The Morning Of

In lieu of notes for our Goal Line Stand rankings this week, I thought it's a good time to take one last look back at what happened in the preseason Morning After style, and try to predict how it will affect the season ahead. Giddy up.

Players to be surprisingly optimistic about

1. Matt Hasselbeck: There were a lot of reasons not to like Hasselbeck heading into camp. Here's a few: 34 years old, back injury, questionable receiving corps, back injury, new run-first offensive attack without Mike Holmgren, back injury.

But Hasselbeck has looked impressive in training camp and appears fully healthy. In a sea of mediocre QB2 options, Hasselbeck looks inviting when he gets a tasty NFC West matchup like this week against the Rams. At least until his back flares up.

2. Leon Washington. The kid is hitting his prime, the Jets offensive line is strong, and I actually believe Rex Ryan when he says Leon will touch the ball more this year. Mark Sanchez dumping off to Washington may be the best play the Jets have.

3. Marion Barber: He evolved into the de facto guy that fell too far and ended up on my team. (Chad Johnson was this guy all summer – yes! – but his average draft position started to catch up with our rankings.

Barber still the best player on a very good offense that will catch passes and score touchdowns. There isn't that much of a difference between him and Maurice Jones-Drew. (Whom I also have.)

4. James Davis: So many times, we overrate players because they have a great opportunity for touches, but they prove not to be very good football players. (Eric Shelton, anyone?) Davis was only a sixth-round pick, but it was clear from the day he was drafted that he had the chance to make a big impact right away. He's taking advantage.

5. Patrick Crayton: A Rotoworld favorite from a few years back, he's emerged over Miles Austin. It wouldn't remotely surprise us if he puts up similar WR3 numbers to Roy Williams at a fraction of the practice.

6. Todd Heap and Jermichael Finley: There are tight end sleepers by the bushel this year. Finley is a dark horse to lead the Packers in receiving touchdowns, while Heap is showing some rejuvenation potential. An injury seems inevitable, but the man is only 29. He should be a factor until he gets hurt.

Editor's Note: For projections for every player listed above, check out Rotoworld's Season pass package. The Rotoworld Oracle takes your scoring system and tells you who to start. Plus you get access to countless other features including tons of stat tools, columns, Top-200 rankings for trades, early weekly rankings, Evan Silva's running back report, Monday morning recaps, IDP help, and picks of the week.

Nothing to see here, folks
Or: Players who got unnecessarily caught in the preseason weeds, but escaped.

1. Dwayne Bowe: Yeah, about that third team designation … just kidding!

2. Mark Bradley: See above. Bradley still might not be a huge fantasy factor, but he has the same relatively high ceiling for a flier pick that we thought he was to start camp. He's worth a pickup in most 12-team leagues.

3. Brandon Marshall: His totally useless offseason would be more surprising if this didn't happen twice before in his career. After all the drama, though, it would be surprising if he's not playing starter-worthy snaps in Week 1. It would be even more surprising if Marshall didn't produce. Maybe he won't catch 100 passes for the third straight year, but he'll come close enough.

4. Jonathan Stewart was back fully practicing Wednesday after resting for nearly a month with a sore Achilles. The lack of injury information in Carolina was part of the problem here; this was apparently the plan all along. The Carolina schedule gets much tougher this season, but Stewart has the same explosive talent he did last year.

(For everyone hammering me for ranking DeAngelo Williams so low: we'll see. He's still ranked as a top-15 player, and his schedule is infinitely harder and Stewart remains the most talented backup in football. The bet here is that Williams is closer to the player he was for the first half of last season.)

5. Chris "Beanie" Wells is still the most talented back in the Arizona backfield, and we expect him to be the most valuable in fantasy leagues starting Sunday.

6. Antonio Bryant and Donnie Avery shook off preseason surgeries and will be fully ready for Week 1. Nate Washington will be ready soon enough.

7. The Baltimore passing attack should be better than people think, and they have no one to reliably catch the ball except Derrick Mason. In PPR leagues, he should be a safe weekly play, same as he ever was.

In lieu of notes for our Goal Line Stand rankings this week, I thought it's a good time to take one last look back at what happened in the preseason Morning After style, and try to predict how it will affect the season ahead. Giddy up.

Players to be surprisingly optimistic about

1. Matt Hasselbeck: There were a lot of reasons not to like Hasselbeck heading into camp. Here's a few: 34 years old, back injury, questionable receiving corps, back injury, new run-first offensive attack without Mike Holmgren, back injury.

But Hasselbeck has looked impressive in training camp and appears fully healthy. In a sea of mediocre QB2 options, Hasselbeck looks inviting when he gets a tasty NFC West matchup like this week against the Rams. At least until his back flares up.

2. Leon Washington. The kid is hitting his prime, the Jets offensive line is strong, and I actually believe Rex Ryan when he says Leon will touch the ball more this year. Mark Sanchez dumping off to Washington may be the best play the Jets have.

3. Marion Barber: He evolved into the de facto guy that fell too far and ended up on my team. (Chad Johnson was this guy all summer – yes! – but his average draft position started to catch up with our rankings.

Barber still the best player on a very good offense that will catch passes and score touchdowns. There isn't that much of a difference between him and Maurice Jones-Drew. (Whom I also have.)

4. James Davis: So many times, we overrate players because they have a great opportunity for touches, but they prove not to be very good football players. (Eric Shelton, anyone?) Davis was only a sixth-round pick, but it was clear from the day he was drafted that he had the chance to make a big impact right away. He's taking advantage.

5. Patrick Crayton: A Rotoworld favorite from a few years back, he's emerged over Miles Austin. It wouldn't remotely surprise us if he puts up similar WR3 numbers to Roy Williams at a fraction of the practice.

6. Todd Heap and Jermichael Finley: There are tight end sleepers by the bushel this year. Finley is a dark horse to lead the Packers in receiving touchdowns, while Heap is showing some rejuvenation potential. An injury seems inevitable, but the man is only 29. He should be a factor until he gets hurt.

Editor's Note: For projections for every player listed above, check out Rotoworld's Season pass package. The Rotoworld Oracle takes your scoring system and tells you who to start. Plus you get access to countless other features including tons of stat tools, columns, Top-200 rankings for trades, early weekly rankings, Evan Silva's running back report, Monday morning recaps, IDP help, and picks of the week.

Nothing to see here, folks
Or: Players who got unnecessarily caught in the preseason weeds, but escaped.

1. Dwayne Bowe: Yeah, about that third team designation … just kidding!

2. Mark Bradley: See above. Bradley still might not be a huge fantasy factor, but he has the same relatively high ceiling for a flier pick that we thought he was to start camp. He's worth a pickup in most 12-team leagues.

3. Brandon Marshall: His totally useless offseason would be more surprising if this didn't happen twice before in his career. After all the drama, though, it would be surprising if he's not playing starter-worthy snaps in Week 1. It would be even more surprising if Marshall didn't produce. Maybe he won't catch 100 passes for the third straight year, but he'll come close enough.

4. Jonathan Stewart was back fully practicing Wednesday after resting for nearly a month with a sore Achilles. The lack of injury information in Carolina was part of the problem here; this was apparently the plan all along. The Carolina schedule gets much tougher this season, but Stewart has the same explosive talent he did last year.

(For everyone hammering me for ranking DeAngelo Williams so low: we'll see. He's still ranked as a top-15 player, and his schedule is infinitely harder and Stewart remains the most talented backup in football. The bet here is that Williams is closer to the player he was for the first half of last season.)

5. Chris "Beanie" Wells is still the most talented back in the Arizona backfield, and we expect him to be the most valuable in fantasy leagues starting Sunday.

6. Antonio Bryant and Donnie Avery shook off preseason surgeries and will be fully ready for Week 1. Nate Washington will be ready soon enough.

7. The Baltimore passing attack should be better than people think, and they have no one to reliably catch the ball except Derrick Mason. In PPR leagues, he should be a safe weekly play, same as he ever was.

Something to see here, folks
Or: I'm more concerned than I expected to be

1. Matt Cassel. A lot of early reminders that this transition won't be easy for Cassel: A ghastly offensive line got him hurt, and there were early signs that he was struggling to adapt to new offense while playing with a bunch of scrubs at wide receiver. Cassel fans should hope he sits out against the Ravens. Or he might be sitting out Week 2.

2. Trent Edwards has a lot of pressure to make a brand-new offense work, while integrating Terrell Owens into the system. I thought the Bills would be further along, but they appear to be at square one.

3. The smart money is on Michael Crabtree signing with the 49ers sooner than later, but there is a legitimate chance he'll have a lost rookie year.

4. The whispers about Kevin Curtis' explosiveness have convinced me he's just going to be another guy in a huge receiver rotation in Philadelphia, not someone you will consider starting except for emergencies.

Overrated Storylines

1. Chris Brown as a short-yardage back: Sure, he may swipe some touchdowns. But the fact that Gary Kubiak uses words that fantasy leaguers like and other coaches stay quiet isn't a reason to stay away from Steve Slaton. Let's see if Brown can stay healthy for more than a few games, and whether he really gets the ball when the game is on the line.

2. Willie Parker to get goal line carries: Again, how often has a coach given out useful usage and strategy talk before a season or game. Whenever a coach throws a number of carries he hopes a running back gets in a game or a season, it usually amounts to nothing. Parker has lost short-yardage duties before.

3. Pierre Thomas may not play in Week One, but he's still going to be a monster when he returns. He was slipping way too far in drafts held last weekend.

4. LaDainian Tomlinson is talking tough, but what would you expect? Career arcs don't lie, and there isn't much of a chance he bounces back to the "Old L.T."

5. Devin Hester may not have done much in the preseason, but he's the only explosive receiver on the Bears. He can get free for vertical routes and Jay Cutler will find him.

Stories rated appropriately

1. The firing of offensive coordinators in Tampa Bay and Buffalo says, "Hey, things are going so bad, we're willing to admit publicly that we have totally screwed up this entire offseason. Can we press reset?"

Both teams were looking to transform their offenses this year, and the learning curve for everyone involved could be steep.

2. No one saw the Cadillac Williams story coming. He probably won't start the whole season, much less stay healthy and useful in fantasy leagues, but Cadillac matters again. Which is saying something. (Although Derrick Ward is already a nice buy-low.)

Storylines deserving more attention

1. Everyone assumes Tom Brady and the Patriots will turn back the clock to something resembling 2007, but how disappointed will owners be if it looks a lot more like 2004?

2. The Colts backfield, provider of top-ten value at running back for nearly the entire decade until 2008, could have two backs that are undervalued. Donald Brown remains a Rotoworld favorite, and a fine trade target in redraft leagues.

3. Brian Westbrook's return for offseason surgeries has slipped under the radar. Since he didn't play in the preseason, we have no idea how he will look. But we love LeSean McCoy to get more than 125-150 touches this year, no matter how healthy Westbrook. (McCoy is a nice sneaky play against a meager Carolina rush defense this week.)