Waiver Wire Pick of the Week: Rashied Davis, WR, CHI

Bears WR Coach Darryl Drake made the following comments about Bears receiver Rashied Davis:

"He’s gotten stronger, quicker and faster. He has such a great feel for the game. He understands what we’re trying to do, and we can put him in a lot of positions. Not only can he play inside, but he can also play outside. There’s no doubt in my mind that he can do that."

(Source: chicagobears.com)

Dont look now, but the WR atop the depth charts for the Bears is none other than the above Rashied Davis. Thats right, not Devin Hester, not Marty Booker, but little known and seldom drafted Rashied Davis! Davis is most likely available on your waiver wire and we recommend grabbing him if you need WR depth.

Davis recorded an impressive statline in preseason week 3 and looks to begin the season as the Bears most heavily targeted wideout. In that week 3 preseason game vs. the 49ers, Davis caught four passes for 58 yards and two touchdowns. He also dropped another potential TD catch. Fox’s Troy Aikman said the Bears consider Davis their No. 1 receiver, and he has an obvious rapport with Orton. (Source: Rotoworld.com)

Davis started and saw plenty of targets and we like his chances to emerge as a possible WR3.

There are a number of WRs that look attractive this year based on our Fantasy Quants data. Players like Bobby Engram, Donald Driver, and Andre Johnson (see table below) will be huge value selections at different areas during your fantasy draft this summer.

However, our three top Fantasy Quant picks are as follows:

Greg Jennings

Much like Driver the departure of Brett Farve is certainly helping out the value position here. Both Jennings (right, IconSMI) and Driver are being selected later in drafts due to Aaron Rodgers taking over at QB. Valid perhaps, but we don’t believe its warranted. Jennings was a stud last season after returning to the lineup coming off of injury and had an incredible TD streak. This guy is a stud and has finally leapfrogged Driver as the #1 option in the Green Bay WR corps. We love his VRM number, Value Ratio, and Weighted number as well. Great 5^th round draft pick.

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Jeffrey Boyer of FantasyQuants.com joins the team this year to give you a very unique approach to predicting NFL Fantasy production. Jeff bases his predictions and fantasy team upon Modern Portfolio Theory , commonly used for investing in stocks and bonds. Jeff brings his entire body of NFL analysis to our site starting this year.

Our top two Fantasy Quant RB selections this season are Fast Willie Parker and Edgerrin James.

Parker had a somewhat disappointing 2007 after a stellar 2006 campaign dropping his TD total from 16 to 2. Parker also suffered a Week 16 broken fibula. That said, all reports from camp have FWP looking great and back at full speed. There are even some reports that claim Parker will have every chance to reclaim his goal line duties once again. We shall see…

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Jeffrey Boyer of FantasyQuants.com joins the team this year to give you a very unique approach to predicting NFL Fantasy production. Jeff bases his predictions and fantasy team upon Modern Portfolio Theory , commonly used for investing in stocks and bonds. Jeff brings his entire body of NFL analysis to our site starting now.

When evaluating Quarterbacks at FantasyQuants, we are truly attempting to find that one gem, that one diamond in the rough on whom we can sit during the draft. This lets us fill up other starting position players before we even address the solitary QB need.

Last season, 2007, we advised many players to wait on a QB like Brett Farve well into the draft. Farve rewarded our followers throwing for 4157 yards and 28 TDs last season, and in our 10 team expert showcase league he was drafted in the 12th round!

This season we are targeting a similar signal caller, one who spent the first few years of his career studying under Brett in Green Bay. You guessed it, QB Matt Hasselbeck.

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As if the news of mainstream media getting on board the fantasy college football bandwagon was not enough excitement, today is the day that Fantasy College Blitz and Jeff Boyer of Fantasy Quants debut our 2008 NFL Fantasy coverage.

The brief description that follows serves as a “white paper” or user guide to Jeff’s rankings and his quantitative analysis. It might be a bit heavy, but think of it in a “risk-adjusted rankings” context – safer picks get higher rankings. Jeff has the floor.

FantasyQuants is an exclusive fantasy football database dedicated to analyzing players and performance with a proven mathematical formula. Our quantitative formulas have evaluated fantasy football players over the past few seasons (2004 – 2008) using analysis to evaluate performance, risk, and volatility.

Many fantasy football websites allocate a major portion of their research and web space analyzing and evaluating the top 10 players at each position. We will leave that analysis to them. For most fantasy players, its common knowledge that LT will be a top running back, Terrell Owens a valuable WR, and that Tom Brady will throw for a ton of yardage. At FantasyQuants, we believe that a fantasy draft truly begins after the first couple rounds – this is where championships are won! To us, your last pick is just as valuable as your first.

Our statistical models have been created to identify players undervalued by the general public. Using several long-standing analytics from MODERN PORTFOLIO THEORY allows us to systematically create value in your fantasy drafts.

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