I think that Lee will have to deal with. 1) (as noted in above posts) No QB. If they can't get him the ball, then his upside is pretty much wasted. That said, a WR can still put up some numbers with a garbage QB, Chris Chambers comes to mind here... 2) Maybe more significantly, Lee has never had to shoulder the load as a #1 reciever, with Moulds gone, he'll see double coverage more often, and should see tougher coverage this year. I don't trust Price, Reed, Parish, et. al. to take much heat away from him. This might take some time for him to adjust to, leading possibly to a similar performance to last year. Still, I think he'll be stepping up moderately, and should make a good #3 fantasy WR, or maybe a serviceable #2, with some improved QB play.

First post to the forums here. So last year I entered a league with an interesting scoring system for D/ST. TDs=8pts, Fumb/Int=2, Safeties=3, and sacks=1 pt., that’s fairly standard as far as I know, but points allowed is where it gets interesting. Our league scores negative points for points allowed, so a D/ST unit that gives up 28 points while netting 2 sacks and 1 t.o. will yield a total of -24 points! Needless to say, this scoring system makes D/ST units more than just an afterthought, since a bad day on defense can cost you a game easily. Last year I underestimated the value of D in our league, preferring to wait until the later rounds to draft my D/ST units, and it cost me a number of games during the season. So two questions for the wise and worldly commentators on this board: 1) What do you think of this scoring system? and 2) With this scoring system in mind, who would you rank as the top D/ST units? Thanks, akaoni

Actually, it was a she, and she also had the Indy D, which did well in our scoring system, but her team was crazy. Rudy in the 1st, Gates in the 2nd...etc. Her offensive players were for the most part unimpressive, but she won alot of games with D. Eventually she missed the playoffs by a by the slimmest of margins. As to the team who won, although they were the weakest team in the playoffs as far as record, they had the Pittsburg and Cinci Ds. They had a super hot playoff run though, and knocked off the top two teams to win the championship...

We score -30 pts. straight up if you don't start a defense, or have a D starting during its bye week. Although a defense can score more than -30, they really have to work at it...

I'd love to draft Chicago's D/ST, but since we have lot's of Bears fans in my league, Chicago players almost always go earlier than they should. Last year the the Bears' D/ST went in the 4th, and it will probably go that early again. I'm not willing to draft a D that early, even with the lessons of last season still fresh in my mind. I was thinking that Seattle's D might be a good pick, they were better last year and have improved in the off season, plus, thier schedule looks like a cake walk... Anyway, thanks for the comment.