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Extra Points: Tips from the Red Zone by Russ Bliss

Welcome to “Extra Points” -- where radio host and gridiron guru Russ Bliss shares his latest thoughts on what’s hot, who’s not and other breaking news and analysis that impacts the world of NFL fantasy football. Although this is Russ’s “blog,” we encourage users to interact with Russ by posting your own responses below. Agree or disagree, we want to hear from you! And don't forget to check out Russ's weekly fantasy football podcast and other audio programming, including three local and national fantasy football radio shows.

05/10/08 06:51		Shaun Alexander: Fantasy Football News On This Former Stud
	Oh, how the once mighty have fallen! Two years ago Xander was coming off a huge season and signed a big juicy contract. He was a top 3 pick in most fantasy football drafts in 2006 and went on to have a miserable injury-plagued season. It was expected he would bounce back in 2007, but that year turned out to be even worse than 2006 as injuries again flared up. While some of his struggles could be attributed to injuries, it clearly looked like he wasn't near the RB he had been. His story in Seattle came to an end earlier this year. The team cut him loose and Xander now sits as a free agent, able to sign with any team. But nobody seems to be all that interested. Xander has garnered some mild interest, but not as much as you would expect for a RB with his pedigree. Perhaps he has been pricing himself too high for teams' tastes. Perhaps the last two seasons have scared teams into thinking he's broken down. Maybe his foot injury from 2006 was more severe than anyone originally thought. There are a myriad of potential reasons why a player who once placed amongst the elite RB's in yearly fantasy football rankings now finds himself struggling to find a suitor for his services. No matter what the reason, he isn't finding a demand in the current free agent market. Now, as to those who have expressed interest in Alexander, they include the Cincinnati Bengals, the New Orleans Saints, and rumored to be on the list as well could be the Houston Texans and Denver Broncos. Quick thoughts on each of these teams and how he would fit: Cincinnati: Rudi Johnson is coming off an injury plagued season himself and the team is looking for some insurance behind him besides Kenny Watson. 2006 second round pick Kenny Irons has injury concerns and 2004 first round pick Chris Perry has had the injury bug even worse. Xander would have to accept a backup role, and it seems like a poor fit. New Orleans: The Saints have to be concerned about Deuce McAllister after going down each of the last 2 seasons with knee injuries. Reggie Bush has shown he isn't able to handle the load of being a feature RB and works much better as part of a tandem. Aaron Stecker is a steady veteran, but he doesn't possess any special traits. Xander would provide insurance against McAllister being able to return and stay healthy. Given the way the last 2 years have gone for McA, this seems like a good situation for Xander. Houston: The Texans realize that Ahman Green (another former fantasy stud RB) is practically out of gas in his career and they need someone else to carry the load. The Texans signed former Titan Chris Brown and while Brown has skills, he too has had injury troubles throughout his career. The team selected small yet speedy Steve Slaton in the 2008 NFL draft to be a complimentary RB, but he would struggle to handle too many of the carries. Like with the Saints, this would seem to be a decent fit for Xander. Denver: Xander knows the west coast offense and the transition here wouldn't be extreme between his old offense in Seattle and the style of offense the Broncos run. Trouble is that the Broncos already have a glut of RB's, including last seasons fantasy football bust: Travis Henry. The rumor is that that if Xander signed with Denver, Henry would likely be released, but that just seems unlikely after the team restructured his deal so he is not too heavy on the books. There's also last year's late season fantasy football sleepers Selvin Young and Andre Hall there, as well as recently drafted Ryan Torain. Xander in Denver sounds logical, but it just doesn't feel right given the circumstances. There's no telling where Shaun Alexander will eventually turn up. Maybe he waits until training camps as we all know injuries will happen then and demand for him could become much greater. There's even a chance a team like the New England Patriots or Indianapolis Colts could possibly be dark horses to sign a veteran like Xander to be insurance for their teams. Those actually make as much sense as any of the above teams mentioned. We'll just have to wait and see, but one thing is sure: no matter where he goes it's likely Xander is a guy who will be far down on fantasy football cheat sheets when our fantasy drafts come around in the coming months.
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