Buddha's Dirty Dozens

Here we are in late July, on the precipice of training camp for all 32 NFL franchises, so it's time for some initial rankings. Since it is still early, I'll offer up just a tease over the course of this weekend. My Top 12 players overall and at each glorious fantasy relevant position will be revealed. So here, without further ado, is how a typical 12-team league's first round would play out if I were picking for each spot.

1)RB Adrian Peterson, Vikings-No shock here. None whatsoever. For all you contrarians out there, just stop and ask yourself one question. Do you really want to be the guy who had the first overall pick and passed on Purple Jesus the year that he set the NFL's all-time single season yardage record? If you answer yes to that question, please send me your e-mail address and I'll invite you to participate in one of my leagues. I love taking money from people who can't even get out of their own way. Don't overthink it. Peterson is a 2,000 yard bomb just waiting to explode and season three for him seems as good a time as any.

2)RB Maurice Jones-Drew, Jaguars-The numbers are clear. In his first three seasons, MoJo has only had the pleasure of playing four games without sharing the load with the artist formerly known as "Fragile" Fred Taylor. The results in those games? Try an average of 100 yards per game rushing in addition to all the wonderful peripherals that Jones-Drew brings to the table. The Jags believe that the kid from UCLA can do it on an every down basis and you should too. Expect over 1,800 total yards and 15 TD's in 2009. If that's not enough for you from a RB1, then you're just too greedy for your own good.

3)RB Matt Forte, Bears-He was a stud from the first moment he touched an NFL field and he never looked back. Don't anticipate a sophomore slump for Forte. His reception numbers could slip a little because his new QB is much more aggressive downfield, but expect more holes at the line of scrimmage and better rushing numbers as a result of Jay Cutler's presence. And there's more room for improvement at the goal line for this second year star from Tulane. Forte should continue trending up at the same time many former fantasy stalwarts are trending down.

4)RB Michael Turner, Falcons-Last year's carries are a red flag(not to mention an expanded role for Jerious Norwood). Only one guy, LaDainian Tomlinson, has avoided a slip in numbers the year following a 370+ attempt season. L.T.'s greatness aside, don't be overly concerned about Turner in '09. After backing up in San Diego for so long, the Burner should have plenty of tread still left on his tires and a slight drop in production would still keep him among the elite guys in all of fantasy football.

5)RB Frank Gore, 49ers-Call this one more of a gut call. But a Buddha gut is a prodigious gut and one you should listen to. His three year averages are 1,700+ total yards, 7 TD's, and 52 receptions(for you PPR guys). Not exactly shabby. Gore typically gets overlooked as a result of playing in San Fran. This season, however, being a 49er works in his favor. Mike Singletary is dedicated to the run and has a very solid offensive line in front of Gore. Add in six games versus the weak NFC West and you have the recipe for a breakout year.

6)QB Drew Brees, Saints-I normally always encourage the drafting of running backs at all costs in the first round, but not this year. The proliferation of running back by committee situations around the NFL combined with so many aging former superstars at the RB position has led me to rethink that old strategy. Brees is as close to a sure thing as there is on the board at six. Just look back at my blog and read "The Case for Drew Brees."

7)WR Randy Moss, Patriots-Surely you haven't forgotten 2007 already? That season "The Freak" finished second in fantasy value behind only, mama there goes that man, LaDainian Tomlinson. Tom Brady plus Randy Moss equalled 98 catches for 1,493 yards and an NFL record 23 TD's that year. Coming off a disappointing '08 due to Brady's injury, I expect Moss to vault back to the top of the wide receiver rankings upon reuniting with Mr. Gisele Bundchen in 2009. Twenty TD's may be pushing it, but I think fifteen is a lock along with 1,300 yards. I shouldn't have to tell you, but that's better than almost every RB you could draft at this point.

8)WR Larry Fitzgerald, Cardinals-I'm in the overwhelming minority here. Lesbian chic has nothing on Fitz as your number one wideout. Everybody's doing it. It's not like I'm anti-Fitzgerald. More like I'm pro-Moss. Randy's ceiling is higher than Larry's and it's just that simple. And you don't get any of those absurd playoff numbers Fitzgerald put up in that memorable Cardinals' Super Bowl run either. But you should be able to bank on another 1,300 yards and double digit touchdowns.

9)WR Andre Johnson, Texans-Welcome to 2009. It's a time when locking up a solid number one WR is more important than ever due to the lack of guaranteed contributors at the position. As I've mentioned, RBBC's are everywhere these days and the savvy fantasy owner knows he/she can get better value at RB late in the draft than they can at wide receiver. AJ is every bit the player of the two guys preceeding him on the list and it's time for him to become the red zone beast he was born to be. Pray for the health of Matt Schaub if you draft Johnson, though.

10)RB Steve Slaton, Texans-Another second year RB in the Top 10? Yup. It's a transition year at the top and these things happen. Even more surprising is that Little Stevie is the second Texan in the first round. Houston's front office has done a great job recently and Slaton is just the latest example. The former third round pick from West Virginia burst onto the scene by tallying over 1,600 total yards and 10 TD's in 15 games as a rookie. You can take him here(or even a little higher if you don't like WR's) and feel safe because of how well his skill-set fits with the other talented players surrounding him on an underrated offensive team in Houston.

11)RB LaDainian Tomlinson, Chargers-As draft time nears, I find myself coming back around on L.T. Not all the way, mind you, but at least to the point that he appears to be a viable low-end RB1 and worth a late first round selection. Take a look back at his 2008 season. 1,536 total yards. 12 TD's. Another 50+ reception season. Was it really that bad? He almost singlehandedly won me a league in the rarest of all birds, a Week 17 Super Bowl. Tomlinson's three touchdown game vs. Denver may have been tough for many of you who had already been eliminated to watch, but it was downright redemptive for me. Another year like '08 is conceivable for this all-time great fantasy performer.

12)RB Steven Jackson, Rams-While he could easily outperform this ranking, I know he's burned many of you over the past two seasons and, more importantly, plays for a very weak St. Louis Rams team in the midlle of a massive rebuild. On a positive note, the team drafted a potential star at left tackle in Jason Smith from Baylor and seems dedicated to Jackson being the centerpiece of the offense. S-Jax is going to have some rough weeks, but the good should outweigh the bad and he should make a strong push for 1,600 total yards and 10 TD's in 2009.

Keep checking back over the next couple of days for more of my Dirty Dozens. Hasta la vista everyone.

UFC 100 Predictions

On the eve of the greatest single card in the history of mixed martial arts, UFC 100, I've decided to put in my two cents and try my hand picking winners. After spending roughly $2,000 of my hard earned money on pay per views and consuming as much MMA as one can possibly ingest over the last four years, I feel qualified to at least speculate on this weekend's winners. Please feel free to let me know if you disagree with me. After all, that's part of what makes the sport so much fun. Anybody who steps into the octagon has a chance to win at any time.

I'll refrain from picking the undercard matches, although I am very interested in almost all of them. Hopefully, we'll see some quick endings in some of the televised fights and get an opportunity to catch a couple of these "dark" matches. Stephan Bonnar vs. Mark Coleman is a match up of two guys both fighting to stay relevant and maintain their UFC contracts. Jon Jones(vs. Jake O'Brien) and C.B. Dollaway(vs. Tom Lawlor) are two young rising stars looking to continue climbing the ranks while Ultimate Fighter 6 champion, Mac Danzig, will be hoping to get back on track after consecutive losses in the underrated UFC lightweight division to Josh Neer and Clay Guida. He'll be facing off against another tough and relentless submission fighter Jim Miller. T.J. Grant vs. Dong Hyun Kim has the potential to be very entertaining while the Matt Grice/Shannon Gugerty fight is ostensibly a throw away.

As far as the televised card, each and every one of these fights should be highly entertaining. Leading off will be American wrestler/muay thai fighter Jon Fitch against the undefeated Brazilian, Paulo Thiago. Thiago dispatched Fitch's American Kickboxing Academy teammate, Josh Koscheck, with a surprising first round KO in his last fight while Fitch got right versus Akihiro Gono at UFC 94 after losing a certified war to 170 lb. UFC champion Georges St-Pierre eleven months ago. My opinion is that Jon Fitch is still no worse than the number three welterweight in the world(behind only St-Pierre and Nick Diaz) and he should hand Paulo Thiago his first professional loss in a three round decision, controlling the match with his superior grappling.

Match two is between middleweights Yoshihiro Akiyama and Alan Belcher. Both fighters claim a victory over Denis Kang in the last two years and both were by stoppage, KO for Akiyama and submission for Belcher. In terms of skill, I believe Akiyama is the better of the two fighters. However, ring rust(he last fought 10 months ago) and a long history of fighters from Japan coming over to the UFC and struggling leads me to favor Belcher in this one. I look for him to outwork his older opponent, taking advantage of his octagon experience, and, in a bit of a surprise, submit Akiyama in the second round.

Fight number three on the main card is HUGE and could be a headliner on many UFC shows. Former PRIDE middleweight and light heavyweight champion Dan Henderson finally faces off at 185 with the great British hope, Michael Bisping. I say finally because both men coached the last installment of The Ultimate Fighter and it seems like this one's been building forever. I just don't see Bisping standing a chance in this fight. On the feet. On the ground. It doesn't matter where this one goes, "Hendo" should have the adavantage. Expect to see that big right hand of Henderson's on display in a first round knockout for the American.

Now for the co-main event. The aforementioned Georges "Rush" St-Pierre taking on Thiago "Pitbull" Alves. The all around French-Canadian UFC champ vs. the #1 ranked Brazilian challenger. It's not too often that St-Pierre steps into the octagon as the physically smaller man. But in this fight, that's exactly the case. Alves is a stocky beast who, by fight time, could weigh as much as 190 pounds. He'll be looking to stand up with the champ and attempt to use his size advantage in the "ground and pound" when the fight goes to the mat. Ahhh, best laid plans. There is a reason why St-Pierre is viewed as possibly the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world. His game has no holes and he has seemingly been stronger than every man he has ever faced. As a wrestler, he may be the absolute best the UFC has to offer, despite having no formal competitive background in the sport. Add it all up and you get a champ so dominant in his division that his next fight, barring a Fitch rematch, could well be a catchweight fight with UFC middleweight champion Anderson "Spider" Silva. My prediction for this one, however, is that Alves comes out too aggressive, wears himself down and gets stopped by St-Pierre either by TKO or submission in the second round.

Finally, the heavyweight main event. The rematch between UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar and interim heavyweight champion Frank Mir. Both of these guys have looked unstoppable since their last match up and have done plenty of talking leading up to this one. On paper, you have to like Mir because of his experience and his high level jiu jitsu. Brock Lesnar doesn't fight on paper though. Lesnar is a man who was put on this Earth to fight. Nothing else. He's an annihilator of men who, Joe Rogan stated correctly, would be the alpha dog regardless of what era in mankind's history he existed. It just so happens that he exists now and, just as it was for future UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture, that's a bad thing for Frank Mir this Saturday in Las Vegas. I see this fight going much the same as their fight at UFC 81, with one major difference. This time Lesnar finishes what he started and doesn't sloppily leave himself open to another one of Mir's submissions. Don't blink during this one, folks. Otherwise, you could miss the human tidal wave known as Brock Lesnar knocking out Frank Mir in the first round.

There you are. Those are my bold predictions for what we can only hope will be the most awesome night of mixed martial arts we have ever collectively witnessed. UFC 100 may or may not live up to all that hype but, either way, I appreciate the job that both Dana White and Joe Silva have done in putting together this card. It's one for the ages and we'd expect no less from the best guys in the business.

It's Time for Two Greats to Hang 'em Up

In honor of UFC 100 this Saturday in Las Vegas, I decided to give you guys some good old fashioned mixed martial arts. And, before you get cranky and dismiss this post out of hand because of the headline, I want you all to understand how difficult this one is to write. Matt Hughes and Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell are two of my favorite athletes, not just MMA fighters. They have both been pivotal figures in bringing mixed martial arts, the Ultimate Fighting Championship in particular, into mainstream culture and have helped grow the sport to the point that it can now reasonably claim a popularity on the level of anything short of football here in North America. But the time has come for both of these UFC icons to say goodbye. For the sake of their legacies and their own personal health.

Compared to the average human, Matt Hughes and Chuck Liddell(at ages 35 and 39 respectively) are still far superior in terms of physical conditioning, toughness, and fighting ability. However, when you compare both fighters to many of their peers they have now begun to fall short on ability. The fitness is still there and they may both be tougher now than they've ever been, but Hughes and Liddell have both shown tangible signs that age is catching up with them while the next generation of MMA fighters has closed the gap talent-wise and turned mixed martial arts into one discipline. No longer do the best fighters specialize in one particular aspect(striking, wrestling, and jiu jitsu) but, rather, the sport has become an amalgam of all three. Basically, the skill set of MMA's rising stars is now greater and more well-rounded than that of most of the sport's aging greats and, as such, it is becoming more and more dangerous for these older stars to continue their careers.

Matt Hughes doesn't owe anyone a single thing. Not Dana White. Not the UFC. Not even his fans. He has, in his illustrious fifty fight career(43 wins, 7 losses), taken on all comers and and dispatched them with equal aplomb via submission and knockout. A quick look back at his resume shows victories over the greatest fighters that mixed martial arts has had to offer in the welterweight division. Gracie. Sakurai. St-Pierre. Penn. Newton. Serra. And the list goes on. But we've seen a decline. Ever so slight, but a decline nonetheless. Hughes seems to lack the supreme confidence he once beamed with. To watch him as he approaches the octagon these days is like watching a man trying to convince himself that he is still Matt Hughes and he is still the greatest ever at 170 pounds. Sadly to no avail. With three losses and two lackluster performances in his last five fights, Hughes has shown that all those punches, all those kicks, and all those rounds have taken their toll. His instincts and fierce competitive nature carried him through the first round of his last fight with long-time rival Matt Serra and allowed him to return to his wrestling roots just enough in the second and third rounds to pull out the victory. It wasn't impressive like Hughes had wanted and it was, instead, a glaring example of why Hughes should call it quits and focus on his family, his god, and his MMA school.

Known worldwide as "The Iceman", Chuck Liddell has also had a storied career. His larger than life persona gave the UFC a crossover superstar upon whom they could build their brand and garner the kind of exposure it takes for a sport to go from being considered "underground" to selling approximately 5 million pay per view buys in 2008. At $54.95 a pop, that's a pretty penny for the Fertitta Brothers and Dana White and millions upon millions of eyeballs on the sport of mixed martial arts every month. Liddell, just like Matt Hughes, has taken on anyone who dared step into the cage with him and, in spite of losses in four of his last five, sports a 21-7 career record. A junior college wrestler prior to first stepping into the octagon at UFC 17, he has been a dominant stand-up fighter for years. A counter puncher par excellence whose style has always been a crowd pleaser. Knockout victories over legendary tough guys like Randy Couture, Wanderlei Silva, Tito Ortiz, and Babalu Sobral cemented his status as one of the most feared men in the world. Chuck reveled in his image and even played it up in television(HBO's Entourage) and movie appearances. Critics will say that his partying lifestyle and his rise to megastardom led Liddell to this crossroad in his career. I choose to disagree. I believe that regardless what you do, time stands still for no man. Not even an "Iceman." Given the vicious knockouts he has suffered versus Shogun Rua and Rashad Evans in his last two fights, it looks likely that Chuck Liddell just doesn't have it anymore. The visceral fan in me longs for the excitement of another Liddell victory like the one at UFC 79 versus Silva. But the practical fan in me can't stomach the thought of another nauseating knockout loss for one of my all-time faves when he is clearly past his prime.

Matt Hughes will be remembered for his incredible dominance over so many years and evolution from wrestler to high level submission fighter. Chuck Liddell will always be "The Iceman." A man with rare one-punch knockout acumen in both hands and unmatched marketability who carried his sport to new heights of popularity. Both men were champions and both should always be on the short list of the best fighters all-time in their weight classes. There should be a special place in the UFC Hall of Fame for Mr. Hughes and Mr. Liddell when they are finally done. Sooner or later. We should all just hope that it comes sooner because later may be too late.

Where in the World is DeAngelo Williams?

Those of you who read my Drew Brees submission the other day may have been wondering why there was no mention of Carolina Panthers running back DeAngelo Williams. Surely, you thought, there was some kind of mistake. Buddha, you just forgot D-Will...right? Wrong. I didn't mention Williams because I don't buy into him and I don't recommend you get involved with him as anything more than a fantasy RB2 this year. If you expect another season like '08, you definitely have another thing coming. Here's why:

1)The Spike.

Last year was an "according to Hoyle" aberration from DeAngelo Williams. The 1,636 total yards and 20 TD's registered by him was a career-best spike to match all career-best spikes. And don't forget about the insane 5.5 yards per carry either. To put it in perspective, Jim Brown only averaged 5.2 ypc for his career and LaDainian Tomlinson's career best ypc average is 5.3 in 2003. Obviously, Williams' ridiculous numbers came completely out of nowhere and, it stands to reason, any sane prognosticator should expect a return to normalcy in 2009. What would normalcy look like? Best case, 1,200 total yards and 10 TD's. Worst case(aside from injury), 900 total and 6 TD's. Keep in mind that Williams' first two seasons combined yielded only 1,704 yards and 7 TD's. Odds are DeAngelo Williams regresses to the mean and puts up second round numbers, at best, this season.

2)The Time Share.

Ahhh. Yes. The competition. Young Mr. Stewart. He of the 893 yards and 9 TD's as a rookie in 2008. The human bowling ball with arguably the best stiff arm in the NFL and all the tools to be a Pro-Bowler. Jonathan Stewart got roughly 40% of the carries in Carolina last year and did nothing to lead anyone to believe that number will slip back this year. In fact, at 235 pounds and with the strength he possesses, Stewart is much more suited to goal line duty than Williams. It's totally reasonable to expect more opportunities for J-Stew when the Panthers are threatening in the upcoming season. I'm not suggesting that Stewart wins the job outright or even that he gains a 50/50 split in carries, just that he improves on his rookie numbers while DeAngelo inevitably slides back. Bottom line, you'll be able to snag Stewart in the 5th round or beyond and possibly get decent RB2 numbers while Williams will cost you a mid to late first-rounder and give you only slightly better production.

3)The QB Situation.

Last season, Jake Delhomme was a below average quarterback on and above average team. Plain and simple. A below 60% completion percentage. Barely a 1 to 1 TD to interception rate. And a pedestrian 3,288 passing yards. At times his play was acceptable and at other times he downright atrocious. Look no further than his 6 INT playoff performance against a Cardinals D that didn't exactly strike fear into the hearts of their opponents. This season, you should expect defensive coordinators all around the NFL to have studied the film of that game and poured over it as they come up with ways to try to slow down the Carolina rushing attack and put the pressure squarely on Delhomme to win games. This, too, should lead to a natural regression for the Panthers' lead back as he faces many more eight and, possibly, nine man fronts.

My recommendation to you is don't believe the hype surrounding DeAngelo Williams and be smart when your draft or auction rolls around. View him as no higher than the 14th rated running back and 21st overall player this season. If I were you, I'd gladly let that gentleman in the middle of the first round take Williams off the board while I stayed relaxed, kept my composure, and let the Frank Gores, Steve Slatons, and Brandon Jacobs' of the world fall to me. Also, don't be afraid to select a QB or wideout with one of your first two picks. This WR pool is more shallow and riskier than past seasons while you should be able to find plenty of capable RB's late due to the abundance of running back by committee situations in the NFL. Or, if you're extremely daring, you could go WR-WR in the first two rounds. That, however, is another discussion for another day.

Air McNair Will Be Missed

When I first heard about the shooting death of Steve McNair yesterday, I couldn't help but think back. I remembered how people questioned if this kid from Alcorn State could take his game to the next level. They wondered if the then Houston Oilers had made a mistake by drafting McNair with the 3rd overall pick in the 1995 NFL Draft. The questions lingered, too, for exactly one and three-quarter seasons. That was when head coach Jeff Fisher committed to his second year QB and didn't look back. In his four 1996 starts(along with bits and pieces of five other games), McNair put up a modest 1,197 yards passing accompanied by 169 yards rushing and a total of 8 TD's. What caught my eye, from a fantasy football perspective, was his 62% completion rate and his 2 TD's for every 1 interception thrown. I was also very intrigued by his rushing potential. Overall, you could paint me impressed.

When the 1997 fantasy football season rolled around, I was beginning to get really serious about the game and had put together a local "buddy" league that is actually still in existence and better than ever today. I officially had the bug. I went into that season's draft focused on grabbing a running back early and getting top quality at wide receiver, as well. I took Jerome Bettis fifth overall and wound up with Tim Brown, Rob Moore, and Andre Rison at WR. I'd been eyeing both Mark Brunell and McNair and was ecstatic when I was able to grab both of them and build what turned out to be my first championship winning squad. I recall many things about that campaign, but my fondest memories are of watching the man called "Air" rumble for almost 700 yards and 8 TD's on the ground. As you all surely know, that kind of rushing production from a fantasy QB is gold. Gold, Jerry. Gold!

As the years went by, Steve McNair developed into a great NFL quarterback and an even better leader. He guided the Tennessee Titans to Super Bowl XXXIV, made three Pro Bowls, and was named co-NFL Most Valuable Player(along with Peyton Manning) in 2003. When he retired a Baltimore Raven following the 2007 season, McNair was one of only three QB's in NFL history to have thrown for over 30,000 yards and rushed for over 3,500 yards in his career. The other two? Hall of Famers Fran Tarkenton and Steve Young. But despite all these achievements, Steve LaTreal McNair will be remembered for his toughness and being responsible for finally rendering the term "black quarterback" obsolete and helping to usher in acceptance of quarterbacks regardless of the color of their skin.

McNair's toughness is absolutely legendary today. Ask any Titans or Ravens fan. They all have a story about a particular game that big #9 wasn't supposed to even suit up for, yet he ended up willing his team to victory. Ask any player who ever stood in the huddle with McNair. They'll tell you he was as tough a football player, not just QB, as anyone they ever played with. His toughness became his trademark, and he wore it as a badge of honor until the injuries mounted and mounted and finally forced his retirement.

More important than Steve McNair's toughness was the impact he had on the game of football, in general. When he was drafted, it was unheard of for a "black quarterback" to be selected that high. Prior to 1995, the only "black quarterbacks" to have really made a name for themselves were Doug Williams, Warren Moon, and Randall Cunningham. Guys like Marlin Briscoe, James Harris, Joe Gilliam, Vince Evans, and others had tried, but ultimately washed out at the professional level. All McNair did was play quarterback. Forcing people to forget the fact that he was an African-American. All the while, the Pittsburgh Steelers were trotting out their dog-and-pony show with fellow 1995 draftee Kordell Stewart. On one side, "Slash" perpetuated every stereotype the media and public had always had about "black quarterbacks." On the other, "Air" rose above those stereotypes became the embodiment of what a real quarterback is. He was a leader and an accurate passer who played the game with equal parts brain and brawn. Cerebral and athletic. That was McNair.

By the 1999 NFL Draft, the rest of the league had begun to take note. That year, Donovan McNabb(#2 to the Philadelphia Eagles), Akili Smith(#3 to the Cincinnati Bengals), and Daunte Culpepper(#11 to the Minnesota Vikings) were all taken within the first eleven picks, with Shaun King also chosen by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the second round. In 2001, Michael Vick was selected number one overall by the Atlanta Falcons and it was clear that any hang-ups or hesitation that NFL teams had previously had about drafting "black QB's" were gone. Today, six quarterbacks of African-American descent are penciled in to start for their respective teams and many more are on NFL rosters as backups. Three of these signal callers(Jason Campbell, JaMarcus Russell, and Vince Young) credit McNair directly for influencing their games as youngsters coming up through the high school and college ranks. As the NFL game progresses and we see many more quarterbacks of varying ethnicities(Mark Sanchez anyone?), be sure to keep in mind the guys like Steve McNair who paved the way for their success.

The still unsolved shooting death of McNair and Sahel Kazemi, his female companion, is a tragedy. Without a doubt. He was only 36 years old and she was just 20. But the life of Steve McNair was a victory. He succeeded and set examples at every point in his life. Upon his death he looked at himself as nothing more than a farmer who just happened to be a former NFL player. He was someone whom I, as well as millions of others, respected. That will never change. And we'll always have that 1997 season...

The Case for Drew Brees

On this 4th of July, the day our country celebrates her independence by blowing things up, allow me to make a case for selecting Drew Brees as a mid to late first rounder heading into your 2009 drafts. I mean, speaking of fireworks, you have seen that New Orleans offense, right?

Brees is the ringleader of the most wide open offense in the NFL. Period. The Saints are a pass-first, pass-second, and pass-third team. So much so, that many of head coach Sean Payton's "running" plays are merely swing passes to either Reggie Bush or up-and-coming Pierre Thomas. Over the last two seasons, Brees has averaged over 40 passing attempts per game. That's a lot folks and, with the departure of RB Deuce McAllister, that figure looks to stay put...if not increase in 2009. It may not always lead to wins for the Saints, but it'll definitely translate to smooth, creamy fantasy goodness for you.

Drew Brees' three-year averages, since signing with New Orleans, are 4,640 yards and 29 TD's. Those numbers would constitute a career best spike for most QB's, but not our boy. He's coming off an '08 season in which he fell one incomplete pass short of setting a new NFL record for single season passing yards. He has plus group of wideouts, led by Marques Colston and Lance Moore, and the aforementioned Bush, possibly the most dangerous backfield receiving threat in the league if he could just focus and stay healthy for 16 games. Brees is also a maestro of the one facet of quarterbacking that sets the greats apart from the rest, finding the open man. The Saints had seven players with at least 30 receptions in 2008 and Brees completed at least one pass to 16 different guys. Hence, the solid 2 to 1 TD to interception rate for Brees as a Saint.

I'm not saying that you should definitely take Brees if you find yourself drafting number six or later in your 12-team league this draft season. I'm just saying he should be in the discussion. Beyond my Top 5 RB's(Purple Jesus, Mojo, Burner Turner, Forte, and Gore) I simply do not see another back who offers the same kind of virtual assurance that you get from Brees. Steven Jackson, Marion Barber III, and Brandon Jacobs all offer tantalizing upside but carry with them a very dubious injury histories while old school stalwarts like LaDainian Tomlinson, Brian Westbrook, and Clinton Portis are all getting old in a hurry and trending downward. Do you like the other rookies besides Matt Forte? Chris Johnson perhaps? Consider that LenDale White stole 15 TD's last year and has lost around 30 pounds this offseason in an effort to get more playing time in a contract year for him. Possibly Steve Slaton? The Texans are determined to keep Slaton's carries down in '09 and have brought in Aryan Foster, a bigger rookie back from Tennessee, in hopes that he can help in that regard.

In the end, it's your decision to make. Just keep this in mind, you'll never win your league in the 1st round but you can definitely lose it there.

Of course, there are always WR options like Andre Johnson, Randy Moss, and Larry Fitzgerald too. But that's another conversation for another day.

Enjoy the Here and Now

Do you ever look back and wonder what it would have been like to play fantasy football back in the 80's? Do you ever think how awesome it would have been to be a Jerry Rice owner in the strike-shortened 1987 season? In only 12 games, the all-time NFL leader posted 22 TD's and over 1,100 total yards. Or how cool would it have been to be the guy who stole Dan Marino back in 1984 fantasy draft? You have to figure Marino went pretty late considering he was entering his second professional season and had been less impressive in his inaugural campaign than Matt Ryan was as a rookie in '08. The reward for those savvy owners would have been 5,084 yards and 48 TD passes. Unheard of at that time.

I, for one, often look back at those days and wish I could have owned the "Diesel" John Riggins as my RB1 in 1983 and 1984. As a Redskins fan, nothing would have been sweeter than steamrolling the competition with Riggins' 2,600+ yards and 38 TD's over that two-year stretch.

That being said, enjoy the era we're playing in now. Believe me when I say that years from now fantasy players will wish that they would have had a chance to experience the greatness that has been LaDainian Tomlinson. The consistent airborne proficiency of Peyton Manning. The human highlight reel(sorry 'Nique) known as Randy Moss. And the list goes on and on...

As much fun as it can be to look back at the players of the past, don't forget to appreciate what we have going right now. This is the golden age of fantasy football, and we are smack dab in the middle of it. Millions upon millions of people participate in at least one regular fantasy football league each and every week. The numbers are as eye-popping as ever as the athletes continue to evolve into football playing machines while the information available to us is infinite.

It's cool to reflect but, when you sit down in front of that big HDTV on Sundays this fall, make sure that you take a sec and understand that you are witnessing history unfold right in front of you. The things you are watching and taking part in, from a fantasy football aspect, are the same things that the next generation will long to have been a part of.

And it'll always be okay to hate on the guy who picked up Kurt Warner after Rodney Harrison dashed Trent Green's 1999 season. Damn you Shawn Singleton!