Fantasy options after Brady, Manning are even

By Neal Coolong  |   Thursday, July 17, 2008  |  Comments( 12 )

Fantasy Football
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That familiar surge of frustration just ran up your back, and it's currently warming your face. The team drafting three spots ahead of you in your fantasy football league just messed up your plans to take either of the top two quarterbacks -- the Patriots' Tom Brady and the Colts' Peyton Manning.

With those two off the board, how easy is it to determine Nos. 3, 4 and 5? At what point are you pulling the trigger on these second-tier options?

You can get away with waiting to take a QB because there likely won’t be much difference between Nos. 3 and 9 in today’s pass-happy NFL.

The Cowboys' Tony Romo did well playing in an offense that gets the ball down the field, while the Steelers' Ben Roethlisberger amassed good fantasy numbers despite being put on the dirt more often than loose sod on Heinz Field. The Bengals' Carson Palmer and the Saints' Drew Brees got skunked in multiple games, yet they dominated others. The out-of-nowhere Derek Anderson revived the Browns over the course of the year but disappeared in a few games.

One major factor to consider when you're ready to call a QB's name in your draft is the pass defenses of divisional opponents. The Browns' and Ravens' depleted secondaries make Roethlisberger, Palmer and Anderson intriguing picks.

Brees gets two games against the Falcons, who, in trading DeAngelo Hall and releasing Jimmy Williams, are going into camp as one of the youngest secondaries in the league.

With so many passers all with reasonable chances of cracking the top four by the end of the season in terms of fantasy production, it could be a better bet to stock up at running back and wide receiver before taking a decent starting QB later in the draft. The deadlock could be broken by looking at the defenses these passers will face.
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About Neal Coolong

Neal Coolong is a freelance sports writer with contributions to Scout.com, AOL and Steelers Live. He lives with his fiance in St. Paul, Minn., and saves every dime (that she knows about) for their wedding next June. He's already made the prediction that the Steelers 2007 draft class will be one ...
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