Mr. Smith Goes to New York, Sanchez vs Smith

I have to be honest when I was originally was going to write this blog, my opinion was going to be Sanchez will start the season and after a few games if they were not going in the right direction, they would give the ball to Geno. The Jets would probably have wanted to give Geno some time to get acquainted with the system and they know that this team will not do too well, so it will only be a matter of time before the fans and media call for some new blood.  Everything plays out as ownership wants and they don't look bad, this is a win-win situation.

Sanchez might be dressed
like this by midseason
on game day.

Now it seems, that there are reports not only out of Jets camp, but also at West Virginia stating how nonchalant Mr. Smith is and this could turn out very bad from a media perspective.  Now, if Mr. Smith does come in and does not play well, the media might still rip them apart as they should have known this as most of the pre-draft reports seem to have stated this as well.  I was not in the locker room at West Virginia last year, but I do remember them being 5-0 and Geno was the front runner for the Heisman at that point.  The Mountaineers ended the season at 7-6 and Geno was not mentioned much during the second half of the season.
In the end, I think the Jets are going to still follow the plan set forth where Sanchez does start the season and outside of a miracle where he starts to play like a decent quarterback, Sanchez will most likely be out by the mid season point as they will now have to stick to their guns and let Mr. Smith have a go at it.  Who knows, maybe he grows up and turns it around.  It will be tough to do in this city, but stranger things have happened.

Make Money with the Kansas City Chiefs

D Bowe is looking to
go big this year!

In my newest installment of Make Money, we are going to focus on the Kansas City Chiefs.  They are currently at 6.5 wins as far as the over/under for 2013.  Anybody who knows me, knows I am a fan of Andy Reid, which means they know where I am going with this one.  I am taking the over!  I would take the over on the simple fact that he is going to be recharged here and he is one of the best coaches in the league.  That being said, I had no problem with him getting the boot in Philadelphia as it was simply time for a change.  The organization seems to be excited about Reid as he does about this opportunity.  He has also got some good tools to work with including the number one overall pick Eric Fischer who will be anchoring the tackle spot for years to come.  Alex Smith will be running the offense and he will be allowed to throw the ball a bit more than he was used to in San Fran, but in this style of offense, he will be comfortable with the types of throws he will be asked to make.  He will be throwing to a very confident Dwayne Bowe, who I love in fantasy this year, Anthony Fasano will be handling the tight end spot for the time being as Tony Moeaki is two years removed from his knee injury and I think he will be back in the mix this year, and a bunch of receivers all fighting to be considered the number 2.  In the backfield, barring injury, you have one of the top 5 backs for fantasy in my opinion, Jamal Charles.  This is the perfect back for an Andy Reid offense and if you can get him in a ppr league, forget about it. Reid does not take out his main guy around the goal line that often, so Charles will score more touchdowns in this offense.
Defensively, you have some real players on that side of the ball.  Tamba Hali has averaged about 9 sacks a year since coming into this league, without any real help.  The linebacking core is solid with Akeem Jordan, Derrick Johnson and Nico Johnson filling the gaps.  In the secondary, you have one of the best young safeties in the game, Eric Berry, to go along with one of the best corners in the Brandon Flowers.  This will be a solid defense.
Based on the coaching, the roster and the most important piece, the schedule.  This is a team that will compete in the majority of the games they play and may steal one or two from better teams.  They also get to play the Raiders and Chargers twice to go along with games against the Jaguars, Titans, Browns and Bills.  I am pretty sure this is a pretty safe 7 win call.  I like it probably more than any other team right now.  If the line moves to 7 than it will not be favorite, but I will stick to my guns and have faith in Reid and Smith, until they prove me wrong.

TJ Yeldon will be better than Ingram, Richardson or Lacy

Not that it will matter to many of the Tide faithful as they have won 3 championships in 4 years and each of the above running backs had a big part in each one of them.  As far as pure ability goes, TJ Yeldon will be better than all of them.  Unless you are a big Alabama fan, college football analyst or somebody who watches just about any football on tv (have found myself watching Canadian football recently as it seems to be on a lot more), you might not realize who TJ Yeldon is.  He is a true sophomore running back that in my opinion looked more raw than Eddie Lacy as his backup, but you just knew that he would be special as I told anybody who cared last year.

Yeldon with predecessor Lacy in 2012

Yeldon, very quietly put up over 1100 yards last year, which is a freshman record at Alabama, as a true freshman and a backup.  What is really impressive is the fact that they did not try and redshirt him when they already knew they had Eddie Lacy toting the rock last year.  As good as Lacy was last year, he was getting a lot of help from a great offensive line that had 2 lineman drafted in the first 11 picks and the heart of the line Barrett Jones drafted in the 4th round.  You could really see Yeldon improve down the stretch and I think the sky is the limit for him this year.  Much of this will revolve on how good the line will be, but I think 1,500 is right around where he will end up and he will be a Heisman favorite going into his junior year.  If Alabama is in the hunt for the national championship this year, it will be AJ McCarron that will receive the Heisman, which can become a lifetime achievement award at some points.  Look for Yeldon to be front runner for 2014 where he will most likely come out after that season as he possesses many skills that NFL front office guys drool over.

Kolb vs Manuel

The next piece in my quarterback controversy series is the Buffalo Bills' dilemma. In one corner, you have Kevin Kolb who was signed to a 2 year contract for short money considering he has the potential to be their starter this season, he is to get 1.65 million for the 2013 season.  He has been able to make some considerable money off of a few good starts for the Philadelphia Eagles, which seemed like an eternity ago, and has somehow still considered a viable NFL starter by a few front office guys as well as head coaches.  As bad as he has been portrayed to have done since getting a monster contract, he was 4-2 in his starts last year with Arizona, which also seems to be missed by the many naysayers in the media and elsewhere, so maybe we are missing something about this guy.

Did I mention that he is really athletic

In the other corner, we have EJ Manuel, a Florida State guy who possesses a strong arm and ran a 4.59 forty and he is by no means a small guy as he is much more like Cam Newton at 6'5", 240 pounds.  The Bills sent a strong message by going out of their way to pick him with the 16th overall pick.  In my opinion, this was way too early even if you really liked him, because it did not seem that anybody was going to take him ahead of Geno Smith, Matt Barkley and Ryan Nassib.  They should have either traded down to take him, while gathering more picks or took him in the next round where even if they had to trade up to get him, I could have got behind that.  They left money on the table as they say.  Despite all of this, he is a quarterback that has been studying since being drafted and has kept himself out of the media for the most part.

This battle is going to be won by EJ Manuel.  He will be their opening day starter as there is no need for him not to be.  I think that unless Kolb outplays Manuel by a ton during camp and preseason, it is Manuel's job to lose.  It will be somewhat close, but I think EJ will beat him outright.  If it is close and public opinion has Kolb barely beating him out, they will still most likely make EJ the starter as money is not an issue in this case as Kolb's salary is minimal.  The Bills' organization obviously likes Manuel after taking him as early as they did, so why not hand over the reigns now.  Nobody in Buffalo is clamoring over the idea of Kolb taking them to the promised land, so putting up billboards with the likes of EJ Manuel, might get the people of Buffalo talking.