PLAYER SPOTLIGHT: JEFF FRANCOEUR ON FF

PLAYER SPOTLIGHT: JEFF FRANCOEUR ON FF
By Daniel Mogollon, NFL Draft Bible

With all the off the field trouble those involved in professional sports have gotten themselves into of late, teams should encourage fantasy sports as way to have some clean fun, something many athletes are already doing.

Before the Atlanta Braves took the field to take on the New York Mets on Tuesday, Jeff Francoeur gave the NFL Draft Bible a few minutes of his time in the visiting team’s dugout. He is almost as excited about the upcoming football season, as he is the Braves’ playoff push.

“I got all my books and I’m scouting now. I should be ready to go,” Francoeur said of his preparation for his league’s Fantasy Football Draft. “I had a disappointing year last year, I’m going to be honest with you. I got knocked out of the playoffs early, so I need to come back strong this year.”

Francoeur takes pride in his knowledge of football, especially considering he was a four-star recruit according to Rivals and was set to go to Clemson, before the hometown Atlanta Braves made him a first round draft choice. As a corner, he ran a 4.5 40-time and could have teamed with Justin Miller on the Tigers, who Francoeur says he follows intently.

“We have a fun league, so it should be a good time,” the athletic right fielder says of the Braves in-house fantasy league, which usually consists of 12 to 14 players.

In addition to keeping players out of trouble -- if you owned a team, wouldn’t you rather have your players yelling at their TV for LaDainian Tomlinson to score a touchdown than with a fist full of cash outside a pit-bull ring? -- it helps build team camaraderie.

“It’s a blast, we come in talking trash all the time, even during the off-season,” Francoeur said. “It’s a great way to keep in touch with guys through e-mail.”

* A special thanks goes out to LatinoSports.com, for allowing Dan to do this interview while on assignment covering the Mets.