Fantasy Football Land Mines

You've seen the Sleepers. Now it's time to explore the players who I feel will be disappointments to fantasy football owners.

Quarterbacks
Ben Roethlisberger - Will he have a good year? Probably. Will he have a great year? Not likely. I don't put Big Ben on another 32 TD, 11 INT year. Sorry. He was 3rd in TD Passes last year and 14th in Passing Yards. That bothers me a little. Pittsburgh is traditionally a Run First team. WIth the addition of Rashard Mendenhall to compliment Willie Parker, I think you'll see a deeper running attack next year. As for the flurry of TD passes? I'm just not buying it. He still should be a good QB next year, but don't expect him in the Top 6 again.

David Garrard - I like Garrard a lot. I really do. I think he does what it takes to win in this league. There will be owners taking him ahead of Jay Cutler, Philip Rivers, Eli Manning, and several others. The problem is, Jacksonville is a Run First team as well. He averaged 209 yards passing and 1.5 TDs per game last year. What saved him was the low INT total (3). Do I see another 6-1 TD:INT ration from Garrard again? Nope. Sure don't.

Tom Brady - Brady will have another fantastic year, but if you are expecting even 4500 yards and 40 TDs you may come away disappointed. A more realistic season for Brady would be 4200 yards & 36 TDs. If you can live with that from a late-first/early-second round pick, then by all means take him.

Derek Anderson - I like Anderson, but I need to see proof that it wasn't a fluke before I invest an early pick in him. I know this. He (or Cleveland) won't be sneaking up on anybody this year. They will be better equipped to deal with what's coming. Just looking at his splits is enough of a reason to raise some red flags for me.
Games 1-8: 91.7 rating, 2108 yards, 17 TD, 9 INT
Games 9-16: 73.7 rating, 1679 yards, 12 TD, 10 INT

How about his performance in the fantasy playoffs (Weeks 14-16)? He averaged 191 yards, 1.3 TDs, and 1.7 INTs. Are those numbers that are going to bring you fantasy glory? I didn't think so. What's worse is they came against the Jets, Buffalo, and Cincinnati. Not exactly your Powerhouses last year. One contributing factor is the weather. Cleveland is cold. They get a lot of wind and snow. Next year they play in Philly Week 15 and at home against Cincy Week 16. You think they could have some weather to deal with? Yeah, me too.

Running Backs
Steven Jackson - Up until a couple weeks ago I would have said S-Jax is in line for a big turnaround. His holdout scares me though. After being burned by Larry Johnson last year, I have little faith in RBs who hold out. They don't get in game shape and then they get hurt. I won't be party to that again this year.

Brandon Jacobs - He's big. Real big. Shouldn't he be the one hurting DBs and LBs? He's also in a crowded backfield. Ward and Bradshaw both looked good last year. I'm afraid there will be too much sharing for the G-Men.

Ryan Grant - Take Brett Farve out of the mix. Add basically a rookie QB. Can you say "eight men in the box"? That's what I'd do until Aaron Rodgers proves he can handle the load. Taking away Brett Favre from the mix leaves a lot of questions. Until they are answered I'll be taking a comparable back.

Ricky Williams - If you are taking Ricky because you think he may still have "it", then I'd say you've been using the very stuff that got Ricky in trouble in the first place. He hasn't played in the NFL (besides 6 carries last year) since 2005. That's a long time, especially in Running Back years. I'd rather take someone with a little more upside than Ricky. Not to mention the constant threat his season goes "Up in Smoke".
Update: He's looked good so far, but I'm not fully convinced.

Wide Receivers
Anquan Boldin - Boldin isn't happy about his contract. He has also had a hamsting issues thus far. That's a recipe for disaster in my book.

Santana Moss - The Redskins brought in a couple of high-profile rookie WRs in Devin Thomas and Malcolm Kelly. I wouldn't be too keen on that if I were a Santana Moss owner.

Javon Walker - He nearly retired. Extreme Buyer Beware!

Derrick Mason - There is no way he can match last season numbers. No way.

Greg Jennings - No way do I see him coming close to matching 2007 production with Aaron Rodgers instead of Brett Favre.

Reggie Williams - He won't come close to 10 TDs like he had last year. Look elsewhere.

Tight Ends
Donald Lee - Lee is another Packer that is going to miss Brett Favre. He had 575 yards and 6 TDs a season ago. I'd be shocked if he came close to those lofty numbers.

Chris Baker - Let's see, Favre is reunited with Bubba Franks and the Jets took Dustin Keller in the first round out of Purdue. He missed eleven days of camp with a bad back, as well as some offseason programs as he was mad about his contract. Those negatives are beginning to add up.

Desmond Clark - With the emergence of Greg Olsen, Desmond Clark won't be leaned on as much. I don't see another 545 yards from him this year.
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