Injury Woes: What’s Ahead in 2008

I was totally clocked, laid out, flattened like a pancake on the ski slopes last weekend by a 5-year-old child. I promise this will relate to fantasy football in a minute. I live in Colorado and was up in the mountains skiing last weekend. Towards the end of the day, a small child and his brother were skiing on the run merging from my left, but rather than skiing downhill they were coming horizontally; not towards the lift at the bottom or the end of the two runs at all - but seemingly directly towards me. I avoided child #1 and collided with child #2. Specifically, his tiny helmeted head made hard contact with my ribs. I hit the ground in a mess of extremities flying everywhere and was suddenly up and moving like a Navy Seal, crawling up the mountain to the child who was lying there face down in the snow. Honestly, for a second I thought he might be dead. He was not and after his initial tears dried, I helped him on with his skis and he went swooshing down to his brother (who was yelling "man down!" the entire time) and they proceeded to get on the lift and go right back up the mountain. Meanwhile, my adrenaline started to wear off and I realized I was in a great deal of pain. I skied down to the bottom of the run and basically gimped my way to the car, crying over a 5-year-old's ability to completely take me down.

So how does this relate to fantasy football? Well as I found myself sprawled across the obligatory couch-in-front-of-a-fireplace-at-the-base-lodge, longing for some pain medication after being slammed in the ribs by the helmeted, wayward five-year-old child, I realized the meaning of fantasy football karma. For roughly five weeks during the start of the 2007 season, Marc Bulger oscillated between probable and questionable thanks to two broken ribs. Bulger was my QB in two leagues and as the weeks went by, I found myself continuously cursing Bulger for not playing well despite the ribs and then not coming back from the injury fast enough. I remember at one point thinking, could Bulger's rib injury really be taking this long to heal? Impossible, there must be some other shenanigans going on - why can't the man play?! (note: it should be clear to everyone at this point that I lack any sort of medical training or knowledge whatsoever.) And then when he did return in Week 7 against Seattle, he threw three interceptions, lost two fumbles, and was sacked seven times. It was an ugly weekend and I gave up on Bulger for the rest of the season. So as I sit here attempting to ignore the discomfort I'm now feeling from my own bruised ribs, I realize how incredibly painful it must have been for Bulger to have two broken ribs and attempt to really make any plays at all - much less make plays behind his decimated o-line as 300+ pound men salivated at the thought of sacking him.

Therefore, in honor of my newfound respect for Bulger and his ribs, I think it's time to start reevaluating some of the guys like Bulger who went down with an injury this season. Where do these guys deserve to be drafted in our 2008 fantasy leagues? Will Ronnie Brown really come back better than ever? Should we believe the rumors that Cadillac Williams is done with football for good? And what about Jake Delhomme or Jeremy Shockey? Let's take a look at these guys and see what the prognoses for their 2008 seasons might be... 

1. Marc Bulger

Bulger had an off 2007 season for sure. As noted above, the guy was just plagued by injuries and perhaps even more importantly, so was his offensive line. Right now I'm pretty hesitant to pick Bulger up as a #1 QB; but I certainly wouldn't spend too much time discouraging others from drafting him as their starting QB. He'll more than likely bounce back and bringing in Al Saunders as the Rams' OC is certainly a coup for Bulger owners in dynasty leagues who stuck with him. Of the other QBs that are roughly in Bulger's range, I'd be inclined to draft David Garrard and Derek Anderson before Bulger. Heck, I'd probably even draft Cutler before him, too, but that's likely just my Denver Broncos fandom speaking.

2. Ronnie Brown

Will Ronnie Brown be a solid RB in 2008? All signs point to yes. Brown was looking like one of the best RBs in 2007 before he tore his ACL. Now, he's had some time to recuperate and is even possibly ahead of his rehab schedule. Sounds good, right? There are some major question marks about the Dolphins in general, including the backfield - what exactly will they do with Ricky Williams, Jesse Chatman and Lorenzo Booker? I've heard rumors they may want McFadden with their #1 pick in the NFL Draft, but I just don't see that happening - seems to me that the RB position is the least of their concerns. Plus with the acquisition of OC Dan Henning, I see good things in Brown's future. So keep an eye on his progress and who the Dolphins trade/release/draft, but I personally would be quite happy to have Brown as my RB2 next year. 

3. Carnell "Cadillac" Williams

Rumors surfaced in late January that Cadillac's career was potentially on the rocks. He may not be returning to football at all. I emphasize that this is a rumor but can't help but say, you cannot possibly want to get on the Caddy train right now. I mean the guy suffered from a rib injury (oh ribs...) that kept him limited at the very start of the season, then suffered an severe injury to his knee and is facing a long, uphill battle to recovery. And who wants to be that injured guy who now has to compete against Earnest Graham who was essentially the entire Bucs offense? Right. Definitely keep an eye on the situation, but I'm not going to ride the Cadillac in 2008.

4. Jake Delhomme

It was recently reported that Delhomme is in recovery mode from his elbow surgery and is throwing a Nerf football around for a max of twenty passes a day. Despite his progress and the lack of really any competition for the Panthers' starting QB, I can't help but think that there's no way I'm throwing my team's championship hopes behind a man who is only able to gently toss a Nerf football around twenty times a day. At that rate, I could be the Panthers’ QB.

5. Jeremy Shockey

Shockey isn't going anywhere. Despite what Tim Hasselbeck has to say, I believe GM Jerry Reese that Shockey will stay in New York as the Giants' starting TE. Shockey officially suffered a fractured fibula including ankle damage in Week 15 - he's struggled with ankle problems in the past, though it seems likely that if his rehab goes according to schedule, that he should be just fine by training camp. So how highly should Shockey be drafted? He finally had a 100+ yard game (and a TD) in Week 10 for the first time since 2005; if you take out that one game, most of his other outings looked rather mediocre. Or in some cases, even worse than mediocre – like in Week 12 when the Vikings intercepted three of the ten balls that were thrown in Shockey’s direction. When you start taking into account his 2007 mediocrity combined with his late season injury, I just can't endorse drafting him all that highly. This was the year of the TE and a lot of guys look a lot more promising to me than Shockey. Those who read my blog regularly won't be surprised to hear that I'd rather take Tony Scheffler before Shockey, as well as Owen Daniels, Ben Watson and Heath Miller, in addition of course to Antonio Gates and the other top tier TEs.