Fantasy Homer Picks
By Brian Miller
Your a homer, admit it. You target at least 2 maybe 3 Miami Dolphins players in your fantasy draft. It’s o.k. I’ts natural. Not exactly smart, but natural. So who should your “homer” picks be for the Miami Dolphins?
Ronnie Brown?
Ricky Williams?
Here’s a look at the only names that should be on your mind come draft day, and in some cases, they really shouldn’t be at all.
Ronnie Brown – Brown is not a homer pick, last year and the year before he was a legitimate starting RB. This year, not so much. If you drafted early this season, you may have taken Brown in round 2 or 3. Now, he has slid to rounds 4 or later. In a draft last night, Brown was drafted in round 8, there was only one person on auto-pick.
It shows that many have concerns about Brown’s health. Can he bounce back from last years knee injury? Will Ricky Williams take away his touches? For that matter, is there any truth to the trade rumors?
All of it adds up to one thing. If he is there in round 4, you should take him, or at least consider him. Any sooner than that, and right now your gambling your team.
Ricky Williams – Hard to believe that only a couple of months ago you could have Ricky for a bag of chips. Now he will likely be the opening day starter and should see plenty of touches. While Ricky has little concerns about injury and durability, like Ronnie Brown, and the fact that Williams could still fail another test…something he has not done “in-season”, does not make him a 1st or 2nd round pick. In fact, he shouldn’t be drafted until well after round 7 or 8 unless your league is really deep.
Keep an eye on Ricky as in the 90 second drafts on various sites, his ranking leaves him off the main screen and therefore he gets overlooked. Don’t bank on him, but keep an eye on him and know your roster make-up…Ricky could be a very nice steal. Last night…10th round.
Ted Ginn – Ginn has shown he has the capability to be a good WR. He has good hands and is running very nice routes. However, he still has to have someone throw him the ball. Chad Pennington will help TG become a much better WR but his money is on the long ball and CP can’t wing it down field. That leaves 10 to 20 yard hitch patterns and crosses. The yardage is likely to be around 600 this year and his TD’s in the 4 or 5 range.
Where Ginn becomes valuable is those leagues that award individual points for special teams. Ginn is a very productive PR and coupled with his WR duties, could post some decent scores…as a bye week fill in. Ginn is not who you want starting on your roster…yet. That time very well may come, but not this year.
Chad Pennington – Pennington is the first QB Miami has had in awhile that actually can make a read and play smart. The problem is that we have not seen enough of him to warrant real draft consideration…especially as a starter. The issue with CP is that if the Phins struggle early, Pennington could be replaced by Chad Henne…about the time that you would need him to fill in on a bye week.
In some of the deeper leagues that start 2 QB’s, Pennington has far more value than those where you only start 1.
Anthony Fasano – This is my homer pick. I really like this kid. While I won’t draft him to be my starting TE, I will draft him to be the back-up, usually in the final 2 or 3 rounds. Fasano is starting to show signs that he is fitting in with this offense, one that is similar to what was in Dallas. Fasano is usually sure handed, but remember, he is young…only been in the league for two years so there is a huge upside of potential.
Of all the Miami Dolphins players, Fasano probably has a keeper pick status more than the others. If you draft a keeper league that takes away a pick that coincides with the round you drafted that player in, Fasano may be the guy to keep. I like his upside and the fact that the Phins are moving the ball and still dump off to the TE makes him a quiet sleeper that should adequately fill in on your roster.
If your drafting defenders in your league, or IDP’s, there really isn’t much in the way of the Phins. While Ferguson seems to be a monster, he won’t post numbers that will get you points, your best bet is Channing Crowder who will likely see high tackle totals and will be sent on blitzes where he may get the sack numbers…but they won’t be out of this world and you can find more productive players elsewhere. Truth be told, Crowder could be had VIA free agency after the draft.