NFL Preseason: Exhibition Is Wreaking Havoc on Fantasy Football Rosters

The NFL preseason is met with excitement from fans who have been deprived of football since February, but that excitement quickly melts into disdain as the events of the preseason play out.

Quite frankly, in the context of being a fantasy football owner, I'm always shocked and chagrined at what's happening in the preseason. Ultimately, the issues we face can be divided into three categories.

What Player is Starting Or Taking First-Team Reps

It makes sense that when we see Roy Helu taking 13 first-half carries, you might figure that he would be the starter. After all, it is Mike Shanahan. He had a 4.4 yards per rush against the Titans in preseason Week 1. In Washington's zone-blocking system, any type of lead role would make that RB very valuable.

And if it were Helu, it would render Alfred Morris totally useless. Which is scary because he's going in the first round.

What about the situation in Cincinnati? We think BenJarvus Green-Ellis has the starting running back job. Yet, rookie Giovani Bernard 10 carries to the Law Firm's three and produced 44 total yards after adding in three catches. And he had a one-yard touchdown run, too.

Obviously, it's just the preseason. And it's hard to read too much into it too much. But we as fantasy owners can't help but be nervous. I watched Bernard's performance and thought the limited action showed he was much more talented than Green-Ellis. If the Bengals' coaching staff realizes that too, I might be able to get a real bargain in the latter half of the draft.

Key Injuries

Jeremy Maclin, Danario Alexander, Dennis Pitta and Joe Morgan were all draftable pass-catchers that have had their season cut short to injury already. All are out for 2013 and now rendered obsolete.

This leaves us scrambling to find out who will line up next to DeSean Jackson in the Eagle's offense. What does this mean for Jackson's value? If they can just double him every time, is there any reason to expect he can ever produce?

What about the value of LeSean McCoy? You can make a good argument his amazing production was helped by the fact that the Philadelphia Eagles' had so many good playmakers around him. We haven't even settled the quarterback battle, but it already looks like a less appetizing job to win for either Michael Vick or Nick Foles.

Perhaps just as important as flex player injuries are injuries on the line. Dan Koppen, center for the Broncos, is out for the season. That means Peyton Manning is taking snaps from the untested Manny Ramirez. Chris Clark looked bad against Aldon Smith in the San Francisco game, and Orlando Franklin, the right tackle, is pretty banged up.

Then there's the fantasy gods trying to mess with even the almighty Aaron Rodgers. They cut short Bryan Bulaga, his left tackle's season, with a torn ACL. Manning and Rodgers are without a doubt two of the safer signal-callers on the board, but it's hard to feel good about key injuries to their protectors.

Getting Fooled by "Coachspeak"

Coaches say the most ridiculous things that never end up being true. But we're all suckers for it either way.

I can't remember the amount of times I was fooled by, "he's the starting running back, no question", and ending up drafting a useless player who never played. 

We're seeing it again. We think Eddie Lacy is the starter at RB for Green Bay, yet Mike McCarthy apparently still views DuJuan Harris as the starter.

We hear things like C.J. Spiller is going to get the ball until he "throws up." The previous coaching regime had been committed to getting Spiller the ball, too. And he had three games with single-digit carries.

Coaches always say things like this and never deliver. For three straight seasons we listened to Norv Turner talk about how Ryan Mathews would get 300 touches every season. Okay, maybe that not happening had nothing to do with Turner and more to do with Mathews' body.

You can't trust what coaches say to the media, period. Don't reach for a guy just because you heard his coach saying that he's been great in training camp.