Fantasy Football Veterans to Avoid
Once Great Players and Fantasy Studs, These Guys Best Days Are Over
Aug 23, 2007
Brett Favre. Favre is one of the three greatest quarterbacks of all time. He ranks first in career completions. He ranks second in touchdown passes with 414, just six behind Dan Marino's NFL record of 420. He also ranks second in passing yards with 57,500. Favre is just 3,861 yards behind Marino's all time record of 61,316. Accordingly, he could finish the season as the all-time leader in every important quarterback category.
But Favre is close to the end. This is especially true if you are in a league that subtracts points for interceptions. Just look at his statistical trend.
From 2001 through 2004, Favre threw 32, 30, 27, and 32 touchdowns, an average of 30.25 TDs a year. During those years, he averaged 17 interceptions a season.
The last two years, however, Brett averaged just 19 scores and 24 pick-offs. While his yards remained steady, Favre's free-falling touchdowns and skyrocketing interceptions make this 38-year old QB an eighth to tenth round pick at best. He is still a good second option, and might be a nice plug-in against the right opponent, but he is no longer a starting FF quarterback.
Ahman Green, Houston Texans. Once Favre's Pro Bowl running back, Ahman Green rushed for 1,883 yards and scored 20 total touchdowns in 2003. Although most thought that Green had arrived at superstardom, that season turned out to be his last great year. Over the next three seasons, injuries, wear and tear and a weakening Packers' offense have resulted in less and less fantasy points for Green.
Although he had 1,059 rushing yards last year, Green scored just six total TDs last year and finished 18th among running backs in fantasy points. This year, Green moved to the Houston Texans, a team whose top rusher in 2006 gained just 612 yards and scored only 5 touchdowns. It would be a surprise if the 30-year old Green does much better than that.
Steve McNair, Baltimore Ravens. Steve McNair can still win football games. That much is obvious. But he is no fantasy football starter. The 2003 NFL MVP and future Hall of Famer finished 19th among quarterbacks in fantasy points in 2006. Look for him to drop further this year. Like Favre, he is a warrior and could make a decent back-up or spot starter, but don't even thing about taking him before the tenth round.
Trent Green, Miami Dolphins. Fantasy Football owners may be tempted to take Green for several reasons. First of all, once you get past Manning, Palmer, Brady, Brees, McNabb, Bulger and Rivers, there is a steep fall-off in quarterback quality and consistency.
And the fact that Green was a superstar in '04 and a solid starter in '05 before his 2006 injury-riddled season may lead owners to think Green can still produce. Don't count on it.
First of all, Green is 37 years old, an age where even the greatest quarterbacks just can't do it anymore (see Brett Favre, above).
Secondly, Green got the living daylights beaten out of him last year, and after he returned in Week 11, he only had one productive game.
Third, he is playing for the Miami Dolphins.
Fred Taylor, Jacksonville Jaguars. Taylor has been a very solid fantasy football running back since he came into the league in 1998. He also just signed a new three-year contract with the Jaguars, which could lead many to believe that Taylor will still be a focal point of the offense this season.
It's not gonna happen. Taylor is 31 years old, injuries have slowed him down quite a bit over the past three seasons, and Jacksonville has one of the two most exciting young running backs in the game today, in Maurice Jones-Drew. Don't take Fred as one of your top two (or even three) running backs this year. Don't do it.
If you want to live in the past, try running your team with these players. If you wanna live in the now, avoid them like the plague.
