Making the Correct Decision (Colston or Houshmandzadeh)
August 17th, 2007 | by aaron |I watched a segment on ESPN last night in regards to fantasy football wide-receivers and how they are basically a “dime a dozen” and we as fantasy owners should not place too much emphasis on drafting them. One game on and one game off is normally what we will see from our receiver position, however, they are an integral part to whether or not we’ll vie for our fantasy leagues championship. Multiple games on a weekly basis in fantasy football can and will be decided by fewer than 8 points, which means you must make the correct decision with this position.
Sure, we will all be certain to solidify our running back positions, draft a decent quarterback, then begin drafting quality wide-receivers. Yes, it is true that the receiver position is the most inconsistent, but you will not win any league if you don’t have great receivers who are capable of posting big numbers and maintain a level of quality play. In other words, if you have the opportunity to draft Steve Smith and Chad Johnson opposed to Joe Horn and Mike Furrey you better take advantage of that opportunity.
Which leads me to this; When it comes time to either select Marques Colston or T.J. Houshmandzadeh, which receiver will be the better option and add the greatest value to your franchise? It will make a difference when one or both of these two players is either playing badly or playing above and beyond most receivers drafted ahead of them. Sure in some eyes these two receivers are 2nd tier options, but in the eyes of others they could be considered number one.
Colston is Drew Brees’ first option while many believe that T.J. will take the role as the Bengals first option due to Chad’s inconsistent play. Therefore, I guess it all depends on your beliefs as to which player you will select. T.J. has proven himself over the past couple of years, but the Bengals have other options and when Chris Henry returns late in the season (when fantasy playoffs are on the horizon) what will happen to T.J.’s value. On the other hand, will Colston hit a sophomore slump and will rookie Robert Meacham takeover the role as Brees’ #1 option.
There are also a few positive factors to consider. Both players play with quarterbacks who are in the top three. They both are playing within prolific offenses that will score a tremendous amount of points. Both teams have viable running games which will open up their passing game, and neither team has a great defense which most games will continue to produce “track meet” type tempo. Identical situations!
This is not one of those situations where you’ll head into the draft thinking about which of these two players to draft. However, the difference in play will potentially determine the outcome of a few games this season. With that in mind, I have to choose T.J. in this situation because the Bengals play in a tougher division and will have to depend on Palmer’s arm to decide a few more games than the Saints will with Brees’ arm.
You make the correct decision.
