Monday, July 20, 2009

One Injury Away- NFC North

In this second installment, I'll look at the teams in the NFC North and who could make a lot of impact in this year's Fantasy Football season if the guy in front of them on the depth chart goes down for any amount of time.
Minnesota Vikings
Chester Taylor, RB-
The best RB in the NFL, and overall favorite to go number one in most fantasy leagues this year is Adrian Peterson. He is a monster. Puts up record breaking numbers weekly it seems like. His back-up, Chester Taylor, is a very capable running back. So much so that even with the uncanny ability of Peterson running the ball, the Vikings still make it a point to get Taylor the ball. He is clearly the better pass cather out of the two backs, and will often be on the field on third down. But what if Peterson goes down with an injury (which, based on his bruising running style is very likely)? Chester Taylor will step in as the starter and put very good numbers. He already averaged 50 yds. per game last season in limited action. Plus the Vikings love to run the ball, giving the ball to Peterson well over 300 times last season.

Green Bay Packers
Matt Flynn/Brian Brohm, QB-
I put both QB's on this list because the battle for number two will take place during training camp. Aaron Rodgers is a solid starter, but he has had a few injuries in the past, so there is a small possiblity of him getting injured. The Packers offense is QB friendly too with very talented WR's in Greg Jennings, Donald Driver, James Jones, and Jordy Nelson. The difference in numbers from Rodgers (28 TD's and 252 YPG) to Flynn or Brohm will surely drop, but one of these guys could fill in nicely on a bye week or a few games if Rodgers goes down.

Chicago Bears
Earl Bennett, WR-
Even though Bennett is the number 2 WR next to Devin Hester, I still believe that with an injury to either Hester or RB Matt Forte, Bennett could move from being just another WR to the focal point of the offense. He played with QB Jay Cutler at Vanderbilt so there is a relationship already there. There isn't much depth on Chicago's offense so this was the best I could come up with for someone on the Bears.

Detroit Lions
Maurice Morris, RB-
It's no secret the Lions are bad. But a new coach usually brings a new philosophy and coach Jim Shwartz hired offensive coordinator Scott Linehan. Linehan has a tendency to get the ball into the hands of his RB and number one WR. Right now on the depth chart Kevin Smith is the number one back. The Lions signed Maurice Morris during the offseason and he should potentially have an impact on the running game. Morris is a speedy back who outperformed starter Julius Jones last season. In the last two years Morris was the feature back in 8 games. He averaged 80 rushing yards per game and scored 3 TD's. If Smith goes down or Morris plays well enough to overtake him, he could provide good numbers for fantasy owners to slot him as their number 2 RB.
*All stats came from Fantasy Football Index*

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