If the Miami Herald gets its wish, the Dolphins would use their first round pick, the 12th overall, to draft our #1 rated fantasy football rookie WR prospect, Dez Bryant.

The answer keeps coming back to Dez Bryant, the Oklahoma State Cowboy who is clearly this draft’s premier wideout, but who might still be available at No. 12. He has great size and is the draft’s best deep threat — what Henne and this offense desperately need, and what Ted Ginn Jr. hasn’t become.

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It cannot be overstated that drafting Bryant helps Miami primarily because it gives Henne the chance, the ammunition, to become all he might be. He’ll never be that if Ginn, Davone Bess and Greg Camarillo are the primary targets.

Drafting Bryant, alas, might not be so simple and neat.

It would run counter to Bill Parcells’ drafting history. More than that, Miami might have to be aggressive and move up some in the draft to lock him up. I have seen Bryant projected to be taken as high as eighth. Also, I mostly have seen him going to Denver with the 11th pick, one ahead of Miami.

Moving up to leapfrog the Broncos would cost the Dolphins more than just a swap of top picks, but all indications are Bryant is worth it.

From a keeper league perspective it would only be slightly better to see Bryant go to Miami as opposed to Denver. The difference comes down to QB. If you’ve somehow found this blog you don’t need to be told the long term upside of Henne versus Orton is not even.  However, it doesn’t really matter whether Miami or Denver drafts Bryant, he would be a top 5 fantasy football rookie prospect in 2010 (assuming Denver gets rid of Marshall) either way.

Personally I’d rather see Miami get him just because I could see Henne raising his game more in response than I see Orton doing the same. Teaming Bryant with Henne gives Miami a young and long term passing tandem. Teaming Bryant with Orton isn’t nearly as exciting for the long term. Nevertheless, either scenario is keeper league friendly.

Related:  Dez Bryant not working out at Pro Day – National Football Post – 3/9

Auburn running back Ben Tate is flying up our fantasy football rookie rankings after a remarkable performance at the combine. From ESPN (blog).

Auburn running back Ben Tate had a super workout session. Weighing 220 pounds, he turned in the third fastest 40-yard dash time among the running backs (4.43), was second among the running backs with a 40.5-inch vertical leap and tied for the most reps on the bench-press among running backs with 26. He also had a 10-4 broad jump, which tied Tennessee’s Montario Hardesty for first among the running backs.

The Chargers basically made it official Monday with the release of LaDanian Tomlinson, but now following the announcement that they opted not to tender Darren Sproles, our suspicions are confirmed, San Diego will draft an RB in April. This running back will be a top fantasy football keeper/dynasty prospect in 2010 as well as a shoe-in for the #1 overall ranking among rookies.

The surrounding offensive players in San Diego are exceptional (Rivers, Gates, V.Jax, etc), the offensive line is excellent and there is no competition for the job. It’s an ideal situation to allow a rookie RB to produce immediately, and for years to come. This is the perfect rookie keeper scenario.

The question really is; who will San Diego draft and when will he be the full time starter? The Chargers own picks 28, 60 and 91 in the first three rounds and could easily add a free agent RB as a one year insurance policy in addition to drafting a rookie. Several outlets are making predictions.

From USA Today TheHuddle Blog.

The Chargers own the 28th pick of the 2010 draft and could consider players such as Clemson’s C.J. Spiller — if he falls that far — Georgia Tech’s Jonathan Dwyer, Cal’s Jahvid Best and Fresno State’s Ryan Mathews if they decide to make the position their top priority.

Among the notable free-agent backs available are Chester Taylor, Willie Parker and Larry Johnson.

From NFLNR.com.

Several players likely to be available when the Chargers select in round one and two are Jonathan Dwyer (Georgia Tech), Jahvid Best (Cal), Ryan Matthews (Fresno State), and Anthony Dixon (Mississippi State). San Diego could also elect to trade away a proven performer like cornerback Antonio Cromartie for either a draft pick or an established player such as Tennessee’s LenDale White, who has made it clear he wants to be a featured back somewhere else this fall.

SD Bolt Report predicts the Chargers draft McCluster.

It wouldn’t matter if San Diego used their second round pick to replace Tomlinson, some one like Dixon or McCluster would be a big-time fantasy football keeper prospect. And don’t worry if they pick up an aging veteran at some point this off-season either, he would just be a temporary third down pass blocker.

Every thing is going to plan if you own the #1 rookie pick in your keeper or dynasty league draft.

UPDATE (3/9) – According to The San Diego Union-Tribune.

The Chargers … are not interested in any of the current free-agent running backs. That could change, however, after the market bears out what each is worth. But the draft remains the team’s most likely route to finding a starting running back.

Other 2010 fantasy football rookie news:

Best bet is Lions will pick running back in second or third round – MLive.com – 2/24

Some NFL team will get a gem in Best – San Francisco Chronicle – 2/25

Kiper says Dwyer is high-risk – Atlanta Journal-Constitution – 2/17

NFL Network draft guru says Dez Bryant has much to prove – NewsOK.com – 2/26

USC’s Williams gets the Palmer treatment - Bengals.com – 2/26

Chaney, Dixon hope to impress at NFL Combine - The Dispatch – 2/24

Benn, Tate look to excel at combine – ESPN – 2/26

Toby Gerhart eager to prove doubters wrong - ESPN – 2/26

Health concerns follow TEs Gresham, Gronkowski into Combine - ProFootballWeekly – 2/26

Modesty aside, ‘Dogs’ Mathews more than in the running - FresnoBee – 2/23

Auburn’s Ben Tate still thinks he was better than Alabama’s Mark Ingram – al.com – 2/26

You can bet we’ll see an auction feature for fantasy football released by Yahoo! this summer. If Yahoo! does it for fantasy baseball, fantasy football is not far behind.

It used to be that only the out of business soon to be resurrected, FantasyAuctioneer.com, offered online auctioning, until ESPN jumped into the business around 2006. This year Yahoo! has joined the party with an auction feature for baseball. Can Football be far away? From Yahoo! Fantasy Baseball 2010.

• Auction leagues. Finally, we’re auction-enabled. You’re free from the tyranny of serpentine drafts! (Although of course we offer those, too). In auction formats, every owner in your league will have the opportunity to acquire every name in the player pool. The auction room will look familiar…

…but you’ll nominate players and place bids while a clock ticks.

We’ll have plenty of time in the weeks ahead to discuss auction strategy – end-game spending, bid-jumping, varying cadence, etc. – but for now, please just know that auctions are available, they’re free, and they’re spectacular.

If the product is half as good as their marketing it sounds like leagues will like it.

The Texans are reportedly considering adding to the pool of fantasy football rookie prospects in 2010 by drafting a running back this April. From the Houston Chronicle.

Running back is a priority going into the draft. If the Texans select a back in the first or second round, they could end up with a player like Clemson’s C.J. Spiller, California’s Jahvid Best, Georgia Tech’s Jonathan Dwyer, Mississippi State’s Anthony Dixon or Fresno State’s Ryan Matthews.

”As you know, I’ve always been committed to running the football, and that’s not going to change,” Kubiak said.

“We’re going to find a way to get better,” Kubiak said. “It wasn’t good enough last season.”

The Texans have a very good o-line and the rest of the offense is obviously very good as well. Combine that with the head coach’s commitment to running the ball and this has the potential to be very fantasy friendly for a rookie. The Texans rushed the ball 26.6 times a game on average, 20th in NFL in 2009. The competition for carries is second year RB Arian Foster while Slaton is out four to six months recovering from spine surgery.

Kubiak said the prognosis is good for running back Steve Slaton, who underwent surgery two weeks ago.

Slaton underwent a discectomy to relieve pressure on the nerve root that was causing the problem in his spine.

The surgery was performed in Dallas by Dr. Drew Dossett. The Texans said the surgery went well and that recovery will take from four to six months. Kubiak said Slaton will avoid contact until training camp.

If the Texans take one of the highly rated rookie RB prospects with their first round pick as NFL Draft Blitz predicts in their 2/11/10 mock draft, he – Dwyer in this case – will be a top 3 fantasy football rookie in 2010 (if he can pass block).