Bruno Boys Fantasy Football

With the fantasy football season winding down, we here at the Bruno Boys have decided to change things up a bit here in our “Cut Them Loose” article. This late in the season, the majority of your rosters are set as the fat’s been trimmed. Thus, rather than focus on what guys to release from your fantasy roster altogether, we felt it would be worth our time to discuss players that enter 2010 with questions surrounding them. These are players that you are likely to draft but when doing so should limit your expectations.

Want to know which players you should think twice about drafting before your fantasy football league kicks off in 2010?  The Bruno Boys have you covered as we run through potential RED FLAG players in 2010 from the NFC .

Note: Still trying to put together a roster for the last week of 2009? Be sure you check out the Fantasy Football Week 17 Waiver Wire - Pick Them Up article. And, remember you can always visit our FORUMS to get your questions answered about waiver wire candidates, players to drop or anything at all related to fantasy football.

NFC RED FLAG QUARTERBACKS IN 2010

Jay Cutler (Chicago Bears)

Experts across the board knew that Cutler would be hard pressed to live up to his 2008 numbers (4,526 pass yards, 25 TDs, and 18 INTs) following his move to Chicago in the off-season. After all, while Cutler had proven commodities at the wide receiver position in Denver in the forms of Brandon Marshall, Eddie Royal, and Brandon Stokley, Chicago presented less desirable options with their most proven wide out being a convert from the cornerback position, Devin Hester. Still, no one knew Cutler’s 2009 would go this poorly. Not only is the Bears’ QB far from his 2008 yardage and TD totals with just 3,117 passing yards and 19 TDs through 14 games, but his interceptions have skyrocketed as Cutler has tried to do too much too often, throwing the pigskin to members of the opposite jersey 25 times on the season.

The biggest issue for Cutler has been the Bears lack of a running game, which is somewhat surprising as Matt Forte amassed 1,238 rushing yards as a rookie for Chicago in 2008. Whether it’s a sophomore slump or a change in game plan, Forte has been much more ineffective this season, totaling just 754 rushing yards in 14 games. That ineffectiveness has led opposing defenses to focus on shutting Cutler down, something they have been quite good at. Cutler always has the potential for a big fantasy day as he showed in week 9 with his 25 point outing against the Arizona Cardinals, but he’s also been more prone than in year’s past to those dud games, including a negative-one point performance against Baltimore in week 15. Do yourself a favor and avoid the headache that is Cutler in 2010.

Matt Hasselbeck (Seattle Seahawks)

Don’t let any fantasy expert trick you into thinking that 2010 will be a bounce back year for Seattle Seahawk’s quarterback, Matt Hasselbeck. After all, the same was said for the Seahawk’s QB this season as he was healthy going into the year and had new toys to work with in the form of wide receiver, TJ Houshmandzadeh, and emerging tight end, John Carlson. Despite the new weapons and clean bill of health, Hasselbeck has managed to average just 10.8 fantasy points per contest in the 13 games he’s played in as once again the QB has missed time due to injury. Turning 35 during the 2010 season, Hasselbeck is just no longer worth the risk with younger QBs coming onto the scene.

NFC Quarterbacks to Avoid in 2010: Matt Ryan (Atlanta Falcons), Jake Delhomme (Carolina Panthers), Matt Moore (Carolina Panthers), Matthew Stafford (Detroit Lions), Marc Bulger (St. Louis Rams), Josh Freeman (Tampa Bay Buccaneers)

NFC RED FLAG RUNNING BACKS IN 2010

Tim Hightower (Arizona Cardinals)

Some might label us crazy for suggesting you stay away from Tim Hightower on draft day 2010. Heck, the Cardinals’ running back does have close to 20 rushing TDs over his first two seasons of play, but that’s exactly what scares us. The uneducated fantasy owner is going to look at Hightower’s TD totals and vastly overvalue him. The writing, though, is on the wall. The Cardinals’ back of the future is Beanie Wells, not Hightower. Slowly but surely, the Cardinals worked Wells into the offense this season, partly due to his superior talent and partly due to Hightower’s fumbling issues. In fact over the Cardinals’ last four games, Wells has received 62 carries to Hightower’s 24. It’s no coincidence that five of Hightower’s seven double digit days came in the first half of the season when Wells was still the No. 2 option. So, don’t day we didn’t warn you. If you overpay for what will be a back-up RB next season, you have no one to blame now but yourself.

Matt Forte (Chicago Bears)

As mentioned above in discussing the Red Flag surrounding Jay Cutler for 2010, the Bears’ sophomore running back, Matt Forte, is having a season he’d like to forget. While having a fairly successful season as a receiving back with 53 catches for 455 yards through 14 games, Forte has amassed just 754 rushing yards to go along with 4 TDs and 5 fumbles on 221 carries. That, for those of you who can’t do the math, is a mere 3.4 yards per carry. However, should we really be surprised? Forte did merely average 3.9 yards per carry in his rookie season. The Bears’ back is definitely not the top-four pick we made him out to be this off-season and really should only be looked at as a RB3 for next season because it seems Forte’s value his rookie year only came as a result of all of the looks he got as the Bears’ only weapon. With Jay Cutler in town, that’s no longer the case.

Marion Barber (Dallas Cowboys)

Since Julius Jones left Dallas following the 2007 season, fantasy owners have been waiting for a fantasy explosion from Marion Barber. It looks like they’ll be waiting once again for that to happen in 2010. In the two seasons since Julius Jones left, Barber’s numbers have been worst than the 975 rushing yards and 12 total TDs he accumulated in 2007. The reason? Another Jones came to town by the name of Felix, joined by the emergence of a third dynamic runner named Tashard Choice. Thus, rather than being the lone man in Dallas, Barber now shares his looks while serving as part of a three headed monster as both Jones and Choice have seen more than 60 carries this season. Perhaps Barber though has no one to blame but himself as injuries to the Dallas back are what continually opens the door for his two backfield mates to showcase their talents.

Clinton Portis (Washington Redskins)

It is said that running backs typically start breaking down once they hit that 30-year threshold; however, for Portis, due to the 2,176 carries he’s gotten during his first eight years in the league, that bar may need to be lowered as the 28 year-old runner already looks to be wearing down, and let’s just say the concussion that ended his 2009 season isn’t going to help any. Portis saw action in just eight games this year prior to the concussion, carrying the ball 124 times for 494 yards and one score. Based on those numbers, it shouldn’t come as any surprise that Portis notched just one double digit fantasy outing in his eight games played. With the Washington Redskins seemingly ready to give more and more responsibility to Jason Campbell, responsibility that he’s handled well, Portis even if he returns as the team’s main back in 2010 is no shoe-in to tote the rock the 300+ times he saw it in 2007 and 2008. Hence, it’s best to proceed with caution in 2010.

NFC Running Backs to Avoid in 2010: Pierre Thomas (New Orleans Saints), Mike Bell (New Orleans Saints), Reggie Bush (New Orleans Saints), Brandon Jacobs (New York Giants), LeSean McCoy (Philadelphia Eagles), Julius Jones (Seattle Seahawks), Cadillac Williams (Tampa Bay Buccaneers), Derrick Ward (Tampa Bay Buccaneers)