Today's Two Cents: Camp Tour

July 24, 2009
Jul
24
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In general, SportsNation isn't all that fond of marathons. In ranking the world's 10 best races, voters aren't showing much love to the Boston and New York City versions. They take a long time, and really, who has time these days?

But there are exceptions to every rule, and even more the "Twilight Zone" marathons on holidays, marathon football chatter is a good thing.

We opened up Thursday's chat to each of ESPN.com's NFL bloggers, as well as Scouts, Inc. gurus Jeremy Green and Matt Williamson, and the questions came in by the thousands. After all, college football is nice, but there's little doubt where SportsNation's gridiron heart resides.

josh (cary)

do you think the WR formerly known as Chad Johnson can back up his bold predictions or will he continue his relative lack of productivity?

Matt Williamson
Matt Williamson

I expect a bounce back. For him to be of the utmost effective, he has to be productive deep. With Palmer behind center, that will be a huge boost. I also think 85 was hurt for most of last year. But, the OL's ability to protect long enough to sling it deep does worry me. Also, can the Bengals' run game force defenses to put a safety in the box instead of playing a ton of Cover 2? I have my doubts.

Chuck Stephens (Tampa)

Pat,If the Bucs are able to bring Freeman along slowly like they say they will, what is the long term prognosis for him in the NFL? Can he be the "franchise" QB they hope is?

Pat Yasinskas
Pat Yasinskas

I liked what I saw of him in minicamp and OTAs. He can throw the heck out of the ball and certainly looks the part. Then again, so did Dilfer and Testaverde.

Terry Riggs (South Bend, Indiana)

Will the additon of Michael Crabtree help the 49ers go for a good run at the NFC West title?

Mike Sando
Mike Sando

It cannot hurt. My sense is that Crabtree will show flashes as a rookie but that he'll take off in his second and third seasons. I say this based on how much time he has missed this offseason, and also on the unsettled nature of the QB situation. It's fair to question how much the QB situation -- Hill or Smith -- might affect the 49ers' preferred style of play, and what that means for wide receivers. Full transcript.

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    Fantasy Football Focus
    • Rashard (Richmond)Tristan, what do you see benson doing this week if he plays?
    • Tristan H. CockcroftMaybe 15 carries or so and enough production to warrant low-No. 2/flex-play status if he is cleared by game time. Another case of you need to check back with our inactives report, because I won't endorse Benson if he's not a participant in Friday's practice.
    • Dan (Ann Arbor)Tristan, thank god you're here! Got some tough decisions. Start Steve Smith (NYG) or Crabtree at WR? And then who out of these 3 RB's: Pierre Thomas, LeSean McCoy, or Justin Forsett?
    • Tristan H. CockcroftTough for me to pick Michael Crabtree over Steve Smith, but if there's any week to do it, it's Week 12. I'm going to make that bold call and pick the rookie, being that the Jaguars have one of the worst pass defenses in the league and will be down their top cover corner Rashead Mathis. I think Crabtree is a strong bet -- think 75-percent probability at least -- to score his second career touchdown. Among running backs, I really want no part of Pierre Thomas right now if I can help it, but you might not be able to help it because of the Julius Jones situation mentioned earlier. Sit Thomas if Forsett is the starter, sit Forsett if Julius Jones gets a glowing recommendation.

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