By Dalton Del Don
Beanie Wells (right ankle) only participated in individual drills during Wednesday’s practice – After recently aggravating the injury, Wells’ status for Saturday’s preseason game is still up in the air, and he continues to miss valuable practice time. The rookie hasn’t participated in a full practice this summer, and he wasn’t able to participate in any of Arizona’s OTAs either, thanks to college rules. About a month ago, Wells was one of my favorite targets, but his inability to stay healthy has clearly become quite a concern. My reasoning was while Wells was perpetually banged up at Ohio St., he only missed three games throughout his collegiate career, so he must be somewhat tough. And he clearly has the physical tools to be successful at the next level. Also, the NFC West is incredibly soft defensively, and with a fantasy playoff schedule of @SF, @DET, and STL, Wells could be a huge factor when it matters most. Moreover, Tim Hightower is terrible, and Ken Whisenhunt is a run-first coach at heart, and he didn’t use a first round pick on a running back to be a backup. Finally, the Cardinals field a much better run blocking unit than most people think.
Coach Andy Reid has been pleased with Brian Westbrook’s (ankle, knee) progress so far in training camp – Westbrook has been a guy I’ve avoided for three years running, thinking this is the time he breaks down physically. And after each instance he proved me wrong, I refused to go to the well the following year, as I was sure when I finally did, then that will be when he busts. Well, even though he continued to miss games, it’s safe to say this strategy has backfired. In 2006, he totaled 1,916 yards. Two years ago, it was a meager 2,104 yards. And even last season, when he was clearly hampered by injuries, he totaled 1,338 and a career-high 14 touchdowns despite a career-low 4.0 YPC. And the thing is, when you consider he’s putting up that kind of production while missing games each year, it actually makes him MORE valuable, since you get a replacement during the DNPs. Last year’s decline in YPC could be a sign of things to come; after all, he’s now 30 years old. But his career mileage (1,247 carries) remains low. However, LeSean McCoy has impressed during the preseason, and he offers a similar skill set, so the touch distribution could become 60-40 or even 50-50, since Philadelphia’s main goal is to have Westbrook healthy for the playoffs (not that that scenario is guaranteed). Still, Westbrook can be ridiculously valuable even with just 225 carries, and Jason Peters is a terrific run blocker, even if he gave up a bunch of sacks last year. I’m avoiding RBs like Clinton Portis and LaDainian Tomlinson, but Westbrook could easily remain a top-five back, despite his age.
Walter Jones will undergo arthroscopic surgery on his left knee, the same knee he had operated on in December – Shaun Alexander got all the fantasy glory, but make no mistake, Jones was mostly responsible. His return to health is imperative to the Seahawks’ 2009 season, so this is a huge blow to everyone involved. Jones is coming back from microfracture surgery, and although he practiced the first day of training camp, he suffered back spasms shortly after and missed the next 12 days. Translation = he’s breaking down. Normally I don’t like to overreact to secondary problems like this, but I’d downgrade Julius Jones, Matt Hasselbeck, etc. in this case. I’m having the hardest time trying to predict the NFC West winner, maybe more than any other division in football.
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