I'll see about putting mine up later, but you seem to have a prety good list on here. Somehow I don't feel that good about Larry Johnson, and I have a doom and gloom scenario in my head about Sean Alexander, too. Neither is likely to fall too far, and I have to seriously consider how I think touchdowns might effect Gore's standing on my list, but that's my initial reaction. After a litte research I think I'll be excited to throw mine up.

Will you be making a Diary like this for all of the relevant offensive positions? It sounds like fun to me.

Still doing research for this one. Should have something up by tomorrow.

I'll do a main page post later tonight but the general gist of it will be to encourage these kinds of diaries.  I'll create a separate fantasy football page that will link to all of them and be linked from the front page.  That way we'll be able to keep them in a central location.

LT
SJ
LJ
FG
addai
westbrook
Shuan A
fast fast Willie
Rudi johnson
maroney

Can we do a Niners Nation league for us on yahoo or espn or fleaflicker???
good idea???
no????

We've got 10 posts and only one other list than mine.  I kind of meant this to be more a resource than anything else, just to see what everyone else is thinking.  I kind of just through my list together and I'm sure after seeing some other lists I'll be revising mine, like I'd probably drop Alexander down a couple spots but he'd still be in my top 10 (and if he proves to be worse than that it probably means good stuff for the Niners, which in a twisted way is a win-win).

1. L. Tomlinson
   
2. S. Jackson
   
3. R. Johnson
   
4. W. Parker
   
5. F. Gore
   
6. J. Addai
   
7. L. Maroney
   
8. T. Henry
   
9. B. Westbrook
   
10. M. J. Drew

I personally want no part of Larry Johnson or Shaun Alexander.  LJ is begging for a downfall due to the amount of carries he had last year.  Alexander I'm worried about given his age and injury problems last year.  LJ and Alexander would both fall into this category:

http://footballoutsiders.com/index.php?p=4764

one of my favorite things to do come august is have little debates with people regarding where players should be slotted in pre-draft fantasy rankings.

i haven't given this a whole lot of thought this year yet, but (put together very quickly) here is how my top 10 pans out right now...

1. l. tomlinson - easy choice
   
2. s. jackson - yes, even though he is a ram the guy is a beast.
   
3. l. johnson - chiefs are a team on the decline (lost their two best offensive lineman the past two years) and johnson might hold out.
   
4. j. addai - no more rhodes means he's the number 1 guy now. should put up numbers close to edgerrin's days in indy.
   
5. r. johnson - quietly one of the most solid and constant backs in football.
   
6. gore - the only downside with gore was the lack of TDs last season. hopefully that goes up this year. (personal note: i will not be picking gore for any of my fantasy teams because my #1 picks always end up getting jinxed by me picking them #1 and they wind up having a down year. i want to make sure gore goes into the season without such a jinx placed on him by me)
   
7. l. maroney - like addai he doesn't need to split time with anyone anymore and he could be a monster in that revamped NE offense. off-season shoulder surgery is the only ?
   
8. manning - although, personal rule, i never pick a QB in the first round and won't ever.
   
9. t. henry - could be "the man" in denver...or could be put in another one of those "running back by committee" deals...which is fantasy death for a RB. something to see how it plays out in the preseason.
   
10. portis - could have a bounce back year and the redskins offense should be slightly improved.

i'm not sold on those last three. i'll have to think about it more, but currently thats my top 10. (not making the top 10: alexander, mcgahee, james, parker, westbrook)

ok, someone tell me where i went wrong...debate!

by coachAJ on Fri Jun 29, 2007 at 12:04:56 PM EDT

1) Ladanian Tomlinson

Well, duh.

2) Steven Jackson

You would think "duh," but I wasn't loing forward to rating Jackson #2. In the end it just had to be done, though. It had to be done. His combination of skillz and skorz is heads and tails above the rest (except the freakish LT, of course)

3) Willie Parker

It was all I could do to keep Larry Johnson out of my top 3, who would be #2 easy if it weren't for the absolute beating he took last year and the state of the team around him. Frankly, it was an easy top 4. Willie Parker runs, catches, and scores doing both, and he's one of four guys in the league who does all of those things consistently - in my opinion.

4) Larry Johnson

Ir/rational fears aside, he should arguably be #2 on this list, and every list, and certainly no lower than #3. I have the fear, though, and Willie Parker is the "safer" pick by a longshot. I'd love to predict total doom for him, but he's only 28 this year and a freak on top of it, so he's probably young and freakish enough to maintain for 1 or 2 more years. I expect a decline, but I'd almost be realistically surprised if he fell apart at the seams. I don't think even the most pessimistic fantasy-goer can afford to keep him out of their top 10 (and I almost said top 5). No slouch of a pick, here.

5) Frank Gore

Probably the last guy on the list who is likely to run 1500 and catch 500. Exceptional talent. Expect his rushing TDs to go up, but also expect his receptions to go down because of the development of that passing game. He doesn't have the getaway speed to score in the passing game, and that's the sole knock that keeps him solidly out of the Fantastic Four. Easy #5 pick here.

6) Rudi Johnson

Stays out of the passing game, but the numbers on the ground speak for themselves, year in and year out. I have him over Addai and Maroney only because there's almost no way you can go wrong with Johnson and neither Addai nor Maroney have had to carry an entire NFL team's running game on their backs. Fantastic talents, but anytime you reach for a sophomore who split time his freshman year, you're taking a risk.

7) Joseph Addai

Practically a coin flip between Addai and Maroney here. I think Addai can probably do a little more in the Colts offense in terms of gawdiness than maroney can do in NE, but Maroney is by far the better pure runner, in my opinion. Expect solid numbers from both.

8) Lawrence Maroney

See above. I value Addai's fantasy potential just a sliver of a sliver more because of the offense he plays in (and NE is not a low key offense), but anybody who thinks Maroney has the edge will get absolutely no argument from me.

9) Brian Westbrook

Overrated runner and a whiny little girl with a princess complex. He's one of my least favorite players in the league, but he does have top ten production. If his touches on the ground are anything like they were last year you're a sure bet to get respectable if not fantastic stats there, and his solid performance in the passing game, while never gawdy, makes him worth a top ten pick. I doubt he'll do as well as he did last year, but overall competent versatility gives him top ten value.

10) Shaun Alexander

He's heading downhill, and his total yards won't ever be what they once were. His yards per carry might struggle to touch 4.0, but he's still a beast on the goal line and he will get you your touchdown. In terms of scoring (fantasy money), nobody in the bottom 22 is a safe enough pick to challenge him to keep him out of the top ten, but his non-involvement in the passing game forces me to value jerkoff Brian Westbrook in front of him.

-

And now the fun part, in my own order of preference...

The Sleeper Picks! (explanation free)

1. Marshawn Lynch
   
2. Travis Henry
   
3. Reggie Bush
   
4. Cedric Benson

Which should be all the more meaningful for the consistent, if limited, criticism that I have poured on to both Lynch and Bush (and I'm a Cal alum, so my criticism of Lynch should be especially telling).

Finally, my Super Sleeper Pick!

Which shouldn't be all that surprising to anybody.

1) Mauric Jones Drew

It should be noted that with my 5 sleeper picks, this does not equate to my top 15. The top 10 are the top 10. The sleepers are not the next 5, but rather guys who I think have as good a chance of having top 10 years as I think they do having bottom 10 years. They are risks, but risks with what I percieve to be particularly high reward potential. And while I would pick one or two of them top 15, I'd never pick all of them (particularly my top sleeper Lynch) top 15, though I'd be thrilled to use a late round pick for the chance of getting that reward.

There we go. I think my work is done here.

just out of curiosity, when are we going to see the WR/QB/TE versions of this Diary, in no particular order (though QBs, being the moneyshot, might be worth doing last)?