The Biggest Questions For the 2011 Fantasy Football Season

Mike Vick with Philadelphia
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It looks like the new collective bargaining agreement is going into effect sometime today (7/25/2011) and we should start seeing action all over the pro football realm. This means the 25 million or so fantasy football players can breathe a collective sigh of relief. Fantasy football will be played, trades will be made, and trophies will be be won. There is a controversial question that has been hotly debated over the past few months, really since the end of last years fantasy season. Should Michael Vick not only be the #1 quarterback drafted but the #1 overall pick? There are millions of fantasy owners on both sides of the fence. Is there a right answer. I for one am not quite sure there is, but let’s see if we can find it.

Argument(s) For Vick Being The #1 Overall Pick

The main argument for Vick being the #1 overall pick is that he is the most unique and dynamic player in fantasy football. When that fantasy football draft board goes up should he be the #1 pick? Here is what proponents say about that question.

Vick is a risk/reward player but the reward far outweighs the risk. Vick in addition to being dynamic is by far the most dangerous dual threat in the league. He is in a high powered offense where he can pass to any number of highly skilled options. If needs be he can take off and run if things break down. He is as dangerous a player on the field as there ever has been and if you need any proof just go back and look at the numbers last year against Washington and the New York Giants. Only Vick can put up these types of numbers. Sure a running back here and there rushes for 200 yards and 3 scores like Arian Foster did last year but Vick can put up 333 yards passing with 4 passing touchdowns and 80 yards rushing with 2 rushing tds like he did on Monday night against Washington. That’s at least 49 fantasy points in a standard league. Oh well that’s just one week he didn’t do that every week. No he didn’t but Vick did average a ridiculous 27 points a game. The next closest QB was Aaron Rodgers and he averaged right at 20. In standard leagues when Vick played a full game he only once scored “Below” 20 points and that was a 19 point outing against the Giants. The next time he played the Giants he scored 38. Proponents will argue there is no other player that has even close to this type of potential for scoring and anyone would be out of their mind not to draft him first. He is by far the best option to win you multiple weeks by himself and is probably the safest bet to provide you with double digit fantasy points week in and week out. It’s a no-brainer ladies and gentleman, Vick should be the first pick.

Arguments Against Vick Being the #1 Overall Pick

If you want to win your league’s fantasy football trophy, opponents will argue drafting Vick #1 overall would not be a wise choice. Here is what arguments are against Vick going #1 overall.

Fantasy is all about minimizing risk, especially with the first pick. Vick is much to risky of a pick to take first overall. Especially since you only need to start one qb in standard leagues and your next pick in a 10 man league isn’t until pick 20. Take a safe running back instead and wait on a qb. You can likely get Tom Brady or Peyton Manning with your next pick if you wait. Vick has only really had one other season similar to last years, and that was way back in 2002. Brady and Manning have been consistent for a decade. Vick in 2002 still scored less points than he did in 10′ and played 15 games where-as last year he played 12. Last year was an anomaly and not likely to be repeated. He had 9 rushing tds last year and 8 in 2002. The next 15 game season for Vick was 2004 and he only had 3 rushing tds. It’s hard to repeat that type of rushing td performance from year to year, even if you are Michael Vick. In 2003 after the big 02′ season he only played 5 games because of injury. Speaking of injury this is the next argument. Vick is one of the most dangerous weapons on the field, but also one of the most dangerous options to have as your quarterback due to injury. He only played in 12 games last year and took a large # of hits. He no longer is in his 20’s and the hits take a heavier toll in their 30s. If you look at his last 5 or 6 games defenses started blitzing him relentlessly and Vick took a beating. He had to sit out week 17 as a result and really didn’t look in perfect health against the Packers in the wild card round. His style is too dangerous, and injury is too big a concern. If defenses decide from day 1 the only way to stop him is to blitz him, and hit him, until they crack his armor (or worse ribs), then he is going to take a beating. Do you want to waste your #1 pick on a player that will likely miss games due to injury? Take A.P. instead and thank us for it later.

I could keep going with arguments for both sides but these are the main arguments that each side has. One of the great things about fantasy football is that there are arguments like this to be had. Truth is nobody knows the right answer until the season is complete. Vick will either be a fantasy juggernaut and help multiple teams win their championships, he will come back down to earth and score closer to his peers, or he will take a beating, be injured half of the year and be a nightmare for owners who drafted him first. If you really want him and you have the first pick your only option is to take him because he won’t be there when it’s your turn again.

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