A:

Reminder: we've made some changes to our website. To submit questions to the mailbag this year, you must first log in. Go to the "Members" sign-in box at the top of the page. Put your e-mail address in there, and your password in the other box. It's free and painless.

As for the question, I don’t buy into the theory that Norv Turner is some kind of genius in regards to running backs. Sure, he’s had some good tailbacks over the years – most notably LaDainian Tomlinson and Emmitt Smith. But wouldn’t those running backs make pretty much any coach look good?

The fairest way to look at it, as you point out, is to look at teams with and without Turner. In the cases of Tomlinson and Smith, both of those backs posted better numbers after Turner left. Tomlinson was at 1,236 yards and 10 TDs with Turner; the next year, he moved up to 1,683 yards and 15 TDs. Smith ran for 1,486 yards and scored 10 TDs in his final year with Turner; the following year, he finished with 2 fewer yards but scored 12 more TDs. And Stephen Davis (with Washington) also played just fine without Turner; he ran for 114 more yards, though his TDs dropped from 11 to 5. All three of those backs, by the way, had at least 20 more carries after Turner left.

The two other runners that can be included in this study, LaMont Jordan and Ricky Williams, moved in the other direction. But Williams retired and Jordan got hurt and was hampered by an archaic offense.

If you broaden the study to look at teams rather than individuals, there appears to be no meaningful difference without Turner. His teams – those five teams – averaged 1758 rushing yards and 14.4 TD runs in his final season. In their first seasons without Turner, their numbers were virtually identical – 1779 rushing yards and 14.0 TD runs. Bottom line: I don’t think Norv Turner is a significant factor when trying to place a value on either LaDainian Tomlinson or Frank Gore.

• Comments
• Add Comment

A:

I guess it’s Frank Gore Week. My one concern with Gore is durability. He handles the ball a lot, and he takes an awful lot of punishment. He really took a beating in the Seattle game up here last year. He’s a young guy, but it’s awfully hard for anybody to handle that kind of workload and stay in the lineup for 16 games. In Gore’s case, we’re not talking about a player with Tomlinson-like durability. He’s had surgeries on both knees and both shoulders.

• Comments
• Add Comment

A:

The auction values will be posted in early July. I was just holding off for a few more days before compiling them, allowing some of those of those late moves to sneak in – like Chris Brown re-signing with Tennessee (which affects not only his value, but also LenDale White and Chris Henry). Then, you’ll see about 50 different draft boards with auction values posted, covering all of the different major scoring systems and league sizes. We’re working on an interactive auction generator, in which you would answer about 10-20 questions, then prices/value would be generated, with the baselines determined in part by your answers.

• Comments
• Add Comment

A:

Equal opportunity. That’s the big one – particularly with a player like LaDainian Tomlinson sitting at the top of everyone’s draft board. With a draft, Tomlinson goes to whatever team happens to have its name pulled out a hat. That’s lame. With an auction, Tomlinson goes to the one team that feels he’s worth 52 percent (or whatever) of the team’s payroll. By definition, everybody else thinks Tomlinson is overpaid. Isn’t that the way it should be with elite players? If your group isn’t ready for a full-blown auction, then try what some readers call a “drauction.” Give each team a $100 payroll and let them bid on four players. Then, once everyone has four guys, a regular draft starts, with whatever team that has the most money left getting the first pick in each round (no snake-draft necessary).

• Comments
• Add Comment

A:

In your league, you’ve got two rules that increase the value of quarterbacks. You’ve increased TD passes to 6 points, and you’ve more importantly made twice as many of them starters. According to my numbers, in that type of a format, four of the first six players selected should be quarterbacks. So I would jump at the chance to select either Carson Palmer or Drew Brees in the second round. And I’ve got Bulger as the No. 17 player overall in that format, so I wouldn’t expect him to be available in the fourth round.

• Comments
• Add Comment

A:

I’m not a big Edge fan, but I don’t think Roy Williams is good enough to merit being that third keeper. Mike Martz isn’t averse to spreading things around, and I think you’ll see him use a lot more three- and four-receiver sets now that he has more talent at wide receiver. Williams and Furrey are solid, of course, and now the Lions have added Shaun McDonald (who of course knows that system) and Calvin Johnson (who’s as promising as any rookie receiver prospect ever). In that system, I don’t think Williams is going to get the ball forced into his hands, particularly in red zone situations. When the team was inside the 10 last season, for example, Williams was the intended target on only 4 of the team’s 24 passes (and he caught only 1 of those pass attempts).

• Comments
• Add Comment