Well, the 2006 season is in the books and for us diehards; the 2007 season has just begun. Having played this game for over twenty years now, I faced a midlife crisis of sorts last year. About half way through the 2005 season I acquired a young, promising running back who was a backup to a legend. In a dynasty league, that turned out to be a spectacularly fortunate acquisition.

With a stroke of good timing, that young running back named Larry Johnson took over for an ailing Priest Holmes and he rescued a dreary season for me and helped me surge to a tie for first place in my division.

With that momentum behind me, going into 2006 my starters were:

QB McNair, Balt

RB Johnson, KC
Gore, SF

WR Muhammad, Chi
Horn, NO

TE Heath, Pitt

PK Lindell, Buf

DF Chicago Bears

Most people would have left well enough alone. Here was the situation I faced.

I just had a bad feeling about my team. McNair’s situation was up for grabs. I had Brunell, Pennington and Volek to back him up.

I had very little behind Johnson and Gore. And besides, Barlow was still in the running to start over Gore.

Muhammad and Horn were over the hill.

Miller was a promising young tight end and I liked him a lot.

Lindell was an ok place kicker.

The Bears were a premier defense.

I had very little depth and a mix of promising young starters and old wearing down veterans. I had no high draft picks in the next couple seasons. I saw a successful 2006 season coming, but too many question marks down the road. With my wheeling and dealing I had a stud running back in Johnson and a promising Gore. I had an average quarterback on the downside of his career in McNair and two old receivers to go with him. My primary assets were Johnson and the Bears defense.

I was at a crossroads with my team. Stand pat and win one season and then fade into oblivion, or I could do something radical. I could do something that most people would think was foolhardy, if not downright stupid.

I began a whirling dervish of trades, shedding Heath Miller and the Bears defense and ultimately even Larry Johnson and Frank Gore. Along the way I obtained many players and parlayed them primarily into high draft picks. Terrell Owens, Tony Gonzalez, Alge Crumpler, Jeremy Shockey all passed in and out of my Aztec locker room.

By the time our draft came in August I had several late first round and a few second and third round picks. I used those picks to pick up Wali Lundy, Leon Washington, Vince Young and several other rookies.

I did some finely tuned trading during the season and at the end of the season, here were my key players:

QB McNair, Balt
Clemens, NYJ
Gradkowski, TB

RB Barber, Dal
Droughns, Cle
Washington, NYJ
Lundy, Hou
Gado, Hou

WR Berrian, Chi
Muhammad, Chi
Horn, NO
Williams, Jac

TE Scheffler, Den
Klopfenstein, STL

PK Lindell, Buf

DF Seattle

Right after the season I traded Muhsin Muhammad and Reuben Droughns for Isaac Bruce and Michael Turner. The key of course was Turner. I was betting on him making a move into a starting role. With Turner, Barber and Washington, I feel pretty good about my young running backs. I need to upgrade my team a bit at quarterback, wide receiver and defense.

My goal when I started this venture of rebuilding was to take an established team and make a clean start. In a sense this has been done in some sports with teams like the Chicago Bulls following the Jordan era. While I know this will take a couple years, I am going to be patient and see how this young nucleus develops. I am going to be very judicious in making trades.

It’s kind of funny, as competitive and cut throat as I am when it comes to competition, this whole thing was kind of fun. Yes, I had a miserable season from a won-lost point of view. I only won a couple games and was close in several others. One thing I learned with so many promising players is that it’s hard to pick a starting lineup. There were many weeks where if I had made one change, or another, I would have won. Yet it didn’t matter. I committed myself to the long-term growth of the team when I started the adventure.

Yes, I called it an adventure. After so many years of playing, I had to do something different. We play in a keeper league, so the only way to start a team from scratch was to do something truly radical. When Jerry Krause did it with the Bulls he was jeered out of Chicago. The jury is still out on my efforts.

The 2006 season was one of continued learning. Free agency and the rookie draft changed teams so greatly. There were monumental surprises and several teams seemed to have mini seasons within the seventeen week season.

The opening game in New Orleans was one that set the tone for the whole year. The Saints coming off a disastrous 2005 season roared into 2006 with a passion that excited the entire football world, not just the crescent city. The Saints had Drew Brees, Reggie Bush and Marques Colston come into town and generate more success than that franchise had ever seen.

On the home front here my Bears started off hot and just ended a great year as Super Bowl runner up. Yes, that was disappointing, but there were thirty other teams that didn’t get that far.

There were many surprises injury wise, which is more the norm than unusual any more. Daunte Culpepper, Matt Hasselbeck, Shaun Alexander, Byron Leftwich, Trent Green, Donovan McNabb and Aaron Brooks all fell under the injury cloud for all, or part of the season.

Young running backs like Lendale White and Carnell Williams performed far below expectations, as did wide receivers Troy Williamson and Mike Williams.
Randy Moss and Jerry Porter languished as Raiders and will probably find themselves elsewhere in 2007, unless Al Davis decides to punish them, ala Marcus Allen.

The Arizona Cardinals looked like world beaters for most of a game against the Bears and then collapsed and allowed a rally that left the football fans scratching their heads. After that their whole season just sort of collapsed.

The Green Bay Packers started the season looking terrible in what was thought to be Brett Favre’s farewell season. With many key players injured the pundits left them for dead. Then to everyone’s surprise, the young team with the ageless legend at quarterback had a great stretch run that left them just out of the playoffs. Packer fans are grateful that Favre will return to Green Bay, rather than fade into the Mississippi sunset.

At the end of the year teams that stunk earlier on showed respectability-Packers, Oilers and Titans. Other teams ended the year in flames like the Jaguars, Cowboys and Dolphins.

As usual there were countless questions when the dust settled:

1. What would be the results of free agency?
2. Where will the TO soap opera surface in 2007?
3. Will the 2007 rookie crop be as successful as the 2006 group?
4. Will Mike Nazarek win the S.I. League for an unprecedented fourth time?


These questions will be answered over the next ten months. Stay tuned to FF Mastermind to find out. We here at Fantasy Football Central in the FF Mastermind World Headquarters are looking forward to helping you stay ahead of your opponents during the 2007 season.

ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL?????