Player Spotlight: Aaron Brooks (1 Viewer)

[Jason Wood]

2006 Player Spotlight Series

Over the course of the offseason, we will be evaluating a multitude of players at every fantasy position. One such way we go about that is through the Player Spotlight series. Think of the Spotlights as a permanent record on some of the more intriguing players for the upcoming season. Each Spotlight will be featured in an article on the main website.

Thread Topic: Aaron Brooks, QB, Oakland Raiders

Player Page Link: Aaron Brooks Player Page

Each article will include:

Detailed viewpoint from a Footballguys staff member
Highlighted member commentary from the message board threads
FBG Projections
Consensus Member ProjectionsThe Rules

In order for this thread to provide sustainable value, we ask that you follow a few simple guidelines:

Focus commentary on the player in question, and your expectations for said player
Back up your expectations in whatever manner you deem appropriate; avoid posts that simply say "I hate him" or "He's the best"
To be included in the final synopsis and consensus outlook, you MUST provide projections for the playerProjections should include (at a minimum):

For QBs: Passing Yards, Passing TDs, Ints, Rush Yards, Rush TDs
For RBs: Rushes, Rushing Yards, Rush TDs, Receptions, Receiving Yards, Receiving TDs
For WRs & TEs: Receptions, Receiving Yards, Receiving TDsBest of Luck and ENJOY!

 

[Andy Dufresne]

1500/8/14 before being replaced by Andrew Walter or Marqes Tuiasosososososopopopooopo.

 

[ShotGunStyle]

4100/32/15 and 250 3 TDs on the ground

 

[Andy Dufresne]

4100/32/15 and 250 3 TDs on the ground

His career averages as a full time starter are 3528/22/15You expect 600 more yards and 10 more TDs, just because he's in Oakland?

 

[ShotGunStyle]

The better question would be you expect 2000 less yards and 14 less TDs when he's going to a better offense? He had four straight 25 total TD seasons in New Orleans, and averages over 4000 total yards and 26 total TDs per 16 starts.

He's going to have his best year. The numbers I predicted are way more likely than yours.

 

[Andy Dufresne]

The better question would be you expect 2000 less yards and 14 less TDs when he's going to a better offense?

Because he's not very good. If he was, he'd still be in New Orleans.He's a good fantasy QB, but a bad NFL one, Art Shell works for Al Davis, which means that Brooks is on a short leash since Shell needs to, you know, win to keep his job.

 

[ShotGunStyle]

Ahh, yes, a guy has never done well following a release from another team. You make a strong case with that one!

Brooks is on a short leash, I'll give you that. But all he needs is another opportunity outside of that career killing city of New Orleans.

 

[Andy Dufresne]

Ahh, yes, a guy has never done well following a release from another team. You make a strong case with that one!

Brooks is on a short leash, I'll give you that. But all he needs is another opportunity outside of that career killing city of New Orleans.

It's nothing personal. You think he'll do well. I don't. Fine with me.

 

[ShotGunStyle]

Care to explain why you think he'll have an even worse season than when a hurricane destroyed his homecity and stadium though? I mean, it must be a pretty darn good reason.

 

[Andy Dufresne]

Care to explain why you think he'll have an even worse season than when a hurricane destroyed his homecity and stadium though? I mean, it must be a pretty darn good reason.

I already said it. I don't think he's a very good quarterback. Switching teams will not help him in that matter.

 

[ShotGunStyle]

I must say, you make a helluva case. I'm sure a lot of people agree his sitation with the Raiders, you know the one with the best WR in the game, a great number two, and supporting cast, is a much worse situation than last years whole no stadium thing.

 

[Andy Dufresne]

I must say, you make a helluva case. I'm sure a lot of people agree his sitation with the Raiders, you know the one with the best WR in the game, a great number two, and supporting cast, is a much worse situation than last years whole no stadium thing.

They said the same thing about Collins last year. (Sans the stadium thing.) It was a no-brainer that Collins would have a great year. All he has to do is heave it up to Moss and Porter and, voila!, career year. Didn't work that way.The difference is that I think that Collins is a better quarterback than Brooks. Not as athletic, but better overall. And I'm not that high on Collins either.

 

[Assani Fisher]

4100/32/15 and 250 3 TDs on the ground

His career averages as a full time starter are 3528/22/15You expect 600 more yards and 10 more TDs, just because he has Randy Moss?

Yes.I say 4300 yards and 30 TDs.

 

[ShotGunStyle]

Belive it or not, Collins had one of his better fantasy seasons last year, and that was with Moss in and out of the lineup, and QB controversies. Now, this is a fantasy discussion topic, and if you think Collins is better than Brooks, then you're just wrong. There's not even a debate.

 

[Assani Fisher]

I must say, you make a helluva case. I'm sure a lot of people agree his sitation with the Raiders, you know the one with the best WR in the game, a great number two, and supporting cast, is a much worse situation than last years whole no stadium thing.

They said the same thing about Collins last year. (Sans the stadium thing.) It was a no-brainer that Collins would have a great year. All he has to do is heave it up to Moss and Porter and, voila!, career year. Didn't work that way.The difference is that I think that Collins is a better quarterback than Brooks. Not as athletic, but better overall. And I'm not that high on Collins either.

Moss was healthy for only the first 4 games last year, and Collins was one of the best FF QBs in the league(definitely top 5, maybe even top 3 IIRC) during those games.

I'll grant you that Moss can be considered injury prone, but unless you're predicting an injury I see no reason why Collins won't duplicate Collins' success WHEN HE HAD MOSS COMPLETELY HEALTHY.

 

[Andy Dufresne]

Moss was healthy for only the first 4 games last year, and Collins was one of the best FF QBs in the league(definitely top 5, maybe even top 3 IIRC) during those games

I'll grant you that Moss can be considered injury prone, but unless you're predicting an injury I see no reason why Collins won't duplicate Collins' success WHEN HE HAD MOSS COMPLETELY HEALTHY.

Not to be too glib here, but no, I don't expect that Randy Moss will be completely healthy for an entire season ever again.Here's Collins' game logs for last year. Which four weeks are you referring to?

 

[joffer]

Belive it or not, Collins had one of his better fantasy seasons last year, and that was with Moss in and out of the lineup, and QB controversies. Now, this is a fantasy discussion topic, and if you think Collins is better than Brooks, then you're just wrong. There's not even a debate.

if I'm a GM and I have these two to choose from, I choose Collins every day of the week and 5 times on Sunday.Hard to project because I think he probably will get benched at some point, but there is some upside there if he somehow holds it together.

3665/20/18 passing

225/3/6 rushing

 

[Andy Dufresne]

Belive it or not, Collins had one of his better fantasy seasons last year, and that was with Moss in and out of the lineup, and QB controversies. Now, this is a fantasy discussion topic, and if you think Collins is better than Brooks, then you're just wrong. There's not even a debate.

Kerry Collins went 3759/20/12 last year.You're right. That was one of his better fantasy seasons.

 

[ShotGunStyle]

Let's look at Collins and Brooks career stats and have some fun.

More TDs per season- Brooks

Less INTs per season- Brooks

More rushing yards per season- Brooks

More rushing TDs per season- Brooks

Less fumbles per season- Brooks

Less lost fumbles per season- Brooks

Passing yards per season- Brooks

Yards per attempt- Brooks

Completion percentage- Brooks

Passer rating- Brooks

What else is there? I can't find one stat in which Collins is actually better than Brooks.

 

[joffer]

What else is there? I can't find one stat in which Collins is actually better than Brooks.

how about NFC conference championship appearances?

 

[Andy Dufresne]

Let's look at Collins and Brooks career stats and have some fun.

More TDs per season- Brooks

Less INTs per season- Brooks

More rushing yards per season- Brooks

More rushing TDs per season- Brooks

Less fumbles per season- Brooks

Less lost fumbles per season- Brooks

Passing yards per season- Brooks

Yards per attempt- Brooks

Completion percentage- Brooks

Passer rating- Brooks

What else is there? I can't find one stat in which Collins is actually better than Brooks.

Are we really debating who is better between Collins and Brooks?I refuse to participate.

Edit: Except to ask, what are each's won/loss records?

 

[ShotGunStyle]

I'm sorry, wins and losses aren't a QB stat. Do any of you see it on the NFL Players page? Maybe I missed it.

 

[Andy Dufresne]

I'm sorry, wins and losses aren't a QB stat. Do any of you see it on the NFL Players page? Maybe I missed it.

While they aren't an official QB stat, it's hard to accumulate 16 games worth of stats (which you did quote before) if you don't actually play in 16 games. And you don't play in 16 games if you don't win.

 

[ShotGunStyle]

That's good to know. And seeing how Brooks made 82 straight starts I guess you can just say he wins enough.

 

[Andy Dufresne]

That's good to know. And seeing how Brooks made 82 straight starts I guess you can just say he wins enough.

If he's such a winner, then why isn't he still with New Orleans?

 

[Snotbubbles]

Raiders 2006 Schedule

Date Opponent Time/Result

Sep 11 San Diego 10:15pm

Sep 17 @Baltimore 1:00pm

Week 3 BYE

Oct 1 Cleveland 4:15pm

Oct 8 @San Francisco 4:05pm

Oct 15 @Denver 8:15pm

Oct 22 Arizona 4:15pm

Oct 29 Pittsburgh 4:15pm

Nov 6 @Seattle 8:30pm

Nov 12 Denver 4:05pm

Nov 19 @Kansas City 1:00pm

Nov 26 @San Diego 4:05pm

Dec 3 Houston 4:05pm

Dec 10 @Cincinnati 1:00pm

Dec 17 St. Louis 4:15pm

Dec 23 Kansas City 8:00pm

Dec 31 @N.Y. Jets 1:00pm

They could easily go 3-8 and Brooks could be on the bench.

 

[ShotGunStyle]

Because he traded up. He's absolutley thrilled to be out of that craphole New Orleans.

 

[Andy Dufresne]

The endorsements of Brooks haven't been exactly ringing.

I hope he does well. As does, apparenly either his mom or dad (currently logged in as ShotGunStyle). I just don't think he will.

 

[Andy Dufresne]

Because he traded up. He's absolutley thrilled to be out of that craphole New Orleans.

I get it. It was HIS choice to leave.

 

[Snotbubbles]

The Oakland Raiders under Art Shell always ranked in the bottom half in pass attempts.

 

[ShotGunStyle]

He's going to have to earn his job like everyone else. That link doesn't reveal anything most people didn't already know.

It wasn't Brooks choice to leave, but that doesn't mean he wasn't happy when he was released.

 

[joffer]

The Oakland Raiders under Art Shell always ranked in the bottom half in pass attempts.

1990 - 496 rushes, 336 pass attempts 1991 - 446, 414

1992 - 434, 471

1993 - 433, 495

1994 - 428, 488

never over 500 attempts, but 3 out of 5 years, more passes than rushes. i'm not sure what to read into that.

 

[Art_VanDalay]

What else is there? I can't find one stat in which Collins is actually better than Brooks.

how about NFC conference championship appearances?

Last I checked, we are talking FF stats and Championships. I don't know about your league but we don't award points for my QB's team making it to the NFC Conference Championship or Super Bowl (and then getting thrashed)! Brooks is definitely not the brightest bulb in the closet but he has immense talent and athleticism and that will serve him well buying time to unload on the run to Moss, Porter, LamJones or the plethora of other receivers that they have with talent. If everyone would put aside last year's implosion in NO (how would your performance be at your job if your office was destroyed and you had to relocate to another part of your state for several months?) they would see that his past season's FF stats were actually pretty good. In fact, I remember many discussions over the years about waiting to the late rounds to grab ABrooks since he was very undervalued FF wise. It is beginning to seem that the debate about Brooks being successful is a lot like debating abortion - a lot of discussion and strongly opinionated points of view but no one would ever change their viewpoint. I think Brooks is the kind of player that can make a FF team in 06 because he will be dirt cheap and could produce on the level of top 5 QB in FF for 2006. Just my .02

 

[joffer]

What else is there? I can't find one stat in which Collins is actually better than Brooks.

how about NFC conference championship appearances?

Last I checked, we are talking FF stats and Championships. I don't know about your league but we don't award points for my QB's team making it to the NFC Conference Championship or Super Bowl (and then getting thrashed)! Brooks is definitely not the brightest bulb in the closet but he has immense talent and athleticism and that will serve him well buying time to unload on the run to Moss, Porter, LamJones or the plethora of other receivers that they have with talent. If everyone would put aside last year's implosion in NO (how would your performance be at your job if your office was destroyed and you had to relocate to another part of your state for several months?) they would see that his past season's FF stats were actually pretty good. In fact, I remember many discussions over the years about waiting to the late rounds to grab ABrooks since he was very undervalued FF wise. It is beginning to seem that the debate about Brooks being successful is a lot like debating abortion - a lot of discussion and strongly opinionated points of view but no one would ever change their viewpoint. I think Brooks is the kind of player that can make a FF team in 06 because he will be dirt cheap and could produce on the level of top 5 QB in FF for 2006. Just my .02

try reading the thread. i already said Brooks is a good fantasy QB when he plays. We were talking about comparing Collins to Brooks in an NFL sense, you know, actually trying to win games?

 

[Art_VanDalay]

What else is there? I can't find one stat in which Collins is actually better than Brooks.

how about NFC conference championship appearances?

Last I checked, we are talking FF stats and Championships. I don't know about your league but we don't award points for my QB's team making it to the NFC Conference Championship or Super Bowl (and then getting thrashed)! Brooks is definitely not the brightest bulb in the closet but he has immense talent and athleticism and that will serve him well buying time to unload on the run to Moss, Porter, LamJones or the plethora of other receivers that they have with talent. If everyone would put aside last year's implosion in NO (how would your performance be at your job if your office was destroyed and you had to relocate to another part of your state for several months?) they would see that his past season's FF stats were actually pretty good. In fact, I remember many discussions over the years about waiting to the late rounds to grab ABrooks since he was very undervalued FF wise. It is beginning to seem that the debate about Brooks being successful is a lot like debating abortion - a lot of discussion and strongly opinionated points of view but no one would ever change their viewpoint. I think Brooks is the kind of player that can make a FF team in 06 because he will be dirt cheap and could produce on the level of top 5 QB in FF for 2006. Just my .02

try reading the thread. i already said Brooks is a good fantasy QB when he plays. We were talking about comparing Collins to Brooks in an NFL sense, you know, actually trying to win games?

Okay I went back and read the thread TOPIC which is a SPOTLIGHT! That to me means Fantasy stats and you denegrated this discussion into a comparison b/w Brooks and Collins who is god aweful. I am assuming you aren't a Giants fan right? Collins throws INT's because he has to gamble as a statue in the pocket. ShotGun makes good points and the counterarguments seem to have no substance, kind of like the teacher that holds up your paper and says it "feels like" a B. The stats clearly say that Collins is not as good as Brooks and Brooks is clearly in a better situation in Oak than in NO. I find the rabid hatred of Brooks somewhat mind boggling. You can focusing on who is winning games and I will take the guy that produces FF points at my draft! You probably drafted Aikman first pick in the 90's too right!

 

[Andy Dufresne]

Actually, guys, I think the thread is a bit of both.

If AB isn't winning games (you know in the real life NFL), he won't be playing long, which seriously curtails his ability to garner fantasy points.

Unless your league awards points for number of clipboards held or something.

 

[joffer]

You can focusing on who is winning games and I will take the guy that produces FF points at my draft!

if you don't consider the possibility when drafting of Brooks getting benched during the season, i believe you're making a mistake.

 

[ShotGunStyle]

Brooks won't get benched if he does his job. If he's putting up big stats and the Raiders are losing, I still think he keeps his job mostly because there's nobody there to challenge him. Andrew Walter's rookie season was a complete waste and he's basically a rookie all over again, and Tuiososopo is nothing more than a career backup.

 

[jurb26]

Brooks won't get benched if he does his job. If he's putting up big stats and the Raiders are losing, I still think he keeps his job mostly because there's nobody there to challenge him. Andrew Walter's rookie season was a complete waste and he's basically a rookie all over again, and Tuiososopo is nothing more than a career backup.

Walter was recovering from a shoulder injury. To say his rookie season was a waste is a bit misleading to say the least. I am not one who happens to think that Brooks will fail in Oak one bit. I think so long as Moss stays healthy he will have a great year. Every QB looks great with Moss on the field and healthy, even Collins did. To say that Walter posses no threat to a floundering Brooks is just flat wrong though IMO.

 

[ShotGunStyle]

He didn't take one snap, he didn't get any reps in practice, and the offense he spent all year learning was scrapped when Norv Turner left. It was as much of a wasted season humanly possible.

 

[Tau837]

Edit: Except to ask, what are each's won/loss records?

Scanning game logs at PFR... looks to me like Collins is 72-85 (.429) as a starter (counting only games that he had a decent number of attempts), including postseason, while Brooks is 39-46 (.459). Not sure if you were expect a different result, given your stance in this thead. Plus, Brooks was 36-36 prior to last season's trainwreck, which I think was an unusual enough set of circumstances that it can skew such numbers.Oh yeah, and as long as we're comparing "real" QB numbers, how about career QB rating?Collins 73.7Brooks 79.7

 

[Andy Dufresne]

Edit: Except to ask, what are each's won/loss records?

Scanning game logs at PFR... looks to me like Collins is 72-85 (.429) as a starter (counting only games that he had a decent number of attempts), including postseason, while Brooks is 39-46 (.459). Not sure if you were expect a different result, given your stance in this thead. Plus, Brooks was 36-36 prior to last season's trainwreck, which I think was an unusual enough set of circumstances that it can skew such numbers.

Oh yeah, and as long as we're comparing "real" QB numbers, how about career QB rating?

Collins 73.7

Brooks 79.7

I asked because I really didn't know.If anything, it proves my point. The two are nearly equal and I don't expect Brooks to have any more success than Collins.

 

[ShotGunStyle]

Nearly equal except that Brooks is better in every single conceivable way, yeah.

 

[Tau837]

The Oakland Raiders under Art Shell always ranked in the bottom half in pass attempts.

1990 - 496 rushes, 336 pass attempts 1991 - 446, 414

1992 - 434, 471

1993 - 433, 495

1994 - 428, 488

never over 500 attempts, but 3 out of 5 years, more passes than rushes. i'm not sure what to read into that.

Apples and oranges. They didn't have Moss then. And they did have:1990

Marcus Allen & Bo Jackson at RB

Jay Schroeder at QB

Mervyn Fernandez was the leading WR

Only ran 832 combined passing & running plays

#4 defense

1991

Gaggle of unimpressive RBs including Allen & Roger Craig

Scroeder at QB

Fernandez was the leading WR

860 combined passing & running plays

#23 defense

1992

Another gaggle of unimpressive RBs including Allen & Eric Dickerson

Schroeder & Marinovich at QB

Tim Brown finally emerged as the leading WR, but with only 49 catches

905 combined passing & running plays

#8 defense

1993

More unimpressive RBs, led by Greg Robinson

Hostetler at QB

Tim Brown was a Pro Bowler at WR

928 combined passing & running plays

#10 defense

1994

Another gaggle of RBs, this time led by Harvey Williams

Hostetler at QB

Tim Brown again a Pro Bowl WR

916 combined passing & running plays

#12 defense

So... what to conclude from this data?

1. Oakland in the past 3 years has averaged 935 combined running & passing plays, compared to an average of 888 from 1990-1994. That is a positive in this comparison.

2. Oakland's defense was much better in 1990-1994 than it is likely to be this year... presumably that enabled Shell to be more conservative, even in the years in which he had unimpressive RBs.

3. In both years that the team had more rushing attempts under Shell, the QB & WRs were unimpressive, and in one of those years the team had a Pro Bowl RB (Jackson) and a HOF RB (Allen).

4. In the two years in which Shell had a good QB, Hostetler was QB3 and QB10.

5. In those two years with Hostetler, Tim Brown was a Pro Bowler... but they never had a WR as good as Moss (if healthy). Nor did they have #2 & #3 WRs as good as Porter & Curry.

I really don't see all the downside so many of you are talking about here.

 

[Tau837]

Edit: Except to ask, what are each's won/loss records?

Scanning game logs at PFR... looks to me like Collins is 72-85 (.429) as a starter (counting only games that he had a decent number of attempts), including postseason, while Brooks is 39-46 (.459). Not sure if you were expect a different result, given your stance in this thead. Plus, Brooks was 36-36 prior to last season's trainwreck, which I think was an unusual enough set of circumstances that it can skew such numbers.

Oh yeah, and as long as we're comparing "real" QB numbers, how about career QB rating?

Collins 73.7

Brooks 79.7

I asked because I really didn't know.If anything, it proves my point. The two are nearly equal and I don't expect Brooks to have any more success than Collins.

1. They are only nearly equal if you count last season for Brooks. It's in the books, so I understand it, but like I said, I am inclined to ignore it given the extraordinary circumstances.2. Furthermore, Brooks has produced much better numbers than Collins even if you do consider their records to be roughly equal... so how you get that he won't have any more success than Collins is baffling. His career numbers are better than Collins across the board.

That said, it's clear you won't be convinced, so I can agree to disagree.

 

[menobrown]

Besides the WR's Brooks gets to play with he trades in 6 games against the pass defenses of Carolina, Tampa and Atlanta for 6 games against the Chiefs, Broncos and Chargers pass D's. In addition to that the Raiders drew the easiest NFC draw possible with games against the Cardinals, 49'ers, Rams and Seahawks.

Everything spells a big year for him but I'm not discounting the fact he could lose his job late in the year if he is putting up big numbers but playing mistake filled football.

 

[Tau837]

Here's Collins' game logs for last year.  Which four weeks are you referring to?

After week 4, Collins was QB7.After week 9 (8 games for Collins), he was QB7.

After week 13 (12 games for Collins), he was QB4.

Then the team fell apart, losing its last four (actually its last six), with Jordan missing two games and Collins missing one. And Collins still finished as QB9.

All data here from the Data Dominator and ranking by total fantasy points (sometimes I wish the DD would allow ranking by ppg).

EDIT: Since I consider Brooks a better QB than Collins, I think this performance by Collins illustrates just how much potential Brooks has with this supporting cast, though granted it could be tempered a bit if Shell features a conservative game plan.

 

[Andy Dufresne]

Arguing which is better, Brooks or Collins, is like arguing who's dog has less smelly crap.

I don't like either QB.

My argument is that Aaron Brooks doesn't win enough games. He's a lousy NFL quarterback. He's on a short leash in Oakland and I simply do not believe that he will be a 16 game starter for the Raiders.

 

[renesauz]

Shell will be conservative. Brooks will have an ok, but unspectacular year.

3300 yards, 20/15, 330/2. Good enough for a QB1, but no stud.

As far as losing his job? TO WHOM!!?? The Raiders have nobody else close to him in talent or in potential.

 

[Verbal Kint]

Besides the WR's Brooks gets to play with he trades in 6 games against the pass defenses of Carolina, Tampa and Atlanta for 6 games against the Chiefs, Broncos and Chargers pass D's. In addition to that the Raiders drew the easiest NFC draw possible with games against the Cardinals, 49'ers, Rams and Seahawks.

Everything spells a big year for him but I'm not discounting the fact he could lose his job late in the year if he is putting up big numbers but playing mistake filled football.

I'd take his career avgs and bump them a little bit. 3,600/27. The problem is some yokel will draft him too high because of the Moss factor.