Many of our wrestlers play football and many of our coaches coach football .... soooooooo, I thought you guys might have some fun solving a keeper dilemma for me ...... here's my problem:

- Keeper league ... we can keep 5 from our 15 man roster
- I'll keep Edge, Portis and Owens (even though he's a jerk)
- Can't decide who the other two keepers will be between
Larry Johnson, Antonio Gates, Burleson, and Westbrook

- Johnson will be a stud if Priest goes down just like last year
- Gates is the best TE after Gonzales
- Burleson will be Culpepper's #1 with Moss gone
- Westbrook is veratile and is a first or second round choice in
experts' mock drafts

Time to showcase your football savvy and have some fun helping a fellow wrestler out!
Who would you keep?

Gates & Johnson.

Gates- Being the #2 TE has to stand for something and being on the red hot chargers he has to be good.

Johnson- With Holmes injuries and him getting older I'd expect him to get more reps and he showed what he can do last year imagine what another year can hold.

Just my thoughts...

Alex

The Chiefs are also talking about wanting to get Johnson more involved in the offense.

You're both right about Johnson ...... but Westbrook is a starter who scored 15 TD's last year and racked up both rushing and receiving yardage ...... is it worth a gamble that Holmes will go down?

Very good point. I'd take Westbrook, but I'm a Chief's fan and I just thought I'd share that info with you. I'd take Gates and Burleson, b/c you've already got a couple of stud rb's and you need some recieving yards to go with them.

I'd take Westbrook without thinking twice about it. Even if Priest went down in the middle of the year Johnson wouldn't come close to matching Westbrook's productivity. Plus you might be able to pick him up in the draft again since he's not a starter.

After that I'd go with Burleson over Gates because you'll be hardpressed to find many #1 receivers that don't outgain most tight ends. Don't get me wrong, Gates is great, but I think the fact that he's a TE combined with the fact that defenses have had a year to watch him will mean that Burleson will have a more productive year.

RIght again, Curtis ...... but having 3 would be better ..... especially on bye weeks ...... most analysts agree with you on Gates too ..... that would leave me with 2 rb's and 2 receivers as my keepers ....... it would then come down to Burleson, Westbrook and Johnson ...... if Burleson is going to be a top 10 WR as some predict, he would be a decent option opposite TO ..... but he will also see a lot more double coverage this year without Moss ....... the Eagles are having problems with their children holding out ..... will McNabb be able to pull them together and have the offensive machine they had last year? ..... if so, Westbrook will be a big part of that but still my #3 back .... the big gamble is Johnson ..... if Priest goes down, I think he'll be a beast and a good player to have in a keeper league

Good points as well LancerM ..... my problem is that my league puts more emphasis on TD's than receiving yardage ..... Gates had 13 TD's last year ...... I too am wondering if he can match that this year ...... Johnson scored 9 TD's in the last 4 games of the season ..... and I want to keep him out of the hads of the guy who has Priest ..... he also has Manning and Gonzales .... pretty tough to beat ..... but would picking Johnson be a waasted pick?

It's just a gamble, not necessarily a wasted pick. If Priest does go down early then you'll look smart, but all signs point to him being healthier than ever before. He's practicing half as much as the rest of the team and he's had an easy offseason.

Plus my surgeon is the team doctor and he says that Priest looks like a stud this year.

And with Burleson and Gates it's tough decision as well, but I still like Burleson. I just don't see Gates having another year like his last one. Still, I don't really know much about Burleson, other than the fact that Culpepper is going to be airing it out to him with regularity, which is always nice.

Always good to have inside info. ....... and I do like the fact that Culpepper will be throwing to him ..... having Burleson helps me offset Culpepper's points when I have to play against him

Lancers got a really good point about possibly being able to pick Johnson up in the draft again. Not to many people are going to pick up a guy that doesn't start. And Burleson will be seeing a lot more coverage his way, but the same will more than likely happen to Gates too. But with Gates' size, I don't really think that will keep him from having a very productive year.

gates is also the number 1 reciever for drew brees, who also had a breakout year, and the chargers. with gates teams can't cheat back and protect the pass because of LT in the back field. i would say he is going to have another outstanding year. johnson is still a wildcard, meaning you are not going to know how many touches he will get. so i would have to say westbrook. he has proven himself, can catch the ball out of the backfield, and he will be motivated being a free agent year and he wants the long term/ big contract so he should put up some numbers. teams can not stack the line because you have mcnabb and T.O out there. leaving him open for passes when T.O is double covered. those are my two picks

Looks like most would go with Westbrook over Johnson ..... I'm then left with choosing two of three between Westbrook, Burleson and Gates

The only problem with Burleson is that he will most likely get doubled team, being the Vickings weak recieving core, and he is not quite the athlete that Moss is and probally can't make the catches or YAC yards that helped out Cullpepper. Plus the Vickings don't have that strong of a running game.