Fantasy files: Seeing past the hype

If there's one good thing about tonight's news that the players might not ratify the new CBA, it's that I will not have to read another article about Ryan Mathews. I understand that Mathews broke a lot of fantasy teams last year. I know that he finished the year strong with a three-TD game against the Broncos to end the season. He scored a lot of touchdowns in a short amount of playing time. Just shut up.

Certain players are getting too much attention and hype. Perhaps this annoys me solely because I would like to obtain said players in my upcoming keeper draft. If Mathews is there with my 1.10 pick in a keeper league (one QB, RB, and WR kept per team), yeah, I'll probably take him. But if one more bastard talks about his long runs and deep, soulful eyes I might have to start tweeting about the debt ceiling or So You Think You Can Dance to maintain my sanity.

Tim Tebow's on this list too. Did you know, as countless articles have told me, that Tebow was the top scoring QB in the season's final three games? Why yes, I do realize that the sun's coming up tomorrow morning. Listen, gents. I have Peyton Manning in this keeper league. Because of this, I do not need to concern myself with a backup QB until most teams have selected a guy. Tebow would be the perfect backup in that if he blows up, he's trade bait, and if he sucks like an evangelical Christian trying to back up his beliefs with facts, he goes onto the waiver wire in the sky. Now he's probably in the middle of the QB2 pile and I'm going to end up with Jason Campbell.

I'll list some players besides Mathews and Tebow who are getting too much attention. Jacoby Ford has superstar potential, but not with punks like Jim Day taking him in the 6th round of mocks. Austin Collie and the Amazing Technicolor Concussion is another one. I know he was the #1 scoring PPR receiver when he got injured. He scored 40+ points on my dad's fantasy roster. Losing to your dad in fantasy football is worse than the Titans losing to the Broncos last year at home in what was most likely Kyle Orton's sole career comeback victory.

Did you know that Arian Foster played with a torn meniscus last year? All I know is he was steamed crap on my college fantasy team for almost four years and when I drafted him in my keeper league last year, the pick was ripped off the board because we have a four RB limit on our rosters. I've heard about 100 versions of the "Dwayne Bowe scored 13 touchdowns in nine games and can't maintain that pace". Are you sure? You mean this guy isn't Jerry Rice? Jimmy Graham inexplicably is in the top six of the deepest TE class I've ever seen. Sure, he can do it, but knowing the Saints you'll bench him for his 2 TD game and start him for his two-catch game.

No one's talking about Chris Johnson and how he was a top-five RB even though in half of his carries he got tackled as soon as he touched the ball because the Titans' offensive line forgot how to run block last year. We'll just let it slide that the former Titans' offensive line coach is now the head coach. Bruce Matthews came over from Houston so what you saw from Chris Johnson last year will be the floor for the rest of his career. No more screen passes with his back to the defense, please.

Take a look at guys who had low TD numbers last year. Chris Cooley caught a career-high 77 passes. He only had three touchdowns so he finished a somewhat blah seventh in TE scoring. He's not seeing fewer targets with the Redskins having nothing at wideout. And the good news about bad quarterbacks, which the Redskins promise to have in abundance, is they are more accurate on short throws. Brandon Marshall is another target. In his career he's never been stabbed by a girlfriend or wife during an NFL season. He averaged eight touchdowns in his last three Denver seasons. In Miami he had three in 2010. Expect him to reach closer to his 100-catch standards this year with at least six scores.