Probably a stupid question but I can't decide on taking Barnett or Hawk in our initial dynasty league draft. I know he (Barnett) is ranked higher on the lists but I can't help wondering if he will be moving to another position. Also, I saw that Barnett had some type of knee injury that they said wasn't serious....should that be a factor for me? I don't want to make a mistake at this key position.
Thanks for your help.
Barnett.I'm betting I'm going to be the minority on this, but I'm not a fan of paying big for AJ Hawk in a dynasty league. And if Barnett is still on the board, you're probably in the 7-12th LB to be selected range. I don't think Hawk is good value there.
IMO, the MLB is the bellcow in this defense. We're talking about the Jimmy Johnson/Dave Wannstedt/Jim Bates scheme here. The University of Miami defense that highlighted Ray Lewis, Zach Thomas, Jonathan Vilma, among others in college and the pros, including Barnett himself. In the pro game, the WLB in this scheme has had marginal value.
Sure, Hawk could be an exception if he's a big play guy, but I'm not seeing the 90-95 plus solo tackles needed to become a top ten backer in most leagues.
The rub is that Barnett could be moved to SLB to get Hodge in the lineup. That is pretty unlikely to happen this year unless Ben Taylor is a complete failure. Early camp reports suggest Taylor is doing well.
If you're playing to win in 2006, take Barnett. If you're drafting for the future, Hawk is a nice player, but I think there's better value elsewhere and later. Unless you think Hawk is a perennial lock for 4-5 sacks and 3-4 INT, then he has excellent value here and should be your pick.
Like I said, I expect to be in the minority here, but I don't think Hawk is in the best scheme to live up to his lofty draft status in many dynasty leagues.
ETA: I don't think Barnett's knee injury is an issue. No surgery that I'm aware of - just no reason to push things in camp with so many new backers around to get snaps they probably need more than Barnett.