Maroney, Edwards, Roddy White Rising; Edge Falling
January 24, 2008 at 6:10 am | Article by Paul Hickey |
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Rising – Laurence Maroney, Patriots RB – Heading into Week 15, there were quite a few question marks surrounding Maroney’s dynasty value. The 22 year old former first round pick hadn’t really had the chance to run the ball much in the Patriots’ high flying attack, and perhaps more scary was the fact that the Patriots had a serious shot at landing the second overall pick due to a trade with San Francisco last April. At the time, many fantasy owners thought there was a high probability that Arkansas RB Darren McFadden - next year’s version of Adrian Peterson - would end up in Foxborough in a split carry situation with Maroney. Since the 49ers were able to win a couple games at the end of the season, and now appear to be picking seventh in the first round, Maroney appears to be safe. What’s really helped his stock, however, is the fact that he rushed for 306 yards and four TDs in his final three regular season games. He’s always reminded us of Steven Jackson, and in 2008, he may show us why.
Rising – Braylon Edwards, Browns WR – Proudly and honestly, we can say we made the call on this one as Edwards found himself on this very list last off-season. He was one of the main reasons why the Cleveland Browns offense was able to make such a turn-around this season, racking up 80 catches, 1,289 yards and 16 TDs in only his third season in the league. Regardless of who is throwing him the ball next season, Edwards is someone all fantasy owners will covet for a long time.
Rising – Reggie Williams, Jaguars WR – Dynasty owners who snagged this 24 year old 6′5″ former ninth overall pick in the NFL Draft have apparently found themselves a gem. David Garrard’s new favorite target became a touchdown machine in 2007, hauling in 10 scores, including six in his last seven games. If you really look at his stat line, you’ll notice he only had 38 catches for 629 yards on the year though - one TD every 3.8 times he touched the ball. Fantasy owners will look at this two different ways. One group will be scared away from him and say that without the TDs, he’s not fantasy worthy, thus too big of a risk. Others will say - hey, now all he has to do is work on getting open more often, and he’ll start putting up huge digits. The fact of the matter is that the Jaguars are a run first team now, and that’s why Williams only caught 38 passes. When 31 year old Fred Taylor slows down - which will happen soon - Williams will need to become more of an integral part of the offense. There’s plenty of hope for him in the future, and his dynasty owners should probably see what comes to fruition for this youngster.
Rising – Roddy White, Falcons WR – Like Reggie Williams, Roddy White is a former first round pick who was all but written off by coaches and critics until 2007. The 6′0″ athlete from UAB had a breakout season despite a horrible year for the Falcons organization. His 83 catches for 1,202 yards and six TDs were in spite of the fact that he had three different borderline inept QBs throwing him the rock all year. With six games with six or more catches in 2007, including three straight games with TDs in Weeks 12, 13 & 14 - three key weeks of the fantasy season - White has established himself as a solid WR2 heading into 2008.
Falling – Edgerrin James, Cardinals RB – By now, you’ve probably heard many of the rumors surrounding Arizona’s Edgerrin James, despite rushing for more than 1,000 yards in each of his last two seasons with the team - including a 1,232 yard, seven TD season in 2007 - the soon to be 30 year old is in jeopardy of losing his job. It appears at the very least that the Cardinals will employ some type of split backfield situation, meaning James could be phased out rather than immediately ejected from duty. Still, this is a huge blow to his dynasty and keeper value, and should be avoided this off-season. We believe a younger, more explosive back, like San Diego’s Michael Turner or Minnesota’s Chester Taylor could end up with the starting job in the desert in 2008 - not J.J. Arrington or Marcel Shipp.
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