Fantasy Football Notes 8/17/2009

- So Michael Vick is going to Philadelphia, the city that booed Santa Claus and threw D batteries at JD Drew because he refused to sign with the Phillies.  I think its a bit of an odd signing on their part, but on the other hand, Donovan McNabb is a sure bet to get injured at some point this season and every year there seems to be rumors about him leaving because he's unhappy in Philly.  Maybe he's Philadelphia's QB of the future.  In the meantime, Vick has no fantasy value until McNabb gets injured, but when that happens, Vick will be a hot pickup for teams struggling at the QB position.

(Photo by Getty Images)

- Jay Cutler was less than stellar in his Bears debut completing 5 passes on 10 attempts for 64 yards and 1 INT.  No worries, he'll get better as time goes on.  He completed a couple passes to Devin Hester and on the INT was looking for Hester again, so in the early going those two appear to have some chemistry.

- The man that was traded in exchange for Jay Cutler, Kyle Orton, couldn't have looked worse throwing 3 INTs in the first half against the 49ers.  Maybe Orton becoming the starter isn't a slam dunk after all.

- In my last football notes post, I mentioned how Knowshon Moreno would be the Broncos starter.  Well that won't be true for the next couple weeks while he deals with a knee injury.  This may set him back and prevent him from becoming the starting back in Week 1, but make no mistake, he'll be the starter soon.

- Raiders coach Tom Cable said that Darren McFadden is "pretty close" to passing up Justin Fargas on the depth chart.  I'm thinking that Run DMC will get around 200-250 carries this season and should be close to 1000 yards rushing.

- Jonathan Stewart of the Panthers has missed six straight practices due to soreness in his Achilles tendon.  This is good news for DeAngelo Williams owners who would like to see TD leader from 2008 not have to split time.

- The expression "beating a dead horse" will soon be replaced with "talking about Brett Favre".  According to Jay Glazer of FoxSports, he's convinced that Favre will soon have talks with the Vikings about joining the team.  It wouldn't surprise me to see him join the team later in the season.  Personally, I just think he's trying to get out of training camp.

- The wide receiver version of Roy Williams scared Cowboys fans when he went down with a injured left wrist.  Fortunately, the x-rays came back negative and he'll be okay to play in Week 1.

- Antonio Bryant will miss the entire pre-season due to meniscus surgery but should be on the field for Week 1.  Bryant had a career year last season, but he'll get off to a slow start this year and there's a lot of questions at the quarterback position.  I wouldn't recommend having him any higher than your 3rd WR.

- If you're a die hard Browns fan and you NEED to have their starting QB on your team, you should probably go with Brady Quinn.  While he wasn't impressive in their first preseason game (7-11, 68 yds, 1 INT), Derek Anderson completed more passes to Packer players than his own (0-2, 1 INT).  This isn't really all that much of a surprise.  I thought Quinn looked much better than Anderson during his brief stint as the starter before getting injured.