ESPN is reporting that Reggie Bush and the New Orleans Saints have agreed to a six-year contract and that Bush will report to camp ASAP. Obviously, this restores Bush's draft value back to its original potential, but keep an eye on reports from training camp to see how the position battle between Bush and Deuce McAllister progresses.

This week, we break down the quarterbacks for your fantasy draft, and we tell you who to target and who to avoid. This week, we tackle when to draft Peyton Manning, why Tom Brady is a top-tier QB, whether Carson Palmer is worth the risk, whether Daunte Culpepper can bounce back from last season's debacle, how much the rookies breathing down Kurt Warner and Jake Plummer's necks hurt their fantasy value, how Drew Brees will fare without LT and Antonio Gates, why Eli is the Manning you should look to draft, whether Aaron Brooks can be a great fantasy QB again, why Drew Bledsoe could (or could not) by the sleeper of this year's draft, and David Carr's potential for staying upright long enough to score fantasy points.

Check out The Wicked Good Podcast later this week to hear Scott and Steve's trip to Fenway Park!

Links:
ANTSports
XpertSports
Yahoo Fantasy Football
FF Toolbox

Sports Guy article with trash talk "guidelines"

To enter our contest to win a $10 iTunes gift card or a copy of Committed: Confessions of a Fantasy Football Junkie, and one of three copies of Fandraft, courtesy of Fansoft Media, just send us a review of the site your league uses! You can call our voice mail line (206-3-EXTRA-3), or e-mail us a written review or an MP3 file to ExtraPointsPodcast@gmail.com. Deadline for submissions is next Monday July 31, so get those reviews in! Good Luck!

 

ESPN is reporting that Oakland WR Jerry Porter has asked to be traded. Apparantly he hasn't been getting along with Art Shell. This can't be good news for QB Aaron Brooks either, going into his first season with the Silver and Black. For a profile of Brooks' draft potential, listen to this week's show! (to be posted in the next few days...)

Also, Pats WR Deion Branch is expected to hold out from training camp while he continues contract negotiations.

There will be more news on these situations in the coming weeks, and nothing is set in stone, but just keep these news items in mind as you think about your upcoming fantasy draft...

It's pretty much a foregone conclusion that someone in your league will take Reggie Bush in your fantasy draft. If you were thinking about it, you may want to reconsider:

It looks like Reggie Bush is going to be holding out from training camp unless something changes drastically before Thursday. Talks have reportedly been non-existent, and there are rumors swirling that he might not only hold out from training camp, but he might decide not to play in 2006 and re-enter the 2007 draft at a price he feels he deserves. While that seems unlikely, an extended holdout could hurt Bush's value drastically, especially with Deuce McAllister still on the roster. Remember Cedric Benson and Thomas Jones last year and how much Benson's playing time was hurt by an extended hold-out.

If you're considering drafting Bush for a redraft league (i.e., the basic league where you can't keep any players from year to year), monitor the situation carefully; of course, if you're in a dynasty or a keeper league, an extended holdout might be a good thing to help you pick up Bush at a discount for next season and beyond.

Apparently, Chris Brown's agent has notified the titans that his client requests to be dealt before the season starts. Whether he can be moved or not remains to be seen, but apparently he's concerned about the fact that he's in a contract year and the backfield in Tennessee has gotten crowded. Interested teams include Houston (who could certainly use a better backup for often-injured Domanick Davis than Antowaine Smith), Denver (who also has a crowded backfield, incidentally, but whose system fits Brown's style well), and, interestingly, Minnesota, where the coach who helped him lead the Big 12 in rushing now works.

Of course, we'll keep you posted on the podcast as things develop. If Brown does leave, LenDale White could become one of the most interesting rookies on the draft board this season not named Bush.

Drafting was the specific topic for the show posted this past Monday, and will be a running theme as we go over notable players by position in the next few weeks.

It's been a while since I looked at espn.com's fantasy sports section, but I discovered the other day that they have a free mock draft tool. So I wanted to present it as another draft preparation option.

Clicking here will take you to the "lobby" page.   --Scott

This week, we go into the nitty-gritty of the draft, including how to use mock drafts to your advantage, taking what the draft gives you, leveraging average draft position and tiering players, how to avoid position runs, planning for bye weeks, how to deal with rookies, and general guidelines for when to draft for which position.

Links:
ANTSports

To enter our contest to win a $10 iTunes gift card or a copy of Committed: Confessions of a Fantasy Football Junkie, and one of three copies of Fandraft, courtesy of Fansoft Media, just send us a review of the site your league uses! You can call our voice mail line (206-3-EXTRA-3), or e-mail us a written review or an MP3 file to ExtraPointsPodcast@gmail.com. Good Luck!

On this episode, we discuss the tips for brokering a successful deal without getting screwed over or ruining your reputation, a listener tip on getting the most from high waiver wire picks, a keeper league conundrum, and a mega-entry to our fantasy football service review contest.

To enter our contest to win a $10 iTunes gift card or a copy of Committed: Confessions of a Fantasy Football Junkie, and one of three copies of Fandraft, courtesy of Fansoft Media, just send us a review of the site your league uses! You can call our voice mail line (206-3-EXTRA-3), or e-mail us a written review or an MP3 file to ExtraPointsPodcast@gmail.com. Good Luck!

In the next in our series of fantasy football tutorials, we talk about the intricacies of the waiver wire, who to drop and who to pick up, which types of injuries to avoid, how to identify busts and sleepers, how different waiver wire pickups fill different needs, and how to distinguish the players on the upswing from the one-hit wonders.

Plus, we address some listener questions for a keeper league, and read a listener review of MoSneaky.com!

To enter our contest to win a $10 iTunes gift card or a copy of Committed: Confessions of a Fantasy Football Junkie, just send us a review of the site your league uses! You can call our voice mail line (206-3-EXTRA-3), or e-mail us a written review or an MP3 file to ExtraPointsPodcast@gmail.com. Good Luck!

Links:
Fansoft Media
MoSneaky.com