Fantasy Football Decision Time: Up for Grabs, Down for Keeps

I must admit, I am not entirely certain that "Up for Grabs, Down for Keeps" is a universal reference. It refers to the hot open-market exchange that is the elementary school lunch table. "Up for grabs" means that the Fruit by the Foot is in play if you can come up with a fat sack of Nutter Butters, or perhaps a goat cheese sandwich if you're from Scarsdale. "Down for keeps" means you changed your mind or pulled the fake-out move and decided to hang onto it for personal consumption.

Anyway, today's segment deals with the decision of determining who should be stashed away "down for keeps" versus who is better off being placed back on the market "up for grabs" in those keeper leagues as we head into the off-season.

The 2008 regular season provided no shortage of fantasy surprises and it is important to determine which of these were anomalies and which will be around for a while. Furthermore, some of these surprises came at the expense of some longtime no-brainers for keeper leagues. Hence, let's divide 'em up and take a look at who NOT to keep for next season.

Terrell Owens - Surely, some desperate team will pick him up for another season and let him ruin its morale if the Cowboys choose to release Owens. He'll probably put up some good games wherever that may be, but don't bother risking it at this point. There's too much potential for missed games and inconsistency with yet another quarterback.

Thomas Jones - Don't kid yourself folks, one career Pro Bowl in a year behind Brett Favre and one of the best (and most expensive) offensive lines in the NFL has more to do with the system than the runner. Sure, Jones might have another good year, but as you well know, Brett Favre might also retire ... again. Keep in mind that in Jones' other eight seasons, he averaged just over four touchdowns per season and his yardage is generally good, but not great.

Tom Brady - Believe me, this is tough to call on our side too. Still, Tom Brady is coming back from a very serious surgery and given the success that Matt Cassel enjoyed, it is not inconceivable to expect a shakeup. The Patriots have a notoriously savvy/frugal front office and are rumored to be considering a franchise tag for Cassel, which raises all sorts of question marks about Brady's future. We're not speculating or rumor-spreading here, but rather simply recommending you save your personal fantasy franchise tag for somebody else. A keeper has to be a lock and Tom Brady is no longer a lock.

Reggie Bush - How can you argue with the utter domination that Pierre Thomas demonstrated down the stretch this past season? Nobody in their right mind would consider scaling back his time on the field. You can certainly still expect Reggie Bush to catch his swing passes and play an integral role, but let's face facts -- the guy has never cracked 600 yards rushing and didn't even clear 1,000 combined rushing and receiving yards in the past two seasons. Plus, he struggles with injuries every year. Again, your keepers are your rocks. Reggie Bush is a playmaker, but not a rock.

Ronnie Brown - We may be stretching here, because Ronnie Brown is not exactly keeper material to begin with, but just in case you are considering him, we'd prefer to put the kibosh on that idea right here. You probably look back on Ronnie Brown's season and say to yourself, "Dude, over 900 yards rushing and over 250 receiving with 11 scores. This guy is brain-dead." Well, how about you subtract his one good game, where he racked up five touchdowns, and then come back down to earth. Ronnie Brown is a good fourth-round bargain for your backfield, but he is not a keeper and he is not very consistent.

Darren McFadden - I'm a little at odds with my colleague Matt Snyder here, so take this one as a grain of salt as he probably knows about 10 times more about football than I, but until the Raiders can put together a semblance of a complete offense, I don't see the value in gambling on McFadden. We know he is a great athlete, but he has yet to carry a full load and struggled way too much with injuries to gamble unless you keep more than three players in your league.

Anquan Boldin - As much as it kills me to put Q on the list, he goes on the list. Besides the obvious struggles with injuries, Boldin most likely will not play in Arizona in 2009. Arizona has definitely shown interest in keeping Boldin, but for pennies on the dollar as compared to teammate Larry Fitzgerald's contract. Thus, it's doubtful Boldin will come to terms with the Cards. This means Boldin could very well play for a far less pass-happy offense. Again, if you are in a less limited keeper league where you hang onto upwards of 50 percent of the roster, obviously keep Boldin. But if you are faced with choosing three or four guys with a combination of long-term staying power and immediate results, Boldin is the wrong guy.