Part 1 of Mattie T’s 2007 Fantasy Football Preview: Ranking the Top 5 Quarterbacks

It’s almost that time of the year again!

Fantasy Football addicts around the country are sure to spend tons of money & time on their computers drafting & running their team in hopes to bring home a championship.

It’s very true that the Quarterback position is the most important in football. Here are the top 5 players who will give your fantasy team a big boost for the 2007 season!

5. Donovan McNabb, Philadelphia Eagles.

McNabb is trying to recover from a major injury (the latest being a sports hernia, which kept him out of 7 games in ‘06) for the 2nd consecutive offseason.

McNabb’s latest injury ruined a promising ‘06 season, in which the 8th year pro from Syracuse completed 57% of his passes for 2,647 yards, threw 18 touchdowns & just 6 interceptions.

It was just 3 years ago when McNabb completed his best season ever as a pro, as he completed a career-high 64% of his passes for 3,875 yards (career-high), 31 touchdowns (career-high) & 8 interceptions, which helped Philadelphia make their 1st Super Bowl apperance in 24 years. (Eagles lost Super Bowl XXXIX 24-21 to the Patriots.)

In all fairness, nearly half of McNabb’s 31 touchdown passes went to former teammate Terrell Owens, who hauled in 14 TD’s.

The Eagles lost Donte Stallworth to New England over the off-season, which leaves Kevin Curtis & Reggie Brown to battle it out for the team’s #1 wideout.

Philadelphia also has a good tight end in L.J. Smith, who is a favorite target of McNabb’s in the red zone.

If McNabb is healthy in 2007, he should be a lock to throw over 2,500 yards & 20 touchdown passes. But it will be the sports hernia injury that determines whether Donovan can return to being one of the NFL’s elite scrambling quarterbacks like he has shown in years’ past.

4. Marc Bulger, St. Louis Rams.

Bulger is coming off his best season ever in which he completed 62.9% of his passes for 4,301 yards (career-high) for 24 touchdowns (career-high) & 8 interceptions.

Now with an offense that includes RB Steven Jackson, WR’s Torry Holt, Issac Bruce, Drew Bennett & Dante Hall and TE Randy McMichael, the Rams’ nickname of the “Greatest Show on Turf” could return to real-life in 2007.

Bulger should be a lock to throw over 3,500 yards & 25 touchdown passes in ‘07.

3. Carson Palmer, Cincinnati Bengals.

Some of us had serious question marks about Palmer’s health heading into the ‘06 season after he injured his left knee in a 2005 AFC Wild Card Game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Palmer silenced any doubters by completing 62.3% of his passes while throwing for 4,035 yards (career-high), 28 touchdowns & 13 interceptions in 2006.

Carson was also able to record a career-high in both passing yards, yards per attempt (7.8) & yards per game (252.2) despite being sacked 36 times (career-high) & fumbling 15 times (career-high).

Despite the NFL’s 8 game suspension for WR Chris Henry, Palmer should still be regarded as one of the premier fantasy QB’s with a very dangerous combo of Chad Johnson & T.J. Houshmandzadeh as the Bengals’ starting wideouts.

Having Rudi Johnson (has rushed for over 1,300 yards in each of last 3 seasons) in the backfield also makes it easier for Palmer to complete deep throws downfield for big gains, as he has done consistenly throughout his entire NFL career.

Palmer might be able to surpass 4,000 yards again if he gets out to a fast start with early-season games against Cleveland & Seattle. The addition of Chris Henry during the 2nd half of the season should help tremendously, so expect another 30 touchdowns or more from Carson in ‘07.

2. Tom Brady, New England Patriots.

How good has Tom Brady been over his career? For the 5th consecutive season, Brady completed over 60% of his passes, threw for 3,500 yards or more & 20 touchdowns or more.

And this folks, was all done without a dominant wide receiver.

Those days are now over. New England made the biggest trade in years on April 29th, when they acquired WR Randy Moss from the Oakland Raiders in exchange for a 4th round selection in the 2007 NFL Draft. (Oakland selected CB John Bowie from the University of Cincinnati with this pick.)

Moss will be lined up at WR alongside Donte Stallworth, who comes over from the Philadelphia Eagles. Stallworth has yet to show his full potential after being selected with the 13th overall pick in the 2002 NFL Draft by New Orleans.

The Patriots will also use Wes Welker as a slot receiver. Welker caught 68 receptions for 687 yards last season with Miami & also totaled a combined 1,442 yards in kickoff & punt returns.

If that wasn’t enough options for Brady, he also has 2nd year RB Laurence Maroney, who totaled a combined 939 yards from scrimmage & 7 touchdowns, along with TE Ben Watson, who caught a career-high 49 receptions (32 for first downs) for 643 yards in 2006.

The sky’s the limit for Brady in 2007. Don’t be surprised if he were to surpass 4,000 passing yards & 30 touchdowns, because he now has the receiving weapons to do so.

1. Peyton Manning, Indianapolis Colts.

What makes Peyton Manning so fun to watch? Is it because he can call hundreds of audibles at the line of scrimmage to confuse opposing defenses, or is it because he can sit back in the pocket & proceed to pick apart his opponent?

This combination of skill & mastery brought Manning his 1st ever Super Bowl win this past February.

His numbers will amaze you. Manning has thrown for over 4,000 yards in 7 of his last 8 seasons. Only twice has Manning thrown more than 20 or more interceptions in a season (’98 & ‘01, combined to throw 52 touchdowns & 51 interceptions.)

How about his other 7 seasons in the NFL? 223 touchdowns & just 88 interceptions.
In 29 games over the past 3 seasons in which Manning has totaled a quarterback rating of 100 or higher during a game, he has thrown an astonishing 86 touchdown passes & just 11 interceptions.

With weapons such as WR’s Marvin Harrison (80+ receptions, 1,100+ yards & 10+ touchdowns in 8 consecutive seasons), Reggie Wayne (70+ receptions, 1,000+ yards & 26 receiving touchdowns combined in past 3 seasons), Anthony Gonzalez (caught 51 receptions for 734 yards & 8 touchdowns at Ohio State in ‘06) & TE Dallas Clark (81 of his 121 career receptions have gone for 1st downs), Manning will be the #1 fantasy football quarterback for the rest of his career.

For 2007, lock Peyton Manning in for 4,300 or more passing yards & 30 or more touchdowns.

Tomorrow i’ll preview the Top 5 Fantasy running backs for 2007.

Until then,

Mattie T

Sports Writer for BMS Radio Chicago

www.BMSRadio.com

2007 © BMS Radio Chicago All Rights Reserved. The written content is property of this site. All team and league information, sports logos, photos, and names contained within this site are property of their respective organizations.