Introduction to these player comments
Index of player comments
Glossary of terms
Terry Glenn career statistics

In a lot of ways, the hype surrounding Glenn this year is eerily similar to the buzz that was created when Andre Rison joined the Packers in late 1996. If you'll recall, Robert Brooks was hurt and not coming back, Antonio Freeman was a talented but unproven youngster (and he was also hurt), and the other Packer wideouts were Don Beebe, the rookie Derrick Mayes, Desmond Howard, and Terry Mickens. Meanwhile, Rison was an amazingly talented head-case who had spent the last season and a half turning his name into mud in Cleveland and Jacksonville. Every fantasy league in America had owners scrambling like mad to pick Rison up off the waiver wire as soon as the news broke that he was moving to the tundra. But Rison was a bust. In five games, he had only 13 catches for 135 yards and one TD.

There are some obvious difference between that situation and this one, of course. For one thing, Andre Rison and Terry Glenn are two completely distinct human beings. Also, Glenn has the whole preseason to get acquainted with Favre, whereas Rison was joining the team in the middle of the year. So I'm not sure any conclusions should be drawn from the Rison incident, but there are some interesting parallels. If nothing else, it should remind us that the equation:

Hugely talented WR  +  Favre  +  no other obvious WR options  =  Fantasy Gold 

Just how good does Terry Glenn (or some other Packer wide receiver) have to be in order for Favre to repeat as a top 5 quarterback? Let's say you think Glenn will flake out again, that Robert Ferguson and JaVon Walker aren't ready yet, and that Donald Driver and Charles Lee just plain can't play. If that's the case, then Favre still has some good targets in Bubba Franks and Ahman Green, but is that enough? Is it possible for a team to generate a productive QB with no production at all from the WRs?

Below, you'll find a list of all teams since 1970 that had a top 10 quarterback but did not have a top 30 WR. Discussion to follow.

 Tm  Year      Quarterback        Rank     #1 Wide Receiver   Rank
-----------+----------------------------+---------------------------+
den  1993  |   John Elway            2  |  Derek Russell        40  |
chi  1972  |   Bobby Douglass        2  |  George Farmer        43  |
nwe  1976  |   Steve Grogan          2  |  Darryl Stingley      36  |
bal  1977  |   Bert Jones            2  |  Glenn Doughty        33  |
nyj  1985  |   Ken O'Brien           2  |  Wesley Walker        34  |
den  1996  |   John Elway            3  |  Anthony Miller       42  |
den  1986  |   John Elway            3  |  Steve Watson         35  |
phi  2000  |   Donovan McNabb        5  |  Charles Johnson      32  |
tam  1980  |   Doug Williams         5  |  Gordon Jones         36  |
nyj  1993  |   Boomer Esiason        5  |  Rob Moore            41  |
ten  1998  |   Steve McNair          5  |  Yancey Thigpen       62  |
nwe  1997  |   Drew Bledsoe          5  |  Shawn Jefferson      42  |
nwe  1984  |   Tony Eason            5  |  Stanley Morgan       31  |
ten  1997  |   Steve McNair          6  |  Willie Davis         49  |
ram  1980  |   Vince Ferragamo       6  |  Preston Dennard      34  |
den  1991  |   John Elway            7  |  Mike Young           51  |
was  1979  |   Joe Theismann         7  |  Danny Buggs          38  |
pho  1990  |   Timm Rosenbach        8  |  Roy Green            34  |
pit  1993  |   Neil O'Donnell        8  |  Dwight Stone         43  |
cle  1983  |   Brian Sipe            8  |  Bobby Jones          38  |
kan  1976  |   Mike Livingston       9  |  Henry Marshall       31  |
kan  1995  |   Steve Bono            9  |  Willie Davis         47  |
stl  1985  |   Neil Lomax            9  |  Pat Tilley           30  |
kan  1999  |   Elvis Grbac           9  |  Derrick Alexander    41  |
kan  1992  |   Dave Krieg           10  |  Willie Davis         30  |
mia  2001  |   Jay Fiedler          10  |  Chris Chambers       30  |
cin  1987  |   Boomer Esiason       10  |  Eddie Brown          37  |
atl  1970  |   Bob Berry            10  |  Paul Flatley         34  |
buf  1983  |   Joe Ferguson         10  |  Byron Franklin       44  |
kan  1991  |   Steve Deberg         10  |  Tim Barnett          42  |

The first thing to notice is that running quarterbacks are well-represented on the list, which makes a lot of sense. Favre is past the point in his career where he's going to generate a lot of fantasy production with his legs, but there is still hope in the form of guys like O'Brien, Esiason, Bledsoe, Ferragamo, O'Donnell et al. Even Elway in 1993 ran for only 153 yards and no scores. His top WR, Derek Russell, was ranked 40th in the league (719 yards, 3 TDs), and he still managed to pass for over 4000 yards and 25 TDs.

A return to sanity by Glenn would certainly be helpful to Favre, but it appears that it's not absolutely necessary. There may be good reasons to believe that Glenn will have a big year, but "Favre will get huge numbers and he's got no one else to throw to" isn't one of them in my opinion.