Week seventeen of the NFL season ends on December 31st. As soon as the season is done people will be heading out for an evening of merriment and camaraderie with friends old and new. People will be making New Year’s resolutions which will certainly be broken by January second if not by the end of the month. I have decided to get an early start on things and use a word we all use too much when we should rarely use it at all; Never!

In my case it has nothing to do with personal behaviors or habits. I have either cured those or will manage to live with them to the grave. I am talking about NFL players I will never have on my fantasy team.

These are not players who have a bad reputation, nor are they players who bounced around the league in search of free agent bucks, they are just players I could not bear to have no matter what. Beginning with the brats at wide receiver we will work our way through real players; No Kickers on this list. To acknowledge kickers as real players is to give them undeserved recognition.

Randy Moss
Okay, no surprise here. The man has been nothing short of a total flop since the huge contract and the move to the West Coast. He was not happy in Minnesota, he is not happy in Oakland, he is not happy with his life; he just not a happy camper. As revenge for his unhappiness, and not being thrown to he can be happy throwing his coach or teammates under any passing bus. He has bought into a fruit smoothie franchise, but no amount of sweet drink will make up for the sour taste he has left where ever he has gone. He will leave Oakland in search of happiness he will never find. Unfortunately some team will take his contract, but not this owner. Retire and be happy Randy, you will do the league as well as all fantasy owners a favor.

Terrell Owens
Too Much Said.

Any Redskins Receiver While Joe Gibbs Or Dan Snyder Is There
Back in the day the Redskins had the Fun Bunch and even Charlie Taylor, but the latest incarnation of the Hall of Fame coach’s receiving corps is not worth a selection. Sure Santana Moss has had a couple of huge games and Chris Cooley may be one of the most productive tight ends in the game (this is not saying much) but name a Redskin wide out who has been consistently productive over the last five years. Okay, Gibbs has only been on his second watch since January 7, 2004 when he was named by Dan Snyder as Head Coach and President. Snyder has been there longer and he owns them. This is a chronic problem. The quarterback situation has not been stable during Snyder’s reign. Their web site says Jason Campbell shows promise; so did the Edsel.

Quarterbacks are advertised as the rocket armed leaders of the team. They all have ice water in their veins earning them the title of field general. In reality many of them may have the arm but lack the sensibility to know how to use it. They are not field generals but really middle managers who have specific skills. The big hope with any quarterback anymore is not for them to win the game, rather don’t lose it by being stupid. These players may not be stupid, but they are not competent field generals.

Jake Plummer
He got the nick name of “Snake” for being elusive when he was in college at Arizona State. He was known as a winner. One who had the magic to drive a team to the end zone, then he went to the Cardinals. (More on them later) He took the Cards to a play off game one year, but was not able to maintain a high level of play. He was picked up by the Broncos where people felt he could rejuvenate his failing career with Mike Shanahan. After his acquisition in 2003 he showed why he was an unrestricted free agent. His ability to throw the crucial interception, make the game losing fumble, errant pass or run just short of a needed first down has made him one of the biggest liabilities any fantasy owner could have. After ten years in the league he is more than likely to be replaced by newly drafted Jay Cutler from Vanderbilt. Plummer will probably become a back-up somewhere in the league denying fantasy owners the ultimate frustration of drafting him.

Aaron Brooks
Brooks was acquired by the Packers in 1999 where he had a quarterback rating of zero. In the ensuing years his rating has not gone much past it. In his second year he was dealt to the New Orleans Saints where he led the league in futility, botched efforts and fatal interceptions. He actually took a leadership course during one off season in an effort to produce for the team. Still, the few inches between his ears will not allow him get out of his own way. With essentially the same team Drew Breese has the Saints contending for the play offs. Brooks could barely get them in the end zone. Thankfully he was dealt to the Raiders where he has not played much of the season. He finally came back as the starter in week ten. He ended his come back start by taking the team down to the red zone for a game winner, then throwing a game ending interception. It is his career in a nut shell, too bad for Art Shell.

Daunte Culpepper
When he took over in Minnesota the team thrived. He started his career on fire throwing for 39 TD’s in a single season. He had the size and the arm to be “The Man” where ever he went, then we found the real Daunte. His ability to throw the drive killing interception or deliver the knife in the heart fumble seemed to over take his other abilities. Finally, after a season ending knee injury he left the Vikings for the friendly confines of Miami. Daunte showed them his ability to recover. He started the first game of the season against the vaunted Super Bowl champs, the Steelers. With the game on the line Culpepper stumbled his way to a loss. It would be the first of many for the team in the early season. By the time the season was a quarter of the way done he was replaced by the current quarterback/cast-off Joey Harrington. In the last few weeks the Dolphins have shown signs of life. With lingering injuries as well as career questions hanging over his head, Culpepper remains potentially disappointing for any fantasy owner.

Michael Vick
Until it is decided once and for all whether Vick is an athlete or a quarterback he is a player to pass on regardless of how desperate your quarterback needs are. He is the poster child for the term “upside.” It is another way of saying we like what we see but we have no idea what the heck we are going to do with him. Vick has had flashes of total brilliance followed by weeks of futility. I have had him twice in my fantasy career and let him go both times. The two times I played him he got me a total of almost fifteen points. Of course when I got rid of him he had a tremendous game garnering me total garbage from the new owner. I had no fear. This season, like others in my past, I got the last laugh. The “upside” with Vick is becoming worn out. Any owner who believes Vick is a first team QB should be slapped upside the head.

Running backs can break your heart or pump you up so fast it is silly. Because the good ones are so scarce it is hard to say no to a running back who is a starter on any team, but there are a couple I will never take.

Warrick Dunn
I love Warrick Dunn. As a person he is probably one of the best in the league, as a runner he can’t find the end zone. He is one of the players I have coveted in the past yet been unable to attain. I almost always hate myself for not getting him early in the draft, then I remember, “The guy can’t score.” I feel better. Warrick has had a wonderful NFL career, but he does not belong as a starting running back on anyone’s fantasy team. I love Warrick. I wish him the best on and off the field, but I will never take him on a team.

Brian Westbrook
Outside of Donavan McNabb he is the best offensive player on the Philadelphia Eagles. The trouble with Westbrook is the amount of time he is on the field, or perhaps it is the time he is off field. It strikes me Westbrook has not completed a full season in the last three or four. The man can run, he is elusive, he can catch yet he is as fragile as fine china. Westbrook seems to break as often as a Ferrari on a city street. I like the guy, I like Donavan, I like the Eagles but I would not take their star runner on my team for love or money. I am not sure what it is about the Eagles, but they can’t seem to keep a backfield healthy. Between Buckhalter, Westbrook, McNabb, Detmer and Feely no one stays up for long behind the Eagle’s line of scrimmage.

Any Cardinal Player
Has there ever been a Cardinal player worth drafting as a starter? Okay, there have been a few, but they don’t last long. I go clear back to Jim Hart at quarterback. He was there for a few years, but spent as much time being injured as he did on the field, then there was Neil Lomax. He came out of Portland State as a savior, after eight years of being pummeled behind a porous front line his knees finally failed him. There have been receivers like David Boston who is with??? Terry Metcalf showed signs of life on occasion but so did Emmitt Smith. It was still not enough to make them worthy of a high selection in any draft. Jake Plummer could have been a high draft choice for a fantasy owner when he was a Cardinal, but it would have been a foolish move. Look at the current crop of players waiting for the season to end so they can go on with their lives. I am sure “Edge” thought he could turn it around as did former MVP Curt Warner, so did Denny Green. The black hole of losers in the NFL forbids it. The franchise started in Chicago, moved to St. Louis and now plays in University of Phoenix Stadium. It now becomes the graveyard for NFL careers. I wish Matt Leinart well, but I am not sure even he will escape the inevitable. The receiving corps of Fitzgerald and Boldin may offer a glimmer of hope but championships are not won by glimmers only by consistent brilliance.

It has been a season of heartbreak for me. Chris Chambers, one of my favorite receivers in the past, has struggled as has the Dolphins. Caddy Williams has gone the way of his offense, invisible. At quarterback I had to rely on an old favorite, Brett Favre and new flash, Tony Romo for someone to manage a team. (I did manage to go through Drew Blesdsoe, Jake Plummer and Michael Vick) I am out of the play off picture looking forward to the role of spoiler.

My fantasy weekends are built upon several pillars, parlay bets, team scoring and defense, the Raiders, my fantasy teams and a contest we call the Pot of Gold. (It is an elimination game based on selecting a single team every week against the point spread) The parlays have almost paid for the season and the Pot of Gold may actually make this year profitable. All it takes is one of the pillars to come through and I call the weekend a partial success, when they all fail depression falls upon the abode like a black fog. No matter how much I may fail, none of the fantasy pillars is going to rely upon the efforts of any of these players. I have learned my lesson, for now; never is a long time.