Fantasy Football Rankings: Josh Freeman Era Begins for Tampa Bay Buccaneers

For better or worse the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have decided to go with their talented rookie quarterback Josh Freeman . Freeman will now inherit one of the worst offenses in football and hopefully grow in experience.


Down With the Flu

One would have thought that this particular week would be a good time for the youngsters' career to start as he's had two weeks to prepare because of the bye week.

Unfortunately, a bunch of the Buccaneer players came down with the flu on the way back from their loss in England to the Patriots . Because of this the team had only practiced for a total of 2 1/2 hours (by the end of Tuesday) in their entire time off.

A young quarterback needs to get as much time and reps in as possible to get ready to play at this level and lack of preparation won't help his chances for success.

Beyond his lack of reps and possible health, he has to play against the Packers secondary this weekend. The Packers secondary hasn't fared well against quarterbacks like Brett Favre , but they have dominated against lower end quarterbacks.

While Freeman may end up being a pro bowl caliber player at some point in his career, he is definitely not at the playing level of Favre this season.


Fantasy Football Strategy

From a fantasy football perspective, I would highly recommend you find defenses off the waiver wire that are playing the Buccaneers moving forward. This team was already a good team to get defensive points against, and now they are just that more attractive.

Freeman has a major learning curve to deal with and in his growing pains fantasy owners can capitalize from his mistakes.

Below I have the Buccaneers remaining schedule up to week 16 when most fantasy leagues complete their season. Keep an eye out for these teams on your waiver wire and consider picking them up a week in advance so that other owners won't get them.

Wk. 9- Packers
Wk.10- @ Dolphins
Wk. 11- Saints
Wk. 12- @ Falcons
Wk. 13- @ Panthers
Wk. 14- Jets
Wk. 15- @ Seahawks
Wk. 16- @ Saints

Until Freeman shows that he is capable of playing at a respectable level the Buccaneers will continue to be a team worth playing defenses against.

As far as Freeman's fantasy football value I wouldn't pick him up off the waiver wire until he starts showing he can play at this level.

NFL Fantasy Football Player Rankings writer Sean E. Douglas: fantasy-info.com