Posted by Tristan H. Cockcroft
With his legal troubles officially behind him, Brandon Marshall had cleared one significant hurdle this preseason. But it's not the only obstacle he has had to overcome, and the next ones are proving all the tougher. For one, his slow recovery from offseason hip surgery has started to concern fantasy owners and affect his draft-day value.
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There are too many variables for Brandon Marshall to be a safe fantasy receiver this year.
Now, Marshall has created another obstacle he must overcome. According to The Denver Post, he still wants to be traded, and he told the newspaper after Wednesday's practice that he has "trust issues" and is "not being close at all" to learning the team's playbook. He worked with the scout team Wednesday, another sign of the growing rift between the Pro Bowl wide receiver and the team. Marshall appears highly unlikely to start in the team's next preseason game Saturday, and he might not even play at all.
Coach Josh McDaniels told the Post that Marshall is mentally trailing the other Broncos players during the preseason, although that's understandable considering Marshall missed all the team's minicamps from April through June as well as all but two full-squad practices during the first two weeks of training camp. With three-plus weeks to go before the start of the regular season, though, Marshall has plenty to do to earn back his No. 1 spot on the depth chart.
On raw talent alone, Marshall remains a top-10 fantasy wide receiver, but remember, the system is more important than the player to McDaniels, so he'll need to make significant progress in the coming weeks. Second-year player Eddie Royal, the next receiver on the depth chart, has seen his stock improve recently, and it's not unthinkable he might be the team's No. 1 receiver come Week 1.
• We have a timetable on wide receiver Chaz Schilens' recovery from a broken bone in his left foot: four to six weeks, The Sacramento Bee reports. He underwent surgery Wednesday and almost assuredly will miss at least the first week of the season, perhaps all of September. The Raiders' poor receiver depth gets even thinner; but at least this probably guarantees that Darrius Heyward-Bey will start in Week 1.
• Davone Bess has a leg up on the competition to start alongside Ted Ginn Jr. at wide receiver for the Dolphins, as The Palm Beach Post reports that Bess was the star of Wednesday's 11-on-11 drills. That's bad news for Greg Camarillo, who at one point in 2008 had a five-game stretch in which he had 32 receptions for 337 yards and was shaping up as Chad Pennington's most trusted target. Camarillo, who is recovering from ACL surgery, got in only four plays in the team's preseason opener on Monday. Not that any of these guys is an exciting fantasy choice, but if you play in a deeper points-per-reception league, don't be quick to look to Camarillo for sleeper's numbers.
• Following up on Wednesday's blog report, running back Beanie Wells returned to practice for only individual drills Wednesday after injuring his ankle the day before, the Cardinals' official Web site reports. His status for the preseason game on Saturday hinges upon his performance in practice the next two days, and considering how much practice time he has missed this offseason, he could really use a quick recovery and game appearance to start earning his prospective fantasy owners' faith. As is, he's a long shot to start in the first couple of weeks of the regular season.
• Plaxico Burress agreed Thursday to plead guilty and accept a two-year prison term in his weapons-possession case, officially ruling him out for the 2009 and 2010 (and perhaps 2011) seasons. Burress is 32 years old and might be beyond the point of being able to return to the NFL once he serves his sentence. Not that keeper-league owners were angling to retain him, but the news does make their decisions official.
• Fantasy owners often don't memorize the names of offensive linemen, but in the case of Seahawks left tackle Walter Jones, they should understand his impact on the team's offense. According to The Seattle Times, Jones was scheduled to undergo surgery on his left knee on Thursday, the same knee on which he had microfracture surgery in December. No timetable was quoted for Jones, but this almost assuredly will cost him a few weeks of the regular season, if not more. With him absent, Matt Hasselbeck has to be far more concerned about his blind side. At Hasselbeck's age (33), he might not be able to take hits as easily as he might have in the past; compare it in a way to the beatings the Rams' Marc Bulger has absorbed behind St. Louis' shoddy offensive line the past couple of seasons. Not that Hasselbeck shouldn't be drafted, mind you, but there's an increased downside with him while Jones is sidelined.
• Although fantasy owners need not base the bulk of their decisions on preseason scrimmages, JaMarcus Russell's miserable performance on Wednesday does warrant a bit of attention. He had three interceptions, two of them during the red zone session, as the Raiders' passing game "was destroyed" by the 49ers' pass defense, the Contra Costa Times reports. The concern with Russell is that shaky practices might lead to mental meltdowns with the young, slow-to-progress quarterback, and it's not helping that he has a shaky set of receivers as outlined above. He's a No. 2 fantasy quarterback at best and has to consider himself lucky that Jeff Garcia is working mainly with the second team this preseason and sharing practice work with Bruce Gradkowski.
• With Brett Favre now under contract, the Vikings are expected to either trade or release Tarvaris Jackson by Friday, according to the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Jackson, 26, might be of interest to another team as a backup, although he'd likely have as little fantasy appeal elsewhere as he currently does in Minnesota. With Jackson likely on the way out, the Vikings must hunt for a new franchise quarterback sometime in the next two seasons (but they might have needed to anyway).
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