2007 Fantasy Awards: LVPs
by FOXSports.com
| 2007 awards: LVPs | |||||||
Roger Rotter |
Mike Harmon |
John Juhasz |
Gerrit Ritt |
John Halpin |
Joe Concha |
||
| Top | S. Alexander | S. Alexander | L. Johnson | L. Johnson | S. Alexander | V. Young | |
| QB | M. Bulger | J. Kitna | M. Bulger | M. Bulger | C. Palmer | V. Young | |
| RB | S. Alexander | S. Alexander | L. Johnson | L. Johnson | S. Alexander | S. Alexander | |
| RB | L. Johnson | L. Johnson | S. Alexander | R. Johnson | R. Johnson | C. Benson | |
| WR | M. Harrison | L. Evans | R. Williams | S. Smith | S. Smith | L. Evans | |
| WR | T. Glenn | J. Walker | D. Jackson | V. Jackson | M. Harrison | M. Harrison | |
| R/W | T. Henry | T. Henry | C. Henry | R. Bush | L. Johnson | T. Jones | |
| TE | T. Heap | R. McMichael | J. Shockey | T. Heap | T. Heap | V. Davis | |
| K | J. Wilkins | D. Akers | O. Mare | J. Nedney | A. Vinatieri | J. Wilkins | |
| D/S | Baltimore | Baltimore | Baltimore | Miami | Baltimore | Miami | |
| Bch | M. Leinart | C. Palmer | A. Smith | M. Schaub | V. Young | J. Losman | |
| Bch | C. Benson | M. Bulger | J. Kitna | V. Young | J. Kitna | M. Schaub | |
| Bch | R. Johnson | R. Johnson | R. Johnson | M. Leinart | A. Green | R. Grossman | |
| Bch | A. Green | C. Benson | F. Gore | S. Jackson | C. Benson | L. Maroney | |
| Bch | J. Walker | M. Harrison | C. Williams | S. Alexander | D. McAllister | D. Jackson | |
| Bch | D. Jackson | V. Jackson | M. Harrison | M. Harrison | R. Williams | R. McMichael | |
| Bch | A. Crumpler | Steelers D/ST | Miami D/ST | Chicago D/ST | J. Walker | J. Shockey | |
ROTTER: Alexander was the highest drafted player who had a miserable season. ... Harrison was a colossal disappointment playing in only five games. ... Bulger was picked among the top five quarterbacks, but he only threw 11 touchdowns all season. ... Johnson missed half the games, and Glenn missed the entire regular season. ... Heap was picked as a top-five tight end, but he missed 10 games. ... Though Baltimore was a top-three fantasy defense, it was ravaged by injuries and finished in the bottom third.
HARMON: This was a difficult choice. Rudi Johnson, Larry Johnson and Harrison were certainly worthy of consideration, as was hot draft-day pick Kitna. In the end, I give the nod to Seattle running back Alexander. He continued to play through injuries and was beset by inconsistency on the Seattle offensive line. As such, the former MVP didn't generate the top-five fantasy effort that owners anticipated. However, I believe he'll be a force in the NFL playoffs. Just my two cents.
JUHASZ: So many owners drafted L.J. in their top three. How did he reward them? By going MIA for the rest of the season after Week 9 (despite his overly optimistic musings about a quick return). He finished with three scores and 559 yards, but didn't do his owners much good watching from his couch at home. It's like investing heavily in a stock that ends up giving you a .0001 percent annual return: just not enough production.
As for the others, Bulger finished with a pretty sorry 11-to-15 TD-to-INT ratio, Alexander looks nothing like he did two years ago, Henry didn't produce even when he was in a Cincy uniform, Mare made a league-low 10 field goals (not counting those with fewer than 10 attempts), and the Browns got occasional special teams scores, but were a nightmare in yardage and points-allowed leagues.
RITT: I hate to have to do this, but L.J. was picked second in most leagues across the world and played in just eight games, scoring just four touchdowns because of multiple injuries. ... Bulger had his worst season as a pro, playing in just 12 games, throwing just 11 touchdowns and getting picked off an ugly 15 times. He had just two multi-touchdown games all year. ... Rudi Johnson has been the model of consistency for years now, but the injury bug caught up with him. He got into 11 games, but had less than 500 yards rushing and a miniscule four scores. ... There were a couple big games in there, but once Jake Delhomme went down, Smith had nobody who would even try to get him the ball. He somehow managed 1,002 yards, which was a miracle, but he had an 11-game stretch where he had more than 72 yards just once. That's tough to do and STILL get 1,000. I honestly don't know how he did it. ... Vincent Jackson wasn't a major top pick, but he was certainly drafted in the middle rounds of most of them. Unfortunately, he caught just 41 balls and scored only three times as he and the Chargers struggled to throw the ball all year.
The expectations were high, as owners were drafting Bush in their Top 10s everywhere you looked. He just didn't deliver. In fact, Aaron Stecker had more success than he did after Bush's injury. ... One of the bigger stinkers of the year, Heap, played in just six games, never had more than 76 yards in any of them and scored just once. ... After San Fran's offensive burst at the end of last season, owners had to think the Niners would do some scoring this season. Well, that wasn't the case at all, and Nedney kicked just 22 extra points and 17 field goals, which averaged out to less than five fantasy points a game. .... One of the better defense last year was put in a terrible spot by their offense all season long. Thanks to being on the field way too often, Miami gave up a ton of points, created just 22 turnovers and scored just three defensive touchdowns.
For all the hype in the off-season about Schaub, he wasn't on the field nearly enough to make a fantasy difference. His nine touchdowns were offset by his nine interceptions in 11 games. ... Ooops, what a disaster. Nine passing touchdowns all season long? And 17 interceptions? Really? Not to mention Young had just 395 rushing yards, which was supposed to be the thing that put him over the top. ... Leinart played in just five games before he went down with an injury, but he had just two touchdowns and four picks in those five games, including performances of 53, 93, 100 and 102 yards passing in four of them. Eke!
Like Smith, Jackson somehow managed to eke out 1,000 yards, but just barely. Just five touchdowns, though. That's not gonna get it down for the player taken second in most drafts across the country. ... In just 11 games, Alexander was a colossal bust. The Seattle offensive line was a mess, allowing him to rush for just 716 yards and five scores. He doesn't catch any passes, either, which just adds to the misery of owners who took him in the top five or seven picks for sure. His 105-yard game in Week 1 was sadly his biggest game of the year! ... The game's premier receiver for almost 10 years finally ran into injury problems he's never experienced before. In just five outings, he caught a measly 20 passes for 247 yards and a single score. That killed many of us for sure. ... This wasn't even close. If it weren't for Devin Hester, Chicago would have been an even worse disaster.
HALPIN: Lots of injured players here, but it was hard to approach it differently.... Alexander averaged out as the third pick iin FOXSports.com drafts, meaning there are tens of thousands of people out there with his picture on their dartboards. ... Palmer was ninth among fantasy quarterbacks in points, but you expected a lot more. ... Rudi Johnson, ugh. ... Smith did get 1,000 yards, but his horrible quarterbacks made him a big disappointment as a consensus second-rounder. ... Harrison and Heap are co-winners of this year's "Most Times Listed as Questionable to Screw Fantasy Owners" award. ... Vinatieri was the first kicker picked and 23rd in fantasy scoring. ... The Ravens' D was softer than a Nerf football; raise your hand if you took them in the sixth round of your draft. ... Ronnie Brown is getting an exemption just because he was sooooooo good before getting hurt.
CONCHA: There were plenty of them. I decided not to include players who got injured early on (Delhomme, Matt Leinart, etc.) just to be fair because you can hardly say a player failed if he can't walk or lift his arm.
Young is a good place for the flop awards to start; it's as if he forgot how to scramble while trying to morph himself into Kerry Collins. ... Alexander always looked slow to me, but then again, so did Franco Harris. ... Speaking of slow, Benson is the biggest flop on this list and was likely the main reason for the Bears demise (we can't blame Rex for everything, including the wind in Chicago, can we?). ... Evans seemed to stop running deep patterns when Trent Edwards took over. ... Harrison got hurt, yes, but he looked every bit of 35 years old before his mysterious week-to-week injury kept him out for the final 10 games of the season.
Jones was as horrible as the Jets' throwback Titans uniforms. ... Davis was poor in an already-pathetic Niners offense. ... Wilkins was always good for quality points playing in a dome for a potent offense, but even when he got his few chances this year, he played as poorly as the rest of the team (converting on only 75 percent of his field goals). ... And I know the Dolphins haven't been a playoff contender in years, but the defense was always something you could rely on (being on the field for something like 40 minutes a game this season probably didn't help).
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