Erin Henderson vs. Melvin Ingram

I bought your predraft rankings, and I am curious on Erin Henderson. You have him ranked very high. Im not sure if I am missing something here. to me he seems like a mediocre talent, with not a lot of big play potential. On the other hand you have Melvin Ingram ranked very low. I watched his preseason and he looks like an absolute beast that can play from everywhere. It almost seemed like The Chargers were running there LB core around Ingram. Both you have listed as every down linebackers. Just wanted your thoughts on this and to see if there is something I am missing. Both are available in my FA pool and not sure who to take.

haha, I wonder if we are in the same league. Actually, I drafted Henderson as my second of two DPs, but Ingram was my other choice. My bench was full, but, like you, I'm debating whether to drop Henderson in favor of Ingram.

One thing in Henderson's favor is IMO the Vikings will be behind in their games more than the Chargers and have to deal with the opposition's running game and possibly Henderson racking up those tackles/assists.

But, I am far from a 'Guru' on this and I look forward to his view too. ;-)

Let me start off by saying that the rankings are based off of balanced scoring. Henderson is underrated in my opinion and I'm surprised he didn't draw more interest on the open market. Regardless of your opinion of him as a player, the fact remains that he's a three down weak side linebacker in a 4-3 cover two shell based system (not as much as they use to be, however). Additionally, the defense will be on the field quite a bit. I think 80-85 solos is a reasonable expectation.

Ingram has played well, but he's not going to garner a ton of tackles and you will be dependent on him getting sacks which I don't like with my LBs unless I'm in a big play league.