By Mr. Fantasy
One of the best new toys we have at our disposal in preparing for fantasy football drafts this summer is draft tabulations now found on many Web sites.
Take the one on NFL.com, for example. At a glance, it tells you the consensus order in which players have been selected in its fantasy drafts this season.
This shouldn't necessarily affect your player analysis. But it does give you a clue what your competition might be thinking.
Based on the current NFL.com tabulations, I've compiled this list of the Most Underrated (Wisest Investments) and Most Underrated (Poorest Choices) players in fantasy football this season:
WISEST INVESTMENTS
Tony Romo, Cowboys. Little separates the consensus top five quarterbacks. Being that Romo ranks last among these five in the NFL.com drafts, he rates as the wisest investment.
Jay Cutler, Bears. After the top five, there's another tightly bunched group. It says here Cutler, with Mike Martz calling the shots, will finish as the best of this group. He might even crack the top five.
Matt Leinart, Cardinals. Yes, even I have called Leinart a Most Likely to Disappoint candidate. But that's when I thought he was fairly highly regarded by people. He's 28th on the NFL.com list, for crying out loud. There's no way he'll finish that low.
Byron Leftwich, Steelers. He's not even being selected in many drafts, and that's a mistake. While Ben Roethlisberger is out, Leftwich is a decent fantasy option. That's a whole lot more than I can say about a dozen guys being taken ahead of him.
POOREST CHOICES
Aaron Rodgers, Packers. As mentioned earlier, little separates the top five quarterbacks. So what's the hurry taking one? Romo in the third round is a way better pick than Rodgers in Round 1.
Joe Flacco, Ravens. With Ray Rice and a quality defense, the Ravens aren't about to cut their quarterback loose, even with Anquan Boldin now onboard. I see Flacco as a decent fantasy backup, but nothing more than that.
Vince Young, Titans. The Titans started winning when Young became the starting quarterback last season. But let's make no mistake about it: Chris Johnson was the reason why. He's so good, there's really no reason for Young to run as much as he has at times in the past.
Tim Tebow, Broncos. Even if the collegiate star comes in at the goal line and scores a touchdown or two in some games, that's not good enough to consider putting him in your lineup. Simply having him on your roster is going to give you headaches, so I recommend avoiding it.