NFC East Fantasy Football Stock Market

Sometimes the only thing that stands in the way of a fantasy player’s opportunity, is his surrounding competition. The NFL Draft is a serious mover and shaker of talent, and is always bringing in new faces to help on field production. This is great news for NFL teams, but can be bad news for fantasy football owners, especially those in keeper leagues. Gridiron Experts is taking an early look at how this year’s 2010 NFL draft could affect your overall rankings.

*NFC East: Except for the 1st round selection by Dallas the NFC East went heavy on defense this year, adding to more camp battles and youth movements than anything.

Dallas Cowboys
Dez Bryant WR, 6’2″, 225 lb | Round 1, Pick 24

The Cowboys only added one new fantasy option into their core of players through the draft, but one very important one. Early rumors are Bryant showed up for camp out of shape, but I wouldn’t worry too much about that at this point. Being the 1^st round pick for the Dallas Cowboys means the spotlight will sweat you like never before. Bryant will be the talk around the water cooler much of the season and fantasy owners will be eager to see how he fits in.
Opportunity: Starting WR2, opposite Miles Austin.
Fantasy Value: Of coarse mini camps are as early as things can get, but as a fantasy option the kid has huge value at such an early stage. Bryant, if not lining up outside, could become an excellent slot receiver, giving the Cowboys a speedy tough inside target that Romo hasn’t ever really had.
Stock Value: Very High- Unless there are any set backs Bryant should find playing time early as a rookie.

Washington Redskins
Camp Competition

Every position is up for grabs this year (except for McNabb as stated here) Which means even guys like 7^th round pick Terrence Austin, a WR from UCLA have a shot at breaking the starting line-up.

At this point we can assume nothing, but all early indications are that the TE spot is up for grabs after Chris Cooley began 09 as the starter, but was later replaced by Fred Davis when he suffered a season-ending ankle injury in October. Coaches liked what they saw from Davis, and there are no guarantees that Cooley will retain his starting spot. Although we tend to foresee a lot of 2 TE packages run next season, so the difference between TE 1 and TE 2 might be a split role anyways in terms of fantasy production.

One thing you should watch for is a complete revamping at the Redskins receiver depth chart. With McNabb adding the deep ball to the Redskins play calling options, expect a speedy wide-out to emerge as a poor-mans “DeSean Jackson” clone to rival the success that the Eagles had last season. If you can remember that far back, Devin Thomas blew people away with his speed back in the 2006 NFL Draft, and might get to finally live up to the high expectations with the QB change.

New York Giants
Injuries Mask All

Ahmad Bradshaw averaged a whole yard more per carry than the big man Jacobs in 09. Not to mention his touchdown numbers were higher and opportunities were around much less. The G-Men didn’t add a new face into the backfield from the NFL draft this year, but Jacobs owners shouldn’t feel that safe. Jacobs says his left knee feels a lot better than it did at this time last year, which is great news, but the 6’4 running back is bound to run into more low tackles this year. His knees are a prime target at such a tall height, making the up coming season an almost absolute must in handcuffing Bradshaw and Jacobs in fantasy leagues.

Despite having excellent numbers as a rookie, Hakeem Nicks recently underwent surgery to insert a screw into a toe that he broke last season. The young WR said he played the whole 09 season with the injury and is expected to now be limited during OTAs and possibly into training camp. Expect a full recovery by the start of the season and a sleeper status applied to him by us early on. Nicks showed his toughness playing hurt last season and at 100% could really break out as a star in the Giants system. Nicks caught 47 balls for 790yards and 6 TD’s, but his X-factor is his size. Given time to recover from a toe injury, the already bigger Giant WR should add bulk this offseason, making him a tougher player to press in man coverage and a tackle.

Philadelphia Eagles
Youth Movement Changes Everything

McNabb’s style dictated how fantasy owners went after drafting Eagle players. The love for the deep ball, and check down to the tight end and running back option always made certain players more valuable than others.

With Kevin Kolb at the helm, this modified westcast offense might get back to the more traditional short intermediate throws, rather than the deep attack. Kolb didn’t give us too much to soak in with only two games played last year, but the overall style was very different in my opinion. Without freaking out DeSean Jackson owners, I would, off the bat say Kolb will be more inclined to find guys like Maclin, Avant and Celek rather hit the deep strike. Jackson will still be very productive, but we could see the ball spread around a lot as Kolb looks to be a more accurate short yardage passer than McNabb, which is pretty much what the westcoast offense is all about.

Fantasy owners need to zero in on Kolb’s production through-out training camp and pre-season. An early favorite might emerge that isn’t named Jackson.