By PFW staff
Aug. 20, 2008

Updated at 5:25 p.m. EDT Wednesday, Aug. 20

The PFW staff has been hard at work collecting the hottest fantasy-related rumors and rumblings from around the league — with a little help from our friend “Buzz,” the fantasy bee.

Here, we present an excerpt from "The Fantasy Buzz," a regular print feature that was published in our current print edition (cover date: Aug. 24, 2008). If you want to read about the seven divisions other than the NFC West, you can find the print edition at newsstands and bookstores across the country, or you can purchase a copy (print or PDF) online at PFWstore.com.

Rams RB Steven Jackson

NFC West

 With Steven Jackson’s contract holdout reaching 27 days — a report Wednesday afternoon indicated he was about to return to camp — the consensus in fantasy circles is that too much valuable practice time has gone by the wayside for the Rams’ offensive workhorse to be counted on as a full-fledged fantasy force in the first couple of games. Said one team insider, “There’s no way in the world he’ll be able to carry the ball 30 times in Week One, and, at this point, it could very well be a month into the season before he’s capable of handling his normal workload.” The very real possibility that Jackson might try too hard to make up for lost time and suffer a debilitating injury is another factor worth taking into account.

 With Seahawks WRs Bobby Engram and Deion Branch both widely expected to be out of the picture initially, the best guess is that the team’s Week One starting corps will consist of Nate Burleson at split end, Courtney Taylor at flanker and Ben Obomanu in the slot. Opinions differ on exactly when Branch will return to the starting lineup, but most team observers agree that Engram isn’t likely to be back in action until after the team’s bye in Week Four.

 The positive buzz just keeps on growing in the case of Cardinals WR Larry Fitzgerald, who, according to daily team observers, never has worked harder in an effort to refine his route running and become an even more complete receiver. We hear Fitzgerald has been making eye-popping catches on an almost-daily basis. Cardinals offensive coordinator Todd Haley told one team insider that if Fitzgerald were just “an average run-after-catch guy,” he could have gained an extra 300 yards receiving and scored at least three more touchdowns last season.

 Not that it matters much from a fantasy standpoint, but it appears that J.T. O’Sullivan has the inside track over former first-round pick Alex Smith and Shaun Hill for the Niners’ starting QB job. Daily team observers believe that, unless Smith catches fire in the very near future, O’Sullivan is most likely to start the season under center due to his quick release and comfort zone with Mike Martz’s revamped system. But with the continued lack of a true deep receiving threat in the Niners’ offense, San Francisco looks like a fantasy wasteland if there ever were one. It’s also worth noting that O’Sullivan’s knack for making really ugly mistakes could be a liability in leagues that take points away from QBs who make turnovers.

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