
Fantasy
NFL Mini-Camp
Get
in the weight room, squirt&ldots;it's YOUR MVP's Fantasy NFL
Mini-Camp! Just like real NFL mini-camps that have been taking place
over the past few weeks - learning new schemes and getting new play
books - fantasy leaguers need to have a mini-camp to get ready for
some of the changes since last season.
YOUR
MVP's Fantasy NFL Mini-Camp Syllabus
2001
Schedule & Realignment Review
Major
Free Agent Moves
-
Restricted and Unrestricted Free Agents
-
AFC Free Agent Signings List
-
NFC Free Agent Signings List
2001
Franchise and Transition Player Designations
2001
Schedule & Realignment
The
2001 regular season NFL schedule begins Week #1 on Sunday, Sept. 9th
and ends Week #17 on Sunday, Dec. 30th. While there are no big
surprises in the schedule or any huge unnerving quirks, there are a
few points to cover. There will not be a Monday Nighter in Week
#17 so that the season doesn't end on New Year's Eve. Also, we must
endure a Bye week for 1 team-minimum per week, with three teams
scheduled for Byes in each of Weeks 3 through 9. Thankfully this will
be alleviated with next year's addition of the Houston Texans.
Which
brings me to the realignment to 8 4-team divisions. First, it is
important to note that realignment will not take effect until the
2002 season when the 32nd team (Houston) begins play.
Second, while I hate the thought of realignment breaking up
long-running rivalries, the logistics of scheduling forced this move.
It would be kooky to have two 15 team leagues or unbalanced leagues
(i.e. a 14-team league and a 16-team league).
|
NFC |
AFC |
East |
Dallas,
NY Giants, Philadelphia, Washington |
Buffalo,
Miami,
New
England, NY Jets |
West |
Atlanta,
Carolina,
New
Orleans, Tampa Bay |
Houston,
Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Tennessee |
North |
Chicago,
Detroit,
Green
Bay, Minnesota |
Baltimore,
Cincinnati, Cleveland, Pittsburgh |
South |
Arizona,
St. Louis,
San
Francisco, Seattle |
Denver,
Kansas City, Oakland, San Diego |
Moreover,
I personally like the current prior year performance-based
scheduling format (which has not been officially decided yet).
For example, based on the 2000 performance, league doormats like the
Browns' 2001 schedule will only include two 2000-playoff teams,
divisional foes Tennessee and Baltimore. Additionally, the Brownies
also get a chance to win a few games considering that they play
fellow AFC doormats New England, San Diego and Seattle. This
scheduling format really contributes to the overall league parity. It
is also responsible for at least part of Baltimore's easy walk to the
2000 crown in which they only faced 1 eventual non-divisional playoff team.
However, it will not be so easy this year as they face 4
non-divisional 2000 playoff teams.
As
far as the actual movement, Seattle was the only team that was
forced to change leagues. Most of the geographically illogical
situations, like Indianapolis in the AFC East, have been corrected.
However, Dallas remained in the NFC East and Kansas City was not
shifted into the AFC West. This could have been addressed but it
would have taken a major realignment and great deal of seemingly
unnecessary league flip-flopping.
Many
of the so-called natural rivalries were maintained such as the
B&O railroad division with Baltimore, Cleveland, Pittsburgh and
Cincinnati or the old black-and-blue NFC Central with Chicago,
Detroit, Green Bay, Minnesota. Still, the new AFC South teams
(Houston, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Tennessee) have little or
nothing in common. All in all, realignment seems to have been
achieved in the least painful format out of all of the possible
scenarios.
Major
Free Agent Moves
Before
getting into the Free Agent moves, there are a few terms that you
will hear/read that you should understand. The important concepts are
the difference between restricted and unrestricted free agents as
well as what are Franchise and Transition Player Designations. Again,
you will hear/read those terms bandied about when studying free
agents, so you should understand them. However, it is NOT critical
info - i.e. if you are a casual fan, skip it.
For
a restricted free agent, basically, the old club simply has a right
of first refusal AND may or may not be entitled to any compensatory
draft picks. They are younger players with three accrued seasons and
their contract has expired. An unrestricted free agent means that
there are no rights of any type held by the old club. They are
veteran players that have completed four or more accrued seasons with
an expired contract. An accrued season is defined as six or more regular-season
games on a club's active/inactive, reserved-injured or physically
unable to perform (PUP) lists.
Here's
are the AFC/NFC lists of the MAJOR free agent signings only for
players that changed teams.
AFC
Free Agent Signings
(Pos-Name-Old
Team-New Team)
QB-Steve
Beuerlein-Carolina-Denver
RB-Charlie
Garner-San Francisco-Oakland
QB-Elvis
Grbac-Kansas City-Baltimore
RB-Priest
Holmes-Baltimore-Kanas City
QB-Damon
Huard-Miami-New England
WR-Eddie
Kennison-Chicago-Denver
WR-Keith
Poole-New Orleans-Denver
WR-Jerry
Rice-San Francisco-Oakland
K-Wade
Richey-San Francisco-San Diego
OT-Leon
Searcy-Jacksonville-Baltimore
WR-Torrance
Small-Philadelphia-New England
RB-Antowain
Smith-Buffalo-New England
NFC
Free Agent Signings
(Pos-Name-Old
Team-New Team)
QB-Tony
Banks-Baltimore-Dallas
QB-Jim
Harbaugh-San Diego-Detroit
RB-Richard
Huntley-Carolina-Pittsburgh
WR-Jake
Reed-New Orleans-Minnesota
DE-Joel
Smeenge-Jacksonville-Chicago
DT-Dana
Stubblefield-Washington-San Francisco
QB-Billy
Joe Tolliver-New Orleans-Chicago
2001
Franchise and Transition Player Designations
Since
there is no significant number of players or high impact players
(the exception is RB Cory Dillon) tapped with either designation, you
can skip learning all the twists of these contract technicalities.
Basically, their old team has first right of refusal on these players
and WHOEVER signs them will pay them a boatload of money. For
example, the club must offer a minimum of the average of the top 10
salaries of 2000 at the player's position, or a 20 percent salary
increase, whichever is greater. In any case, you can go
to
http://www.nfl.com/news/01freeagency/index.html
to
find out all about the various specifics if you feel so inclined.
Franchise
player (Team)
Aeneas
Williams (Arizona)
Marcus
Pollard (Indianapolis)
Jason
Taylor (Miami)
Kevin
Carter (St. Louis)
Transition
Player (Team)
Bryan
Robinson (Chicago)
Corey
Dillon (Cincinnati) - signed 5 yr deal w/ Cincinnati
This
concludes YOUR MVP's
Fantasy NFL Mini-Camp. Don't forget to continue to watch for
more significant player moves. If you have the Deuce (ESPN2),
watch "NFL 2NIGHT" for a concise wrap-up of recent moves.
Sure, it's the off season, but you still need to stay in fantasy shape!
Locker
Room is written by Michael Skordeles
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