FANTASY FOOTBALL PRE-SEASON FEATURES

Torry Holt comes off his sixth consecutive season with 1300 or more yards when he ended with 1331 to rank 6th in the NFL last year. Holt was 2nd in number of passes targeted to him (169) and 4th in catches with 102. He does this every year.

There could be a reasonable concern now that Mike Martz has left that the Rams will no longer be the pass happy slingers we have come to love. That is likely true to some extent but that doesn't mean that Holt will be the one getting a decrease. Consider that new HC Scott Linehan was the offensive coordinator for Randy Moss until last year when he went to Miami where Chris Chambers turned in a career best year in only his first season with Linehan (and only as it ends up). And Chambers accomplished that with Gus Frerotte as the quarterback. While those 3rd and 4th receivers will feel the pinch of less passes, there is no reason to assume that Holt will.

The only question with Holt is if you take him as the first wideout in the draft. Marvin Harrison is getting older. Terrell Owens is on a new team. Randy Moss has a new quarterback and system. Chad Johnson may not have a healthy Palmer to start the season. In terms of annual consistency and production, Holt has become the new Harrison.

2005 saw Chad Johnson turn in his fourth straight 1000 yard season and with 1432 yards, he finished third in the NFL last year behind only Steve Smith and Santana Moss. He ended up being fifth in both targets (163) and catches (97). For the last three seasons, Johnson has not had less than 90 catches. He has developed into a true star wideout in the league that has become noted for his endzone celebrations (he had nine scores in each of the last two seasons with Carson Palmer).

Johnson not only remains a consistent fantasy scorer every week, he also added three games over 130 receiving yards last year and he had two in 2004. At the age of 28, he is only now starting to enter his prime years. Johnson should remain a fixture in the top 10 for years to come. Perhaps the top 5 at that.

His only caveat on this season is the health of Carson Palmer who tore up his knee last January and may - or may not - be ready to go when the season kicks off. The Bengals have lost Jon Kitna as well, opting to back-up Palmer with the ex-Raven Anthony Wright. As the primary wideout, he should be sheltered from a downturn more than any other player but still, his risk warrants a slight drop in drafts this summer until more is known about Palmer. Regardless, he remains as talented as any wide receiver out there.

We should all be so productive after a year off. Steve Smith was a budding star in 2003 when he had 1110 yards and seven touchdowns but then suffered a broken leg in the first week of 2004. By the time he returned, Muhsin Muhammad had already turned in an amazing year of 1405 yards and 16 touchdowns and then left for Chicago. Smith merely took that baton and kept the Panthers atop the NFL wideout leader board again in 2005 when he turned in 1563 yards and 13 touchdowns.

Smith is only 5'9" and 185 pounds and it is players like him who have finally erased the myth that an NFL wideout must be tall and big. They just need to be intense, focused, talented and maybe wound just a tad too tightly. As if the regular season was not enough, he helped the Panthers reach the NFC title game while gaining 218 yards and two scores against Chicago the previous week. At the age of 27, he is just starting to enter his prime.

There are two factors that are potentially working against a repeat of 2005. For one realize that the Panthers will have a very tough schedule this season - but consider what he did to the Bears in the playoffs. Secondly, Keyshawn Johnson seemingly could siphon off passes - but there were already 142 "non-Smith" throws to wideouts last season. Keyshawn could actually help Smith by giving the secondary more than one player to worry about. An improved rushing game this year also could limit Smith but could just as easily help balance the offense and prevent the defense from loading up specifically on him. Top wideouts for a season rarely repeat the feat, but if Smith falls back it won't be far.

(+Upside) After exploding on the scene as a rookie in 2003, Boldin has done nothing to make that year look like a fluke. He comes off a solid 2005 campaign when he had 1398 receiving yards to rank fifth best in the league. Despite only playing in 13 full games, Boldin led the league in targets (176) and his 102 catches were only one short of the league leader (teammate Larry Fitzgerald). Not shabby for 13 games. He already had 15 games over 100 yards in his three year career that spans only 40 games thanks to a meniscal tear in 2004 and a bone bruise last season.

The future is bright for Boldin who has already excelled with Kurt Warner and will undoubtedly pair with Matt Leinart next season. While the Arizona offensive scheme was ineffective last year running the ball, it was one of the best passing thanks almost exclusively to both Boldin and Fitzgerald. Consider too that Boldin not only had 102 catches and almost 1400 yards, he was one of only two players that every defense focused on every play.

The addition of Edgerrin James could be a concern since success rushing the ball often spells a decrease in passing. Don't be so sure. Denny Green's background has shown that he loves to score early and often and his passing games become even more effective with a ground game to support it. Boldin may fall back slightly this year with better running by James, but it could just as easily improve from lesser focus by the defense. James certainly did not harm the passing numbers in Indianapolis.

After an encouraging rookie season in 2004 when Fitzgerald managed to gain 780 yards and eight scores while being almost the only option in the passing game while Boldin was out, he completely exploded last year when he became the youngest player in the history of the NFL to have over 100 catches in a season. His 103 actually led the league while his 1409 yards ranked fourth best and his 160 targets were sixth highest in the league as well. This is a draft choice that Denny Green got right - ex-ball boy or not.

Fitzgerald's production last year was more than a classic breakout season; it was a mirror to what the most elite wideouts can do in a year. He scored in ten different games and ended with seven games over 100 yards. With the exception of four clunkers, he remained over 70 yards in every game. And he is only 23 years old this year.

While the addition of Edgerrin James may reduce the number of targets, that doesn't necessarily mean there will be less catches. A sound rushing game will only serve to further free Fitzgerald from such heavy coverage and there is no chance that the Cardinals will turn into a just another heavy rushing team. Look for Fitzgerald to be more efficient this year and with a delightfully soft schedule, he should end 2006 with similarly spectacular numbers.

After two "lackluster" seasons, it may be easy to forget what a dominating player Randy Moss has been during his career. Prior to 2004, Moss had never had less than 1233 receiving yards including his rookie season when he had an astounding 17 touchdowns. Other than 2002, he had never had less than 10 touchdowns in a season. His final year in Minnesota had him bothered by a hamstring for much of the year and he missed three games. Last year in Oakland, he was hampered by rib, groin and pelvis injuries and while he only missed one game, he played at far less than 100% after week six when he was crushed in a tackle against the Chargers during the first quarter.

Moss had been averaging 117 yards per game until the injury happened with three 100 yard efforts in those first four games. Afterwards - he only had one more game over 100 yards. He ended with just 60 catches for 1005 yards and eight touchdowns.

This year Moss will enter the season healthy and ready to resume what he does best - provide the services of an elite wideout. With strong armed Aaron Brooks, Moss has more upside this year since Collins could not buy time for Moss to get open and resorted to 70 dump passes to Jordan instead. Brooks has already had big seasons throwing to Joe Horn - which of the two is the better receiver? The primary offensive focus this season will be to involve Moss as much as possible and after two down seasons, he'll likely be drafted at a bargain price. He's only 29 years old and in his prime, something he was showing last year before the tackle in the Chargers game.

08-15-06 Update: Moss slips back one spot and that may not be the extent of his drop. The Raider offense has yet to look like they have met before and Aaron Brooks in particular is struggling. That cannot mean good things for Moss. It is only the preseason and there is time left to get the offense going, but nothing so far says it is going to happen quickly. Moss will benefit from the team falling behind in games, but even with a high volume of passes, it's less reliable now than before.

08-18-06 Update: Moss drops a bit more because his situation just introduces too much risk to be a top wideout.

After Terrell Owens had turned Philly into Barnum & Bailey last year, the subject of many in the media and in barrooms was - who would take the risk on Terrell Owens? Well, the roulette wheel had barely started spinning when Jerry Jones stopped it with a $10 million dollar stack of bills. The player most reviled by Cowboy fans for his disrespect to "The Star" comes to town looking for his second-second chance in the NFL. There is little reason to expect at least not moderate success and a very good chance for more big numbers from the Mouth That Roared.

The Cowboys already had Drew Bledsoe turn in one of the best seasons by a quarterback in Dallas history just last year (albeit only statistically). With his reputation as a player and the money paid by the Cowboys, Owens will be given plenty of opportunities to make good on that paycheck. Of course Owens has only been a full 16 game starter once in his career (2001) and he usually misses one or two games a year with some nagging issue like an ankle, hamstring or groin injury. But since he left San Francisco, he has been catching about one touchdown per game.

The Cowboys are loading up for a playoff run this year and have pulled out the checkbook to get there. The signing of Owens is an equivalent of saying "I want to win this year so badly that I would… well... sign Terrell Owens". He is almost singular in being an icon for everything good and bad about the NFL, often both at the same time. Owens will be fired up for a good season and at the age of 33; he needs to succeed while he still can. He led the Eagles to the Super Bowl in 2004 and that is exactly what the Cowboys are buying. Or so they hope.

08-21-06 Update: Owens is back on the exercise bike and until he gets healthy and learns the offense, it looks like he is training for the Tour de Flop. Owens has never played in a non-west coast offense and losing all this practice time is not a positive.

Marvin Harrison ended his seventh straight 1000 yard season when he left 2005 with 1146 yards on 82 catches. While those were was his lowest numbers or receptions in eight years, he still posted a respectable 12 touchdowns making his string of 10+ scores also reaching seven years. Harrison tied with Steve Smith for the NFL lead in receiving touchdowns but he fell behind the leaders in every other category including only placing 10th in yardage and tying for 11th in receptions last season.

Even during Manning's record-setting 2004 season, Harrison only had 1113 yards on 86 receptions. At the age of 34, he could be slowing down slightly but more to blame is the expanse of weapons that Manning has come to use each week. Harrison is always the constant in the passing game but that level has not exceeded 1300 yards since 2002.

Expect another double-digit touchdown year from Harrison with enough yardage to clip that 1000 yard mark even if it doesn't stray too far beyond. Given his consistency over the last decade, he remains the safest possible choice for a fantasy wideout even if his upside shrinks each season.

After a breakout 2004 when he racked up 1210 yards and 12 touchdowns, Reggie Wayne settled back down to 1055 yards and just five scores last year, despite increasing his number of catches from 77 to 83. The offense became much more ball-control oriented and with that a reduced need for those delightful long passes that marked the 2004 season. While Wayne ended as a top ten wideout in almost every category that year, he did not rank as well in any area last season. Still, a 1000 yard season is a good thing. It just was not worth what virtually every fantasy team spent to acquire him.

The increased number of receptions is encouraging for this year, especially considering for the first time another Indy wideout had more catches than did Marvin Harrison. And though the Colts passing game shrank last year, that hit was largely felt by the tight ends and slot receivers - not so much the two starting wideouts.

The loss of Edgerrin James should only spell better things for Wayne since the running game won't be quite as productive with Dominic Rhodes and Joseph Addai. Harrison still has a few years left in him but his recent past suggests that he is slowing down and now Wayne has already eclipsed him in catches. Next up - yards first and eventually the final frontier - touchdowns.

Now that Javon Walker is in Denver, Donald Driver once again finds himself as the primary receiver with so little competition that he could have problems with excessive coverage. A one-time seventh round draft pick, Driver is the blue-collar guy that plays with so much heart that he becomes far better than he seems he should. Having Brett Favre as his buddy is another major factor here as well. While every other Packer was either turning in sub-par seasons or leaving on a stretcher last year, Driver ended with a career best 86 catches for 1221 yards. He ranked sixth in receptions and 8th in yardage for NFL wideouts last year.

Driver returns to almost the same conditions as last season other than everyone will be healthy once again and the running backs are back to using Green and Davenport (potentially). The Packers lost Walker but they did not replace him with any veterans of note. This leaves the gate open for Driver to possibly improve upon last season if only because Favre will make it happen from the lack of other strong receivers.

This makes Driver a sleeper of sorts, or at least a solid pick that should equal numbers from last year while improving the five touchdowns much closer to the nine he had in 2004. Driver is a very solid #2 receiver for your fantasy team that has almost no risk and yet more upside even after seven years in the league.

(+Upside) Roy Williams enters his third season - typically considered the "breakout" year - and that could happen in a big way. His first two years have already entrenched him as the best wideout on the team and while his numbers may not be eye-popping compared to the rest of the league, they are amazing against all other Detroit receivers. They are phenomenal considering the situation he played in with changing quarterbacks and a team that imploded last year.

Williams suffered a quadriceps injury last year that forced him to miss four games and he battled a high ankle sprain almost his entire rookie year. Through all that he still maintained a healthy 15 yards per catch and scored six times in each of his two seasons. If only the Lions could figure out a way to break the injury curse, this unit could do some damage.

With Mike Martz installing a new offense that will undoubtedly improve the passing game, expect Williams to be the biggest beneficiary as he plays the same split end position that Torry Holt does in St. Louis. The offense will take some time to take form and ridding the team of the bad mojo of the last two seasons isn't done over night. But Williams' future became brighter when the Lions acquired Jon Kitna and Josh McCown and could become brilliant with Mike Martz directing the offense.

While the notion that Chris Chambers had a breakout season in 2005 is supported by turning in his first 1000 yard season, the reality is that he merely returned to the level of 2003 when he had 64 catches for 963 yards and 11 touchdowns. While he had 18 more catches last year for 155 more yards than in 2003, his average per catch decreased from a career high of 15 yards per catch to only 13.6 yards. What serves Chambers the most for consideration this year was that he ended the season on a very high note, catching six touchdowns in a four game span from week 13 through week 16 and his game against the Bills donated 238 yards on 15 catches to explain the variance from 2003. He merely had what was an average season for himself with one monster game to make it see like so much more. His 238 receiving yards was the highest yardage for any NFL player in 2005.

In fairness, Chambers has become an accomplished receiver while catching passes from such notable quarterbacks as Jay Fiedler, A.J. Feeley, Sage Rosenfels, Ray Lucas and Gus Frerotte. None of them are currently starters in the NFL. The Dolphins acquired both Daunte Culpepper and Joey Harrington during the offseason so Chambers' long-term outlook is even better and at the age of 28, he is just now hitting his prime years as a wideout.

Chambers won't come cheap this year after ending 2005 with a string of great games but the reality is that he'll likely be drafted too early. The Dolphins lost OC Scott Linehan to the Rams and ex-Bills HC Mike Mularkey takes his place with the directive to continue to use the Linehan offensive scheme. But there is obvious risk with the architect no longer there. And the quarterback situation changes yet again. Chambers is a lock for solid numbers in the 1000 yard, eight touchdowns area with the upside to do much more but that potential may be slow starting this year.

08-25-06 Update: Chambers looked undeniably sharp in the third preseason game catching 7 passes for 67 yards and one score. With Culpepper looking better and throwing to Chambers, he deserves a slight boost in the rankings

(+Upside) While Derrick Mason traded being Steve McNair's favorite target for heading up the Ravens normally lackluster wideout crew, his numbers really did not suffer much. With 86 catches for 1073 yards, he was right in line with his normal production over the previous four seasons but his touchdown total did fall to only three last year - his lowest since becoming a starter in 2000.

Now Mason continues his role as the best Ravens wideout and gets to play with Steve McNair once again. Mason's best years were with McNair and he actually dropped slightly in the year that McNair was injured and Billy Volek decided that Drew Bennett was the more attractive option.

Consider Mason as a rock solid possession receiver that will net you around 1000 yards as a minimum with the upside for more. Reunited with McNair, Mason should once again see even better production and he comes as a good value in drafts with most fantasy fans locked into last year's production. That is just the worst he would do - and almost certainly something he will surpass. The only question is by how much.

Darrell Jackson had an excellent start to the season when he recorded two big games in his first three weeks but he injured his knee against the Redskins in week four and that later was discovered to be a torn lateral meniscus that required surgery. He missed the next nine games and yet still scored in his first week back. He was rested and then scored in both of the first two games of the postseason including nine catches for 143 yards in the win over the Redskins.

Jackson is clearly the favorite target for Matt Hasselbeck and he returns this year healthy and ready to resume the same form that saw him gain around 1100 yards and eight scores in 2003 and 2004. The Seahawks will enjoy one of the lightest schedules in the league this year despite coming off a Super Bowl appearance and that will benefit Jackson before any other receiver. The team trainers have not been happy with Jackson's recovery from his knee surgery in the offseason though and he may be limited to practicing just once a week in training camp. Jackson is a bit higher of a risk than may seem apparent with his balky knee.

The rushing game with Shaun Alexander depresses what the passing offense could do but Jackson remains a very safe pick that will turn in consistent numbers and enough big games to make a difference - as long as his knee gives him no more problems. He won't win you a championship by himself, but he won't be the reason if you don't get there as long as he remains healthy.

08-25-06 Update: Jackson tumbles two spots since he has just been so slow from returning from his off-season knee surgery. His durability is a bit bothersome but he has been golden when healthy. He drops but just slightly. The Seahawks still expect him to be ready for the regular season but he is missing almost all the preseason recovering.

(+Upside) After turning in a great sophomore season of 1142 yards and six touchdowns, Andre Johnson seemed poised for a complete breakout in his third season when the wheels began wobbling on the Houston offense and all Texan players turned in sub-par seasons in 2005. The debacle that was last year led to the hiring of HC Gary Kubiak and the dismissal of both Jabar Gaffney and Corey Bradford. When the Texans added Eric Moulds in the offseason, they finally came up with a receiver across from Johnson that could both help move the ball and reduce the intense coverage that had dogged him the entire 2005 season.

Just as promising for this year is the addition of several linemen and the blocking scheme of the Broncos. That should give Johnson much more time to get into the pattern without seeing his quarterback's heels flying up in the air.

Look for Johnson to return more to 2004 form though the offense may take some time to come to complete fruition. Carr will be receiving close attention by OC Troy Calhoun and the main beneficiary will be Johnson.

After playing in Pittsburgh for five seasons, Plaxico Burress came over to the Giants last year and while most receivers have a down year when they change teams, Burress thrived. Paired with the quickly developing Eli Manning, Burress was only about 100 yards from his career best season in 2002 and he matched the seven touchdowns from that season. Burress only had three games with more than 100 yards last year but the one week four against the Rams cracked the 200 yard mark and ended up the second best wideout game in the NFL last year.

Burress cooled down in the final month before his nice game in Oakland and he was held without a catch in the playoff loss to the Panthers. Of some concern is that his best eight games from last year contained only one game against an NFC East opponent and that was a late season match-up against the Eagles who had already been decimated by injuries. That same team held him to only 37 yards just three weeks later.

This season could be tougher for Burress pitted against better defenses but he has already established chemistry with Eli Manning and already has become the lead receiver for the Giants. Shockey will always factor in as well as both Amani Toomer and even Tiki Barber, but Burress remains a strong player to have as a starter on your fantasy team. He'll cost you like a #2 fantasy wideout but there is some risk this year that he'll perform more like a #3.

Through the first six games of 2005, there was no receiver hotter than Santana Moss. He had already scored five times and averaged 124 yards per game. He had never gained less than 87 yards and had four 100+ yard games. By this time, the league took note that Moss needed to be covered on deep routes and Moss only managed one more 100 yard game. Thanks to that torrid start, Moss ended 2005 with 1438 yards and nine scores to rank him second only to Steve Smith in yardage and his 17.7 yards per catch was bettered only by Terry Glenn and Ashley Lelie (with far fewer catches).

Moss was the only viable wideout last year and while he was deadly on the deep routes, he was roughly average when those were taken away. In the final ten games, he only scored in two of them and only once did more than 83 yards. He averaged around 70 yards per game down the stretch outside of his late season blowup against the Giants. During the playoffs, he only had 18 yards against the Buccaneers but managed 103 in the loss to the Seahawks.

Moss enjoyed a rare situation last year with the Redskins almost devoid of other wideouts than him and yet a need to throw in many games. Moss either caught a bomb or two or logged good yardage and scores, or he turned in around 70 yards and no scores. This year the Redskins will have both Brandon Lloyd and Antwaan Randle El on board which will naturally depress what Moss could do. Still - they could help him to some degree by reducing the double and triple coverage that often held him in check during the final ten weeks of the year.

Hidden inside the season of the 2005 Super Bowl MVP is a small surprise. Hines Ward comes off his worst yardage during the season in the last five years. His 69 catches also falls behind his four previous seasons but where Ward made it all okay was with his 11 touchdowns - one away from his career best in 2002. While Ward was named the MVP, he only had five catches for 58 yards and one score in the Super Bowl and only 78 yards in the first two playoff games. His value to the team is mostly heightened by a lack of other credible receivers and the way he has meshed with Ben Roethlisberger when the endzone gets near.

Ward had four 100 yard games in 2005 but he also had seven efforts that never exceeded 40 yards in the game. But he did score in over half the games he played including three efforts with two scores for the week. Previous to last season, Ward typically would have two 100 yard games per year. His fantasy value remained fairly consistent thanks to scoring in three of those low yardage games. In fairness too, Ward missed one game with a sore hamstring that did not clear up entirely for two more weeks.

The fantasy advantage of Ward is that while he will turn in a few low yardage games when the rushing effort is more than enough to win the game, he has developed a nice chemistry with Roethlisberger on those end zone passes. And he is turning multiple touchdown games and big yardage efforts that can get you the win in a given week. Roethlisberger's motorcycle accident casts some risk here but Ward is so clearly the primary wideout that even Charlie Batch would rely on him. Consider him a very safe #2 wideout that will lag a bit on yardage but make it up with some nice scores.

(-Risk) Entering into 2005, Horn had never turned in less than 973 yards per season with the Saints over the course of his five seasons there and four of those years ended with over 1250 yards. He had never scored less than seven touchdowns and had averaged nine per season. He was one of the safest and most consistent wideouts available in a fantasy draft. And then came 2005. Missing four games and playing injured most of the year led to only 49 catches for 654 yards and just one touchdown on the year. And only that much because he had a 143 yard game in week two with that single touchdown before the Saints' world came crashing down.

Horn pulled a hamstring in week three and never completely recovered last year. He missed four games that included the game in Atlanta where he was thrown one pass and re-aggravated his injury. After returning in week eight, he later re-aggravated his hamstring yet again in Mid-December. It was a lost season for the Saints and Horn's production fell dramatically with the inability to completely heal from his hamstring strain.

This year Horn is 34 years old and comes off an injury-marked 2005 like about half of his team. While he is a risk for injury, he played through problems in 2004 when he turned in a career best season. He will drop in drafts this year by those with short memories but his fall should not be far for the more astute. Drew Brees has joined the team and the running game should take primary focus by the opposing defenses. That means the Saints #1 wideout should be a lock for another 1000 yard season even in the new scheme. - if he can just remain healthy. One other notable - fantasy playoff weeks will be @DAL, WAS and NYG which could be tough.

After playing little or none for his first three seasons in the NFL, T.J. Houshmandzadeh has spent the last two seasons as a very solid #2 wideout across from Chad Johnson. Once Peter Warrick was injured in 2004, the team has never looked back thanks to Houshmandzadeh. He has responded with back-to-back seasons of around 960 yards and six touchdowns. With around 77 catches a year, he has become a solid #3 fantasy wideout who can add a score almost every other game.

With Chad Johnson around, there is not a lot of upside on Houshmandzadeh but there obviously has not been much risk either given his mirror seasons in 2004 and 2005. His one negative is durability, since he missed time early in his career with severe hamstring issues and had a sprained wrist that bothered him for several weeks as well. He still has yet to start a full 16 game season.

That all said, Houshmandzadeh is a very solid receiver who will typically turn in at least 60 yards per game as long as Carson Palmer is throwing the ball. He makes a nice choice to round out your starting receivers and an even better player to rely on as your back-up and bye week filler. Expect Houshmandzadeh to suffer a decrease in numbers should Palmer end up missing any significant time this year.

(-Risk) After 11 seasons, Rod Smith is now the oldest starting wide receiver in the NFL and while he is 36 years of age, there has not been all that much of a sign of him fading. Other than 2003 when Smith was forced to play five games with Steve Beuerlein and Danny Kanell replacing the injured Jake Plummer, Smith has turned in 1000+ yards in each of the last nine years. In the two seasons that Plummer has been healthy, Smith has produced bookend seasons of 1144 yards/7 touchdowns and 1105 yards/6 touchdowns. He is the consummate possession receiver and though he may have lost a step, he knows how to get to the ball and catch it.

Smith returns this year and lines up across from Javon Walker for the first time. Since Walker is recovering from a knee injury last season and will be new to the team, Smith will be relied on no less than he ever has. Figure the Walker trade to be made to find someone to catch the passes that Lelie could not last year.

Smith's season of 2005 likely represents a high side to what to expect this year but after ten years in the league, Smith does not have much of a downside. Plummer will be extra motivated this season with Cutler watching and his favorite target remains Smith.

(+Upside) While Lee Evans ended 2005 with some respectable numbers - seven touchdowns and 793 receiving yards - the way he produced those numbers paints a different picture. Taking away road games in Kansas City and Miami means that he only scored twice in 14 games and he was a bust through the first half of the season. What is encouraging is that his best games happened with Losman as the quarterback. It's just that there were not many of them.

The departure of Eric Moulds will likely affect Evans production in a negative way this season. Moulds took the possession catches and left Evans for the long passes. Now that Evans is gone, the secondary will focus even more on containing him and if they attempt to turn the excellent long-ball speedster into a possession receiver it will not go well. Evans has all the speed for outside work but at only 5'10" and 197 pounds, he is not an "over the middle" sort of receiver. The Bills may attempt to make him that given the need, but it goes away from what his strengths have been in his two seasons in the league.

Evans should see many more passes this season and if Losman can deliver on his promise, then the warning signs need not be heeded. But given the risk that Evans could become another Peerless Price (ironic, eh?) by being miscast into a primary receiver with possession duty, then he'll once again disappoint. Safer bet is to let someone else draft him not realizing that those yards and scores last year came mainly in just three games.

After ten seasons in the NFL, Eddie Kennison comes off his career best year of 68 catches for 1102 yards. That makes back-to-back 1000 yards seasons that did not start until he was 31 years of age. On an offense that has constantly struggled to find a decent #2 wideout, Kennison has been the lone consistent feature in the passing game outside of Gonzalez and the running backs.

Kennison turns 34 in January but he hasn't shown any signs of slowing down. His 16.2 yards per catch last year was one of his best seasons. The Chiefs have changed to HC Herman Edwards and promoted up line coach Mike Solari which has the potential to alter the offense at least a little with ex-OC Al Saunders gone but it will likely have no effect on Kennison since his primary role will continue to be used even if all other wideouts see a reduction.

Consider Kennison as a safe bet to get near 1000 yards yet again but his touchdowns totals have never been higher than eight and typically remain at five or less. A safe yet boring pick for your #3 wideout but consistency alone makes him a worthwhile starter for your team.

Laveranues Coles went full circle last year when he returned to the New York Jets after spending two seasons with the Washington Redskins. He truly could not have picked a worse year. After his first two games, Coles had one score and 11 catches for 134 yards which was fairly respectable. Then Chad Pennington went down injured in week three and the Jets began a year-long game of "who's next?" at quarterback. Coles ended with just 845 yards on 73 catches.

Encouraging was that he ended the season strongly and he clearly was the primary wideout for the team. After brining in new HC Eric Mangini and cleaning house, the Jets only receiver acquisitions were Tim Dwight (primarily special teams) and the rookie Brad Smith taken in the fourth round. For whatever the passing game produces this season, Coles will be first in line once again.

With Curtis Martin and Chad Pennington returning from injury while a new offense is being installed, the outlook is not particularly bright for the Jets this year and that could either spark more production from Coles who will be needed as much as ever or it could yet again result in a sub-par season as it did last year. The Jets have a decent enough passing schedule this year but until the quarterback situation is reliable and the offense has taken form, Coles cannot be considered anything more than a back-up wideout this season.

(-Risk) (+Upside) Javon Walker was the first round selection by the Packers in 2002 and he spent his first three seasons in a perfect progression that was typical of star receivers. He turned in only 319 yards as a rookie, then added 600 more in 2003 and used his third season to breakout with 600 more yards from the previous season. He ended the year with 89 catches for 1382 yards and 12 touchdowns. He then, understandably, wanted to be paid more. After an acrimonious holdout that sparked comments from Brett Favre about "team first", Walker returned to play out his contract and promptly suffered a torn ACL in the first game of the season.

After rampant speculation, Walker was dealt to the Broncos in exchange for a second round pick in April. Later in May, Walker agreed to a six-year contract with the Broncos. He was examined by team doctors and the expectation is that he will be ready for the start of training camp.

Make sure that his status is certain before pulling the trigger on an early pick to take Walker this summer. He will have had a full year of rehab since he injured his knee to start last year but he will need to learn a new system and get used to a quarterback not named Favre for the first time. In a long-term view, Walker's stock has risen with the move to Denver but for this year, expect him to need several games to shake off the rust, completely heal and integrate completely into the passing scheme.

08-18-06 Update: Walker bumps up with a good showing in camp and preseason games. He may still feel the effects of his old injury and moving to a new team this year but he is on the right track. In a keeper league, he is even more valuable for next year.