Summary

The Apple Eaters had a very interesting season in 2012. First off, they brought in first time GM Kurt Willette. Next, they drafted top running back prospect Trent Richardson. Lastly, they spent most of the season as the AAA affiliate of the Chickens. Nick beat the drums the past two years to get Kurt a seat at the Eaters table and once it finally came to pass, Kurt held up his end of the bargain by feeding the Chickens just the players they would need to make a run to the championship. The Eaters made the head scratching move of trading Percy Harvin for a washed up Philip Rivers and then unloaded Heath Miller in the midst of a career year for some dirty laundry. The Eaters closed out the season as the lowest scoring team in the league while winning 5 games.

"Trent Richardson is the type of athlete that comes along once a generation," said Rotoworld's Evan Silva. "Traffic on the site is up 700% since he entered the league."

Critical Question

Will both Chris and Kurt getting married and consequently taking the heat off of them to propose finally allow them to refocus on the YFFL and return the Eaters to glory? After going to the playoffs for three straight years, the Eaters have been just treading water the last four and haven't been able to get over the hump despite stockpiling top draft picks. A refocused front office should be able to get this team back in the mix of a wide open division.

Player to Watch

Trent Richardson, RB CLE - After just one season, Richardson is already proving to be a headache. He spends nearly every day all year round trending on Rotoworld due to a various collection of injuries. There is lots of talk heading into this season of Norv Turner using Richardson like Emmitt Smith and getting similar production. It's a tall task and it will be interesting to see what Richardson can do if he can hold up under such a huge workload.

Lineup

Phillip Rivers, Trent Richardson, Reggie Bush, Antonio Brown, Vincent Jackson, Brent Celek, Alex Henry, Emmanuel Sanders

Outlook

The Eaters have to be really disappointed to be holding a top three draft spot and finding there are no elite QBs available. Rivers could be serviceable this season, but his career is definitely headed in the wrong direction. A franchise QB is needed and looking around the league, I'm not sure there is one they could flip this #3 pick for. Joe Flacco might have made sense if he had someone to catch the ball, and Andy Dalton would look good in an Eaters uniform, but unfortunately league rules prohibit that from occurring. The rest of the lineup is fine and they should be very competitive within their division. Ultimately the lack of a top end signal caller does this team in.

Projections

5-8; 525 Points; 4th Place AFC West