Roto Arcade

Talk about razor thin. Among receivers currently falling among the top 30 picks in Yahoo! drafts, there's not a narrower margin between two wideouts than that of Yahoo! cover athlete Braylon Edwards (20.9 ADP) and Steve Smith (21.4). 

Here to argue the case that the Cleveland receiver rocks more is Andy Behrens. On the other side, Brandon Funston has the Carolina mighty mouse on his mind.

They get 250 words or less to state their opening arguments, while the readers, as always, get the last word. Let's get it started …

Behrens says:  Let's begin by stating in the clearest possible terms that I'm making an argument for Braylon Edwards, not an argument against Steve Smith. If Jake Delhomme is healthy, you're not going to regret investing in Smith. He's great. A solid fantasy pick.

You'll just wish that you'd taken Edwards, that's all.

The 25-year-old Cleveland WR is a threat to reach the end zone on every possession -- seriously, every possession. Edwards caught 80 passes last season, and 16 of them went for touchdowns. Smith's best single-season TD total is 12, and that happened three years ago. Edwards has  averaged 15.5 yards per catch during his three-year NFL career. He's an un-coverable vertical threat and, at 6-foot-3 and 212 pounds, he's a terrific red zone target.

The guy gets easy separation from the toughest corners...and you can ask Nate Clements if you don't trust me:

Edwards is simply a total-package wide receiver, and his ceiling isn't known. He gave you 212 fantasy points at age 24, and he enters this season as the most dangerous weapon in an exceptional offense. The Browns have one of the NFL's best offensive lines, an excellent ground game, a top-ten fantasy QB, an elite tight end, and they've added Donte Stallworth. Cleveland is going to score with impunity -- they averaged 25.1 PPG and 351.3 YPG last season -- and defenses won't have the luxury of focusing on any single player.

Advantage, Edwards. His 2007 season was just the beginning.

Funston says:   The Jake Delhomme-Steve Smith connection might be the most intimate QB-WR relationship in the league.

Delhomme's affections for Smith are obvious. In two-and-a-half games last season before a season-ending elbow injury, Delhomme connected with Smith for four of his eight touchdown passes. In his past four full seasons, Smith has averaged 90 catches, 1,210 yards and 9 TDs. Simply put, Smith is the receiving version of Brian Westbrook, an ultra-quick dynamo that the team looks to get the ball to in a variety of ways – screens, bombs, slants, reverses, you name it.

Smith is going sixth, on average, among WRs in Yahoo! drafts because he was saddled with the unholy trinity of Vinny Testaverde, David Carr and Matt Moore at QB after Delhomme went down. But reports on Delhomme's comeback have been all positive, and the Panthers have addressed needs at offensive line, receiver and running back. They should be much improved across the board, offensively, which should help alleviate some of the intense focus that defenses place on Smith.

I don’t really have anything disparaging to say about Edwards. It’s just that there’s more mouths to feed in the Cleveland passing game with Kellen Winslow – second-most targeted TE in ’07 – and the addition of Donte’ Stallworth, who should see 100-plus targets starting opposite Edwards.

I like Smith to see more passes than Edwards, and I expect him to continue to catch a higher percentage of those looks. And that’s why I’m taking Smith by a nose.

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The Juggernaut Index is our annual attempt to rank every NFL team for fantasy purposes. We're not concerned with real-life wins and losses here, only fantasy potential. These rankings rely on hard, incontrovertible math. There are algorithms at work. This stuff is peer-reviewed. Seasons are simulated. You can't argue with science, so don't even try...

18. Seattle Seahawks

The Seahawks offer many useful pieces with which to decorate a fantasy roster, but they don't actually have any single player who's going to carry your team. In fact, none of Seattle's skill position players are taken in the first four rounds of an average draft.

Newcomer Julius Jones is close, though. His ADP at Mock Draft Central is 50.61, which makes him the 23rd running back selected.

Those mock drafters value Jones considerably more than we do at Yahoo!, where he's only No. 33 in the preseason running back ranks. None of us are unusually bullish on him, either. He's no higher than 28th in anyone's rankings.

There are two reasons for the skepticism:

1) We don't know exactly how all the carries and screens will be distributed in Seattle, but you can be sure that Maurice Morris, T.J. Duckett and Leonard Weaver will get a few of them. This has the makings of a committee if all members stay healthy. And...

2) Julius Jones did very little with the 164 carries the Cowboys gave him last year. He averaged 3.6 yards per attempt, found the end zone only twice, and he didn't have any 100-yard games. In fact, he didn't have any 70-yard games.

So you're not drafting Jones as anything more than a flex option in a 10-team league. He'll have his weeks, but Jones won't be a 300-carry back.

It's worth noting that the Seahawks still have elite LT Walter Jones, and they've added Mike Wahle, a former Pro Bowl guard. They've also added Mike Solari to coach/fix the O-line. Despite the fact that Shaun Alexander had a massively disappointing season in 2007, the team still averaged 101.2 rushing yards per game. Not great, but also not atrocious.

And yeah, the Seattle running game has fallen a long, long way in just three years. That's the NFL. One day you're setting the single-season touchdown record, and the next day you're a broken man, picking up three yards on a good carry, and you can't convince the Texans to buy you lunch. Read More >>

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Throw the flags and sound the sirens; it's time to put the St. Louis bullpen on 24/7 watch until further notice. Things have been really messy in the Gateway City of late, especially in the ninth inning, and changes can't be far off.

Ryan Franklin was a handy fill-in closer for a while, but he was never considered a long-term solution in that role and lately things have fallen apart. He allowed his second game-winning homer of the week Thursday, a Ryan Braun rocket to left-center, and the entire NL seems to be digging in against Franklin these days (he's allowed 10 runs and five homers over his last 11 appearances). Nothing affects a team's psyche quite like a blown save, and four straight losses to the rival Brewers, at home no less, have thrown Cardinal Nation for a loop.

"It was a really difficult loss," Tony La Russa told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch after Thursday's game. "This whole series . . . I'll think about it tonight." Franklin seemed broken up by the defeat as well, his voice cracking a little as he met with the media (kudos to the veteran for facing the music and not ducking questions).

Assuming Franklin isn't long for the closer gig, what do the Cardinals do? Jason Isringhausen is one option, but he's still working his way up to speed; he wasn't considered available Thursday after pitching one inning the previous night. Chris Perez has the look of a future closer, but he's still in Triple-A, polishing his craft, and the club might not want to rush the 23-year-old. A trade would make a lot of sense here; Brian Fuentes has been mentioned, and you know the other name closers on the block.

Keep in mind we're playing the speculation game here, and nothing is official. But La Russa and pitching coach Dave Duncan aren't going to sit around idly while gasoline alley pitches this team out of contention. If the Cardinals don't have a different setup to their bullpen by the end of the month, I'll eat my hat. And the closer carousel spins round and round . . .

• Kerry Wood and his blister finally hit the DL for real on Thursday, but it could be a short stint. The move was made retroactive to July 14, and the team feels good about getting Wood back Tuesday at Milwaukee. "I feel like I'm close," Wood told the team's official site. "I haven't thrown the ball off a mound in a little while. It's something I've got to do before I jump into games. Hopefully we're ready by Tuesday."

Carlos Marmol mans the ninth for Chicago in the meantime, and he was a wild ride in Thursday's win over Florida. Marmol was asked to get the final four outs and converted, but not without three walks and 38 pitches. He also struck out three, including Wes Helms with the bases loaded to end the game.

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Looking to keep the momentum going from our runaway-freight-train rollout, we're back with Day 2 of the summer-long Tip Drill, your quick stop for a daily bite-size tip. Dig what's here? Great. Not your speed? No worries - you're free to go back to your CFL Handicapping seminar. Now, on with the tippage . . . 

Fantasy Football has more luck in it than any other major fantasy game. It's a dirty little secret of sorts, not always talked about, but it's out there. Baseball, hockey and basketball seasons run on forever, use a lot of players, and give us tons of data points to normalize the results. Football is a game of the short run and goofy bounces, where the office secretary might win the whole enchilada because of accidental clicks on Adrian Peterson and Randy Moss.

It doesn't mean we have to like it or accept it, of course. There are ways for smart guys to shift the balance back in their favor, and that's our topic for today. Forget pandering to the lowest-common denominator; let's subtly change our leagues so that talent is rewarded. Today's minor tweaks give sharp players like you a better chance at tomorrow's ring.

Consider any and all of these adjustments to your league:

Start More Players

This should be an easy sell to fantasy players anyway, because more starters leads to more action, and that means more fun. But the sharpies in the crowd especially like it because it lessens the impact any one player can make, good or bad. You want more results in your league, not less. One hit on draft day should not make you an auto-contender, and one major injury shouldn't kill your season. The more players you add to the starting mix, the less volatility in our exercise.

Where to start? You can pretty much always add another starting receiver and the NFL's depth will support it. Flex players? I'm on board. If you've got 10 owners or less, I strongly urge multiple starters at QB. Once you start playing this way, it's hard to shift back - you'll be more invested in every Sunday. Forget mirroring the shape of a real NFL roster; let's get more players into our fantasy world.

Read More >>

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So I have a radical proposal to fix Chipper Jones, but it means that someone's going to wake up in an ice-filled tub with their hamstrings missing.

If you're a disgraced former medical student in the Atlanta area, please reach out via the email link over on the...

Wait, no. Please contact a-mak15. We communicate only through him.

If no action is taken by the fantasy community, Jones could miss several games:

Jones will be reevaluated Friday before the Braves open a weekend series at Philadelphia. He said he hoped to miss only a "couple of games," but couldn't rule out a stint on the disabled list.

"It's sore right now," he said. "I don't know what the timetable's going to be. Hamstrings are a little more delicate than quads or groins."

Please DO NOT use the comments to debate the relative delicacy of hamstrings, quads and groins.

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Yeah, those quotes are taken from separate stories currently on the Twins website.

This article discusses the team's frustration after getting swept in New York. The Twins were outscored 25-7 by the Yankees in a three-game mauling. And this slightly shorter story provides a few details on Francisco Liriano's most recent dominant outing for Triple-A Rochester. He struck out 10, walked two, and allowed just two hits in seven scoreless innings.

In his last five starts, Liriano has given up only one earned run while striking out 42 batters in 35 innings.

Alas, according to the report linked above, "while the Twins have acknowledged Liriano's recent success and have been pleased with his results, the feeling is that there is no room currently in Minnesota's rotation for him." If you own Liriano in an International League-only format, you're obviously thrilled.

Livan Hernandez (5.29 ERA, 1.58 WHIP, 3.3 K/9) gets the start for the Twins tonight on Friday in Cleveland.

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Bronson Arroyo's ERA has been much higher all season than the peripherals suggest it should be, making him an interesting buy-low target for much of the year. That said, after he bottomed out at Toronto on June 24 (getting rocked for 11 hits and 10 runs), you couldn't blame anyone who washed their hands of the crafty right-hander once and for all.

A funny thing has happened since that horrible outing - Arroyo is turnng his season around. He captured his fifth straight win Wednesday over San Diego (7 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 0 BB, 7 K), and while he hasn't been dominant by any means over this stretch, it is encouraging that he's getting more ground balls and pounding the strike zone consistently. The buy-low window is long gone by now, but there's enough comfort in his full profile to believe in the turnaround and hold with confidence. He's still going to allow his fair share of homers, but Arroyo should be trusted fully in NL-only leagues and rostered in just about all mixed leagues, seasonal numbers be damned.

Plus, it's always nice to have a guitarist in the rotation. Plug and play with Arroyo next week, when he goes to Houston and Washington, and turn the amp up loud.

• Billy Wagner answered the call Wednesday, throwing a clean inning and picking up a save against the Phillies. He had extensive treatment on his shoulder before the game. His availability for today's series finale? "If I can go out there and lift my arm and throw and it don't fall off, I'll be out there," Wagner told Newsday.

• Another smooth save for Damaso Marte (5), who several contending clubs would love to get their hands on (southpaws who can retire both lefties and righties are very valuable, indeed). Tyler Yates made a mess of the seventh inning but John Grabow was solid in relief of him (1.1 IP, 1 BB, 0 R). Nothing is guaranteed, but if you need to preemptively speculate on a closer here after Marte, Grabow is my best guess.

• The Braves got a pretty good scare Wednesday when Tim Hudson (elbow) and Chipper Jones (hamstring) both left prematurely. Hudson didn't sound worried at all after the game and feels confident he'll make his next turn, but things are much more cloudy with Jones. "It's sore right now," Jones told the Braves official site. "I don't know what the timetable is going to be. Hamstrings are a little more delicate than [quadriceps muscles] or groins. They really affect you when you do any kind of running." Read More >>

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The Juggernaut Index is our annual attempt to rank every NFL team for fantasy purposes. We're not concerned with real-life wins and losses here, only fantasy potential. These rankings rely on hard, incontrovertible math. There are algorithms at work. This stuff is peer-reviewed. Seasons are simulated. You can't argue with science, so don't even try...

19. Detroit Lions

If they ever unveil a statue in Detroit to commemorate the Jon Kitna/Mike Martz years (unlikely), then we suggest using the image on the right.

That's Kitna for you in a nutshell. He's just out there making things happen...for the other team.

Over the past two seasons, Kitna has thrown 42 interceptions and he's fumbled 27 times, losing 15. He's also taken 114 sacks. Kitna has totaled 8,276 passing yards in his last 32 games, but that doesn't make him effective in real-life, or a must-start player in fantasy leagues.

In fact, there are scoring configurations in which Kitna's recklessness has made him un-ownable. (It should be noted that he gave the ball away in Seattle and Cincinnati, too. It's not like Martz was preaching turnovers). If the 36 35-year-old QB starts another 16 games this season, you can expect another big turnover total. But with Martz in San Francisco and presumably a more balanced offense in Detroit, you should not expect another 4,000 passing yards from Kitna. He'll probably need to win a few early games to keep a clipboard in the hands of Drew Stanton and/or Dan Orlovsky (or potentially Chris Simms). 

Kitna is No. 18 in the Yahoo! composite quarterback ranks, and he wouldn't be nearly that high if it weren't for his exceptional wide receivers. Read More >>

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In the tradition of Harvey Penick's Little Red Book we introduce to you "Tip Drill" - a quick-hit fantasy football tip, brought to you five times a week until the summer ends I run out of them. We're not looking to do calculus here, or invent acronyms - it's meant to be a drive-thru. We'll discuss deeper themes in other areas. Can't use today's tip? Come back tomorrow. Don't need tomorrow's tip? Catch you next week. Don't like any of them? Hope you're in a few of my leagues.

I take a quick survey around my office and I see two satellite-linked TVs, one DVD player, a cell phone, a PC, a laptop, an iPod filled with kick-ass songs, two sets of headphones, an overflowing bookcase and about 100 Sports Illustrateds from the 1970s. And one very confused dog. And a bunch of Scrabble words I'm supposed to be studying.

Today's secret word is: distraction.

We're smack-dab in the middle of the BlackBerry Generation and the rules are different. We juggle 3-4 tasks in the car on our way to work (well, you do - I just stumble out of bed and take about 10 steps). We're reachable via email 24/7. We log onto the internet and delve into five different tasks at once. We get used to the constant bombardment of our senses. Mind you, our efficiency and productivity suffer, but we get through it, somehow.

Distraction is a silent fantasy killer, amigos. And it's time we started taking it seriously.

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