Projo Fantasy Sports Blog

By Mark P. Stopa

Time for the last preseason Stock Watch. Next week, we begin making the in-season adjustments so necessary to fantasy football success.

This week, we again note each player's ADP, or Average Draft Position, based on the results of hundreds of fantasy drafts conducted at MockDraftCentral.com. "Upgrades" means I like the player more than the market."Downgrades" are players overvalued. "No change" means the market is just about right.

Upgrades

Anquan Boldin, WR, Cardinals (ADP: 39): He's not as talented as teammate Larry Fitzgerald (ADP: 20). But starting QB Kurt Warner has always seemed to favor Boldin. As long as Warner is the QB, I'm not sure that Boldin's stats will be much different than Fitzgerald's.

Brandon Marshall, WR, Broncos (ADP: 35): What should we like more: he fact that Marshall is really good, that his QB, Jay Cutler, has a rocket arm and is expected to break out this year, or that Marshall's suspension just got reduced from three games to one? Pick one of those reasons and grab Marshall ahead of T.J. Houshmandzadeh (ADP: 23) and Steve Smith (ADP: 29), among others.

Dustin Keller, TE, Jets (ADP: 180): Brett Favre has always liked throwing to tight ends in the red zone. I'm sure you remember what Donald Lee did last year, or Bubba Franks before that, but don't forget Keith Jackson and Mark Chmura. The point is that there are not 18 better fantasy TEs than Keller, whom the Jets liked enough to take in the first round even before Favre came into the fold.

Kenny Watson, RB, Bengals (ADP: 143) Rudi Johnson's departure means that Chris Perry is all that stands between Watson and a starting gig. Perry has been injury-prone throughout his brief NFL career, making Watson a very attractive late-round selection. Of course, if you can get Perry and Watson, even better.

Martin Gramatica, K, Saints (ADP: ND): Can Gramatica ever again be a Pro Bowl-caliber kicker? Kicking for the high-scoring Saints, he won't need to be that in order to be a top 10 fantasy guy. He only needs to keep his job all season. Grab him on your waiver wire if you're in need.

No Change

Sleepers: With the abundance of information in the media about fantasy football, it's sometimes easy to read so many good things about certain players that you start to like them too much. Don't fall into this trap. A sleeper is only a "sleeper" if you get him for the right price. Ray Rice is a nice sleeper given the chance that Willis McGahee does not round into form after his injury, but if you have to draft Rice in the sixth round, then it defeats the purpose.

Downgrades

Bills skill players: Jason Peters is still holding out, with no end in sight. This means fewer running lanes for Marshawn Lynch, less time for Trent Edwards to throw and less time for Lee Evans to run under deep balls. At this point, even if Peters were to report today, it will take him awhile to get up to speed and to learn the new system. Unless and until Peters rounds into form, everyone on the Bills offense merits a downgrade.

Ravens skill players: The Ravens really seem to like Joe Flacco. But as a rookie QB, chances are that Flacco will struggle mightily, especially early in the season. Willis McGahee is still worth starting, but otherwise it's a wasteland in Baltimore.

Reggie Bush, RB, Saints: (ADP: 29): Some people think this is the year he breaks out. I think it's the year he cements his status as a draft bust. For me, he's like former Giants RB Dave Meggett, a third-down, scat-back type player. There's not necessarily anything wrong with that, and Meggett was a fine player; but that's not what the Saints thought they were getting with the second overall draft selection just a few years ago.

 Tags  Anquan Boldin Brandon Marshall Dustin Keller football Joe Flacco Kenny Watson Lee Evans Mark Stopa Marshawn Lynch Martin Gramatica NFL Stock Watch Reggie Bush Trent Edwards Willis McGahee

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