For the Giants, they had to make this trade because the team’s relationship with Shockey appeared to be broken. After the Giants went on to win the Super Bowl last season without Shockey, rumors spread that Shockey was unhappy and that New York would look to trade him. In return for Shockey, the Giants are getting a second rounder and a fifth rounder in the 2009 draft.

For the Saints, this could pay huge dividends. While Eric Johnson did a decent job last year as the starting tight end, Shockey is a big improvement. When healthy and playing hard, Shockey is one of the best tight ends in the league. He will help the Saints get back to their high scoring ways. Specifically, Drew Brees could really benefit from having a new red zone target.

In terms of fantasy football, the expect Shockey to but up his career averages with his new team. No one should really be negatively affected in the Saints offense, as Shockey is more of a complementary player.

Jeremy Shockey will now limp to the New Orleans Saints.

Photo: Newscom

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At first, many expected Shockey to be traded. The Giants showed they could win without him and Shockey’s outlandish personality seemed like a bad fit. However, in recent weeks, it appears more and more likely that Shockey will remain with the Giants.

According to reports, Shockey’s rehab is going well. He’s working out in Florida and chances are that he’ll be ready to go by the start of the 2008 NFL regular season.

With the Shockey trade rumors all but dead, the only question mark is whether he can get fully healthy. If he can, Shockey will once again be considered a top ten fantasy tight end prospect. If Eli Manning can keep improving, Shockey could become a top five prospect.

If Shockey can’t recover from his injury or the Giants end up trading him, Kevin Boss would become the new starter. Boss was the rookie tight end who helped lead the Giants to the Super Bowl victory over the New England Patriots. Boss doesn’t have nearly the fantasy appeal and would likely be a backup tight end prospect in fantasy football.

Photo: Newscom

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Last season, Winslow had a very good fantasy football campaign. He had 82 catches, 1106 yards and five touchdowns. The 24-year-old tight end out of Miami became one of the best fantasy tight ends in the NFL.

Early in Winslow’s career, he suffered from a number of serious injuries. During that time, the Browns restructured Winslow’s contract. Now that Winslow has his career back on track, it’s possible that Winslow wants a bump in pay.

If Winslow doesn’t start showing up in Cleveland for workouts, his fantasy football stock will start dropping. Winslow has a history of questionable off the field moves and he could be aiming toward a contract hold out. If that’s the case, it’s unlikely that the Browns will budge.

As it stands, Winslow is one of the best fantasy football tight ends heading into the 2008 NFL season. If this contract dispute comes to fruition, who would the Browns look at to fill Winslow spot at tight end? One option is Martin Rucker, a fourth round pick in the 2008 NFL Draft.

Photo: Newscom

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For fantasy football purposes, Urlacher is definitely a difference maker for the Chicago Bears defense. He’s one of the best linebackers in the league and if a contract holdout lasted into the season, the Bears defense would be less valuable in the fantasy football world.

The Bears will likely be hesitant to give Urlacher a new contract. The 29-year-old linebacker has struggled with injuries in the recent past and some scouts claim that Urlacher isn’t as dominant as he was a few years ago. If the Bears don’t budge, it appears that Urlacher alos won’t budge. That could cause a volatile situation in Chicago.

With Urlacher, the Bears defense is a top three defense heading into the 2008 fantasy football season. Without Urlacher, they’d have to drop at least two or three spots in the defensive projections.

This potential Urlacher holdout is yet another distraction the Bears have had to deal with this offseason. Earlier in the month, Cedric Benson was arrested in Texas. In better news, the Bears locked up kicker Robbie Gould to a multi-year contract.

Photo: Newscom

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McAllister is coming off of his second surgery for a torn ACL. The last time he had the surgery, he came back and had a great season. However, this time at the age of 29, the prognosis isn’t that great for McAllister. In fact, some skeptics believe McAllister may still end up being waived before the beginning of the 2008 NFL season.

Last season, McAllister was having a poor year even before his ACL injury. What can we expect from him in 2008? Don’t expect much. Reggie Bush will get a big load of the carries. The best case scenario has McAllister being used as the short-yardage back.

As for numbers, best case scenario has McAllister going for 850 yards and eight touchdowns. That said, don’t count on those numbers. In your 2008 fantasy football draft, McAllister should only be drafted as a Bush handcuff. Otherwise, you are just asking for disappointment.

Watch this Deuce McAllister video from his younger days:

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Walker was riddled with injuries in 2007 and basically disappeared from the fantasy football map. In 2008, expect him to be a hot name on draft day. In three of Walker’s six pro seasons, he has had at least eight touchdowns. His career-high in touchdowns is 12, set in 2004 as a member of the Green Bay Packers.

However, there is also big risk when talking about Walker. He has had a number of knee injuries that have slowed him down. In addition to missing most of last season, he missed all but one game in the 2005 campaign.

In 2008, Walker should post solid numbers if he’s healthy. Teaming with Ronald Curry at wide receiver, Walker should see plenty of passes coming his way. I’m projecting him to get between 800 to 1,0000 yards and between five and seven touchdowns. His numbers would be higher if it weren’t for the shaky quarterback position in Oakland.

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Rodgers was picked in the first round of the 2005 draft out of Cal. He has a decently strong arm but at 6-foot-2, he’s a tad short for the quarterback position. He’s probably a better athlete than Favre is at this point but don’t expect him to make a huge amount of plays with his legs.

What Rodgers has going for him is a really nice set of receivers. Donald Driver, Greg Jennings and James Jones are three very quality receivers. Tight end Donald Lee broke out in 2007 and is now viewed as a top ten tight end in the game. Running back Ryan Grant showed an ability to catch the ball out of the backfield, which should also help Rodgers.

Despite the good talent around him and the three years of experience watching and learning from Favre, don’t expect Rodgers to pick up where Favre left off. There will be a considerable learning curve and it’s going to obviously be difficult to replace a Hall of Famer. In 2008, Rodgers will put up stats somewhere in the neighborhood of 2,800 yards, 15 touchdowns and 15 interceptions. Expecting anything more than that would be a mistake.

And before you rush out trying to acquire Rogers in your fantasy league, you should know that Favre might actually come back. A lot of league pundits aren’t sold on the fact that Favre will stay return. Once football season rolls around, Favre could have second thoughts about hanging up the cleats.

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While Shaun Alexander and Maurice Morris remain in place, there is little doubt that the Seahawks need help at the running back position. Alexander had a poor season last year and it seems like the end of his career is near. Morris gives good effort but he’s just not strong enough to be an every down back. Enter TJ Duckett.

Duckett will enter camp as the team’s second or even third running back but he’s already a 2008 sleeper. Duckett is a powerful back, which is something neither Alexander nor Morris can stay. In goal line situations, Duckett appears to be the obvious choice out of that threesome.

As a late round sleeper, Duckett will be good value in 2008. He could easily score between six and eight touchdowns if he is given the goal line duties. If he is named the starter at some point, Duckett could be a very nice fantasy performer. He doesn’t have great speed but it takes a lot to bring him down. As a starter, he’s the type of player who can get you 70 to 80 yards and a touchdown each game.

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2008 NFL Draft Order
1st Miami Dolphins
2nd St. Louis Rams
3rd Atlanta Falcons
4th Oakland Raiders
5th Kansas City Chiefs
6th New York Jets
7th New England Patriots (from the San Francisco 49ers)
8th Baltimore Ravens
9th Cincinnati Bengals
10th New Orleans Saints
11th Buffalo Bills
12th Denver Broncos
13th Carolina Panthers
14th Chicago Bears
15th Detroit Lions
16th Arizona Cardinals
17th Minnesota Vikings
18th Houston Texans
19th Philadelphia Eagles
20th Tampa Bay Buccaneers
21st Washington Redskins
22nd Dallas Cowboys (from the Cleveland Browns)
23rd Pittsburgh Steelers
24th Tennessee Titans
25th Seattle Seahawks
26th Jacksonville Jaguars
27th San Diego Chargers
28th Dallas Cowboys
29th San Francisco 49ers (from the Indianapolis Colts)
30th Green Bay Packers
31st New York Giants

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Said Peterson: “Oh, yeah, I set my bar high. That’s definitely where I’d like to start.”

While that’s crazy talk for almost anyone in the NFL, it’s not crazy talk for Adrian Peterson. In his rookie season, he was at one point on pace to rush for over 2000 yards. In 2008 with a year under his belt and a likely improved Vikings squad, 2000 yards perhaps isn’t likely but it wouldn’t shock anyone.

In 14 games as a rookie, Peterson finished with 1341 yards and 12 touchdowns. He finished with a yards per carry average of 5.6. Peterson also had 19 receptions for 268 yards and one touchdown.

In 2008, expect Peterson to be the featured back. As a rookie, Peterson oftentimes split carries with Chester Taylor. That likely won’t be the case in 2008 as Peterson should be ready to carry the Vikings by carrying the football as much as is needed.

Adrian Peterson 2007 Highlights …

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