By Bob Harris, Special to SI.com

	Priest Holmes knows how valuable a fantasy commodity he is, as well as of teammate Larry Johnson. Brian Bahr/Getty Images

Holmes went on to explain, "It encourages the fans to want to get involved; it's what brings together a whole entire office building that instead of punching buttons and passing out papers, here they are talking about football and about what their picks are, which guys they have, which guys are injured and how exactly they're going to make that transition between them.

"'Priest Holmes is down! What are you going to do now? Who're you going to plug in? Oh, too bad, you don't have his backup. ... You wish you had [Larry] Johnson but you passed him up.'

"That's so much fun because with football, you never know what's going to happen on Sunday. There are so many things that can change, you know?

"You think a guy's going to have over 300 yards passing in a game and he winds up with a 100-yard passing game and six interceptions. You just cannot tell what's going to happen on any given Sunday.

"You try to look at the guys who are consistently doing it over the time and those are the guys that you pick up."

I'll add that Holmes was genuinely excited as he made that statement.

And while he's much more knowledgeable than most -- Holmes not only knows what you mean when asking about his "handcuff," he obviously knows who it is (and why), other players I talked to over the offseason also know something is up.

Other impressions from NFL notables I talked to this offseason:

Asked if he ever runs into fantasy owners during his daily travels, LaDainian Tomlinson says he had a hard time avoiding them.

"They are like, 'LT man we need 200 yards out of you today,'" he explained. "Somebody might come and say something ridiculous, 'LT 300 yards today.' I'm like. 'Are you kidding me? 300 yards? That would be great.'

"But at the same time if we're playing somebody like the Baltimore Ravens, don't be coming to me talking about 300 yards."

A reasonable enough request. We appreciate the advice.

Domanick Davis was also surprised at how often discussions with fans seem to "go fantasy."

"Yeah, I hear a whole lot about it," Davis said. "I don't know too much about it, but a lot of people come up to me after games and are like, 'Domanick, thank you man, you're on my Fantasy team,' or "I picked you as the No. 1 back on my fantasy team."

"It just trips me out, how they're always talking about how I helped them or you know, 'I picked you this year on my team, so do good this week.'"

DeShaun Foster said: "I like fantasy football. It's good. My dad plays it and everything. I try to give him the inside scoop. It's a good way to keep everybody involved in football that can't. It will bring more people to the game."

Others were somewhat more ambivalent.

According to Plummer, "I know now I'm one of the fantasy football prospects out there -- and I know you guys are caught up in producing points. It's going amazing in the last 5-6 years of being in the league. I mean, everybody you talk to now has their fantasy league team, from men, to women, to children. It has become a big thing.

"I don't think it's taking too much away from the game, but just the fact that even though they are fans of the Broncos and we lose -- even if I play well, they should be mad; they shouldn't be happy.

Still, it's a far cry from years past.

Asked during a September 27, 2000 press conference if fantasy owners could safely pencil him in as their starter that weekend, then-Broncos quarterback Brian Griese, nursing an injured shoulder, summed up the general attitude of players, coaches and league officials alike when he replied:

"I could care less about your fantasy league."

But they all care now. ...

And finally, for those of you looking for some kind of omen or sign that the 2005 season is going to be as exciting and productive as last year, I offer this:

The lowly 49ers scored 21 points in the second quarter against St. Louis last Sunday, more than last season's 2-14 team scored in any quarter of all year.

Game on!

Bob Harris is co-founder of the FootballDiehards Web site and senior editor at FSP Inc., publisher of Fantasy Football Pro Forecast, DraftBook, CheatSheets and Football Diehards magazines. Harris is a member in good standing of the Fantasy Sports Writers Association.