Fantasy Football 2000
Drop Akili Smith down on your draft board
By Ron Pollack, Editor-in-chief
Aug. 3, 2000
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| Darnay Scott's injury undoubtedly got the attention of
fantasy football players as they work on the WR portion of their draft boards. If you
stop to think about it, though, the place where this has a huge impact on the fantasy
draft board is at quarterback.
Akili Smith just went from a guy you would be happy to have as your backup in a 10-team
league to undraftable in 10 team leagues that only take two QBs per club.
During the offseason, I thought that Smith was an up-and-coming player with exciting
fantasy potential for this season. The Bengals looked like a team that just might be
finally putting things together, especially on offense.
Of course, little has gone right for the Bengals for the longest time, and this season
looks like it will continue that trend.
With Carl Pickens gone, the Scott injury is devastating. Peter Warrick has a ton of
potential but no pro experience. Unless the Bengals make a trade to add a quality veteran,
Smith won't have an established security blanket to depend upon.
Furthermore, the Bengals have chosen to play hard ball with RB Corey Dillon. This makes
no sense to me because I think Dillon is a high quality back. He is a guy I think the
should make a cornerstone to their future. If he sits out a huge chunk of the season,
Smith will really feel like he is on his own. None of the Bengals' other running backs
look like the type that can consistently carry the load and scare opposing defenses.
Suddenly, Smith has gone from a guy with a lot of weapons that can make him look good
to a guy who doesn't have enough prime-time skill-position threats.
In 10- and 12-team leagues that take three quarterbacks per team, I would still take a
flyer on Smith. But in 10- and 12-team leagues that only allow two QBs to be selected, I
just don't see enough upside to Smith to warrant his selection.
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