Fantasy Football Report: Big Ben heading toward top 10
Can Ben Roethlisberger become a reliable every-week fantasy starter in 2007? Scott Girasia of Pittsburgh sent us an email in which he argues convincingly that Big Ben is destined for the top 10 this season. Please, try to ignore the obvious hometown bias and hear him out.
- Roethlisberger threw for 3,164 yards in his final 13 games last year (243 ypg).
- New coordinator Bruce Arians wants to scale down the playbook and throw more.
- Santonio Holmes is on the rise, and he'll be a solid complementary receiver for Hines Ward.
- Heath Miller and rookie Matt Spaeth are huge red zone targets.
Those are all valid points, and I agree that everything is set nicely for Roethlisberger to climb up the rankings. In fact, if we played out our mock draft that we held a couple weeks ago, Roethlisberger would be my starting QB for half the season (whatever half of the season that Donovan McNabb misses). I suspect Roethlisberger will come firing out of the gates, in part because his September schedule is one of the easiest out there (at CLE, vs. BUF, vs. SF, at ARI).
The Steelers' overall 2007 schedule rates average, which means they'll pay for that easy stretch in the final months. In fact, Pittsburgh's fantasy playoff schedule (at NE, vs. JAC, at STL) could be one of the toughest in the league, especially if you also play Week 17 (at BAL).
Roethlisberger is fully healthy, which he never really was last year, and he's set to take the leap forward that we had hoped he could in 2006. I think it makes complete sense to target him in the 10th round as a top backup/platoon candidate with the potential to be even better.
Now, you know what Scott and I think. What about you? Do you believe in Big Ben?