Tip Sheet

Brees may be Chargers' starter, but not yet a fantasy starter

Drew Brees beat out Doug Flutie for the Chargers' starting job. AP

By Richard Harris, Special to CNNSI.com

Stock Rising

Marcus Robinson, WR, Chicago: Robinson, one of the best receivers in the game when healthy, saw his first action of the preseason on Friday night against the Jacksonville Jaguars, and the Bears could not have asked for better results. Playing for the first time since tearing his anterior cruciate and lateral collateral ligaments last October, Robinson looked like his old self, catching four passes for 55 yards, including a 26-yard score from QB Chris Chandler. With this performance, Robinson, who has not completed a full season since 1999 when he caught 84 balls for 1,400 yards and nine touchdowns, is now a serious challenger for a starting job opposite Marty Booker. That spot is now occupied by the emerging Dez White, who had five receptions for 69 yards and a touchdown last week against the Rams.

Drew Brees, QB, San Diego: In his rookie season, Brees’ only significant action came when Doug Flutie was knocked out of a game against Kansas City. In less than three quarters of action, the prolific passer from Purdue led the Chargers back from a 19-point deficit, completing 15 of 27 passes for 221 yards and one touchdown, with no interceptions. The Chargers ultimately lost the game due to sloppy play from the defense, but Brees gave the team a glimpse of a promising future.

This week, coach Marty Schottenheimer decided to go with Brees as his starting quarterback. The decision was the right one because Flutie has physical limitations, and those limitations have become more obvious as he has gotten older. His lack of arm strength and height restrict what he can do as a passer, and his ability to make plays as a scrambler has decreased over time.

On Thursday night against the Rams, Brees played the first two quarters, completing 12 of 17 passes for 150 yards, with no touchdowns or interceptions. He got the offense inside the St. Louis 25 three times, but the possessions yielded just three points because of a missed field goal and a failed fourth-down conversion.

Drafting Brees (6-0, 220) as your starting fantasy quarterback would not be advisable, but he is certainly worthy of a late-round selection as a sleeper. He is not an exceptional athlete, but he does have above-average arm strength and mobility. He also appears to have intangibles -- intelligence, leadership, and guile -- that are often more important in the NFL; Rich Gannon and Jeff Garcia would be reasonable NFL comparisons. As a starter this season, 3,600 passing yards and 20 TD passes, plus a couple of rushing TDs, are within Brees’ reach.

Tim Couch, QB, Cleveland: In the Browns’ two preseason games, Couch has completed passes at a torrid pace (16-21, 76.2 percent), and all the pieces seem to be in place for the fourth-year pro to have a breakout season. The club has rebuilt its offensive line to give Couch better protection, and an improved running game, featuring rookie RB William Green, should lead to more sustained drives and more touchdowns. A healthy Rickey Dudley at tight end and a developing wide receiver corps should also enhance Couch’s value; youngsters such as Quincy Morgan, Dennis Northcutt, JaJuan Dawson, and rookie Andre Davis are all showing signs of being ready to make solid contributions opposite Kevin Johnson. Additionally, Couch has a very favorable schedule. He will play nearly half of his games, 6: against either the expansion Texans or clubs that ranked 25th or worse in terms of touchdown passes allowed last season.

Phil Dawson, K, Cleveland: Playing games at Cincinnati and Pittsburgh, two locales that are proverbial Hells for kickers, Dawson may not have a schedule as favorable as Couch’s, but his stock is still rising due to the anticipated improvement of the Cleveland offense. The knock on Dawson is that he hasn't attempted a field goal longer than 49 yards in his three NFL seasons, but he recently made one from 64 yards in practice and said that under the right conditions, he could break the NFL record of 63 yards.

Antonio Bryant, WR, Dallas: With starter Raghib Ismail out with a season-ending injury, Bryant, a confident rookie who the Cowboys have compared to Michael Irvin, is the player most likely to be in the starting lineup opposite Joey Galloway at wide receiver this season. Before Ismail’s injury, Bryant was being used as the No. 3 receiver, with Ismail sliding to the slot on third downs, and last weekend with Ismail out against the Carolina Panthers, he started alongside Galloway.

At Pittsburgh, Bryant (6-1, 190) won the Biletnikoff Award, given to the nation's top receiver. He joined Randy Moss as the only sophomores to ever win that honor. Last season, Bryant earned All-Big East Conference first-team honors for the second straight year despite missing early-season action with a nagging high ankle sprain that hampered him throughout the year. He finished his college career as Pittsburgh’s most prolific receiver with 173 receptions for 3,061 yards, 17.7 avg.: and 30 touchdowns. Despite these accolades and being rated as first-round material, Bryant slipped to the No. 63 spot in the draft because he had earned a reputation for being uncoachable; he was suspended three times at Pittsburgh for various team-policy violations. The Cowboys, however, have had nothing but good things to say about Bryant and feel that he was one of the steals of the draft.

Keep an eye on

Rudi Johnson, RB, Cincinnati: Johnson, a 2001 fourth-round draft pick, has very quietly posted back-to-back 100-yard rushing efforts in the first two preseason games. He entered the NFL draft as a junior after shattering Auburn’s single-season rushing attempt record (324_ and registering the second-best rushing yardage in school history, 1,567 yards. He was second to Bo Jackson, who had 1,786 yards in 1985.

Coming out of college, the knock on Johnson was his lack of speed, but the second-year pro arrived at training camp at 218 pounds, 15 pounds lighter than last year, and he appears to be a step quicker. Johnson rushed for 100 yards on 14 carries in the team's 24-17 preseason opener at Buffalo, and in last Saturday's 22-10 win over Indianapolis, he rushed for 103 yards and a touchdown and had three receptions for 24 yards.

Johnson is currently battling with fourth-year pro Brandon Bennett and Curtis Keaton, a fourth-round pick in 2000, for the top spot behind Pro Bowler Corey Dillon. Keaton and Bennett are third-down, change-of-pace types, while Johnson is more of a power runner and is probably best suited to be the workhorse back should Dillon go down for an extended period.

Antwaan Randle El, WR, Pittsburgh: A dynamic four-way threat in college, Randle El played mostly at quarterback for Indiana. He is the only player in NCAA Division I-A history to reach 6,000 yards passing and 3,000 yards rushing, and is also the only player to pass for and score 40 touchdowns. If that was not enough, he also caught seven passes for 90 yards and a touchdown, punted 17 times for 569 yards (33.5 avg.) and returned 16 punts for 149 yards (9.3 avg.). Now, that’s what I call a football player.

Despite his rookie status and lack of experience at wideout, Randle El has been so impressive in training camp that he’s moved ahead of veteran Terance Mathis and former first-round pick Troy Edwards to be the Steelers’ slot receiver. Through two exhibition games, he is the team’s second leading receiver with six catches for 54 yards and a touchdown, and their leading rusher with 43 yards on two carries, including a 32-yard touchdown run on a reverse last Sunday against Washington.

Derrius Thompson, WR, Washington: Thompson, who joined the Redskins in 1999 as an undrafted free agent, has been one of the most impressive receivers of the preseason, leading the NFL in receiving yards (307), catches (16) and touchdowns (four). The 6-2, 215-pound wideout has performed so well that he will start opposite Rod Gardner on Saturday night at Tampa Bay. Gardner and Jacquez Green, who has been hampered by a rib injury for the past two weeks, are expected to be the regular-season starters, but Thompson could lock up the No. 3 spot with a solid performance against the Buccaneers. Kevin Lockett and Chris Doering are his main competitors, while Darnerien McCants and Reidel Anthony appear to have slipped off the radar screen.

Stock falling

Jay Fiedler, QB, Miami: On Thursday, the Dolphins acquired backup QB Sage Rosenfels from the Redskins for an undisclosed 2003 draft pick. While I don’t want to make too much of the trade for Rosenfels, who has completed 32-of-54 pass attempts for 476 yards, five touchdowns and two interceptions in three preseason games, I do think that it does say something about the Dolphins’ comfort level with their other quarterbacks.

In last Thursday's 24-7 exhibition loss to New Orleans, Dolphin fans watched and booed as Fiedler (8-19 for 83 yards) threw three first-half interceptions. Fiedler’s offensive line was part of the problem, as he was under a fair amount of pressure from the Saints defense, but he also misfired on many of his attempts.

A hitch in his throwing motion that is related to his recent hip surgery is said to be the underlying cause of Fiedler’s inaccuracy. His supporters have used similar explanations to defend the quarterback in the past. Healthy or not, the lack of zip on his passes, his off-line throws, and the subsequent 33 picks over the last two seasons cannot be ignored, and the Dolphins may be starting to figure this out.

Germane Crowell, WR, Detroit: An extremely gifted receiver, Crowell caught 81 balls for 1,338 yards and seven scores in 1999, but over the last two seasons, he has started just 11 games due to various injuries. The Lions had hoped that Crowell, who is recovering from two offseason knee surgeries and is on the Physically Unable to Perform list, would return for the final two exhibition games. His recovery, however, is going slower than expected, and there is a good chance that he will be on the PUP until the fifth game of the regular season. When Crowell returns, do not be surprised to see him displace either Bill Schroeder or Az-Zahir Hakim in the starting lineup, but until he does, he is not worth a roster spot.

Richard Harris is the Senior Writer and Managing Editor for FantasyFootballExperts.com. His weekly columns have appeared on either ESPN.com or USAToday.com over the past four years, and this season, he will be featured on CNNSI.com. FantasyFootballExperts.com offers exclusive and in-depth articles, player rankings and cheat sheets for multiple scoring systems, injury updates, weekly matchup analysis, and other essentials for a fantasy football championship.

 

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