A few have legitimate excuses. The Baltimore Ravens, Carolina Panthers and Jacksonville Jaguars, for instance, simply haven’t been around all that long.

But what about some other clubs with longer bloodlines? A few of these guys have some explaining to do, and and answers probably aren’t going to be all that good. Consider, for instance, that the Cardinals franchise started in Chicago, had a long layover in St. Louis, and has been in Arizona for two decades..with little to show for any of it, at least until this year.

Here’s a list of the NFL teams with the fewest playoff victories:

1. New Orleans Saints: 2

2. Arizona Cardinals: 4

3. Jacksonville Jaguars: 5

4. Atlanta Falcons: 6

T4. Carolina Panthers: 6

T4. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 6

7. Baltimore Ravens: 7

T7. Detroit Lions: 7

T7. Seattle Seahawks: 7

10. New York Jets: 8

Source: 2008 NFL Record & Fact Book

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Here are this year’s top of the draft crop:

1. LaDainian Tomlinson (San Diego) – An obvious choice to be the top overall pick once again. The stats say all it all: league leading 1,474 rushing yards and 15 rushing TDs. L.T. was runner-up in total yards from scrimmage with over 1,900 yards and total touchdowns with 18 TDs. There’s no reason to think 2008 will be any different, as San Diego will be a top team in the AFC and will probably have LT. ice away a lot of 4th quarter leads.

2. Adrian Peterson (Minnesota) – Rookie in 2007 who exploded for an NFL record 296 rushing yards in a single game versus San Diego. His final numbers from last year of 1,341 rushing yards and 12 TDs were outstanding, even more so when taking into consideration that he missed two games. The sky’s the limit for this young superstar.

3. Brian Westbrook (Philadelphia) – Just call him Mr. Do-It-All. Skeptics have always questioned his ability to be an every down back, but he showed great durability in 2007. He only missed a single game and led the league in total yards from scrimmage with 2,104 yards (1,333 rushing, 771 receiving). Westbrook should also benefit from having a healthy Donavan McNabb to keep defenses from stacking up to stop the run.

4. Steven Jackson (St. Louis) – Jackson should be healthy and happy in ‘08. While the health is not guaranteed, the happy should be, given the new $44 million contract he just signed. When he’s on the field, Jackson is without question an elite running back, averaging over 115 yards from scrimmage per game for his entire four-year career

5. Joseph Addai (Indianapolis) – Addai has been productive since joining the Colts in ‘06. He’s topped 1,000 yards rushing and 300 yards receiving in both his NFL seasons. There shouldn’t be any dropoff this year, as the Colts will once again have a top-5 offense.

6. Marion Barber III (Dallas) – Fantasy GMs who have owned Barber the last couple of years have been rewarded with first string results out of a backup. The starting job is all his this year, which should increase his rushing numbers. His TD numbers may not improve as much as one would expect, given that he was Dallas’ goal line back last year.

7. Clinton Portis (Washington) – Portis is a model of consistency over his six years in the league and a solid fantasy pick. During his six-year career he has averaged over 1,200 rushing yards and 10.5 rushing TDs. Count on him to have a couple more solid years before the inevitable decline for running backs hits.

8. Frank Gore (San Francisco) – No question Gore is an explosive back who can catch the ball out of the backfield as well as eat up yardage on the ground. He had over 1,500 total yards from scrimmage in ‘07. The only thing that may hold him back is the 49ers lack of a top line QB to make defenses respect the pass, but that’s no different from last year.

9. Jamal Lewis (Cleveland Browns) – Workhorse runner who raised his productivity last year to levels he had not seen since ‘04. It has been a multi-year process to show skeptics that he was not washed up after that injury-filled year. With the Browns’ passing game showing continued improvement, he should be able to match last year’s 1,500+ combined yards and 11 TDs.

10. Larry Johnson (Kansas City Chiefs) – A bit under the radar given his injury-filled ‘07, but Johnson should be back on track to put up solid fantasy numbers. The Chiefs want to run a ball control offense which means lots of carries for Johnson. They won’t work him as hard as they did in ‘06, when he set a single season record for attempts, but his carry total should allow for some good yardage numbers.

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Here is the top of the draft crop for this year:

1. Randy Moss (New England Patriots) – It’s not hard to understand why Moss has regained the top spot on the draft list given his record setting 2007. In addition to his 23 TD receptions, he tallied 1,493 receiving yards. Expect Tom Brady to continue his mastery of the ultra-efficient Patriot offense which should keep all Moss owners smiling.

2. Terrell Owens (Dallas Cowboys) – Like fine wine, Owens continues to get better with age. Not many receivers entering their 13th year in the league are coming off of a 15 TD / 1,355 yards receiving year but he is. The Cowboys return all of their offensive weapons from last year, which will help keep Owens at the top of his game.

3. Braylon Edwards (Cleveland Browns) – Edwards took some huge strides last year with over 1,200 receiving yards and 16 TDs. That TD total was almost double his 9 career TDs from his first two years. He should continue to improve, as the Browns are putting talented players at all the key offensive skill positions.

4. Reggie Wayne (Indianapolis Colts) – 2007 was somewhat of a breakout year for Wayne with a career high 1,510 receiving yards to go along with 10 TD receptions. He’s been a bit under the radar playing opposite Marvin Harrison, but the truth of the matter is that he had 3 consecutive 1,000 yard seasons prior to last year and had averaged just under 9 TDs per year.

5. Larry Fitzgerald (Arizona Cardinals) – Great productivity since his first year as a pro. Fitzgerald has averaged over 1,100 yards and almost 9 TDs per year over his first four years. At 24 years of age, his best days are still ahead of him, which gives many a defensive coordinator sleepless nights.

6. Andre Johnson (Houston Texans) – Typically, there would be a bit of worry with a receiver coming off an injury-plagued year, but Johnson is simply too talented to pass over. Projecting his stats from the 9 games he did play last year over the entire year and he was headed for a 1,500 yard / 14 TD season.

7. T.J. Houshmandzadeh (Cincinnati Bengals) – While his teammate Chad Johnson continues to gather the media attention, T.J. has steadily been putting up elite-level numbers. Over the past four years he has averaged just over 1,000 yards and 8 TD receptions per year. Not too shabby for the perceived #2 receiver for the Bengals.

8. Marques Colston (New Orleans Saints) – No one thought much when the Saints spent their 7th round draft choice of 2006 on a wideout from tiny Hofstra. Colston was a rookie surprise and definitely did not suffer any sophomore slump. His two year totals of 2,240 yards and 19 TDs will make any fantasy GM smile.

9. Plaxico Burress (New York Giants) – Burress fought through a painful ankle in 2007 to put up the fourth 1,000-yard receiving season of his career and haul in a career high 12 TD passes. The Giants and QB Eli Manning are riding a wave of confidence as Super Bowl Champions and that should translate into another successful year for Eli’s favorite wideout.

10. Steve Smith (Carolina Panthers) – The little man with the big heart continues to put up great numbers. Despite just average QB play and constant double teams, Smith has had over 1,000 receiving yards and at least 7 TDs in four of the last five years. (He played in only 1 game in 2004 before going on injured reserve.)

The rest of the Top 25 wide receiver draft picks.

11. Chad Johnson (Cincinnati Bengals)

12. Anquan Boldin (Arizona Cardinals)

13. Brandon Marshall (Denver Broncos)

14. Torry Holt (St. Louis Rams)

15. Wes Welker (New England Patriots)

16. Roy Williams (Detroit Lions)

17. Joey Galloway (Tampa Bay Buccaneers)

18. Greg Jennings (Green Bay Packers)

19. Jerricho Cotchery (New York Jets)

20. Santonio Holmes (Pittsburgh Steelers)

21. Roddy White (Atlanta Falcons)

22. Kevin Curtis (Philadelphia Eagles)

23. Dwayne Bowe (Kansas City Chiefs)

24. Lee Evans (Buffalo Bills)

25. Hines Ward (Pittsburgh Steelers)

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This year’s list of top rookies is running back heavy as expected given the position’s usually steep learning curve. The wide receiver and quarterback positions typically take a few years to adjust to the sophisticated pro passing game.

Here are the top ten rookie draft choices:

1. Darren McFadden (RB, Oakland Raiders) – The 4th pick in the 2008 draft is extremely explosive and a threat to score any time he touches the ball. The big question is how many touches will McFadden get per game? The Raiders have struggled over the past couple of years and should be going with their youth movement but who knows what is going through Al Davis’ mind?

2. Kevin Smith (RB, Detroit Lions) – Led the NCAA in rushing in ‘07 while at Central Florida. Smith landed in a great situation with the Lions, who cleaned house of all of the backs from last year. He does have competition from Tatum Bell but could very well be starting by Opening Day.

3. Matt Forte (RB, Chicago Bears) – Another back who joins a franchise with no incumbent running back to beat out. He will have camp competition from the injury plagued Kevin Jones, but basically the starting job is his to lose. Extremely productive back in college who ran for over 2,000 yards during his senior year.

4. Jonathan Stewart (RB, Carolina Panthers) – Stewart showed great all-around ability during his career at Oregon, adding kickoff return duty to his work load. He joins a Panthers team that wants to be a power running team but has had recent problems keeping their backs healthy. Stewart can be the perfect match to solve their problems if he can stay out of the trainers’ room.

5. Felix Jones (RB, Dallas Cowboys) – Jones is joining a loaded Dallas team, which would normally knock him down a few spots on fantasy draft boards, but his explosiveness will force Dallas to put him on the field. He won’t get as many touches as some of the backs listed above, but expect his productivity to be on par with them.

6. Chris Johnson (RB, Tennessee Titans) – The Titans already have their starter in LenDale White but they do plan on getting Johnson playing time as a change of pace back. He has great speed to complement the bruising style of White.

7. Devin Thomas (WR, Washington Redskins) – Redskins new coach Jim Zorn is an old quarterback who plans to upgrade the passing game quite a bit this year. This bodes well for Thomas, as well as the fact that Jason Campbell showed some nice development at QB last year and should be able to get the ball to him often.

8. Rashard Mendenhall (RB, Pittsburgh Steelers) – Yet another running back who will have to sit behind a proven starter but will get multiple carries a game. He was a true work horse while at Illinois and should provide the tough running on short yardage situations near the goal line.

9. DeSean Jackson (WR, Philadelphia Eagles) – Jackson is joining an Eagles team that really needed an upgrade at the wide receiver position. He’ll be given every opportunity to make plays, which shouldn’t be a problem based on his college career. In addition to receiving, he’s very dangerous as a punt returner.

10. Matt Ryan (QB, Atlanta Falcons) – The top quarterback taken in the draft looks to be the opening day starter for the Falcons, who were lost at the position last year. He’ll take his lumps like any rookie QB but has the potential to put up some nice fantasy points with good decision making and his cannon arm.

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Source: NFL.com

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Source: NFL.com

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Here are all the 1,000 yard receivers from 2007.

Source: NFL.com

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Source: NFL.com

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Here are the top 25 players in pass receptions from last year:

Source: NFL.com

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Source: NFL.com

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