12/3/00
Email Andy
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Next year I already know who I'm taking with my first-round FFL
draft pick. It really doesn't matter if it's first overall, or 10th.
You can have your Marshall Faulk, your Daunte Culpepper, or your
Edgerrin James. Me and Tony Gonzalez have got a date with a first-round
pick.
I know it's insane. A first-round pick on a tight end? Perhaps even
the first OVERALL pick on a TE? (Okay, okay, I'd probably take Faulk
too. But work with me here.)
Tony Gonzalez. Four words: Weekly peace of mind.
Every week it's the same story. In fact, it's been that way for
years now. Which loser TE do I start this week? This year alone,
in 12 weeks, I've started 6 different guys, having finally given
up on draft pick Chad Lewis for good. Every week, one-eighth of
my fantasy roster goes virtually scoreless, as David Sloan, Alge
Crumpler, Kyle Brady, Frank Wycheck, and Anthony Becht have conspired
to submarine my otherwise fine team. Oh sure, they've all had good
games every once in a while. If Lewis played Dallas every week he'd
have 24 TDs, instead of just 3. Sloan has had a pair of two TD games
- followed by a series of shutouts. Frank Wycheck does well on occasion,
but I had to cut him when he was limping around the field with myriad
injuries and watching Erron Kinney steal all his receptions. And
don't even get me started on Brady.
This isn't even mentioning the guys who were celebrated early in
the year - Byron Chamberlain, and Bubba Franks. Boy, those guys
were fantasy stars in September. Hope you traded them away while
they were still part of their respective team's offense. Or the
guys who were sure to enter the Pantheon of superstars this year,
like Freddie Jones. Where has he gone?
How many of you out there could have just as easily not even played
a TE all season? Meanwhile you Gonzo owners chalk up 8-10 points
a week - in what could be called an off-season for him, as the Chiefs
offense has been erratic. Not a big deal, you think? Well, 8-10
points is the difference between starting Marshall Faulk every week,
and Ron Dayne. In short, I could be starting Marshall Faulk and
Chad Lewis and getting only slightly more points each week, on average,
from the two spots than someone starting Ron Dayne and Tony Gonzalez.
That's disturbing.
What's the answer? Well first off, more teams have to start utilizing
their TEs the way the Chiefs do, the way the Packers and Patriots
used to, and the way, fairly regularly, the teams for whom Shannon
Sharpe and Wesley Walls - the next tier of guys behind Gonzo - use
theirs. (Neither Sharpe nor Walls is getting any younger, by the
way, and yet they're still more productive than most everyone else.
Gonzo, meanwhile, is only 25.)
Second, the younger guys whose teams want to use them - Franks,
Becht, Crumpler - have to step up when given the chance. Bubba,
Favre wants to throw you the ball. Start getting open again!
And third, I have to use my first-round pick next year on Tony Gonzalez.
So I never have to worry about starting a lousy TE again. Peace
of mind, people. Peace of mind.
:: comments to andy
richardson
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