Welcome back big guy

It happens every year playing fantasy football; someone in the league loses a top player to injury. Its enough to make you sick to your stomach, you curse you swear but none of it helps because deep down you know that your championship team will be struggling to win half your games and you can forget about the playoffs. It’s especially crushing in deep leagues of 14 or more teams. Last season Team Tom Brady is God watched as his season went up in smoke game one.

This year based on his draft position, everyone is expecting a big return by Brady. He’s been going in the first round in over 85% of the fantasy football drafts on the internet.

Tom Brady isn’t the only star coming back from and fantasy football season crippling jury. Let’s have a look at a few others and see what we can expect from them.

Carson Palmer averaged over 4000 yards and over 28 TDs a season in from 2005 to 2007. He didn’t undergo the invasive Tommy John Surgery, rather choosing a more traditional treatment. If I were a Bengals fan, I would have rather Palmer had the ligaments rebuilt this way he would come back stronger and throwing harder, hey it works for pitchers. If he’s healthy, Palmer could make the Bengals relevant again… OK sorry for the exaggeration but if he’s healthy, we should see a lot more of Chad Johnson OchoCinco’s TD celebrations.

Earnest Graham has me nervous, I’m expecting big things this year from Derrick Ward but the return of Earnest Graham could make trouble for Big Ben’s Reno Girl. Graham is a bulldozer and if he’s healthy, he should get the majority of the goal line touches. I would expect his end of season totals to be about 650 yards and five maybe 6 touchdowns.

Willie Parker started 11 games in 2008 but he never lived up to his Fast Willie moniker, only rushing for 789 yards. All the reports coming out of Pittsburgh right now say the Parker is feeling healthy and yes fast. This is good news for Pittsburgh Steelers fans and any one considering drafting Parker. With the exception of 16 scores in 2006, Parker has never been a touchdown guy but this is his contract year so he may have a little extra incentive. Look for Fast Willie to crack a thousand yards and score about five touchdowns.

Reggie Bush has been expected to do great things since he was drafted but with the exceptions of Kim Kardashian and a few electrifying touchdowns he’s left fantasy football owners unfulfilled. Bush has missed 10 games over the past two seasons and it’s becoming obvious he won’t be an every down back in the NFL. If fellow Saints RB Pierre Thomas continues his strong play from the second half of last season, this will allow Bush to focus on third downs and, kick returns. If you are in a league that rewards return stats Bush is a solid choice but otherwise he may be to risky to rely on.