Submitting Lineups
Posted: Mon Aug 16, 2004 2:19 pm
As someone who has the 11th pick in his main league, I would do a cartwheel if Lewis fell to me there.
I can understand why people are shying away from Lewis, but I think if he does fall that far, it's too far given his talent. Consider this: Most accounts expect the trial to last 2 weeks at most. So that's 2 games Lewis could miss. I say "could" because I personally don't think he's going to miss any time at all.
The Ravens were 10-6 last season and they needed a 2,000-yard season from Lewis to get there. Depending on how the season is going for them when Lewis' trial starts, I could see Billick maybe trying to see if his team can win a game without him. But given how pathetic their offense will likely be minus Lewis (it isn't very good with him), I don't think it will take Billick long to realize he needs his best offensive player and that trying to win without him is going to put a serious hurt on the Ravens' playoff aspirations.
If I were a betting man, I'd bet on Lewis playing all 16 games this season barring injury. I think Billick will do everything he can to make sure Lewis can play each week, no matter what accomodations need to be made during the trial.
Is Lewis a risky pick? He sure is, but how far down will you lower him? And if you drop him down, take a good look at the RBs he's bound to be surrounded by. Edge hasn't played a full season since his knee injury; Faulk is obviously an injury risk; guys like Henry and Davis will be losing carries. It seems to me there's some risk associated with quite a few of the RBs after the top six and a few of them could miss some games as well this season. So how do they really differ from Lewis in that regard? I don't believe they do, which is why I would definitely grab him if he slid to the lower end of the first round or into the second round.
I can understand why people are shying away from Lewis, but I think if he does fall that far, it's too far given his talent. Consider this: Most accounts expect the trial to last 2 weeks at most. So that's 2 games Lewis could miss. I say "could" because I personally don't think he's going to miss any time at all.
The Ravens were 10-6 last season and they needed a 2,000-yard season from Lewis to get there. Depending on how the season is going for them when Lewis' trial starts, I could see Billick maybe trying to see if his team can win a game without him. But given how pathetic their offense will likely be minus Lewis (it isn't very good with him), I don't think it will take Billick long to realize he needs his best offensive player and that trying to win without him is going to put a serious hurt on the Ravens' playoff aspirations.
If I were a betting man, I'd bet on Lewis playing all 16 games this season barring injury. I think Billick will do everything he can to make sure Lewis can play each week, no matter what accomodations need to be made during the trial.
Is Lewis a risky pick? He sure is, but how far down will you lower him? And if you drop him down, take a good look at the RBs he's bound to be surrounded by. Edge hasn't played a full season since his knee injury; Faulk is obviously an injury risk; guys like Henry and Davis will be losing carries. It seems to me there's some risk associated with quite a few of the RBs after the top six and a few of them could miss some games as well this season. So how do they really differ from Lewis in that regard? I don't believe they do, which is why I would definitely grab him if he slid to the lower end of the first round or into the second round.