Week 14 of the NFL season is upon us, so here is your Week 14 Start ‘Em and Bench ‘Em!  As always I don’t do Kickers, and check your injury reports before starting anyone.  Also, not every obvious guy will be on here each week.  The Starts are the guys I think will have an especially good day and the Bench is guys you should be warned about, not that you shouldn’t start them if there are no better options.  Always start your stud guys unless there is an especially bad matchup or an injury.

RB Start ‘Em:

Brian Westbrook vs Seahawks, Peyton Hillis vs Bills, Chris Johnson vs Colts, Rashard Mendenhall vs Bengals, LeGarrette Blount vs Redskins.

Sleeper:   Tim Hightower vs Broncos

RB Bench ‘Em:  

Cedric Benson vs Steelers,  Mike Hart vs Titans, Jahvid Best vs Packers, Brandon Jacobs vs Vikings.

QB Start ‘Em:

 Ben Roethlisberger vs Bengals, Aaron Rodgers vs Lions, Eli Manning vs Vikings, Josh Freeman vs Redskins, Michael Vick vs Cowboys.

Sleeper:  Alex Smith vs Seahawks

QB Bench ‘EM:  

Matt Schaub vs Ravens, Carson Pamler vs Steelers, Matt Ryan vs Panthers, Brett Favre vs Giants.

WR Start ‘Em:

Mike Wallace vs Bengals, Roddy White vs Panthers, Steve Johnson vs Browns, Brandon Lloyd vs Cardinals,  Anquan Boldin vs Texans.

Sleeper:  Jacoby Ford vs Jaguars

WR Bench ‘Em:  

Devin Hester vs Patriots, Mike Sims-Walker vs Raiders, Santana Moss vs Buccaneers, Brandon Marshall vs Jets. 

TE Start ‘Em:

Greg Olsen vs Patriots, Jacob Tamme vs Titans, Ben Watson vs Bills, Tony Gonzalez vs Panthers, Antonio Gates vs Chiefs.

Sleeper: David Johnson vs Bengals 

TE Bench ‘Em: 

Bo Scaife vs Colts, Visanthe Shiancoe vs Giants, Andrew Quarless vs Lions, Joel Dreesen vs Ravens.

DEF Start ‘Em:

Steelers vs Bengals, Jets vs Dolphins, Ravens vs Texans, Titans vs Colts, Falcons vs Panthers.

Sleeper: Patriots vs Bears 

DEF Bench ‘Em:

Bengals vs Steelers, Houston vs Ravens, Dolphins vs Jets, Lions vs Packers, Vikings vs Giants.

Randy Moss has been traded from the New England Patriots to the Minnesota Vikings, the team that drafted him, for a 3rd round draftpick on Wednesday.  The Patriots receiver has verbalized recently that he has felt unwanted in New England when they refused to extend his contract that ends at the end of this season. 

Fantasy wise, this puts the values of Moss up significantly, considering that Moss will be the only reliable  receiver on the struggling Vikings pass offense until Sidney Rice comes back from a hip injury that is supposed to keep him out until at least week 6, probably longer. 

This also raises the value of Brett Favre, who has disappointed fantasy owners thus far with only TE Visanthe Shiancoe as the Vikes only pass catcher who has proved reliable in the first 3 games of the Vikings season.  Having Moss to throw to figures to make Favre’s numbers much better.  This goes up even more when Rice returns.

On the New England side, WR Brandon Tate, who has wowed everyone with his extraordinary soecial teams play has a major increase in his value as well, as he reportedly will become the Pats #1 receiver.  Tate should be added in every league, and he is probably available as of this writing at almost 10 am Wednesday.  Get him if you can.  He may not be what we expect, or he may save your season.

Redskins RB Ryan Torain was listed in the updated media charts as the backup to oft-injured RB Clinton Portis.  Torain is an interesting player for fantasy purposes.

If Portis goes down (which is very likely), Torain is a good stash in a deeper leagues if you have room on your bench.  It’s worth noting that Torain received the same amount of carries as starter Clinton Portis, and had 2 more yards than Portis. 

Former backup Larry Johnson was released by the Redskins last week, and Willie Parker was released several weeks ago.

Also worth noting is that coach Mike Shanahan has a reputation of getting career years out of most any RB in his offensive system.

This week, Mike Vick was announced as the new starting QB for the Eagles over Kevin Kolb.  Today, is was announced that Bruce Gradkowski will be the new starter for the Oakland Raiders over Jason Campbell.  Obviously, if you planned to start Kolb or Campbell this week, this will change your plans but there are more fantasy lineup implications to this than just those two. 

Gradkowski loved throwing the ball to Louis Murphy last season.  Gradkowski played 4 full games after getting the nod over Jamarcus Russell and before going down with an injury in week 14.  In those 4 games, Gradkowski threw 6 TD passes.  3 of those 6 were to Murphy.  Murphy without Gradkowski?  1 TD. 

Yardage wasn’t that much for Murphy even with Gradkowski, so I wouldn’t make him a starter at WR if you have better options until you see more yardage production.  But if you are looking for a flex play in a 12 team league or some extra depth at WR, Murphy is a good pickup if you can get him.  Grab him now if you want him.

As for the Eagles; Kolb owners (especially those who took him early in drafts) are not happy today.  I hope you had the sense to draft a quality backup if you drafted Kolb without knowing how good he’d be.  If you didn’t, try to grab Vick if he’s still availabe.  If not, see if you can get Vince Young, Josh Freeman, Alex Smith, or Chad Henne off of the waiver wire.  If not, make a trade.  You might get a guy like Joe Flacco cheap right now and relish in it when he finds his rhythm.

Bump up DeSean Jackson in value, as well as Jeremy Maclin now that Vick is in.  Brent Celek may be valued lower, as Vick doesn’t usually go to the Tight End as much as Kolb or McNabb.  So grab a good backup TE if you don’t have one. 

As always, ask questions if you like, and I will answer them as I see them.  Look for Start ‘Em and Bench ‘Em for week 3 in the next couple of days.

As if we didn’t know this already, Brett Favre is coming back. No, he hasn’t announced it yet. But he has announced it if you speak Favre-glish.  It’s the language that only Favre knows how to speak since – after all- it is his language.  And he doesn’t need to say a word. 

If you do listen to what he speaks, you’d believe that this is a man in limbo pondering his future.  All he will say is that he is considering it and talking it over with his family.  That’s Favre-glish for “I’m pretending to be undecided until maybe the last 2 weeks of training camp, maybe later to avoid going through ‘two a days’.”

Favre has given his sign for the year (as if we needed one) that he will indeed be back for a 20th NFL season.  He first had surgery on his left ankle to clean up some scar tissue and bone spurs.  Now, he’s back to practicing football with high school kids at Oak Grove High School in Hattiesburg, Miss.

Favre will continue to ‘decide’ for at least the next 2 weeks.  After that, he will officially announce to all people who do not understand Favre-glish that he will be returning.

Brad Childress and the Minnesota Vikings, myself, and every other NFL writer out there have known this for months.

ESPN’s Adam Schefter is reporting that Chargers WR Vincent Jackson will be suspended for 3 games in 2010 for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy.

Jackson pleaded guilty in February to driving while intoxicated. This is Jackson’s second conviction for the same charge.

No word on whether or not he will appeal.

By Bob Metz

WR Steve Smith, Carolina branch (Panthers) has a broken arm he suffered in a flag football game according to Mike Cranston, AP sports writer.

Smith had surgery Sunday night on the same arm he broke against the New York Giants last season, though not in the same place. The team does not have a timetable for his return.

However, all may not be lost, fantasy owners because though Smith will miss the start of training camp for certain, the reports at this early stage sound optimistic about Smith possibly being able to play by week 1 of the regular season.

Either way, I wouldn’t count on Smith being a top notch WR this season.

By Bob Metz

Click for an updated version of my 2010 fantasy mock draft!

http://nfldraftmock.com/2010-nfl-fantasy-football-mock-draft/

By Bob Metz

As your fantasy football expert, I am here with a warning.  Do not commit these common fantsy draft mistakes.  If you do, you’ll likely miss your playoffs and wish you had heeded these 5 deadly sins of fantasy drafting:

1.      Taking the D/ST or DEF and K positions early:

I’ll be short and sweet here.  The D/ST or DEF and K positions can wait until the end of your draft.  There generally is not that much discrepancy in defensive point totals for the top 10 defenses in the league each week.  In addition, D/ST stats vary from year to year because there are so many altering factors.  Every single year I find a D/ST that surprises and does very well in fantasy points on the waiver wire and I end up dropping the one I drafted by mid-season.  If you drafted yours in the 8^th round (in a 16 round league), you could have gotten a good WR or backup QB in that spot but wasted the pick only to find out that the better defense was never even drafted.  The only thing I’ll say about kickers is that they are a bigger waste of a draft pick than the defenses.  Please don’t come crying to me if you lose your league and you drafted a D/ST, DEF, or K before the third to last round.  I’ll shun you!

2.      Drafting with your heart instead of your head:

‘Homerism’ affects fantasy owners in ways that can really affect their teams.  You may love your (insert team name here) but don’t draft a player because he plays for your favorite team.  Draft a player because you really believe that he can help your fantasy team.  I’ve seen owners draft players from their team because they let their heart convince their mind that it was a good move.  Needless to say, they didn’t even have a chance to win.  The same can be said for not drafting players from teams you dislike.  You may pass on a player that can be the difference for your fantasy team.  He could be that one missing piece who has a career year and wins you your championship!  Pretend in your draft that each player plays for a team you like, and take the best player available that suits your team’s needs.  Use your head instead of your heart, and you’ll have a much greater chance to win.

3.      Going into the draft without a plan:

This is a very important, but simple concept.  Look at bye weeks for players you want to draft, participate in some interactive mock drafts to get a good feel, or – most importantly – read my 2010 NFL FANTASY FOOTBALL MOCK DRAFT, and have a plan in place before your draft.  Are you going to take the best player available each round?  Drafting RB’s first?  Taking a QB first to assure that you get your guy?  When should you start drafting WR’s?  In the draft, the clock is running.  A plan will guide you so you don’t run out of time on a pick and draft players you really don’t want by mistake.  It will also help you to visualize scenarios that may occur and be more capable of making a good decision if they do.

4.      Drafting without regard to bye weeks:

When you are drafting, pay close attention to bye weeks.  If you draft too many players that have the same bye week, you’ll have no players to use for that particular week and will likely end up trading for a lower valued player or dropping one of your good players to pick one up from the free agent list.  This is another reason why it is a must that you go into your draft with a plan of some sort.  At minimum, look at bye week conflicts.  If necessary, make a cheat sheet of players listed by position and bye week.  This could help you in your decision making while you’re on the clock! 

5.      Not doing your homework:

My second grader comes home from school each day with a math page and a spelling page to return the following day.  He doesn’t always get the answers right, but being the attentive father that I am, I check his work for accuracy.  I won’t give him the answers, but I will guide him by showing him what he did wrong and asking him to do it again, possibly with a pointer or two.  My son is an Honor Roll student.  He gets good grades at crunch time on tests. What does this have to do with your fantasy draft?  He wouldn’t be an honor roll student or get those good grades if he didn’t work at it.  If he didn’t do his homework.  The same goes for a fantasy owner.  Sure, one year an owner could surprise and even win a league without studying much.  But if you really want to be a good fantasy player, do your homework.  Look at statistics from a particular player for the past 2 years.  Find out if injuries played a factor in a down year, if any roster changes might affect a certain player, and even the current NFL schedule for his team.  I don’t expect you to check out every player, but it does wonders if you do a little research on at least a few and look at fantasy trends from the prior season.  They could give you clues to get an edge on your opponent.

2010 NFL FANTASY FOOTBALL MOCK DRAFT!! 

http://nfldraftmock.com/2010-nfl-fantasy-football-mock-draft/