According to multiple reports, the Bengals and Raiders have agreed to a deal that would send veteran QB Carson Palmer to the Raiders for a 1st round pick in 2012 and another conditional pick in 20103.

You’d have to think Palmer is in decent shape for this deal to go down, so this is good news for their offense and their WRs, especially Darrius Heyward-Bey, who is really their main possession receiver on the outside. Palmer may not have a great arm at this point in his career to get the ball down the field to their speedy WRs, but while Palmer has been shaky the last couple of years, this is still an upgrade and helps their offense overall, including their running game, when you consider the alternative (Kyle Boller).

With this trade, Palmer is a fantasy backup only in this run-based offense, but he’d have some upside each week because they will always take deep shots to guys like Jacoby Ford and Denarius Moore. We can see him averaging 230-240 yards and 1-2 TDs a game.

Palmer has reportedly been working out with former NFL QB Ken O’Brien and has a connection to Raider HC Hue Jackson from their time together [...]

Injuries and six teams being off never make things easy, but hopefully I can help you navigate your way through all thirteen of the Week Six games.

Carolina Panthers at Atlanta Falcons

If Cam Newton can do what he did last week, I’ll have no worries about him the rest of the way. He doesn’t need to throw for a lot of yards as long as he continues to be active near the goal line, and that appears to be exactly what will happen. If you own DeAngelo Williams or Jonathan Stewart, they are probably good flex plays this week, but since they are splitting touches and will probably need a longer TD to score, you have to readjust any expectations going forward. Matt Ryan continues to hold back this offense and while they should still do well this week, they won’t reach their full potential or at least achieve what they want with him throwing ducks downfield. Michael Turner should be a nice play in this game only because he’ll get enough volume to produce, but if they fall behind, he’s never going to produce like a #2 RB.

Indianapolis Colts at Cincinnati Bengals

Cedric Benson still doesn’t seem that happy with [...]

Going forward, we will try to address any news of note with fantasy analysis in a quick blog entry like this one.

The Jets traded WR Derrick Mason to the Texans in exchange for a conditional 7th-round conditional draft pick. Mason had been a bust in his short time with the Jets, catching just 13/115 on 21 targets in five games, which was good for a measly 2.3 FPG (111th at the WR position). Mason was apparently unhappy with his role and that came to head in Week Five, when he played just five snaps in the loss to the Patriots. Although he’s 37, Mason can still be a reliable chain-mover for the Texans, especially since Jacoby Jones hasn’t developed into the player they’d hoped (1/11 against the Raiders in Week Five). Houston realizes they have a good chance to make some noise in the AFC this year, so bringing in a veteran like Mason was probably a cheap, safe move to give them some stability at the WR position until Andre Johnson returns from his hamstring injury. Jones and Kevin Walter will remain the starters for now, but look for Mason, who has good hands and is known for his [...]

We enter the first week of byes with six teams off, which certainly makes lineup decisions tougher. It is time to take a look at the 13 games in Week Five.

Philadelphia Eagles at Buffalo Bills

I’m sure not many people expected this game to mean much before the season started, and even less expected the Bills to be at 3-1 and the Eagles to be sitting at 1-3. There’s nothing to worry about when it comes to the Eagle offense, as the Bills don’t pose much of a threat with their defense, even with CB Terrence McGee returning. The big issue for the Eagles is how their defense will handle this Buffalo offense. For whatever reason, Philly tried to use Nnamdi Asomugha in a variety of different ways, and it’s failed miserably. They need to let him get back to just being one of the best cover corners in the league. If they do, Stevie Johnson could be in trouble. Luckily for the Bills they have other weapons, like Fred Jackson, who should have a very good game against an Eagle defense that continues to look awful in their attempts to stop the run.

New Orleans Saints at Carolina Panthers

Apparently, Cam [...]

The injury bug seem to be affecting more players than usual this early in the season, and has caused quite a few headaches for fantasy owners. Let us hope it is a little less ugly out there in Week Four.

Carolina Panthers at Chicago Bears

The Bears are throwing the ball a ton, yet it’s not worth starting any of their WRs. It’s Matt Forte or bust in Chicago, and even Jay Cutler knows nothing is going to change. The way he’s getting hit, I’m officially worried about him becoming shell-shocked to the point that he turns into Marc Bulger in his final years in St. Louis. Bulger didn’t want to play football by the time he was done in St. Louis and why would Cutler want to keep going when it’s probably not going to get any better. Thanks for ruining a great talent, Mike Martz. The Carolina backfield continues to be a total conundrum and probably won’t be any easier to figure out after playing this tough Bear run defense. Let’s throw out Cam Newton’s performance in the monsoon last week. Can he get it done against this defense? I have my doubts, but it will be an interesting [...]

Week Three is upon us in the National Football League, and unfortunately, so are a ton of injuries. I will not pretend to know why these have all popped up quickly, even if it is easy to blame the lockout and lack of formal workouts. What I do know is we have sixteen games to look at, so let’s get to it.

New England Patriots at Buffalo Bills

Just as you would have expected coming into the season, these undefeated teams will battle for the top spot in the AFC East! Ok, maybe this is a little surprising. Ryan Fitzpatrick and the Buffalo offense have been very entertaining to watch, and things may only get better with RB C.J. Spiller expected to see time at receiver. My guy, Fred Jackson has proven once again to be one of the most reliable players in the league and it’s better suited to carry the load than Spiller is, but Spiller dynamic ability needs to be used and the Bills need all the firepower they can get going up against the Patriots. Tom Brady continues to dominate, but will be without what could be his most dangerous weapon in TE Aaron Hernandez. That could open [...]

With the lockout in our rearview mirror, we are just one day away from a full slate of real NFL action. Just like last season, I will share my general thoughts on each game on either Friday or Saturday. Here we go…

Pittsburgh Steelers at Baltimore Ravens

This might be a fun rivalry to watch, but it’s typically ugly for fantasy purposes. I wouldn’t be too excited about playing Ray Rice or Rashard Mendenhall in this one after they combined for 176/2 on 61 carries in the two meetings between the teams last year. It’ll be tough to sit either guy, but if you do play them, make sure to lower expectations. Joe Flacco might have a rough go of it playing behind a rebuilt OL that sees Bryant McKinnie taking over at LT and C Matt Birk coming back from a knee injury. As I’ve been warning everyone this week, expectations need to be managed if you have anyone playing in this game since these tend to turn into slugfests.

Atlanta Falcons at Chicago Bears

Roy Williams should not be a starting WR over Johnny Knox. Everyone seems to know that except the Bears, but Mike Martz is apparently an offensive genius and [...]

Each week we will bring you the weekly game picks from our staff. However, our group of senior writers decided to take things a step further making predictions for the season. Here is what they came up with:

Matt Camp

AFC

East: Patriots (13-3)

West: Chargers (13-3)

North: Steelers (11-5)

South: Texans (12-4)

Wildcards: Jets (12-4), Ravens (11-5)

Championship Game: Chargers over Patriots

NFC

East: Eagles (10-6)

West: Rams (11-5)

North: Packers (13-3)

South: Saints (11-5)

Wildcards: Lions (10-6), Falcons (10-6)

Championship Game: Packers over Eagles

Super Bowl: Packers over Chargers

MVP: Philip Rivers

Matt Brown

AFC

East: Patriots (13-3)

West: Chargers (12-4)

North: Steelers (11-5)

South: Texans (12-4)

Wildcards: Ravens (10-6), Jets (9-7)

Championship Game: Texans over Patriots

NFC

East: Eagles (12-4)

West: Rams (9-7)

North: Packers (13-3)

South: Saints (12-4)

Wildcards: Falcons (11-5), Lions (9-7)

Championship Game: Eagles over Packers

Super Bowl: Eagles over Texans

MVP: Aaron Rodgers

Joe Dolan

AFC

East: Patriots (13-3)

West: Chargers (13-3)

North: Steelers (12-4)

South: Texans (10-6)

Wildcards: Ravens (12-4), Jets (10-6)

Championship Game: Chargers over Patriots

NFC

East: Eagles (13-3)

West: Rams (10-6)

North Packers (12-4)

South: Saints (12-4)

Wildcards: Falcons (11-5), Lions (10-6)

Championship Game: Eagles over Saints

Super Bowl: Eagles over Chargers

MVP: Aaron Rodgers

Note: Matt Camp’s Weekly MATTchups will be posted on Saturday, but every Friday after that.

As we continue our series of analyzing poll results, we asked our subscribers perhaps the most pertinent question left for the fantasy football season: who is the #1 pick? We have exactly one week until the season kicks off, and there is still no clear-cut answer:

Among the five options, we had a convincing winner, but not a majority winner (think the United States Presidential Election of 1992!). It appears that Guru subscribers just feel best about Adrian Peterson at this point, and it’s hard to argue with them. Peterson had a thigh injury that limited him to 15 games last year, but he was still incredibly productive. Peterson had over 1600 yards from scrimmage and 13 total TDs, even behind an atrocious Minnesota offensive line with an ineffective and injured Brett Favre playing QB (later Tarvaris Jackson and Joe Webb). At the very least, the addition of QB Donovan McNabb will provide a stabilizing element to the Viking backfield. Peterson has asked Viking coaches for even more touches – it’s the last year of his contract, and perhaps he wants to prove his importance to the franchise, if they don’t know already. But he won this poll because he might [...]

As we did last week, we are going to continue analyzing our poll results as part of our blog. Recently, we asked FG.com subscribers which of four different players (two rookies and two veterans) we’ve taken a liking to this preseason is their favorite sleeper:

As I was certain our subscribers have taken notice to Brown WR Greg Little just as much as we have this preseason (perhaps because we’ve been so demonstrative about him), it was no surprise to see him win this “election” comfortably: he ended up with a 24% margin on the other players, more than doubling the next highest vote-getter’s ratio. Little is a converted running back who has had some problems with his hands, but it’s clear he’s an excellent fit in this system for QB Colt McCoy. Little has an understanding for route running, and his big, tailback frame means he’s a strong receiver in the intermediate area and can overpower CBs, safeties, and even some LBs in a matchup. Remember, the Browns traded out of the slot where the Falcons ended up drafting WR Julio Jones, and we believe there is a good reason for that. Looking at Little from a skillset standpoint, he [...]