With the trade down to in the first round, the Dirty Birds committed themselves to the air. They selected six receivers projected as the main pass catcher on their NFL teams: Andre Johnson, Roddy White, Dwayne Bowe, Malcolm Floyd, Laurent Robinson, and Jabar Gaffney. The problem is there's no real running back here, with Jamaal Charles, Marion Barber, and Cadillac Williams all filled with some question marks. And more importantly, can QB Matt Ryan evolve into a good fantasy player or will Ben Roethlisberger be called upon to save the day?
4. Department H (Mark)We actually kind of really like the mysterious Department H's core of Philip Rivers, Ray Rice, and Anquan Boldin. They are all going to be top tier players and the 2010 Ravens are said to be an offensive team finally. There a lot of WR potentials on the roster with Mike Wallace, Santonio Holmes, Devin Aromashodu, and Legedu Naanee but we think TE Vernon Davis will still be the best receiver after Boldin. The backfield is thin though, as Darren Sproles, Rashad Jennings, and Brian Westbrook aren't full time players and would be cause for concern if Rice goes down.
6. The Johnsons (Kevin)
This roster seems like a very complete one as there are quality backups and prospects at every position. Frank Gore is a stud, and Knoshown Moreno, Darren McFadden, and/or Fred Jackson should complement him well. The Johnsons are strong at receiver with Miles Austin, Hakeem Nicks, Kenny Britt, and Kellen Winslow. Matt Schaub won't likely ever need to come out of the lineup but Vince Young is a very capable backup. While some of these guys won't work out, enough of them should to emerge to give Kevin a very flexible team that might depend heavily on week to week matchups.
8. Inglorius Basterds (Mike)
Rolling the dice and trading up to nab Adrian Peterson was a calculated gamble but it could work out well. Behind Peterson is a large handful of timeshare RBs in Pierre Thomas, Laurence Maroney, Thomas Jones, and Chester Taylor. Mike did manage to draft a good selection of receivers to take the pressure off All Day (Greg Jennings, Wes Welker, Lee Evans, Chris Cooley) but who'll throw them the ball? Is Kevin Kolb as good as he's been touted, or will sophomore Mark Sanchez have to come off the bench and save the day? Can a Bruin really rely on a Trojan at any point in the season? Probably not I say.
10. Alberto's El Nino's (Hong)That's two possessive apostrophes in one team name; it's a Mexican joint in Poway's crazy weather's something basically. Hong's team is devoid of tight ends or John Carney but he's assembled quite the crew. Running backs Michael Turner and Joseph Addai are solid starters. QBs Carson Palmer and Donovan McNabb are fading but could still have one more good season. And Larry Fitzgerald, Hines Ward, Pierre Garcon, and Derrick Mason let the El Nino's go run-and-gun if they want. There's even a LaDainian Tomlinson sighting here! And who doesn't fear Devin Hester as a kick returner?
12. Ben Coates All-Stars (Andy)
Basically I wrote all these team synopses so that I could get to Andy's. There's going to be three TEs on this roster and while that may sound crazy, it's hard to argue with Antonio Gates, Jermichael Finley, and Brent Celek. Okay, maybe Celek. But we're hoping Andy drafts another TE so he can go run-and-tight sometime this season. There is a really strong running game here with DeAngelo Williams, Shonn Greene, Arian Foster, and possibly Donald Brown. It may sound crazy that Eli Manning is actually good but in 2009 he was a 4000+ yard passer and may have hit a new tier as a fantasy quarterback. Oh right, and he has a championship. Gag.
14. Ron Artest Was Lucky (Rollen)
A fellow Wolverine, either Rollen or I were destined to draft Tom Brady. We'd like to see him drop David Garrard for Chad Henne to really commit to school pride. Rollen does have WR Mario Manningham as a sleeper though, and he might sneak into the starting lineup alongside Mike Sims-Walker, Santana Moss, Bernard Berrian, Josh Cribs, and Devery Henderson. We don't see a lot of difference between most of those guys so it could be Mario time soon. We think Rollen got the two next big things in RBs with Rashard Mendenhall and Beanie Wells. If one of them can't break out in a feature role, Ronnie Brown is on hand to lend his veteran presence.
