Fantasy Football: Free agency preview, AFC East

This past offseason provided a lot of big names changing uniforms. Here's a look at the big moves made in the AFC East from a fantasy perspective:

Buffalo Bills Signed WR Andre' Davis (NE), WR Peerless Price (Dal)

Fantasy Perspective: Lee Evans will be the #1 WR now that Moulds is no longer in the picture, and that means the #2 job is up for grabs. If Price can succeed as the #2 in a similar faction to when he and Moulds did, he'll have some value.

Bottom Line: For now draft Price or Davis as a backup WR. Upgrade Lee Evans.

Miami Dolphins Signed T LJ Shelton (Cle), Traded a 2nd round pick for QB Daunte Culpepper (Min)

Fantasy Perspective: Culpepper boosts the level of all Phins on offense, Chambers especially. Daunte's own value was already in question because of his injury, so his value doesn't change much. He's a "proceed with caution but could be huge" type of player. Shelton will help what was a marginal O-line. With Ricky Williams out of the picture, this adds to Ronnie Browns rise, and will help protect Culpepper and his torn knee.

Bottom line: Give bumps to the values of all Miami Dolphins, especially Chambers and Brown.

New York Jets Traded for QB Patrick Ramsey (Was)

Fantasy Perspective: Ramsey will compete this summer with Chad Pennington for the starting gig in NY. Even if Chad wins the job, expect Ramsey to play at some point, given Chad's inability to stay healthy. If Ramsey does start in week 1, he'll have some pretty good WR's to throw to, but it remains to be seen how this offense will run with the new coaching staff.

Bottom line: Proceed with caution.

New England Patriots Lost K Adam Vinatieri to Indianapolis, and lost WR David Givens to Tennessee

Fantasy Perspective: Some might thing that losing Givens will hurt Brady's value, but this is not the case. Brady doesn't care who he's throwing to, if he see's a blue shirt open, he's throwing it there. Givens is a quality receiver, but the Patriots will find someone to fill his shoes.

Bottom line: Brady remains a top-5 QB, and who-ever wins the starting job at K in NE will have some value.

Written by Steve Stankay (sts078@yahoo.com)

Source

• ESPN (news)
• NFL.com (news)
• Yahoo! Sports (news)

Date

Mon 06/26/06, 6:38 am EST

EnyboDiv-I Stud

1261 days ago

Score 1

You think ML. Evens will succeed. I am still on the fence with him as I don't trust either of his QB options. But being a third year reciever with all that speed, I am very tempted to target him in my drafts.

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DNLLegend

1261 days ago

Score 1

Evans scares me. He was great with Losman but terrible with Holcomb. Plus, he doesn't have a second WR worth noting, which means defenses can key in on him. Instead of getting the #2 CB, he'll get the attention of the #1.

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JemmaTee-Baller

1261 days ago

Score -2

This isn't football!!!

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Alex HolowczakHall of Famer

1261 days ago

Score 0

Does the "AFC East" sound like football?

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EnyboDiv-I Stud

1261 days ago

Score 0

Just curious, do you guys play fantasy football (soccer) over in England or fanatsy Cricket?

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Anonymous Fanatic #1

1260 days ago

Score 0

Yeah, it's a really big thing. At the start of the season all of the major newspapers run a fantasy football competition. I think the biggest prize last season was the Sun's half a million pounds.

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ChachiOSUDraft Pick

1261 days ago

Score 1

There is a distinct possibility that no Jet will go in the first 5 rounds (maybe longer depending on how your draft feels about Curtis Martin) of any fantasy football draft.

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DNLLegend

1261 days ago

Score 0

Interesting. That's almost certainly true. I think that may have been true in the past for some Cardinals teams, and probably last year for the Browns. In fact, I think it happens to two to three teams a year.

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Sts078

1260 days ago

Score 0

I think Evans will be a good #3 fantasy receiver, borderline #2. I think with Jauron, the offense will be less explosive, but more consistent. He won't play musical chairs with the QB's, and that will help Evans develop chemistry with whomever is tossing the pigskin.

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Dmoan2000Tee-Baller

1259 days ago

Score 0

Buffalo's a bust. even as a #1, evans will hardly put up numbers worth noting. The team will be lucky to throw for more than 160 a game.

Coles is just as good a receiver as Evans for their respective teams and both teams will be losing which means lots of throws. If only Penninton could throw the ball more than twenty yards. If you use defense in your league, Vilma is a fine pick seeing he led the league in tackles last year.

McGahee could be a nice black horse pick at RB.

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Sts078

1258 days ago

Score 0

With Coles injury history and Evans potential (entering his 3rd year), you have to rank Evans higher than Coles.

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