Football frenzy

With all the NFL free agent signings and trades going down this past week, I can't help but turn my attention to a little fantasy football, offseason edition. These owners are stocking up on running backs the way old people buy Chef Boyardee when a hurricane or snowstorm is about to hit. Anyway, how about we take a look at some moves that will have fantasy implications? Thinking about this stuff now will put you ahead of the game come September ...

JAMAL LEWIS TO BROWNS
Lewis is pretty far removed from his 2,000-yard season, and this move to Cleveland isn't going to help his cause. The Brownies were last in the league in rushing last year and have had exactly one 1,000-yard rusher (Reuben Droughns, 2005) since 19-freakin'-85. Lewis is an RB2 at best now, and I'd look for a slight decline in his stats next year.

WILLIS McGAHEE TO RAVENS
The Ravens essentially replaced Lewis with McGahee, a more explosive runner who's two years younger. McGahee does come attached to some injury risk, but he definitely deserves a fantasy upgrade after moving to a solid, ball-control offense that features a much better offensive line. McGahee might even be a low-level fantasy No. 1 next year.

TRAVIS HENRY TO BRONCOS
Henry also improved his fantasy standing by moving to an offense that has a knack for creating star tailbacks. Assuming he keeps his nose clean, Henry should take a firm hold of the starting job now that Tatum Bell is out of the picture (see below). A 1,200- or 1,300-yard campaign is basically a lock, as long as Mike Shanahan doesn't pull his old revolving-door trick with the backfield again.

THOMAS JONES TO JETS
Jones' value should hold steady after his trade to New York. Figure he'll be used much the same way as he was the past two years in Chicago, with young Leon Washington filling the Cedric Benson role as a change-of-pace back. The real question concerns Benson, who was supposed to have already replaced Jones as the Bears' feature back, oh, about two years ago. Can he handle the new role? I'm a little skeptical right now.

REUBEN DROUGHNS TO GIANTS
Droughns was up-and-down as the primary tailback in Cleveland. Now he comes to the Giants, who will attempt to replace Tiki Barber with some combination of himself and Brandon Jacobs. The Giants think highly of the young, bruising Jacobs (new GM Jerry Reese referred to Droughns as a "complement" to Jacobs), but the two may enter some kind of competition for the starting role. Still, I expect a situation similar to the one in Indianapolis this past season, with Jacobs getting about two-thirds of the carries as he slowly adjusts to a feature role (a la Joseph Addai) while the veteran Droughns, like Dominic Rhodes, gets the rest of the work. Both Droughns and Jacobs will be worth a mid-round pick, and we'll see how the situation unfolds.

DOMINIC RHODES TO RAIDERS
Speaking of Rhodes, he goes from the world champs to the league's worst team in '06, and cashes in by doing so. It's unclear what the Silver & Black have in mind for the tandem of Rhodes and LaMont Jordan, but it'll likely be some kind of two-headed attack (or even three-headed if you count recently signed FB Justin Griffith). Judging by the Raiders' recent track record, Rhodes probably won't enjoy the same success he's had with the Colts, and Jordan should be downgraded a peg as well - as if he already wasn't in most of our minds already.

RANDY McMICHAEL TO RAMS
Love this move for St. Louis. Athletic, pass-catching tight ends are kind of like the iPods of the NFL, everybody's got to have one, and Joe Klopfenstein didn't give the Rams that dimension last season. McMichael certainly does. He'll catch a lot of balls, and I expect him to flourish under coach Scott Linehan, his former offensive coordinator in Miami. Mark McMichael down as a legit No. 1 fantasy TE.

AHMAN GREEN TO TEXANS
Green was surprisingly serviceable last season as the feature back on a bad Packers team. He'll probably be serviceable again as the feature back on a bad Texans team next year, even though some younger guys (including Dominick Williams, the Running Back Formerly Known as Dominick Davis) will also be in the mix. Green's at that age 30 danger zone, too, so you'll have to be cautious here.

TATUM BELL, T.J. DUCKETT TO LIONS
Weird situation here - it's a awfully crowded backfield, which also includes Kevin Jones, Shawn Bryson and Brian Calhoun. Each of these guys are lugging big question marks around, too, concerning everything from injuries (Jones, Bryson, Calhoun, Bell) to effort (Bell) to opportunity (Duckett). The way I see it, Jones is probably still the guy, assuming he can stay on the field, which is a big assumption. Bell could share time with him, the way he did the past few years in Denver, but there's also talk of the Lions using him as trade bait. And Duckett will probably sucker some owners into drafting him, but it's hard to say if he'll even get the carries to make it worth your while.

JEFF GARCIA TO BUCS
Could Garcia really start for the Bucs in 2007? I know he was fine for a stretch last year with the Eagles, but the jury's still out on whether he can be an effective starter for a full season. I'd like to think Chris Simms is still the guy the Bucs would LIKE to start for them - they did just give him a contract extension, after all - and bringing in Garcia is a ploy to push Simms in camp and serve as an insurance policy in case of emergency, like, say, another ruptured spleen. Or do you only have one spleen? I dunno, I'm a fantasy expert, not a doctor. Just don't make Garcia your starter next year, OK?