Rip Van Winkle of the Day

I almost couldn't believe it. How could that be important? Of all things in the world of sports, how is that a top story? By this point, I'm sure you're wondering what the heck I'm talking about. Right before I sat down to write this article, I checked my one fantasy football league. I clicked on one of the widgets, (an awesome word by the way, widgets) the ESPN Bottomline. I clicked on the "Top Stories" button and much to my surprise, the following showed up on my screen: "Citing Achilles injury, veteran Dilfer plans to retire" No, the fact that he was retiring didn't surprise me, in fact, he probably should've hung up the cleats a few seasons ago. The fact I thought it was under Top Stories stunned me. How does something that seems to be so little, like a veteran QB not named Brett Favre retiring, end up being such a big story? I then realized something I have known about myself my whole life; I'm an idiot. I noticed that I was reading under the "NFL" section of the Bottomline, not the Top Story part. Turns out that there were no Top Stories so far so it skipped that section and moved onto the next, the NFL. Only I can tie this into something fantasy football. Sometimes, in this crazy game we play, the little moves can have big impacts on players. This leads up to my Rip Van Winkle of the Day. Drew Bennett/WR St. Louis: Like most Rams in 2007, Bennett didn't produce. He certainly wasn't the free agent pickup he was expected to be. However, that could all change in 2008. For starters, Bennett is well...starting. Issac Bruce is sporting a 49ers uniform and Bennett's only competition are rookies Keenan Burton and Donnie Avery. In other words, it's safe to say that Bennett has the #2 job secured. The Rams offense should fare much better this year; Bulger, Steven Jackson, the offensive line, and Torry Holt are all now healthy. Aside from TE and FB, that's the whole offense that is now healthy! But the most important piece, a subtle one to the causal fantasy footballer, is the addition of offensive coordinator Al Saunders. Saunders is an offensive mastermind coupled with a Rams offenses that can be explosive when all the wheels are turning. I don't think we'll see the second coming of "The Greatest Show on Turf", but the Rams offense should greatly benefit because of Saunders. And so will fantasy owners.