Last Minute Draft News You Need To Know

Most of your fantasy football drafts should be complete by now, but for those with their drafts coming up, here are some important last minute things to know before you start drafting your winning team.



Ben Roethlisberger's 6 game suspension will likely be reduced to 4 games. He meets tomorrow with Roger Goodell, the NFL's commissioner. This is good news for fantasy owners and makes this Nerd pretty happy. I drafted him late in a league as my backup because my starting QB isn't on bye until Week 8 and everybody else was passing on him. He should be safe to draft in most leagues.



All indications are that Knowshon Moreno will start the NFL season. He was recently quoted as saying "I'm not really sure. It's whatever coach wants to do. I'm just trying to get healthy, get better and get back." Basically - your standard cliche speech. Moreno should be just fine to draft in all leagues.



Sidney Rice is now officially out for the first 6 games of the season as the Vikings have placed him on the reserve/physically unable to perform list this week. Initial reports indicated that he will miss at least half the season recovering from his hip surgery. Unless you really, really want him on your team, I would not recommend drafting him. Instead, I'd suggest waiting to see how he progresses and watch the waiver wire. As he gets closer to returning, you should be able to pick him up. Temper your expectations though as we don't know how he's going to perform even after he returns. A lot can happen between now and then.



One of the most favored sleepers this year has to be Michael Bush from the Raiders. Unfortunately, Bush had screws put into his left thumb earlier this week to help repair a fracture. I'm not counting on him for Week 1, but I'm not tossing him aside either. Darren McFadden will get the nod instead but there's no fantasy love here for McFadden. McForgetaboutit.



Steve Smith (the Carolina Steve Smith) may play tonight against the Steelers but it will be a game-time decision. As a fantasy owner that has Smith in multiple leagues, I'm hoping that his arm will be just fine. I have my reservations, but I'd still draft Smith today based upon his explosive potential. The fact that Carolina hasn't scored at all in the preseason has me worried though.



Another guy that I own in multiple leagues is Dez Bryant. He returned to practice this week but he will not be playing this evening against Miami. Some reports have indicated that the Dallas coaching staff have complained about his conditioning and work ethic. While that may be the case, I don't believe the first team will be playing tonight. If the first team isn't playing, there's no need to send Bryant out there with the reserves. I'd still take Bryant if he fell to me in a draft and you should too.



Matt Leinart may be on his way out of Arizona with Derek Anderson in his place as the starting QB. Neither one should be on your fantasy team regardless of how big your league is. If by some miracle one of them becomes a breakout-QB, jump on the waiver wire. There's no reason to waste a pick on either of them in your draft.



Good luck.

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