Fantasy Football Tonight 6/29

PERCY, PERCY ME
It sure didn't take long for Vikings first round pick WR Percy Harvin to create a bad reputation for himself in the NFL. First he was hospitalized by what turned out to be "dehydration" at the very beginning of Vikings rookie minicamp. Now sources reveal that he was sent home from the NFL Rookie Symposium due to flu like symptoms on Monday. Harvin had a reputation in college of being somewhat of a malcontent who isn't a big fan of practice so this should come of little surprise. Be very weary of rookies who enter the league with the mindset of they are going to try and get away with the same immature behavior they got away with in college. This type of crap doesn't work in the NFL at least not for very long. Go and ask Plaxico Burress about that one.

SPEAKING OF PLAXICO...
He and Michael Vick are rumored to be punished severly by commissioner Roger Goodell for violating the NFL's personal conduct policy. Rumors are swirling that both of these guys could be suspended indefinitely as soon as next week. So much for any sleeper potential here.

BACKUP QB TALK
There are a couple very interesting backup QB competitions that will be going on come the start of training camp. The ageless Mark Brunell will take on former #1 pick Joey Harrington for the right to be Drew Brees' backup in New Orleans. Brunell is not a good fit here unless he plans to coach the Saints QB's this season and promise not to take the field.

In Kansas City it is looking as if Tyler Thigpen will get the first crack at being Matt Cassell's backup over Brodie Croyle. Thigpen is a good fit if the Chiefs continue to establish a version of the spread offense which they were doing at the end of last season. This offense may surprise people this year, take notice!

Folks in Tennessee were raving about how well Patrick Ramsey looked throwing the ball this spring. Ramsey has been picking up the offense with ease and has quickly become a favorite of offensive coordinator Mike Heimerdinger. Could this mean the end of Vince Young? Stay tuned...

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Fantasy Football Tonight 6/28

IN CASE YOU DIDN'T HEAR...
LaDanian Tomlinson is now 30 years old. Not quite sure why this has become such a big story but figured in case our loyal readers really wanted to know this, now you do.

SPREAD THE WORD
University of Florida head coach Urban Meyer recently stated that a minimum of three NFL teams have contacted him wishing to learn more about implementing a spread offense. Don't look now but many teams are already running systems that have roots in a spread offense. The Patriots under Josh McDaniels and Dan Henning's "Wild-Cat" formation in Miami last year are just a couple of examples of the wave washing over the NFL. What once was outwardly dismissed and scoffed at is now all the rage in NFL minicamps and OTA's. The team at the forefront of this movement is the Miami Dolphins. With their second round selection of QB Pat White, the Dolphins are making a tremendous commitment to expanding their "Wild-Cat" package to include a true duel threat under center. It is expected that White will be used as the designated "Wild-Cat" QB and will be a threat to both run and throw the football at any time to any place. Fantasy football players had better take notice of these type of changes too. Not only are certain RB's and WR's going to increase in value because of their ability to run/throw the ball now but players such as Pat White could indeed be big time red-zone threats and thus scoring machines. You will want to read my training camp blog everyday beginning July 24th as I will break down exactly what spread offense wrinkles that teams are implementing this season and what players are going to suffer and benefit from it.

DO AS I SAY, NOT AS I DO
JaMarcus Russell called upon his teammates during the final days of Raiders organized team activities and begged them to practice hard and finish the offseason workouts strong. It seemed he was finally starting to take a leadership role with a team that desperately needs an on field leader. Then he took off and went AWOL on the very last day of OTA's. Supposedly he later told coaches that he had "personal reasons" for not attending but I would love to hear him explain that to his teammates whom he called out just days before.


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Fantasy Football Tonight 6/25

GET READY...GET SET...
...and GO to the sign up page for the Fantasy Football Search 2009 Season Pass which includes both the draft kit and full season ticket to get all of our in depth premium content. I just posted a complete rookie guide which gives a scouting report and fantasy spin on each and every offensive skill position player taken in the NFL draft. A one time secure paypal payment of $10 will hook you up for an entire season of the most thorough fantasy football information you will find anywhere, guaranteed. Join us now!!

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?
The Jaguars announced that they are actively trying to trade WR Dennis Northcutt and his $2.45 million salary before the start of training camp. Like the rest of the league is just clamouring for a 5'10" 170 lb. soaking wet 31 year old WR who's best days were as a punt returner in Cleveland. Expect them to announce very shortly that they have released Northcutt after not getting a single offer.

SURE, HE LIKED SHARING A BED WITH LITTLE BOYS...
Michael Jackson died today at the age of 50 apparently from a heart attack (insert pedophile joke here). I have to admit that I was a big fan of his music dating back to my childhood and my very first record which was Thriller. I still own that record and can't wait to see what it can fetch me on EBAY now! I often wondered out loud how a man who made such beautiful music and wrote such inspirational songs such as "Man In The Mirror", "You Are Not Alone", "Earth Song" and "Ben" could be such a raving lunatic and child predator? I believe people like Jackson suffer from some sort of brain chemical deficiency that make them unable to comprehend reality. With that being said I wonder which was hotter: The flames that scorched his hair in that Pepsi commercial back in the '80's or the eternal burning of his soul in hell's rotisserie?

WORST RUMOR EVER
A writer for the St. Paul Pioneer Press tried to stir the pot a bit this week in announcing the Vikings were about to sign free agent WR Marvin Harrison. This story has absolutely no merit whatsoever as my sources close to the Vikings claim that the team had zero discussions with Harrison's agent Tom Condon prior to this article on Thursday. With Bernard Berrian, Sidney Rice and Percy Harvin already signed it is doubtful that Harrison will be following the northern lights any time soon.

MORE THAT JUST WINGS
This season it appears that the Buffalo Bills are going to be a pass heavy offense. Evidently, Offensive Coordinator Turk Schoenert has installed quite a bit of four and five WR sets that appear straight from a collegiate spread offense playbook. A Bills beat reporter informed me that the team is trying to duplicate a lot of what the Kansas City Chiefs were doing at the end of last season which was putting the QB in shotgun and having passing options all over the field. Schonert envisions a fast up and down type style for his new system and word is they will be letting Trent Edwards select plays at the line of scrimmage in hopes of creating matchup problems for the defense. This is basically a no-huddle approach and a very crafty idea that could lead to much better WR numbers in Buffalo then we are accustomed to. But will it play out well in the cold weather? I guess we'll see...

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Fantasy Football Tonight 6/22

EARLY SEASON TIP
First of all some advice for those of you looking to gain an early edge in your draft planning this year. Beware of any cheat-sheets posted before the start of training camp. Since the earliest any team will report to training camp this year is July 25th (Giants), take any and all fantasy cheat-sheets you see posted before then as nothing more than educated guesses. Why yes, we here at Fantasy Football Search do have our unique deep-sheets already posted and ready to be printed out any time you wish. But, until training camp starts any and all rankings must be taken with a grain of salt. Even ours.
You see, many teams don't even have their entire playbook put together as of yet. It will be late July before schemes are installed, pads put on and players are evaluated. Until then, nothing else means squat. Training camp is where players win and lose starting jobs, roster spots and the trust of their coaches and teammates. I have my eye on many players whom I think could have breakout seasons in 2009, but until they are on the field and show the coaches what they can do and win a job, I cannot rank these players anywhere but the very bottom of a June cheat-sheet.

HIGH TIMES?
I have heard from several people who were watching the Dolphins OTA's last week that Ricky Williams seems to either have lost a step or two or just plain didn't give a damn while running his drills. Either way this is a departure from last season when Ricky came in like gangbusters and pushed Ronnie Brown day in and day out to prove he was worthy of being the Dolphins starting RB.

SAN FRANCISCO WR ROLES
Remember guys...Mike Martz is no longer the offensive coordinator of the 49'ers and therefore Isaac Bruce doesn't really fit the system any longer. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if he was a roster casualty before the start of the season.
Also, while it is true that Michael Crabtree was the best WR in the draft and the 49'ers took him with the 10th overall pick, Josh Morgan is #1 WR in San Francisco. Morgan may not have had the hype machine nor the college career that Crabtree has but he is a tremendous playmaker who has gotten better and better every time he steps out on the field. Morgan is a true fantasy sleeper this year and should be the top 49'er WR taken in drafts this summer.

IT'S A DONE DEAL...LET'S GET ON WITH OUR LIVES
Brett Favre is going to sign with the Vikings in the near future. We should all know that by now. But whatever you do please remember the lessons of Brett Favre and the great trade hype of 2008. Just because a future hall of fame QB is making huge waves on every single sports network across the country does not make his a good fantasy player. From a fantasy perspective, Favre's best years are behind him. Sure he is a great fit in Minnesota but only because they have a good offensive line, he knows the system and they have a killer running game to carry the load for him. Don't buy into all of the hype of when he signs. Sure it will be big news and some dumbass will have an itch in the third round to take Favre. I am begging all of you who are reading this....don't be that dumbass!!

Fantasy Football Tonight Blog Introduction

Words cannot describe how excited I am to be finally launching the Fantasy Football Tonight blog! When Todd "The True Guru" Farino and I agreed to merge our sites back in January, I could never have imagined how much fun nor how smoothly this transition was going to be.

First I suppose that I should let all of you know a little bit about me. My name is Jeff Mans, I am 32 years old and from Chicago, Illinois. I've been playing fantasy football for 19 years, since the days of notebooks and newspaper boxscores. I guess you could say that I began my career back in 1992 when I began one of the first fantasy football bulletin board using the Prodigy Internet Service. The BB quickly became immensely popular and before long I not only had dozens of long distance calls flooding my parents house but guys actually finding out where I lived and knocking on the door to see if I wanted to go out for a beer. Of course, I was only 15 years old at that time and couldn't even drive a car let alone pass for legal drinking age. You guys don't know embarrassment until your Mother tells a couple of middle aged men that not only can Jeffery not go to the Half-Time Sports Bar with you but he has homework to do tonight too! Good times.

But it was through the Prodigy bulletin board that I developed so many lifelong friendships that I carry to this very day. It is crazy to think about how many of us geeks back then would wind up working in the fantasy sports industry today.

I went on to be a sports reporter for my college newspaper and then my local hometown paper before quitting journalism to pursue a career in information technology. Through it all though I was always writing, talking and playing fantasy sports. In my late teens and early twenties I was a regular caller to the Harry & Spike fantasy football radio show which was broadcast between midnight-3 AM on Friday and Saturday nights. I would actually cut out of my buddies card games or at parties just so I could get home in time to call the show and talk a little fantasy football. When the show was eventually cancelled I got my fantasy fix by writing on fantasy message boards and constantly ranting to my friends about third year WR's or bad weather kickers.

Finally, in 2005 I decided it was time to put all of my passion for fantasy football to use and that is when I started Scout Fantasy Football. The site was originally just going to be an outlet for me and a few of my friends to write about draft strategies, up and coming players and stuff like that. By 2007, the site had far outgrown what I had ever thought possible. I was being asked to participate in expert fantasy leagues, big money leagues, write guest articles for other sites, interview for a fantasy newspaper column and do guest spots on various podcasts. It was at this time that I did a couple of guest spots on KGME-AM 910 in Phoenix, AZ. Right around this time I began doing a weekly waiver pickup segment on The Fantasy Football Guru's Show with Todd Farino, Mike Bowser and AJ Pelletier. The chemistry in these segments were so good I became good friends with these guys both on and off the air. I can honestly say that out of all the people I have met in this industry and sports in general, Todd and AJ are among the nicest, most good natured, true people around.

This is why then after last season, Todd and I talked about working together. We decided to recruit not only the best writers and fantasy sports analysts but also the best people we could find. Now with Ryan Hallam on board and AJ Pelletier, RC Rizza, Evan Dickens and Mike Bowser I couldn't be happier then to work with such a great group of guys.

Todd has given me the green light to go ahead and make this new Fantasy Football Tonight Blog my own. I will be posting entries every single day starting around July 1st. Until then I will be updating it at least a couple of time per week or when the news or events strike a chord with me. You can expect me to break some stories this year as I am very militant about calling and texting people I know who work the beat for certain NFL teams. This blog will have plenty of news, opinion pieces, quotes, embarrassing stories about me, injury updates and just about everything you need to know about the world of fantasy football.

I want to make this blog and all of Fantasy Football Search as interactive as possible. So, please feel free to email me at anytime at thefantasyscout@gmail.com with any questions or comments you may have. You cold also leave your comments below too. I will be giving out a number that I can be reached by text at also in the coming weeks. If you like this blog or what we are doing here please go ahead and tell a friend about us. If you think I suck, let me know! I want to hear from all of you out there so let's keep in touch and have ourselves a fun and prosperous season!

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As you may have noticed, Fantasy Football Search has expanded immensely since last season. We've merged with both Fighting Chance Fantasy and Scout Fantasy Football and partnered with Junkyard Jake and NFL Fantasy Playbook in order to provide the very best and most comprehensive fantasy football coverage anywhere.

This season we will be providing weather reports, NFL team depth charts, offensive line reports, coaching and system breakdowns, fantasy headlines, a dedicated injury blog, weekly email updates, breaking news text message alerts, game capsules from Junkyard Jake, extensive rookie report, where are they now free agent report, video blogs, mock drafts, strength of schedule reports, The Hot 8 weekly waiver moves, NFL training camp blog, pass target reports, IDP rankings, the NFL Fantasy Playbook by A.J. Pellitier, staff sleeper & bust picks, the industries deepest cheat sheets, staff articles, the Fantasy Football Tonight nightly podcast and so much more!

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The 2009 Coaching Carousel - Coaching Changes

Coaching Carousel


Arizona Cardinals

2008 Offensive Coordinator: Todd Haley
2009 Offensive Coordinator: Russ Grimm (Run Game); Mike Miller (Pass Game)

2008 Defensive Coordinator: Clancy Pendergast
2009 Defensive Coordinator: Bill Davis

Baltimore Ravens

2008 Defensive Coordinator: Rex Ryan
2009 Defensive Coordinator: Greg Mattison

Carolina Panthers

2008 Defensive Coordinator: Mike Trgovac
2009 Defensive Coordinator: Ron Meeks

Cleveland Browns

2008 Head Coach: Romeo Crennel
2009 Head Coach: Eric Mangini

2008 Offensive Coordinator: Rob Chudzinski
2009 Offensive Coordinator: Brian Daball

2008 Defensive Coordinator: Mel Tucker
2009 Defensive Coordinator: Rob Ryan

Denver Broncos

2008 Head Coach: Mike Shanahan
2009 Head Coach: Josh McDaniels

2008 Offensive Coordinator: Rick Dennison
2009 Offensive Coordinator: Mike McCoy

2008 Defensive Coordinator: Bob Slowki
2009 Defensive Coordinator: Mike Nolan

Detroit Lions

2008 Head Coach: Rod Marinelli
2009 Head Coach: Jim Schwartz

2008 Offensive Coordinator: Jim Colletto
2009 Offensive Coordinator: Scott Linehan

2008 Defensive Coordinator: Joe Barry
2009 Defensive Coordinator: Gunther Cunningham

Green Bay Packers

2008 Defensive Coordinator: Bob Sanders
2009 Defensive Coordinator: Dom Capers

Houston Texans

2008 Defensive Coordinator: Richard Smith
2009 Defensive Coordinator: Frank Bush

Jacksonville Jaguars

2008 Defensive Coordinator: Greg Williams
2009 Defensive Coordinator: Mel Tucker

Kansas City Chiefs

2008 Head Coach: Herm Edwards
2009 Head Coach: Todd Haley

2008 Defensive Coordinator: Gunther Cunningham
2009 Defensive Coordinator: Clancy Pendergast

Indianapolis Colts

2008 Head Coach: Tony Dungy
2009 Head Coach: Jim Caldwell

2008 Offensive Coordinator: Tom Moore
2009 Offensive Coordinator: Clyde Christensen

2008 Defensive Coordinator: Ron Meeks
2009 Defensive Coordinator: Larry Coyer

New England Patriots

2008 Offensive Coordinator: Josh McDaniels
2009 Offensive Coordinator: None

New Orleans Saints

2008 Offensive Coordinator: Gary Gibbs
2008 Offensive Coordinator: Pete Carmichael

2008 Defensive Coordinator: Doug Marrone
2009 Defensive Coordinator: Greg Williams

New York Giants

2008 Defensive Coordinator: Steve Spagnuolo
2009 Offensive Coordinator: Bill Sheridan



New York Jets

2008 Head Coach: Eric Mangini
2009 Head Coach: Rex Ryan

2008 Defensive Coordinator: Bob Sutton
2009 Defensive Coordinator: Mike Pettine

Oakland Raiders

2008 Head Coach: Lane Kiffin
2009 Head Coach: Tom Cable

2008 Offensive Coordinator: Greg Knapp
2009 Offensive Coordinator: Ted Tollner

2008 Defensive Coordinator: Rob Ryan
2009 Defensive Coordinator: John Marshall

St. Louis Rams

2008 Head Coach: Scott Linehan
2009 Head Coach: Steve Spagnuolo

2008 Offensive Coordinator: Al Saunders
2009 Offensive Coordinator: Pat Shurmur

2008 Defensive Coordinator: Jim Haslett
2009 Defensive Coordinator: Ken Flajole

San Francisco 49'ers

2008 Head Coach: Mike Nolan
2009 Head Coach: Mike Singletary

2008 Offensive Coordinator: Mike Martz
2009 Offensive Coordinator: Jimmy Raye

Seattle Seahawks

2008 Head Coach: Mike Holmgren
2009 Head Coach: Jim Mora Jr.

2008 Offensive Coordinator: Gil Haskell
2009 Offensive Coordinator: Greg Knapp

2008 Defensive Coordinator: John Marshall
2009 Defensive Coordinator: Gus Bradley


Tampa Bay Buccaneers

2008 Head Coach: Jon Gruden
2009 Head Coach: Raheem Morris

2008 Offensive Coordinator: Bill Muir
2009 Offensive Coordinator: Jeff Jagodzinski

2008 Defensive Coordinator: Monte Kiffin
2009 Defensive Coordinator: Jim Bates

Tennessee Titans

2008 Defensive Coordinator: Jim Schwartz
2009 Defensive Coordinator: Chuck Cecil

QB situations to stay away from

BY AJ Pelletier, Fantasy Football Search

I have many reasons to believe that there will be people drafting the following players and if you are one of them that draft these players highly i insist you save me a spot in your league as i would love to have you as an opponent.

Mark Sanchez: This is a player who somehow got better the last month of the draft without even putting on a helmet. how and why??? Media. Yes, i suppose i am part of the media, but i am talking about the media with a face and a voice. Somehow the Jets felt this guy was going to be a face of the franchise. Why i think he wont be successful this year or even maybe in the future. simple. USC is such a dominate team in the conference they rarely face anyone with a defense of which can stop a good offense, not to say a NFL generated offense. So here is a fact. the only team with a decent defense turned out to be the only team to beat them. The Oregon State Ducks not only had a good defense on the field, but this was proven with 5 players drafted from that team. Sanchez has already struggled with the speed at the OTA's and will not win the starting role.

Matt Cassel: For some reason everyone thinks that the 11 wins the Patriots had last year was the work of Cassel; true he was the quarterback but please, with Bilicheck as the coach anyone of any talent including you and me might have got a half dozen wins with those weapons around him. I will tell you right now, Dwayne Bowe is not Randy Moss and Bobby Engram is not Wes Welker and most importantly Todd Haley is not Bill Bilicheck. Don't forget that the o-line in KC is a little different the the Patroit line that has won 29 of their last 35 games. Then take into account they moved Tony Gonzalez only to bring in a drafted rookie. Cassel will not finish the year and i am not sure why the Chiefs didn't stick it out with Tyler Thigpen who was fun to watch.

There are others to talk about but i will save that for a different day.

Cheers