We all have it planned out so perfectly. That perfect team that we will never need to drop any player and will win our fantasy league. Then suddenly that young rising star on your team like Anthony Gonzalez goes down, and you scramble to fix your team.

Below we have the top players you might want to pay attention to, for waiver pickups. Even if you don’t select a waiver (or have already done so) it’s good to keep these names in mind for the future weeks.

Quarterbacks:

Bills- Trent Edwards – Bye Week 9

On Monday Night the Bills offensive line did a great job of protecting Trent Edwards. If they can continue this protection, Edwards will be a serviceable backup quarterback for your fantasy football team.

Running Backs:

Buccaneers- Carnell “Cadillac” Williams- Bye Week 8

Cadillac Williams had a strong first game against the Cowboys. Right now Williams is in a committee, but he is the starter. In fantasy football any time, a player is a starter, they are fantasy worthy.

Look for Williams as a nice bye week fill in player at this time.

Raiders- Michael Bush – Bye Week 9

Darren McFadden went in the top five round of many fantasy drafts. However, Michael Bush may have more fantasy value if he continues to get goal line touchdowns. Bush makes for a good stash away player at this point. If McFadden should get hurt, he might be fantasy football starting worthy.

Ravens- Willis McGahee- Bye Week 7

Ray Rice may get all the headlines but Willis McGahee got two touchdowns in week one. Rice did not have a touchdown all of last year, and it looks like they will use McGahee and Le’Ron McClain again this year.

If you are desperate for depth, you could do much worse than McGahee. Let’s hope the knee holds up.

Saints- Mike Bell- Bye Week 5

Until Pierre Thomas comes back from his knee problem, the Saints will use Mike Bell to run. Unfortunately, Bell faces the Eagles, Bills and Jets the next three weeks.

As long as Thomas is out, Bell hold value, but I wouldn’t start him, unless you are desperate.

Wide Receivers:

Cowboys- Patrick Crayton- Bye Week 6

This is my top waiver pickup for week two as the Patrick Crayton is a starter in Dallas. Tony Romo looks primed to show he can succeed without Terrell Owens. In his mission for success, Crayton will benefit as well.

Colts- Pierre Garcon- Bye Week 6

Now that Anthony Gonzalez is out for awhile, Pierre Garcon looks to start. Any starting receiver with Peyton Manning is fantasy worthy, so look in into Garcon this week. I wouldn’t start him right away, but if he should start producing then start him during bye weeks.

Titans- Justin Gage- Bye Week 7

Look for Justin Gage as a nice depth player at this time. If the Titans throw the ball as they did against the Steelers than Gage is a fantasy starter.

My main concern for Gage is if he can still produce when Nate Washington is fully healthy.

Seahawks- Nate Burlson- Bye Week 7

It’s amazing but in week one I actually played against Nate Burlson, in one of my fantasy leagues. At first I laughed about Burlson being in a fantasy lineup, but he showed me by catching seven balls and scoring.

Right now Deion Branch just can’t stay healthy, so look for Burlson as a nice depth receiver for your team.

Raiders- Louis Murphy- Bye Week 9

Unless Chaz Schilens can come back healthy, Louis Murphy is primed to be the top receiver in Oakland. Tom Cable has raved about Murphy all summer and against the Chargers, Murphy looked good.

Except Murphy to produce good games throughout the season as he is a decent bye week fill in at this point.

Tight Ends:

Patriots- Ben Watson- Bye Week 8

If Ben Watson happens to be sitting out there on your waiver wires, he makes for an excellent pickup. If your team is weak at the tight end than I would recommend you pick Watson up and start him every week.

49ers- Vernon Davis- Bye Week 6

Yes, it’s that time again to talk about Vernon Davis. The 49ers only good drive came when they got the ball to Davis. Look for the 49ers to continue looking his way for offensive production.

Fantasy Football Information writer Sean E. Douglas: fantasy-info.com

Seattle Seahawks 2009 NFL Regular Season Schedule

Last season was a year of pain for the Seattle Seahawks as it seemed almost every player on their team was hurt at some point during the season. Until this week the Seahawks 2009 offseason was one of getting healthy and looking primed to compete with the Cardinals for the Western Division Title.

Unfortunately for Seattle this week corner back Marcus Trufant is expected to possibly start the season on the PUP list with a bad back. To make matters worse all pro left tackle Walter Jones is out indefinitely as his knee required another surgery. With these key losses it will be vitally important that the team excels in execution and stays injury free from here on out.

Below are three sections of interest that are worth paying attention to for fantasy owners coming into the season for this team. First we have listed our fantasy players which we believe are worth paying attention too, for fantasy this season. Next is strength of schedule against the run, pass and points against. Lastly we have a few games selected that will be key in telling how this team will preform for the 2009 season.

Fantasy Players

QB. Matt Hasselbeck
RB. Julius Jones
RB. T.J. Duckett
RB. Justin Forsett
WR. T.J. Houshmandzadeh
WR. Deion Branch
TE. John Carlson

Strength of Schedule

vs Run 10th Easiest Schedule

vs Pass 14th Easiest Schedule

vs Points Given Up Easiest Schedule in Football

If the Seahawks offensive line can keep quarterback Matt Hasselbeck healthy and off the turf than this passing game is in line for a very productive season. This season Hasselbeck finally has a true No.1 receiver in T.J. Houshmandzadeh and should thrive with other targets like Branch, Burleson and Carlson as well.

This season Seattle has the easiest schedule on paper for points given up by the opposing defense. Hasselbeck and T.J. Duckett should benefit as the team will have consistent opportunities to face weak defenses in the red zone. Look for T.J. Houshmandzadeh to move over double digit touchdowns this season as he will be Matt’s primary target around the goal line.

Games of Interest

Weeks 15 – 17: In the final three games of the season the Seahawks will face the Buccaneers, Packers (on the road) and Titans. If the Seahawks have any hope of winning the western title they will need to be ahead of the Cardinals before the final three games of the season.

Arizona has a very easy schedule in the final month of the season and with Seattle playing three good teams at the end it will be hard for them to win all three contests.

2009 Football Projection

The Seahawks have the talent and veteran leadership to make the playoffs this season in Jim Mora Jr. first season as head coach with this team. But if this team can’t stay healthy and get Trufant and Jones back by mid season I don’t believe they will have a record better than 8 and 8.

Fantasy Football Information Writer Sean E. Douglas: fantasy-info.com

This week T.J. Houshmandzadeh came out publicly and let everyone know he won’t be playing John Madden’s EA sports football video game, because of his rating in the game. As it stands right now TJ’s rating is 91 overall rating and is 6th among NFC wide receivers.

While I’m sure your wondering what this has to do with fantasy football, I just thought it was a good time to talk about TJ’s production this year.

While it is true that Houshmandzadeh did have a bad final season with the Bengals in 2008, he also never really had a healthy Carson Palmer all year as well. True in spite this TJ’s low 904 yards and a 9.8 yards per carry, he did have another 92 receptions last year.

If your in a points per reception league those receptions sure came in handy as he was one of the best in the league in that category. Unfortunately he also saw this touchdown total drop down to 4 last year and that was down from 12 in 2007 and 9 in 2006.

With these lower numbers and the fact that the Seahawks were a bad team last year, I personally find his rating on Madden to be very satisfactory.

Turning thing around in the Sleepless City

All though Housh did have a bad year for his standards last year, I fully expect him to turn things around this year. Matt Hasselbeck is back and healthy and he should love his new target in TJ.

With Deion Branch and Nate Burlson coming off of big injury problems, look for TJ to have a strong 2009 season for the Seahawks.

I also believe that it will be the Seahawks that in the end will give the Cardinals a run for their money in the NFC west. Right now while the 49ers do have talent I need to see how Michael Crabtree and Josh Morgan can play at the NFL level. Also would like to see if the 49ers coaching staff is really dumb enough to start Alex Smith over Shaun Hill at quarterback.

The Seahawks have their proven NFL pro bowl players on the field from day one of the season. Look for Matt Hasselbeck to find TJ for 100 catches, 1,250 yards and 10 plus touchdowns this season.

The one part of Houshmanzada’s game that all fantasy owners shouldn’t expect to change is his low yards per catch average. I do believe he is more of a 11.00 yards per catch player then his sad 9.8 average last year, so expect that to go up some.

If you are in a fantasy football league that gives points for distance on the touchdowns he receives, then you will want to take into account that Housh will not have many long touchdown catches.

Fantasy Football Information on T.J. Houshmanzada

At this point in time TJ makes for a very nice No.2 fantasy receiver in just about every scoring league around. In PPR fantasy football leagues TJ is probably even going to be a nice No.1 receiver because of his high catch totals.

If you wait on drafting your first receiver Housh can make for a decent No.1 receiver for your team, but just remember that he isn’t a very explosive player.

At this point in time I would look for TJ as high as the 3rd round of your fantasy football draft as he is primed for a pro bowl season.

Fantasy Football Information Writer Sean E. Douglas- fantasy-info.com

With this information in mind one can only wonder how in the heck a guy like this can be that valuable?

It’s not that Eli has had a bad career as he has 96 touchdowns against 74 interceptions. Let us also not forget Manning did win the Super Bowl just two seasons ago, against the undefeated (at that time) New England Patriots.

While that is all well and good Eli has only a 76.1 career quarterback rating. Only one season (last year) has he had a year over a 77.0 rating (86.4).

Those numbers are very average for a quarterback and certainly are not worthy of being the highest paid player in football.

Brother to Brother

Eli’s brother Peyton Manning has not had a season under a 95.0 rating since 2002.

Peyton has also NEVER had a season in his ten years in the league with less then 26 touchdowns and 3,739 yards passing.

Eli on the other hand has NEVER had a season over 24 passing touchdowns and only one year over 3,350 yards passing.

From the info above it is easy to see that Eli is clearly the least productive quarterback in his family let alone the rest of the NFL.

Eli Needs to Step it Up

If and when Eli signs this hugh deal he will need and be expected to perform at a higher level. Realistically I believe he will have a hard time doing this now that Plaxico Burress is not on the team.

In Burress, Manning had a receiver that he could look to for support when times got tough on the field. A big target like that was very friendly to just throw up the ball and know more often then not, Plaxico would come down with it.

Now Eli is working with a group of young receivers in Steve Smith, Sinorice Moss and first round pick Hakeem Nicks. He won’t even have his other favorite veteran target back in Amani Toomer as he is now a free agent.

Realistically for Manning to really “step in up” for the Giants, he will have to do it with a better qb rating and strong leadership on and off the field.

For anyone to expect him to come out this season and chuck 3o touchdowns and 4,000 yards is very unrealistic. Reason for this is the Giants are a team that runs first and plays strong defense. They are not at team that will go out and play pass happy football, like the New Orleans Saints.

Fantasy Football Information on Eli Manning

While the Giants receivers are still young and unproven I do believe they have solid skills and should grow this season. That being said I believe right now Eli’s most valuable receiver this season should be USC standout Steve Smith.

Steve is probably never going to be a standout touchdown maker but he should be a nice possession receiver. I liken his game to that of a young Deion Branch, although he’s not as fast as Branch used to be.

At this point in time Eli is nothing more than a late round backup quarterback in most fantasy formats. Until the Giants receiver show more than just nice upside, Eli will continue to be a low end fantasy quarterback.

Sean E. Douglas: fantasy-info.com