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Fantasy Football

Don't Get Too Excited Over Santonio

Posted Feb 10, 2009 9:31PM By Sean Lalley (RSS feed)

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Well, not only is fantasy football long over, but, sadly, now too is the NFL season. However, that sure doesn't mean us diehards have nothing left to do but wait for next season. Nope, now more than ever, it's time to fine-tune those skills that got you a fantasy football trophy, or brought you darn near close to one. Yes, let your opponents settle into comfort, while you do your homework all offseason.

A bit drastic? Quite possibly, but during the slow stretch (a.k.a. the waiting game) we'll be here to give you little tidbits to take to heart and make note of for next season. The first order of business is evaluating the players who "elevated" their games in the NFL playoffs. Year in and year out, there are always guys who breakout in a way you could dream of, had it been the regular "fantasy" football season.

However, every single year we also get overly excited about certain guys and allow ourselves to put too much faith in a hot stretch. See: Eli Manning. Of course, there is always that one player who was already a stud, but became otherworldly during the postseason. See: Larry Fitzgerald. For me, this year's "it" guy that will be gawked at too much next preseason is none other than Santonio Holmes.

Let me explain.

I'm hardly saying Holmes is going to be a bust next year. What I'm saying is to keep things in perspective. Holmes was on everybody's breakout radar this past season. Um, it never really happened. Sure, he busted out in a big, big way when the Steelers needed him most. And there's no reason to think he won't have more games like that next season.

My advice is simply to play it safe with Holmes. And that means do NOT draft him too early thinking you've got a fantasy stud on your hands. I think Holmes will certainly hold significant fantasy value, but he will not be in the upper echelon of stud receivers. He may very well never reach that plateau.

If you take into account the way the Steelers offense is designed, they simply aren't a team that will ever rely too heavily on one guy in the passing game. Plus, I fully expect the Steelers to revamp that offensive line this offseason and look to get Rashard Mendenhall and Willie Parker more involved. No, the Steelers aren't ever going to abandon the grind-it-out game completely.

Holmes may very well pass Hines Ward as Big Ben's number one option, but he just ain't in the same breath as the upper-tier receivers. He'd be an ideal fit as a WR2, which usually means that would land him in the fourth or fifth round. Your call, your gamble ... just don't let one game persuade your ultimate decision. Let somebody else grab him as their No. 1 WR and be disappointed.

Tags: eli+manning, EliManning, hines+ward, HinesWard, larry+fitzgerald, LarryFitzgerald, rashard+mendenhall, RashardMendenhall, santonio+holmes, SantonioHolmes, willie+parker, WillieParker

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