3rd year WR's?

[Kensat30]

Nate Burleson will be money this year

We'll see.

I dont think he is all that good, nor do I think CPepp is that accurate of a passer, but I see the running game being so poor that they will have to throw more often than in the past, so it could even out in the end.

They'll still beat the Lions

we'll see

Do you know what the difference between the '04 Queens and the '04 Lions was? 4 points. Queens were 8-8 while the Lions ended up 6-10. The two games between them were won by the Queens by a total of 4 points.

I know the Lions got a LOT better over the offseasonn on both sides of the ball, but its anyones guess if the Queens rebuilding makes them better. Defensively they had to have gotten better, but offensively I think they have taken a few steps backwards.

November 6th.

Oh no doubt, I'll be rooting for the Lions. Hopefully that division will start being a 3 team race instead of a 2 team race, especially since I just drafted Kevin Jones as my first pick in a dynasty league.

Pretty soon you guys will be a playoff caliber team, and Mariucci will have enough small leads to milk down the final 45 seconds on the clock before halftime and settle for the field goal from 30 yards out.

[Flux]

Seriously Flux - this isnt the first time this argument has been had. I knew that you were going to bring up that statistic if you chose to debate this topic. Its the first thing any pro-Cpepp person says.

Honestly, I dont think ive been involved in any of those discussions. Im actually very anti-Culpepper, I was just laying the stat out there.

besides 5 games isnt a large enough sample size to draw many conclusions from.

At this point thats all we have to go on so its that or nothing

You are completely missing the biggest loss to their running game. Randy Moss. The reason I think Minny's running game will suffer the most is because they wont have defensive secondaries shading deep anymore.

Ok, say the defenses move up and put more men in the box now. Wouldnt that actually free up the MIN WRs and could theoretically make it easier for Culpepper to get them the ball, therefore increasing his completion percentage. Now he's going to have a bunch of 1v1 matchups, sure the WRs are no Moss, but they do have some talent, and they should have enough for one of them to get open.

Combine that with the loss of their starting RB - OSmith

Bennett was named the starter even before Smith got suspended. Bennett was supposed to start last year before he got hurt. Bennett was supposed to be and was going to be the starter. Granted not full-time, but he is the #1

They are starting the yr with Breakable Bennett, a 4th rd sophmore (who did look good in very limited action - I'll give him that), and a 4th rd rookie, plus a 3rd down and short yardage special teamer in Moe Williams.

Who cares what round these RBs were drafted in? Priest wasnt drafted at all, but he seems to do well. Do we really need to go over the list of great players drafted late?

What we do have is:

Bennett - who has a 1600+ total yard season under his belt. Granted he seems to be injury prone, but its not guaranteed that he will be hurt again. Hes also sitting on an avg of 4.6 ypc for his career

Moore - who has 3 career starts where he put up 182, 187, and 168 total yards respectively in those games. He does have the ability to handle the load

Moe - a great blocker, 3rd down RB, and goalline RB. Knows his role and can step in at a moments notice and handle things. Dont forget when he was called on to start in '03 he had 7 starts that year and did well. For the whole year he put up roughly 1400 total yards and 8 TDs. Hes shown he can play in the NFL as well.

Fason - who knows

Yes it will be different w/o Moss, but you cant immediately just say this is going to be a crappy run game. They have players who have proven they can start in this league.

And once again, they have their blocking TE/FB back for this season in Kleinsasser.

MIN also now has a defense. They may end up trying to be more of a ball control offense, which means more running and more opportunities for the RBs.

You believe what you want about Minny, seems like everyone and their uncle has them as a lock to win the division. I guess I see things differently.

I dont at all have MIN picked to win the division, I really dont think any of the teams in it are that good. I will give it to you though that DET did make some good progress this offseason and last. If you can figure out whats wrong w/ Joey your team could do well.

[Cornbread Maxwell]

Well, there ya go fellas - here you thought this thread was going to be about 3rd yr WRs and lo and behold a hijack took place!

Sorry about that.

Flux - I told you this is a we'll see argument. We've presented two different scenarios, we'll see who is right in a few months.

As a side note, I know that where a player is drafted means nothing when the pads come on, but before that professional scouts are paid large sums of money to grade players - by stating where a player was drafted all you are doing is summing up professional consensus opinion of that player. Its a rude technique with many discrepancies, but the general point remains.

[MadScott]

I found this article to be a good read. Gives a nice synopsis at the end too.

http://www.footballdocs.com/WR_3_year_2005.html

[creamdoorthirtyniner]

Great article!! I have that bookmarked for future referance!

[bellybrother]

very nice link. thank you.