Dave Richard

I have a free minute to post and thought I'd drop a line from lovely Chicago, where if it ain't winter, it's time for some construction on one of the highways!

Most of my vacation is over, but the two-and-a-half days away from the wife and kids while I hung out with good friends from high school was some much-needed therapy. I spent most of the time either eating pizza (Aurelio's and Giordano's), playing cards and being a derelict, sleeping or watching my buds golf. During much of that time, I was hammered with football questions, not that I didn't mind ...

• Upon my arrival at my friend Matt's house, the discussion quickly turned to football, notably football as it pertains to Matt. He asked me hypotheticals about his keeper league team (which I'm a rival owner in, so all of my advice was tempered) as well as the Bears' future (not good at all).
• On the way to New Buffalo, Michigan (don't ask), Matt and my other good friend, Quincy, talked football. About half of the trip was football-related talk (the drive was over an hour). They were both floored when I didn't stutter my AFC Champion team: Cleveland.
  
• More Bears questions while playing roulette -- the manliest game in any casino, of course. Casino dealer Brian, a devout Royals fan, also wanted to know how I thought the Bears would do. Believe it or not, Brian wanted to know my thoughts on Cedric Benson (anyone NOT off his bandwagon by now?). The most upbeat, positive news I could give him was to draft Matt Forte in Round 6 or 7. "Really?! That high?" he asked. Hey, if a player's going to play ...
  

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Only other note of interest -- not really Fantasy related -- my brother-in-law, David Farby, just finished his freshman year at Syracuse. He's in their Newhouse School of Broadcasting and Journalism, which has churned out legendary sports-broadcast figures such as Bob Costas, Mike Tirico, Jason Horowitz and Eric Mack. Before he finished his first year, he landed an internship at WMVP-AM in Chicago, a sports-talk station affiliated with a network not many people have heard of (it's pronounced "Espen"). Interestingly enough, it's the rival station of the one I am on during the football season, WSCR-AM 670 The Score, which is affiliated with a network EVERYONE knows about, CBS Radio!

Anyhoo, David is an intern for the Silvy and Waddle Show, featuring Chicagoland fave Tom Waddle, an ex-Bears receiver. Waddle was one of my faves when I was younger too. A gritty player who never got the recognition he truly deserved while playing. By the way, David said that Waddle is a cool guy really into his work -- I could have figured that myself, but it's good to know.

Now, get this ... the announcer who does the sports updates during the show is Bryan Dolgin, who was (is?) a fraternity brother of mine at Miami. I met Dolgin before I even came to school at a pre-UM party for incoming Chicagoland freshmen. He's got a year on me and came to the party wearing his fraternity letters with his best friend, Dan Fleischer. Suffice to say, four of us who were at that party wound up being in the fraternity. Now he's pushing around my brother-in-law, who BETTER think long and hard about joining the same fraternity at the Cuse ...

I'm not done ... the executive producer of the show is Randy Merkin, the brother of Chicago White Sox beat writer Scott Merkin. The Merkins lived in Olympia Fields, Ill., right near where I lived when I was little. One of them ... I think it was Scott ... was my camp counselor at River Oaks Camp one summer when I was like 10.

Just a crazy series of coincidences. It really is a small world (or maybe Chicago is just a small city). By the way, if anyone at WMVP wants good, embarrassing stories about David (or Bryan), email me.

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Upon my return to Florida, I'm going to help put the finishing touches on the CBSSports.com/Pro Football Weekly Fantasy Football Preview Magazine. One of the projects: 165 words on why I like Ernest Wilford. Not a tough assignment since I think he's got a shot to post career-best numbers (not 1,000 yards, though) with Miami in 2008. The magazine is shaping up to be the most informational -- and believe it or not, controversial -- preview magazines you'll find. Our mock draft is off-the-charts stunning, and Jamey and I each have some really provocative articles to help you get ready for '08.

After the mag is put to bed, I have to start crankin' out preseason outlooks for every player and DST you'll find in the CBSSports.com draft room and player pages this summer. You know, quick blurbs that paint the picture of what you can expect from players this season. I also have to tweak our projections and begin delving into a Draft Prep content series deeper than a Giordano's stuffed pizza (second Gio's reference in the same blog! Nice!!).

But until then, I still have some time left to relax at home.

See ya next week.

I'm putting the finishing touches on my annual breakouts, sleepers and busts article for the Pro Football Weekly/CBSSports.com Fantasy Football Preview Magazine (on newsstands this June ... I think ...), but I wanted to share something I did just for those of you reading the blog.

In addition to the 30 or so players I asked CBS' panel of analysts about, I got their take on Laurence Maroney, who is the one running back that I can't quite put my finger on in terms of production.

Guess what? Our panelists couldn't put a solid finger on it either. But, the exercise here is to take what our experts had to say, and see the common threads. That will tell you what the consensus opinion on Maroney is heading into 2008.

"That's the enigma. Maroney is just like Marion Barber, and they were coached the same way in college. They both run with that frenetic style that's like a tsunami. He attacks defenders. I don't know if you can sustain that to 25 carries a game for 16 games. With that said, he'll be a high-efficient runner so long as he's not getting a lot of carries. Sammy Morris will be a factor and Kevin Faulk will continue in his third-down role. Now, whether or not Maroney stays healthy is what will tell you if he gets to 1,000 yards. But I still think you need to surround him with talent. Now he has to prove he can stay healthy, or he'll have to augment his running style, and if he does that, then will he be the same runner?"

-- Solomon Wilcots

"The vast majority of people don't know what to think of him. I think everyone agrees on his physical talents. You have to question his physical endurance as a professional, and at what point does he kind of get turned loose. We waited a long time for that last year. It would appear that he is and will continue to be just a very good contributing piece of an offense. So if you're looking for that center-cut diamond, Maroney's not it."

-- Randy Cross

"I think he'll be a solid back, but he's got to stay healthy. That's been a little bit of a problem for him. But the Patriots will still be a pass offense first, and I think he'll have a solid year, probably limited just by the fact that there's only so many touches you're going to get in that offense."

-- Charley Casserly

"With the Patriots, I still think he's got a chance to have some numbers, but they're still about throwing the football, though. I think you can see the biggest question with him is if he can stay healthy. If Maroney stays healthy, he'll be a big-number guy."

-- Bill Cowher

It's been busy here at the office. Next week, I have two feature stories due for our annual Fantasy magazine; one is written, the other is an easy write. It's chasing down people to get quotes for the stories that's the tough part, but hopefully next week rolls by without incident.

I spent part of my week this week, however, drafting. Yes, in April (technically it was April). Krause Publications held their annual expert's draft, which I got to be a part of. I always look forward to this draft because it features Fantasy luminaries (is that really a good word to describe us?) such as Greg Ambrosius, Adam Caplan, John Hansen and former co-worker, Michael Fabiano. In fact, all of us are in the same division! No doubt, it's going to be a tough league.

I can't divulge the complete results, only my results. I picked 4th in the odd rounds, 9th in the even rounds. We start 3 WRs and a FLEX on top of 2 RBs, 1 QB, 1 TE, etc. There are points per reception; the rest of the scoring is how you'd expect it. Here are the notables ...

ROUND 1: Brian Westbrook. Pretty standard after LaDainian Tomlinson, Adrian Peterson and Steven Jackson went off the board. And NOT in that order.

ROUND 2: Larry Fitzgerald. While the running backs weren't entirely thin, I didn't want to lose out on getting TWO good WRs. Fitzgerald's potential for 100 receptions played a big role. Maurice Jones-Drew was also a consideration.

ROUND 3: Wes Welker. Really wanted Marques Colston here. Steve Smith, T.J. Houshmandzadeh and Braylon Edwards went right before my pick. I passed on Torry Holt.

ROUND 4: Derek Anderson. Running backs were still plentiful, so I was able to pass on them and pick one up in a few picks.

ROUND 5: Julius Jones. Loved getting him here. I expect him to go a full round higher in drafts come August. AND, he was the only RB drafted in the round, so the talent pool that I was staring at heading into this pick was still there for the most part for my next pick.

ROUND 6: Kevin Smith. Big risk-reward pick here, but I figure the Lions will put him in at some point as their starter. I know Tatum Bell can't do it. I picked him over Travis Henry -- big, big risk there. I would have preferred Jonathan Stewart here, but he went earlier in the round.

ROUND 7: Todd Heap. Risk-reward, but doing it with a TE in a Cam Cameron offense. Lock it up.

ROUND 8: Santana Moss. Another player I expect to post a nice season. I may be a former Miami Hurricane like Moss, and I like Moss a lot on a personal level, but I've always been able to pass on him in drafts before, figuring that he'd underperform. In Round 8, I cannot pass him up. I hope he goes off for 1,200 yards.

ROUND 9: Vikings DST. HUGE pick there that will either pay off in spades or flub like a party boat filled with ... nevermind. I secretly hoped this would start a DST run, but I was wayyy off (keep in mind, I did draft with guys who know that DSTs are more plentiful than Britney Spears paparazzi shots).

ROUND 10: Bryant Johnson. Lots of upside playing in Mike Martz's offense. Has the size to be a No. 1. Not much competition for him there. Niners will be behind a lot. Not bad for Round 10.

ROUND 11: Jake Delhomme. A guy everyone reading this should target to be their backup QB in 2008.

ROUND 12: Leon Washington. Another guy I'm stealing. Not only will he see 8-to-10 carries a game, but he'll be a gem if something happens to Thomas Jones. That O-line in New York should be much better this year.

ROUND 13: T.J. Duckett. Backing up Julius Jones, with some upside as a touchdown hog.

ROUND 14: Darren Sproles. Just in case ...

ROUND 15: Lorenzo Booker. Backing up Brian Westbrook.

ROUND 16: Nate Kaeding. The necessary evil of Fantasy Football -- placekickers. My goal is to draft ALL of my kickers with my final pick in every single draft I do between now and when I die.

You may comment on my team and draft strategy below. Would love to hear from you.