Pigskin Spin

A little fantasy football preview. I have decided that this post is going to focus on the Tight End position. Always seems that these guys seem to get lost in the draft when fantasy managers start focusing on big name RBs and QBs.

I scrolled through last season’s stats for these TEs, and I have put together my top 10 TE for fantasy football season 08. I will give you what NFL.com has rated as there top 10, and then I’ll give you mine w/a little extra opinion. Let’s get this party started.

NFL.com’s top 10 TE for fantasy 2008:

1. Antonio Gates - Chargers
2. Jason Witten - Cowboys
3. Kellen Winslow - Browns
4. Tony Gonzalez - Chiefs
5. Chris Cooley - Redskins
6. Todd Heap - Ravens
7. Dallas Clark - Colts
8. Jeremy Shockey - Giants
9. Vernon Davis - 49ers
10. Tony Scheffler - Broncos

When I put my list together, I hadn’t yet looked at NFL.com’s rating yet. This is my complete honest opinion of the top producers this coming year.

1. Antonio Gates - Chargers / Gates hasn’t had less than 9 TD’s in a season since 2003. Last season, he had 984 yrds receiving & 9 TD.
2. Jason Witten - Cowboys / Not much to say except he’s a focal point in a very high-powered offense. Last season, Witten put together 1145 yrds receiving & 7 TD.
3. Kellen Winslow - Browns / Another guy benefiting from a very surprising high-powered offense last year. As long as Derek Anderson plays to the same caliber as the 07 season, he’ll be putting up some huge numbers this year. Last season, Winslow had 1106 yrds receiving & 5 TD.
4. Dallas Clark - Colts / What a career year last year; best perfromance in all 5 years as a pro. Clark benefited from Marvin Harrison going down. I don’t expect these numbers this year if Harrison is good to go. Last season, Clark shocked us with 616 yrds receiving & 11 TD.
5. Tony Gonzalez - Chiefs / Excellent Pro-bowl player. Tony will get his yards, but he is going to suffer from an offense that will struggle to make it to the red zone this season. Last year, Tony put together 1172 receiving yrds & 5 TD.
6. Chris Cooley - Redskins / Chris has had more than 725 yrds receiving each season since 2005. Not sure of the QB situation in Washington, it’s hard to place Chris any higher on this list. He might suffer from a QB fall out. Last season, Chris had 786 yrds receiving and 8 TD.
7. Jeremy Shockey - Giants / Let’s face, this guy is good. He did get hurt last season, and he was putting together good yardage, but in fantasy, we need to see the TD my friend. For this reason, his value has dropped this year, along with all the controversy going on in NY right now. Now if he ends up in a city like New Orleans, he will increase his fantasy value big time. Last year, before he was hurt, Shockey played 14 games with 619 yrds receiving and 3TD.
8. Heath Miller - Steelers / I’m really surprised he didn’t make NFL.com’s top 10. Heath is going into his 4th season in the NFL and he as improved every year. With the Steelers struggling at the Offensive Line, Big Ben is going to continue to look to dump the pass off to Miller. His numbers should go up again this year. Last season, Heath had 566 yrds and 7TD. (Better value than Shockey actually).
9. Tony Scheffler - Broncos / This guy should have a HUGE season this year. Tony only played in 12 games last season, and only started 7 of those. For that type of playing time, he had ProBowl numbers. Last season, Tony had 549 yrds and 5 TD.
10. Donald Lee - Packers / This past season was his 5th and his best yet. I understand that Favre is gone, but with an inexperienced Aaron Rogers coming to the helm, any pressure may cause Rogers to look more in Lee’s direction. Last season, Lee put up 575 yrds receiving and 6 TD.

My choices for up and comers, but not yet in the top 10:

• Zach Miller - Raiders / Last year as a rookie, Miller set the Oakland franchise record in receptions for a TE. Not bad for a rookie playing for a team that has been around as long as Oakland.
• Vernon Davis - 49ers / Yes, Vernon had good numbers last year, but the 49ers are still struggling as and offense and there will not be any improvement this season. If Vernon was playing for just about any other team, he would be sitting in my top 10 next year.
• Owen Daniels - Texans / Not a bad year at all last year, 768 yrds & 3 TD. The fantasy owners need more TD’s my man. I understand starting QB Matt Schaub was injured last season, so maybe this year will help this guy pull some better TD numbers.

Check out the following interview of Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo (courtesy NFL.com):

I know you fantasy football players need my advice. Romo = top fantasy point producing quarterback for the 08 NFL season. Tell all your friends (that aren’t in your league of course). Romo won’t have any problems putting up 4000 - 4400 yrds w/32-38 TDs, <20 INT’s. He is going to receive a huge contribution from a new consistency in the offense this year. With the releasing of Julius Jones, Marion Barber will be the primary running back. No more of this one back gets a series on offense, the other back gets the next. I’m not saying two back systems don’t work, but a team has to have their primary guy. And now that the Cowboys do, expect more continuity and rhythm in each progressing offensive series.