http://www.yardbarker.com/content/team/58 Recent articles about the San Francisco 49ers en-us It is that time of year when the dog days of summer are turning out their last few weeks of heat and sunshine and the season turns to the fall which means the start of NFL training camps and more importantly nearing the start of the NFL regular season. Training Camp starts today for the [...] Thu, 24 Jul 2008 13:38:07 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/294988 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/294988 So how do we beat the RBBC conundrum? Knowledge! I know, I sound like a bad public service announcement but in fantasy football, knowledge really is power. And there's just not enough info out there on all the various committees. I applaud the few sites out there that have attacked the RBBC analysis...though I can't say I really blame the experts out there for not wanting to talk about them. But now it's time we face committees head on and do our best to take a gamble and figure out which guys might pull to the front of the committee battles. Trust me, some of those guys might even be a top 10 back by the time the season is over. With that being said, let's take a look at 3 under-discussed teams and their backfield situation heading into 2008: Thu, 24 Jul 2008 00:40:00 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/294709 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/294709 Running back has been labeled the most important position in the history of fantasy football, and quite frankly, it is. Never have you seen a fantasy football squad with the likes of Travis Minor and J.J. Arrington manning the backfield. This year's running back class is stacked with both familiar and fresh talent. Here are the Top 25 Running Backs for the upcoming fantasy football season: 1. LaDainian Tomlinson SD 2. Adrian Peterson MIN 3. Brian Westbrook PHI 4. Joseph Addai IND 5. Steven Jackson STL 6. Marshawn Lynch BUF 7. Marion Barber III DAL 8. Frank Gore SF 9. Ryan Grant GB 10. Ronnie Brown MIA 11. Clinton Portis WSH 12. Larry Johnson KC 13. Maurice Jones-Drew JAX 14. Brandon Jacobs NYG 15. Willis Mcgahee BAL 16. Reggie Bush NO 17. Jamal Lewis CLE 18. Laurence Maroney NE 19. Michael Turner ATL 20. Thomas Jones NYJ 21. Willie Parker PIT 22. Earnest Graham TB 23. Darren Mcfadden OAK 24. Matt Forte CHI 25. Fred Taylor JAX Well now you know my answer to the biggest debate in fantasy football this season, LT or AP? I go with LT because of what he has done over the past few seasons and the certainty his name brings to your team. Tomlinson is probably the 2nd best receiving running back behind Westbrook, and finds the end zone more than anyone else. Heck, LT will even throw you a TD this season. AP is a great running back and if i have the number 2 pick on my fantasy draft I know that he is going to be mine. But he hasn't earned the right to take over that number 1 spot from Tomlinson, even if Peterson thinks he already has. At the end of the top 10 I have Ryan Grant and Ronnie Brown. WIth Brett Favre out of Lambeau, Aaron Rodgers will be leaning on Grant all season long, whether it be running the ball or dumping it off to him. Expect Grant to see a lot more touches near the red zone because of the lack of trust in Rodgers not to turn the ball over on that part of the field. Ronnie Brown was one of the best running backs before he got hurt last year. In fact, Brown was the number 1 ranked RB on Yahoo! for quite some time. This season, Brown says he feels healthy and he's running behind a better offensive line with 1st overall NFL Draft pick Jake Long leading the way. And if Bill Parcells has any say in it, Brown will be getting a lot of red zone carries, so that comeback story Ricky WIlliams can focus on beating down the clock late in games. (Also, can we really expect Ricky Williams to not have some sort of relapse at some point. You know, wake up late for practice once or twice, forget his helmet when going into a game, one of those could happen). At number 16 i put Saints RB Reggie Bush. This is a bit of a reach because of how loaded the Saints ground-game is this year with Deuce McAllister and Pierre Thomas. I have some Reggie Bush bias in me because of his jaw-dropping ability he displayed in college and somewhat in the pros, but i wouldn't be shocked to see Bush either have a breakout year, or be relegated to mop up duty. This may be the year Bush needs to step up on New Orleans, especially if Pierre Thomas has a solid season. Try and get your hands on 2 of these 3 running backs if you are going to take any of them. Two more players I want to talk about are Willie Parker and rookie Matt Forte. Parker has put up solid numbers throughout his career and in The Steel City, there should be more handoffs than Home Runs over at PNC Ballpark. Though Parker may be sharing with rookie RB Rashard Mendenhall. Mendenhall has really impressed Steeler coaches with his ability and combination of speed and power, perfect for the Steelers offense. Expect a dip in touches for Parker and take Mendenhall late in your draft. Matt Forte has been put into a solid situation in Chicago. The Bears have no real answer at QB and we could see another season of the Rex Grossman Show. Forte will get the touches, it's just a matter of what he can do with them. The O-Line in Chicago is solid, but aging, but an inspired Forte can rejuvenate some magic in The Windy City. Here are 3 players who may surprise you: Jonathan Stewart CAR- Carolina Panther running backs have always disappointed their fantasy owners in the past couple of years. Stewart, rated by some as the 2nd best running back of this year's draft class, brings versatilely to John Fox's offense. Stewart is a very good receiving back and can burst through a hole better than any of his predecessors in Carolina. I wouldn't be too surprised to see him finish the season as a top 20 running back on a Panthers team contending for a division title. Julius Jones SEA- Written off by many in Dallas, Jones (who was replaced by Felix Jones, who should be owned by Marion Barber owners across the world) brings very good speed as a replacement to former MVP and Madden cover model Shaun Alexander. Jones can handle a lot of carries and is playing for an offense that better suits his running style. Jones likes to run downhill and sneak through the O-linemen, unlike in Dallas where they pound the ball inside behind the guards. Jones has been complaining for the last few years that he hasn't been able to run like he wants to, and this year he will get his chance to show us what he means exactly. Kevin Smith DET- The pride of the University of Central Florida, Smith is one of the best running backs in the history of college football, statistically. He takes over in Detroit, where they have vowed to start having a more balanced offensive attack. Smith almost broke the total yards record in college with Central Florida and wowed scouts with his speed and ability to break tackles. Smith is surrounded by a lot of talent in Detroit and has been given a great chance to succeed and show his skills to the stubborn Lion's fans. Let's just hope they treat Smith better than they treat their owner. Wed, 23 Jul 2008 12:56:50 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/294393 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/294393 Okay, now that we've got the scrubs out of the way (21-30), we can get to some guys that can really contribute to your fantasy teams. While most standard leagues only use one tight end, I've played in leagues that use two, or that use a WR/TE flex position – and don't forget about PPR leagues. These guys can help you in all those, plus can be useful in shallow standard leagues. Whatever type of league you play in, it's always useful to know what players are out there in case of the inevitable – injuries, bye weeks, or just plain unproductiveness. So, here's tight ends 11-20, and a recap of 21-30. Wed, 23 Jul 2008 06:58:28 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/294224 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/294224 This Bruno Boys Q & A segment will focus on one thing and one thing only; and that is to get you as prepared as possible for your league 's draft. If you use this Q & A along with the Bruno Boys 2008 Fantasy Football Cheat Sheets, message boards and everything else that the Bruno Boys have to offer, we have no doubt that your draft will be a winner. To read more, click below... Wed, 23 Jul 2008 00:31:11 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/294144 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/294144 Deion Sanders was an amazing talent on the grid iron and to a lesser extent on the diamond. He doesn't seem to have that magic touch elsewhere in his life. Tonight, I caught the very end of his family losing to the Ed McMahon family on Celebrity Family Feud. I remembered another time when Neon failed to sparkle. Someone thought it would be a good idea to have him host the 2002 Miss USA pageant. Please note the poor, poor attempt at dialogue, rivaling only his attempts at making a tackle on the corner during his playing career in therms of ugliness. The fake inflection. The downright awkwardness. The shear beauty of it all. Here's to you, Prime Time. VIDEO AT HHR. Tue, 22 Jul 2008 21:03:54 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/294085 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/294085 Our friends over at Cold Hard Football Facts just posted a quick glance at the NFC, as well as divisional information about the NFC West. The facts are that the St. Louis Rams received the ultimate dis by not even having the team name mentioned in the article! Thats right in a weak division with [...] Tue, 22 Jul 2008 18:59:15 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/294033 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/294033 Last Wednesday was the day that the ESPYs were filmed, and the entire day was SO hectic for me. I had to drive around with my broken navigation system to get my ESPY tickets from one hotel, then go over to my publicist's hotel to get the suit that I'd had custom-made. The suit was late, the valet at each place took a good half-hour, and traffic was insane, so my schedule was completely thrown off. On top of that, I was nervous about my first experience as a red carpet correspondent. I kept worrying that I would freeze up and choke, and all I could think was "What did I get myself into?" I finally arrived at the Nokia Theater to meet the Yardbarker folks just as the red carpet opened up. I was sweaty, nervous, and carrying a backpack - basically sort of a mess. On top of that, right as I got there and realized that I had forgotten my tickets for the show, I got stung by a bee. Just some icing on the cake. Even though things had gone wrong throughout the day, everything worked out great. It was really interesting to see the red carpet from the perspective of the media. Every outlet has their own designated space, but because I was so much bigger than the other reporters, they had to give me some extra elbow room to work with. It was funny, too, because everyone was so surprised to see me there with the media. They kept saying, "Who the hell gave YOU a microphone? Did you steal that?" I started off a little slow with the interviews, because I was late and didn't have a chance to prepare. All I was told was to be myself and try to work in some of the questions that had been written up for me. I was a little nervous, and for my first interview, I kept holding the microphone up to the wrong person's face while we were talking. After a while, though, I got the hang of it and just started chatting with the guys like it was before or after a game. Once we got talking, it would take me about 10 minutes to actually get to the questions. I was trying to be like Jay Leno or David Letterman and smoothly segue from the small talk to the questions, but I think I could still use a little work on that. Luckily, I wasn't the only one experiencing this for the first time. Hugh Hefner's girlfriend, Kendra, was there as a correspondent, too. When we found out that we were both doing this for the first time, we chatted for a little bit and exchanged interview tips. I'm sure it was all much easier for her, though. No matter what comes out of her mouth, she's got a pretty face and everyone will still want to talk to her. As for me, I need to be a little bit more verbally stimulating or my career as reporter will be over before it even starts. In the end, everything worked out great. The one thing that was disappointing was not making it in time to actually walk down the carpet myself, but I'm still glad I did this, because it was a lot of fun. The show afterward was amazing, too. It was definitely a SHOW, and Justin Timberlake did a great job hosting. He sang, danced, and really interacted with the audience. At one point he even sat on the floor next to Beckham, grabbed his leg, and sniffed him. And it was hilarious when he started making fun of TO for crying at a press conference. The whole place was dying laughing. Not sure if they were laughing with TO or at him, but Justin must've asked him permission ahead of time because I couldn't believe that he even went there. Another treat was watching one of my favorite artists, Lupe Fiasco, perform with a live band, but my absolute favorite part was the duet that Greg Oden did with Justin. It was funny to see Oden up there singing with Justin and playing the piano. Well, I hope you guys enjoy watching my interviews, because I really enjoyed doing them. I'll check in again with the Yard soon. Training camp starts Friday, and I'm excited for another season of football! Tue, 22 Jul 2008 12:17:07 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/293834 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/293834 In 2007, not only did we see a rise in wide receiver production, which led to more depth at the position heading into 2008, we also saw a decline in everydown running backs. In fact, in '07 just 17 running backs topped the 1,000 rushing yard mark, while in 2006 we saw 23 different rushers achieve that feat. On the flip side, 23 wide receivers surpassed 1,000 receiving yards in '7, while just 19 went for over 1,000 yards in '06. With this in mind, we knew that the depth at the running back position would drop off after the 2nd round, so we went in targeting the best available option at the running back position. Plus, with the rapid growth in the Running Back By Committee approach in the NFL, we wanted to make sure that our top ball carrier was someone who is going to get 20+ touches per contest. To find out who Bruno Boys Fantasy Football took with their second pick, click below.... Tue, 22 Jul 2008 00:05:23 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/293615 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/293615 Sam Francisco 49ers HC Mike Nolan and GM Scot McCloughan participated in a conference call today to address some pre-training camp questions. Among the topics discussed were the competitiveness at WR, as they stated that only two players at the position have been with the team before this season. Mon, 21 Jul 2008 23:23:24 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/293600 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/293600 This is a list of how many guys with dreads are on each team. 1. Jaguars 10 2. Packers 7 3. Bills 6 4. Lions 6 5. Patriots 6 6. Titans 6 7. Bengals 5 8. Steelers 5 9. Dolphins 5 10. Bears 5 11. Vikings 5 12. Falcons 5 13. Browns 4 14. Eagles 4 15. Cowboys 4 16. Texans 4 17. Broncos 4 18. Chiefs 3 19. Cardinals 3 20. Colts 3 21. Giants 2 22. Raiders 2 23. Rams 2 24. Saints 2 25. Buccaneers 2 26. Jets 2 27. 49ers 1 28. Ravens 1 29. Redskins 1 30. Chargers 1 31. Seahawks 1 32. Panthers 1 Mon, 21 Jul 2008 11:57:45 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/293265 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/293265 Moving closer to the top of the draft means higher expectations. These 7 third rounders have lived up to their teams' expectations and have become top-caliber NFL players. Names include Brian Westbrook, Steve Smith, Lance Briggs, Frank Gore, Jason Witten, Chris Cooley, and Joey Porter. Mon, 21 Jul 2008 11:23:19 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/293243 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/293243 The Raiders and 49ers have agreed to a joint practice during training camp in Napa, Raiders senior executive John Herrera said, No date has been announced, though the practice likely is to take place before the teams' exhibition game Aug. 8. The Raiders last participated in a joint practice with the Dallas Cowboys in 1998, when they met in El Paso, Texas. Before that, the Raiders traveled to Austin, Texas, for joint practices with the Cowboys on an annual basis. In other news, the Raiders signed wide receiver Chaz Schilens on Thursday. The Raiders selected Schilens in the seventh round of the NFL draft in April out of San Diego State. He is the third of Oakland's five draftees to sign so far. Receiver Arman Shields and defensive end Trevor Scott remain unsigned but are expected to sign contracts before training camp begins Wednesday. Mon, 21 Jul 2008 10:10:53 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/293193 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/293193 It is presumed, at least for the sake of this posting, that once he was hailed as a genius, Albert Einstein never had to re-prove himself as such. Nor did Stephen Hawking, or any of the panel from "Stump the Professor" (warning: obscure Detroit pop culture reference, so don't sweat it if you went, "Huh?"). No, I don't think Einstein or Hawking, or anyone else to whom the word "genius" has been properly applied, ever had to go back and remind us why they were being hailed. In sports we like to use the word "genius" haphazardly -- sometimes even, dare I say it, sarcastically (gasp!). This morning, with NFL training camps just about to get underway, I'm not sure where the meaning of "genius" lies when it comes to offensive mind Mike Martz. But I'm thinking it's edging toward sarcastic, because I'm almost certain that it was probably initially used haphazardly. Martz, the erstwhile Lions offensive coordinator in 2006 and 2007, has taken his voluminious playbook and "genius" mind (there's that word again) and headed west, to infiltrate the mind of poor Alex Smith and the rest of his San Francisco 49ers offensive teammates. 49ers head coach Mike Nolan is the latest to gamble that Martz can do for him what he once did for the St. Louis Rams, some nine years ago. The Lions took that gamble in early 2006, courting Martz with everything but chocolates and roses with Super Bowl week in Detroit as the backdrop. He turned the Lions down, Martz did, but that didn't stop new head coach Rod Marinelli from pursuing the genius relentlessly, confident that Martz was the man to inject life into an offense teeming with wide receivers but with a brand new quarterback at the helm, Jon Kitna. So Martz breezed into town, clearly regaling in his reputation as a genius -- and with a playbook the size of the New York City yellow pages in tow, as if to prove his brilliance in terms of quantity, if not quality. After two seasons in Detroit, about the only thing we could conclude definitively about Martz was that, if he was good at anything, it was at being in control and being less-than-amenable to suggestions from the rank-and-file, or from his boss. His playbook clogged the Lions' players minds and mystified some of the brutuses in the trenches. Yet, for all of its content, Martz's playbook seemed to somehow ignore something intricate to a football offense -- namely, the running game. By the end of last season, about the only player who publicly endorsed Martz was Kitna -- and with back-to-back 4,000 yard passing seasons, that was no wonder, really. It was less than surprising when Martz was given the ziggy by Marinelli, and maybe even less so when Martz was snapped up by the 49ers -- if only because once you get labeled in the NFL, good or bad, it takes some time to shed it. Nolan, we presume, did his due diligence on Martz and knows what he's getting himself into. Whether the Lions did is always open to conjecture. The Lions have a new offensive coordinator, Jim Colletto. I'm tempted to call him a simpleton, and in doing so, I mean no offense. But Colletto, he says, is all about paring down the playbook and relying more on the running game. The Lions drafted a huge offensive tackle with their no. 1 pick, Gosder Cherilus, as if to emphasize this new way of thinking. Substance instead of flash. I saw a photograph the other day of Martz, in the 49ers colors and wearing the gratuitous team baseball cap, instructing Smith, the fine young San Francisco quarterback. I couldn't tell through his helmet and face mask whether Smith had a faraway look on his face. I guess we'll find out whether he did once they start playing the games for real. Mon, 21 Jul 2008 08:42:04 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/293141 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/293141 Ouija Boards, magic eight balls, tarot cards. For centuries, man has looked for supernatural ways to try and get answers. We here at Bruno Boys Fantasy Football are no different. Always looking for an edge for the upcoming fantasy season, we look to higher powers and turn to our magical crystal ball. The article below is the seventh of many that will reveal what we have seen. This time our look into the future is focused on the likes of Dallas Cowboys' running back, Marion Barber III. 2007 In Review: We wouldn't call Marion Barber's 2007 season a breakout season After all, the Dallas Cowboys running back did have 16 total TDs in 2006. But, 2007 did see Barber take that next step in the realm of fantasy football. No longer is Barber simply a match-up back, his 2007 totals of 1,257 yards (975 rushing and 282 receiving) and 12 total TDs ensure his status as an every week play going forward. In fact, they pretty much ensure his status as one of the league's top 10 fantasy backs. To read more, click below: Sun, 20 Jul 2008 21:46:35 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/292976 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/292976