I realize that it's only the first week of the preseason and teams are still trying to figure out what their opening day rosters are going to look like, but there are already some interesting things taking place that you might want to be aware of.

• Ravens 16, Patriots 15: Obviously the score to this game means absolutely nothing, with Tom Brady, Randy Moss, Wes Welker and Willis McGahee not seeing the field. However, what was interesting was the stat lines for the Patriots running backs, Laurence Maroney (6 rushes for 6 yards) and LaMont Jordan (19 rushes for 76 yards and TD). While Maroney had limited playing time against some starters and Jordan most likely played against second and third stringers, I'm still starting to doubt that Maroney should be drafted as high as we have him on our power rankings. If Jordan runs well throughout the preseason, I expect to see a pretty even split of carries at the tailback position in New England this year, but of course it's only one game and maybe I'm getting ahead of myself, but maybe I'm not...

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With a whole friggin month still to go before football season, and my fantasy baseball teams in various states of disarray, I've got a serious jones for some fantasy action. Thank goodness for ESPN's Jim Caple and his scoring system for fantasy Olympics, which involves drafting athletes from a variety of Olympic sports. Scoring is quite simple, and actually makes a lot of sense: You get points for medals, plain and simple. Caple's system also forces you to draft athletes from many different sports, so when you're watching the Games at work, you'll always have something riding on the action.

You'll need to get your league together by tomorrow, though, so get cracking!

• Predicting QB success in fantasy football via YPA (Yards Per Attempt) and FAS (Functional Arm Strength).  (MLive.com)
• Bleacher Report's top 30 running backs. Included here because it's one of the rare rankings that doesn't have LT on top. Love for Westbrook is definitely in style this summer, but personally he still makes me nervous. (Bleacher Report)
• It's the middle rounds of your draft that will determine the winner. (FloridaToday)
• Blah, blah, Favre's a Jet, blah, blah. It's intensely satisfying to me to bury this story in the middle of a link post. Though I can't promise that Brandon isn't writing a breathless post about it right now. And honestly, I'll probably write an analysis at some point. But not today. (SI.com)
• Ranking the best fantasy football magazines. Personally, I don't get buying something in print when fantasy football is such a dynamic hobby and injuries can change everything in an instant, but I guess some people like shiny things they can hold in their hands. (Detroit Free Press)
• Five sure-fire busts that everyone should avoid, including, of course, Tom Brady. Wait, what? (Bleacher Report)

I'm sure tonight Jeff Garcia can sleep a little bit easier, knowing that he is still the starting quarterback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. I wish I could say the same for Chad Pennington and Kellen Clemens though, who saw their dreams of leading the New York Jets to another disappointing season come crashing down when the Packers traded Brett Favre to the Jets last night for a conditional draft pick. Actually, with the signing, it could be the end of the Pennington era in New York, as the team will most likely release one of its quarterbacks to make room for Favre (they probably don't want to carry four quarterbacks). All I know is: A) I'm excited to see some Favre versus Brady match-ups (as long as the Pats win!), B) Matt is slightly sad as now that the Bills have less of a chance to win the wild card (they'll probably lose twice to the Jets), C) I'm sooooo glad that Manny and Favre are finally on new teams and we don't have to hear about it every minute of every day on ESPN, and D) while I'm excited to see Favre/Brady, John Madden is already having wet dreams about it...even more than when Brady plays against Manning.

So after the dust settles, we can take a look at how this move will affect the fantasy value of the players involved:

Brett Favre, QB, NYJ: The move immediately makes Favre a top 10 quarterback in our power rankings (#9), right above Eli Manning. It could take him some time to get used to the new system, but I'm sure he'll survive and put up some starter quality numbers from your QB1 slot. All of those who took a chance on Favre in fantasy drafts before this morning are probably pretty excited (including us...as we took him in the 12th round of our Fantasy Website Drunken Pirate Slapfight Expert League!)

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Well, at least he does in a recent Madden 09 simulated season, which ranked the following players as leading the league in fantasy points for the upcoming season:

25. Reggie Wayne, WR, IND
24. Willis McGahee, RB, BAL
23. Thomas Jones, RB, NYJ
22. Chad Johnson, WR, CIN
21. Jamal Lewis, RB, CLE
20. Adrian Peterson, RB, MIN

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Although no website I visit seems to be able to give an official report on the situation, all of them are reporting that Denver wide receiver Brandon Marshall will be suspended for three games due to his offseason issues. The three games can potentially be reduced to two games, if Marshall agrees to counseling during his suspension. I'm going to go out on a limb and assume that he's not that arrogant that he would turn down the counseling, so let's assume he'll be out for the first two games of the season (possibly hanging out with Steve Smith or something).

We all knew this was coming, but we just weren't sure of the details. While Steve Smith's suspension came out of the blue, our power rankings for Marshall had already been adjusted accordingly, so even with this two or three game suspension, he still ranks as the 14th wide receiver, right before Wes Welker and the Detoit boys (Roy Williams and Calvin Johnson).

The Most Awkward Comeback Ever is finally a reality:

The Green Bay Packers reluctantly embraced Favre's forced return to the football field Sunday, after failing to come to a financial agreement that would manage to make Favre happy while staying retired.

And while it's not yet clear what role Favre will play once he reports to Packers camp Monday, Aaron Rodgers says he's ready for a potential competition with Favre after serving as his backup for three seasons.

It's still unclear whether Favre will be traded. The Vikings seem to be back in the picture as his potential future home. They'd clearly be a perfect fit in every way but one: They just so happen to be Green Bay's most hated division rival. Minnesota has a solid (if lopsided) defense, the best running game in the league - and a quarterback in Tarvaris Jackson who's probably got one last season to prove he can play at this level before he's cut loose. Stick Favre into this mix and you'd upgrade the Vikings from a trendy-pick contender to a serious force to be reckoned with. This trade would be excruciating for Packer fans - and a lot of fun to watch for the rest of us.

Aaron Rodgers is promising to make it competitive, but he won't, so let's just go ahead and forget about him. If Favre stays in Green Bay, the value of every offensive player on the team is positively affected. My biggest concern about Ryan Grant has been that, with Rodgers behind center, teams would simply focus on stuffing the run. If Favre's there, I see no reason not to expect him to return to the consistent performance his owners enjoyed in the second half of last season. Receivers Jennings, Driver and Jones all would benefit as well.

Aren't soap operas fun?

In case you missed it, on Friday Steve Smith was kicked out of Carolina's practice session after fighting with cornerback Ken Lucas. Lucas ended up with a broken nose after being hit in the face by Smith. Due to this, over the weekend the Panthers suspended Smith for the first two games of the season...the regular season that is. While he'll be able to participate in pre season games, he will miss two games of production for your fantasy team if you draft him. It's important to note that he will not receive any additional punishment from the league, so those two games are all you need to worry about him missing. However, due to this lack of production from a top tier receiver, he takes a minor hit on our wide receiver power rankings.

Earlier this month I wrote about the Yahoo! draft room and thought it was pretty solid. After participating in a few other drafts and mock drafts, I've now seen a few other draft rooms that I thought would be good to share with everyone as they get ready to draft...

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As the preseason approaches, as well as many of your fantasy football drafts, it's time to write about some of the players that we recommend you target in your draft...players that most of the other owners in your league might not be thinking about (or even aware of). While making this list, I realized that a few of the players I wanted to include are not necessarily "sleeper" picks, so the list was expanded slightly to include players that are simply undervalued at their position, and that you should be able to pick up late in your draft. If you're in a keeper league, the young players on this list usually make for good pickups, with the hope that they can become stars in the future. Even if you're not in a keeper league though, the hope is that these players can help your team at some point in the season, if not immediately, so keep an eye on 'em!

Quarterbacks

Aaron Rodgers (GB): As long as Brett Favre does not somehow weasel his way back into the starting role in Green Bay, Rodgers is primed to have a pretty solid year in Green Bay. Last season Favre managed to thrown 28 touchdowns in this offense, which other than Donald Driver, consisted primarily of players with very little experience in the offense (or the league for that matter). I expect this year that while there will be an obvious drop off at the quarterback position, all of the other players on the team should take strides forward and allow Rodgers to have a great "rookie" season. You might not want him as your QB1 going into the season, but if you're starting him consistently from week 3 or 4 on, don't be surprised.

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