Redraft Rankings ~ QBs Pre-NFL Draft

1. D Brees NO, 31/10
2. A Rodgers GB, 26-27/6
3. P Manning IND, 34/13
4. M Schaub HOU, 29/7
5. T Brady NE, 33/10
6. P Rivers SD, 28-29/7
7. T Romo DAL, 30/8
8. B Favre MIN, 40-41/20
9. J Flacco BAL, 25/3
10. M Ryan ATL, 25/3
11. C Palmer CIN, 30-31/8
12. B Roethlisberger PIT, 28/7
13. D McNabb PHI, 33-34/12
14. J Cutler CHI, 27/5
15. E Manning NYG, 29/7
16. M Cassel KC, 28/6
17. A Smith SF, 26/5
18. D Garrard JAC, 32/9
19. M Hasselbeck SEA, 34-35/12
20. M Moore CAR, 26/4
21. K Orton DEN, 27-28/6
22. C Henne MIA, 25/3

Redraft Rankings ~ RBs Pre-NFL Draft

1. A Peterson MIN 25/4
2. C Johnson TEN 24-25/3
3. M Jones-Drew JAC 25/5
4. R Rice BAL 23/3
5. S Jackson STL 27/7
6. F Gore SF 27/6
7. D Williams CAR 27/5
8. C Benson CIN 27-28/6
9. M Turner ATL 28/7
10. R Mendenhall PIT 23/3
11. R Grant GB 27-28/5
12. R Brown MIA 28-29/6
13. J Charles KC 23-24/3
14. S Greene NYJ 25/2
15. P Thomas NO 25-26/4
16. F Jones DAL 23/3
17. J Stewart CAR 23/3
18. K Moreno DEN 23/2
19. M Forte CHI 24-25/3
20. C Wells ARI 22/2
21. J Harrison CLE 27/5
22. L McCoy PHI 22/2

Redraft Rankings ~ WRs Pre-NFL Draft

1. A Johnson HOU 29/8
2. L Fitzgerald ARI 27/7
3. R Wayne IND 31-32/10
4. R Moss NE 33/13
5. D Jackson PHI 23-24/3
6. S Rice MIN 24/4
7. A Boldin BAL 29-30/8
8. C Johnson DET 24-25/4
9. R White ATL 28-29/6
10. M Austin DAL 26/5
11. V Jackson SD 27/6
12. M Colston NO 27/5
13. S Smith CAR 31/10
14. G Jennings GB 26-27/5
15. B Marshall DEN 26/5
16. C Ochocinco CIN 32/10
17. M Sims-Walker JAC 25-26/4
18. W Welker NE 29/7
19. D Bowe KC 25-26/4
20. H Nicks NYG 21-22/2
21. B Edwards NYJ 27/6
22. P Harvin MIN 22/2

Redraft Rankings ~ TEs Pre-NFL Draft

1. A Gates SD 30/8
2. D Clark IND 31/8
3. O Daniels HOU 27-28/5
4. J Finley GB 23/3
5. J Witten DAL 28/8
6. V Davis SF 26/5
7. B Celek PHI 25/4
8. D Keller NYJ 25-26/3
9. T Gonzalez ATL 34/14
10. K Winslow TB 27/7
11. V Shiancoe MIN 30/8
12. C Cooley WAS 28/7
13. Z Miller OAK 24-25/4
14. H Miller PIT 27-28/6
15. G Olsen CHI 25/4
16. J Carlson SEA 26/3
17. J Shockey NO 30/9
18. K Boss NYG 26/4
19. S Nelson BUF 24-25/2
20. J Cook TEN 23/2
21. T Heap BAL 30/10
22. B Pettigrew DET 25/2

Post-season Exercises (5 of 5) ~ Returning From Injuries

Experience should tell you that many players who missed much, if not most, of a season due to injury are easily overlooked in the following season by fantasy owners. A perfect example comes from my 2005 season of my money league. I drafted Steve Smith in the eighth round of that draft when he was blossoming into one of the best WRs in fantasy football. Why did he slide so far? In the 2004 season, Smith broke his leg in the first week of the season, causing him to be put on IR and ending his season. Going into the 2005 season, many people forgot what he was capable of because he missed so much time, and especially since Muhsin Muhammad had a career year in Smith's absence. As a result, his 2005 draft stock dropped everywhere. I was lucky enough to watch him slide all the way to the eight round of my draft where I quickly snatched him up. He was my third WR chosen that year, and ended up being the best WR of the season in standard scoring formats, along with being voted as the comeback player of the year. Needless to say, he was a big part of my Championship that year.

In this following section, I have taken note of players who have missed a large portion of the season, typically half or more, due to injuries, ending the season on IR. Many of these players

Postseason Exercises (4 of 5) ~ Hot Season-Ending Performances

Late Rounds/Undrafted

Most of these guys will go undrafted, but a couple of them might sneak into the final rounds of your draft. I will always advise fantasy footballers everywhere to draft your kicker in the final round of your draft, whether that round is the fourteenth or the twentieth, and usually draft your defense in one of the two previous rounds. These guys kinda fall into that same category if your roster size is sixteen players or greater. There is a fine chance that you could find better sleeper options during the final stages of your drafts than these players, but if they go undrafted, follow their progress and the team/player situations around them closely. They could surprise you during the season. I'm talking about...

Alex Smith
~~What do Frank Gore, Micheal Crabtree, Vernon Davis, and Josh Morgan have in common...other than being 49ers? All four guys put together compose one hell of a life raft for Smith. Take away any one of these guys and Smith might sink. After taking over for the ineffective Shaun Hill during week 7 Smith has resurrected his waning career. He has encountered some well documented but easily forgotten problems with an injured throwing shoulder that derailed his 2007 season and caused him to find the IR for almost the entire 2008 season after a second surgery on it. Through the ten and a half games he played in 2009, he completed 225 out of 372 attempted passes (60.5 percent) for 2350 yards, 18 TDs and 12 ints. Project that over an entire sixteen game season and he would have completed approximately 343 out of 567 attempted passes for 3581 yards, 27 TDs and 18 ints. That would've ranked him right around the fourteenth best QB for the season in standard scoring formats. Not too bad for a supposedly busted QB in a run-heavy offense. Morgan will be entering his third year with the 49ers and Crabtree will have an entire offseason and preseason to learn the plays and develop rapport. Put it all together and

Postseason Exercises (3 of 5) ~ Hot Season-Ending Performances

Mid-Late Rounds

A lot of these players will have dropped off of many fantasy footballer's radars by the time your drafts come around. A couple of these guys, specifically the TEs, won't be forgotten about, they just simply don't have very high draft value. They will be drafted either by one of the last owners to draft their starting TE (considering the following two TEs, I would highly recommend that option for your 2010 draft), or they will be the very first backup TEs drafted. All of these players will hold some of the best sleeper value to be had toward the end of your draft. They include...

Arian Foster
~~As one of the most popular undrafted free agents from the NFL's rookie class in dynasty leagues, this University of Tennessee product certainly made all of his dynasty owners very happy with the way he seized control of his opportunity in the last two weeks of the regular season for the Texans. For the rest of fantasy football owners everywhere...who the hell is he??? Chris Brown started the season as the large, plodding, short-yardage RB to compliment Steve Slaton, but he became relatively ineffective as the season wore on. When Slaton had bad nerves...literally, not metaphorically...in his neck and had to be put on injured reserve after missing week 13, an opportunity arose for Foster, who was already called up from the practice squad. Foster needed to carve out a role for himself by outperforming Ryan Moats, and he helped himself with a solid performance in week 14. After an early fumble in week 15 forced him to the sidelines for the remainder of that game, Foster needed to continue to impress during practices to get back on the field. Ultimately, the Texans coaching staff decided to take a chance on Foster for the final two games, giving him the primary RB duties for the final two weeks of the season. All Foster did with his new found life was run the ball 39 times for 216 yards and 3 TDs, adding 3 receptions for 26 yards during those two weeks. It appears the Texans backfield is in a bit of a mess going into this offseason, especially since both team owner Bob McNair and head coach Gary Kubiak have recently publicized their desires to add depth at the RB position. But if the last two weeks of the regular season are any indication, I'd say it is a safe bet that

Postseason Exercises (2 of 5) ~ Hot Season Ending Performances

Middle Rounds

Many of these players will enter our 2010 fantasy drafts as lesser known or lesser respected names and should hold very good value where they get drafted. Some of these players will be quickly identified by many "experts" throughout the summer as popular sleeper options, while the others will slip down many draft boards because their names and potential may not be given much regard by any of the major publications or website resources. These include...

Chris Wells
~~I doubt he will go unnoticed by even the amateur fantasy football owners in next year's draft, but Wells ended the season/post-season being the primary option in the Cardinals running game. It took him all the way until week 13 to finally get more reps than Tim Hightower on a consistent basis, but when the Cardinals offense started to lean on him more in the running game he responded with very good fantasy performances down the stretch, getting a TD in each of weeks 14, 15, and 16, and going over 100 yards in week 15. Even in his limited committee style touches, he averaged a remarkable 4.6 yards per carry for the year. Wells may still be in a committee situation with Hightower next year, but I fully expect him to be

Postseason Exercises (1 of 5) ~ Hot Season Ending Performances

--I will start a small series of articles concentrating on certain exercises you should perform soon after the conclusion of your fantasy football season to increase your chances of success for the following year. This particular piece will be the first of a series of five articles focusing on the first step to determine breakout candidates and quality sleepers for the 2010 season.--

A recognized practice amongst avid fantasy footballers, like myself, is to take note of lesser-known players who ended the season very strong, but didn't really burst onto the scene until later in the season, typically in the last four weeks or so. Players in this context should compose no less than half of your sleeper list for next season. This category of players I will concentrate on are typically young, not well known, and either drafted by their respective NFL teams to be future stars at their positions, or have been thrust into the limelight when players starting ahead of them get injured or relegated. Most of these players will typically carry at least some, if not all of that momentum into the following season. Since many of these players will be mostly forgotten by a lot of fantasy football team owners by next August, they will tend to be available at a great draft value.

Early Rounds

Some players have far outperformed our expectations and have positioned themselves to be solid early-round options, even though they didn't get their chances until midway through the season. They have already strongly established their names and potential in the minds of fantasy footballers everywhere, and have strong potential for a breakout season in 2010. They include...

Jamaal Charles
~~Widely considered a prototypical third down RB, Charles was used in such a manner through

The Bragging Rights of a Champion

--I have won the Championship of my 10-team Keeper/Money League, and this is the article I posted on the homepage of that league. Over the years, I have urged on the tradition of the League Champion posting an article boasting their bragging rights and hopefully annoying the rest of the league in a motivational fashion. Oddly enough, I happen to be the only league member to have posted a "bragging rights" article, even though another league member was a repeat Champion in 2007-2008. Maybe some of us just are not as into it like I am....haven't you read the title of this blog?!?! My last Championship article I posted on that homepage was in 2006. Other players on my team not mentioned in this article include Adrian Peterson, Reggie Wayne, Marques Colston, and Greg Olsen. Along with Owen Daniels, I also lost Leon Washington to IR. In case you are wondering how I got away with murder during my draft, this is a keeper league where we can keep two players (three players starting in 2010) in the original rounds they were drafted, and we can own them for a grand total of three years (year drafted, two years kept). My two keepers were Adrian Peterson in the 5th round (final year) and Chris Johnson in the 8th round (second year).--

He's Baaaack!!!

Finally, the Championship has returned back home! Some might say the win was ugly, or maybe Drewbacca didn't put up much of a fight, but I will simply call it destiny. It would have been a vast disappointment if Undertow fell short of the Title after having a ridiculously sweet draft, where many babies were robbed of their lollipops. And let's not forget the trade for Andre Johnson to complete Undertow's well rounded starting lineup, when Buzz was willing to sell AJ in a bold move to bolster his RBs and make a playoff run. After two years of disappointments, injuries, and busts, Undertow has finally put together a Championship caliber squad that could dominate in any given game, and more importantly, they stayed relatively healthy throughout the year.

This season's draft alone was enough to crown Undertow the preseason "Paper Champion," but everyone, including myself, knows that means nothing until it is proven throughout the season. This draft certainly rivaled Undertow's 2005 draft (the team was then known as Love My Johnson) when that team ended the season by winning the Championship on a 13 game winning streak, decimating the competition with the help of Larry Johnson's breakout season. Picking up sleepers like Ray Rice, Matt Schaub, and Owen Daniels in the middle and late rounds of this recent draft, and acquiring Mike Sims-Walker along with various defenses off of the waiver wire, were what really propelled Undertow to be the points leader every week of the entire season, and eventually win the Title.

Chris Johnson, Ray Rice, Matt Schaub, and Owen Daniels all outperformed everybody's expectations in phenominal fashion. Johnson and Rice were supposed to be in a committee situation with LenDale White and Willis McGahee respectively, while Schaub had been notoriously injury prone his entire career as a starter. Owen Daniels, who was the 10th overall TE selected, was well on his way to being the best fantasy TE until a torn ACL ended his season and devastated fantasy owners everywhere. Not only was his season abruptly ended, but now there will be questions as to how fast he can fully recover going into the 2010 season. Without these overachievers, Undertow would have certainly fallen short of a Title.

It has been a long three season wait for Undertow to return to prominence in this league. Unfortunately, it will be yet another long offseason before they have a chance to defend the Title with Chris Johnson, Ray Rice, and Co. Undertow's 2009 draft may have been way too easy, but the competition during the season was certainly very intense and very exemplary. I hope to see more of that next year, but I certainly won't mind if my team's path to a repeat ends up being a cakewalk.

Is it me, or do these seasons seem to get shorter and shorter?