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A Whole New Fantasy Football Season

Bob Whalon Written by Bob Whalon, Monday August 29 2011
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The 2011 season will be the most unique season for fantasy football ever.  

Sure the NFL ended their ridiculous lockout in plenty of time for there to be training camps and only one lost preseason game, the Hall of Fame Game, but that doesn't mean it's business as usual.  At least not for those of us who play fantasy football.

The delay in the free agency signing period in the NFL rendered every fantasy football magazine on the market utterly useless.  Those publications are limited already since they are normally printed months before the season starts, but it's even worse this season.

Sure the magazines don't have the most up-to-date training camp battles, but at least they always had players on the right teams.  Not this year.  This year the lockout prevented those publications from being able to tell their subscribers where free agents would be playing this season.  That's kind of important when you're playing fantasy football you know.

The biggest of the fantasy magazines, Fantasy Football Index, didn't even publish a magazine this year due to the lockout and the uncertainty surrounding the NFL season.  They simply put their resources into updating their website instead.  That's admirable in an industry that needs to capitalize on their limited windows of opportunity to make money.  

Even the fantasy football draft advice websites that are out there are at a disadvantage this year.  Sure, they can update their site when a player signs and move players up and down their draft boards, but that's it.  Even their player profiles were researched and written long before the lockout ended.  Logistically, they had to be so that there was some actual content on the sites.  Otherwise they wouldn't be able to advertise and promote themselves in order to get subscribers to pay for their services.

The websites have a huge advantage over the magazines this year, but it's still quite annoying to keep reading the phrase "depending on the terms of the NFL's new CBA" or "If he re-signs with the team."

And it doesn't just affect the free agent players who sign with new teams.  It also can change the outlook for the players already on that team.  

Let's take a look at a few examples.  

Kevin Kolb was traded to the Arizona Cardinals and instantly became their starting quarterback.  Obviously Kolb becomes draftable now that he will be a starting quarterback instead of Michael Vick's backup in Philadelphia.  But the more intriguing impact of that trade is what it does for Larry Fitzgerald.   

Fitzgerald is arguably the most talented receiver in the NFL.  He's so good he managed to finish last season with 90 catches for 1,137 yards and 6 TDs with the rag-armed trio of Derek Anderson, Max Hall and John Skelton trying to throw him the ball.  Imagine what he will do now that he has a quarterback with a legitimate NFL arm.  Oh wait, we don't have to imagine that.  When he had Kurt Warner throwing him the ball, he finished in the top 5 for three straight seasons.  Kolb is no Warner, but he's better then that trio that had a pathetic 10:18 TD-INT ratio last season.

How about Chad Ochocinco signing with the Patriots?  Sure the athlete formerly known as Johnson is past his prime at 33, but he still reached 831 yards last season in Cincinnati.  If Deion Branch could rack up 706 yards and 5 scores in just 11 games with Tom Brady after being traded last year, Ochocinco should be able to approach 1,000 yards receiving.  It obviously helps Brady as well by not having Branch as his No. 1 receiver.

Donovan McNabb went from Mike Shanahan's doghouse in Washington to Minnesota, but he won't even be the one who benefits the most under the Metrodome's repaired roof.  When Sidney Rice left as a free agent, Percy Harvin became the Viking's No. 1 receiver.  Not only that, but Harvin went from catching passes from Tavaris Jackson and Joe Webb to McNabb.  I'm one of Donovan's harshest critics, but even I will admit he's better than either of those two stiffs or rookie Christian Ponder, who the Vikes drafted in April.

Want something more obscure?  How about Ravens running back Ray Rice.  No, Rice didn't switch teams after the lockout ended, but the Ravens made two other moves that will help Rice produce for his fantasy owners in 2012.  First they let "What you Talkin' Bout" Willis McGahee leave as a free agent, which frees up about 100 carries, including the goal line carries that are so important in those non point per reception leagues.  They also signed fullback Vonta Leach.  Big deal you say?  Well actually, it is a big deal.  Leach paved the way for Arian Foster's breakout season last year.  That not only helps Rice and the Ravens' running game, but that signing will also impact Foster's 2012 production as well, only negatively.

There are plenty of other examples of the late player movement affecting various players, but the point is that this is a whole new ballgame for fantasy football players.

Yes, the average fantasy football player may be a bit heavier than the real-life athletes they draft and root for each week, but they still must be agile in their quest for knowledge about those athletes.  

The lockout delayed free agency and eliminated any mini-camps where rookies would normally have learned the offense of their new team and got some much-needed coaching.  Now it's hard to image that any rookies will make much of an impact this season.

I told myself that I would stay away from drafting rookies in my fantasy drafts, then I went ahead and took wide receiver A.J. Green from the Cincinnati Bengals.  To make matters even worse, it looks like Green will be catching passes from fellow rookie, quarterback Andy Dalton.  Hey, that's what happens when you find yourself looking for a No. 4 WR in the later rounds and you've had a few frosty beverages.

So as you draft approaches, be on the lookout for the "FA" (for Free Agent) in your cheat sheets next to numerous player names.  Be sure to take a few minutes to see where those players have landed as free agents and take a look at the players on the teams they joined and even the players they left behind.

You will need to do a bit more homework for your fantasy draft this year, but a little bit of work now can pay big dividends later.  It's a whole new fantasy season, don't get caught unprepared.


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