Hey Hey Hey, we are back and ready to rumble. Hope everyone had a great offseason and glad to have a few new faces join in the pleasures of experiences others misfortune. Sorry it has been a couple years but I am glad we are back (tentatively) doing some fashion of blog posts to share our own pleasures in others unfortunate situations. To kick things off for those who are new here (whether the league or a causal soul who stumbled across this page) we are here to experience the ultimately form of Schadenfreude and to do that you first must win the league and forever engrave your name upon the one and only Schadenfreude Trophy. Today you won’t be hearing from any Trolls today because the Troll Hunters made sure to clean house after all of your poor performance in the draft. I mean seriously, we got everyone spending money in all the wrong places during the draft and the sad part was, they weren't even regretting it. When you are stuck in a whole, step 1 is to stop digging… and I know a number of you already dug your own graves. Take Tree Cats for example, locking down the number 1 QB, solid pick. Dug themselves a nice little spot for a cat nap and coast into never once worrying about their QB spot. Since I am nice and cozy with Allen, might as well enjoy some cat nip while I let everyone bleed themselves dry and grab a nice QB2 when the market cools down. Wait, how am I out of cat nip already, where it is go, why did I stop digging, this is a horrible spot to be, ahhhhhh Mahomes is right there, why would I not get him… & boom, locked and love me some top grade mahomes tuna... wait? why is this whole 10 feet deep… better get out of here. Hmmmmmm, I smell something cooking. Delvin, I need some ice cold Delvin to wash down their embarrassment spending 50% of my budget on two players… what was I doing, oh yeah I was digging, gotta keep digging this hole. Wow that was some good Delvin, let's see who's next… wait, why is it sooooooooo dark. The sun can' have set yet, we just started the draft like 20 minutes ago… oh no… 80% of my budget is gone after only 23 out of 160 picks. I'm not seeing any Tree Cats this year, I see two lions, a tiger, and a bunch of kittens… Nervous about that RB depth, nervous about having any top WR talent, and neither of these will get resolved by your two $20 TEs. Half of your remaining budget went to two TEs that don't help the situation above. GRADE - F Next up, we don't have someone digging a hole but rather a couple of Outlaws enjoying their time casing a near by Spirit Halloween for their next "purchase". After a nice meal at the nearby Pizza Ranch, Mr and Mrs Outlaws make their way to the nearest Spirit Halloween to load up on goodies as the holiday season is upon them. So they make their plan, grab their masks, leave their wallets, phones, keys, etc in the car incase either of them gets caught and locked up the car to avoid someone from stealing their leftover pizza ranch haul and extra slice of the pizza cookie. Obviously, they aren't allowed leftovers but that won't stop these outlaws from taking what is theirs. Now they are ready to burst through the front door and start taking what is theirs. Mrs. Outlaw was focused on grabbing those sweet sweet electronics and the most expensive items. Unfortunately, the best fog machines was sold out but the 2nd best was ripe for the taken. Next she moved over to the strobe lights and speaker system and with little time, grabbed the next best one and made a break for the door. These items will make their interior perfect for whatever lineup they are planning. While that was happening, Mr Outlaws was hiding in the shadows, grabbing the best outdoor décor he can find. Unsure why everyone was just walking by these two huge LED/blue tooth compatible grim reaper and vampire/coffin animatronics to scare away any unfortunate soul who dares cross them during their reign of terror. Mr./Mrs. with their secured cargo safely make it back to their car but there is a problem, their keys were locked in the car… and they have to get out of her quick…. So they make they 5 mile trek back to their hideout and quickly grab a set of backup keys to finish the job. However, hours have past and the horde has descended and left their Spirit Halloween in shambles. The best skeleton they can get is one made of cardboard and a few with Santa Claus outfits out which mostly won't get the job done. Only time will tell if the bargain bin trash will work out next to the high value items. How can you have a scary house if you only one skeleton and it is made out of cardboard… honestly people this house will get teepeed and egged multiple times throughout the holiday season. Grade - F Remember, no trolls here, this is me simply sharing with you the hypothetical stories that I know they were imagining when they were drafting these teams. Okay who am I trolling… I mean reciting their story next. Ah yes, the ever faithful and our current keeper of the Schadenfreude, the Angels. The Angels were given a miracle last year as they embraced the Schadenfreude with open arms. They didn't ask for the Schadenfreude, they didn't want the Schadenfreude, who are they to receive such a blessing. Once the recipient of the holy grail is a gift beyond compare, but twice is a sign from above that no one except the angels should harbor what is rightfully theirs. They were once a humble and generous coalition, offering advice and willfully accepting trades that were well below the asking price they would be receiving. However, within the in circle of the archangels, something is changing within them. They are starting to accept the meaning of schadenfreude and are actually starting to enjoy the misery they are noticing from the other factions around the league. The Archangels devised the perfect ritual for their success in retaining the Schadenfreude for years and years to come. After digging and digging with the archives over the past 6 months, everything they found always led back to the number 3. So on the night of the draft, the most holy of them enjoyed not 1, not 2, but 3 bottle of the wine reserved for the annual Jubilee giving back our most prized warriors to be selected once again. So the most holy, followed the ritual flawlessly, the 3 best general was selected among the lot, the 3 best captain of sea, air, and land was selected from the lot. Now, such a perfect execution of a ritual has never been perform. We have nothing else to do, we could either end the ritual now but that would be a disgrace to our father who has given us the number 3 as a sign. So we must be strong and chastise ourselves from any other number. As such, the celebration continued, and the angels stayed strong on their temptations for selection any additional campions. Number 4-10 were quickly gone but next came the 11-19s. Surely our father would never forgive us for such unholy numbers. Next came the 20-29, one follower spoke up at 23 and challenged the notion of if as long as 3 was included, would it be so bad if we accepted them into our ranks. But only the 23rd rank of the air was selected while the archangels began to question their ritual and the most holy was the most unhelpful asleep on the throne. However, now was their time to strike, the most holiest of number 3 and 3 and they were sure to select the 33 champions for both the air and land. However, unknown to them, the general and 33rd captain of the sea were most unsuitable for the job. By now, the Archangels knew they had made a terrible mistake, focusing solely on the number 3 has given them one of the best in each of the 4 core skills however, at what cost… the "holy" 33rd best aren't at all qualified to be second in command and these were the second best champions they had. The rest of the champions turned out to be merely peasants in disguised looking to grab a glimpse of the Schadenfreude. Grade: F Now, recruiting has been light the past 3 years since we captured the Schadenfreude behind the lines of the mulledwine nation. Fortunately, we took part in the destruction of them and forced their alliance with the outlaws who, in our/cadets honest opinion, haven't come close to regaining the Schadenfreude. Outlaws brewing and mulling their own wine, beer, etc was a horrible idea from the start. Outlaws just take what is theirs and Mullers create a monopoly and overcharge to force the holder of the Schadenfreude into debt and obtain via collateral (with no intention of getting back). However, those cultist and superior hunters (who are excellent marksmen who I could never compete with) swindled me out of my prize and I must build a army so great that they will never challenge me again. So I need to know how those cultist stole my prize out from under me and ruin their chances of obtaining the perfect army. So the senior officials as well as some junior officials (who we hope will take over the family army someday) got together and devised the perfect espionage within the cultist ranks. We first, learn their strategy as they have held the Schadenfreude for 3 years which included a 1 year rental tot he Superior Hunters who finally got recognized for their exceptional skills. After we obtain the perfect plan to take back the Schadenfreude, we will sabotage the cultist's plan to retain the ultimate prize. So, the cadets pulled together their most senior marines and infiltrated the cultists. The obtained that their ritual was to obtain the 3 best general and 3 best captain of land, sky and sea. When the cadets reconvened, they had two sets of the ritual. Now the next step in their plan was sabotage these cultist from annual draft of champions. Most champions didn't want to get drafted but it nots like us drafting them changes their untimely goal so they should be honored we accept them in our ranks. Okay, back to sabotage, while they were looking for the ritual they stumbled upon the ritual wine to be enjoyed during the draft. So the cadets had a brilliant but terrible plan, they would replace the wine, with wine cut with just enough bourbon to avoid the cultists from noticing. Also they also labeled which one would be enjoyed first so the cadets made the 2nd to last and last bottle more potent. Now the trap was set and the draft day was here. These meat heads had two drafts of the ritual and after hours and hours of discussion they concluded the most "evil"; number that would win them their prize was 6 (two sets of 3). So they selected the 6th best general and 6th best captain of land, air and sea (okay Waller is like 4th best but I downgraded him due to Adams and narrative purposes…). After the flawless execution of the plan to selected the 6th best draftees and adding a couple more b squad draftees. It was actually getting kinda late and our junior cadets have school tomorrow so we should get to bed early and rely on our last 2.5% budget to be allocated based on the best AI we can afford… really auto draft again… hasn't helped in the past 3 years and won't help again this year… Grade: F Oh how the mighty have fallen. We used to be the Kings among men with our only rival being the czars who acted like outlaws across the border. We had a beautiful arrangement, we would utterly destroy the rest of the nations and have a civilized duel between the two of us to decide who should hold the crown this year. However, darkness fell over our nation in 2016 when the czars backstabbed our arrangement and gifted their support to another nation. Supposedly this nation from the south had a beautiful queen that the czars had been courting her from some time. It was OUR time to hold crown for back to back years and it was our right to have our name ever engraved for a 3rd time as agreed upon in the Cake Eater Treaty of 2011. However, we could never have prepared ourselves for the Royal Treaty of 2016 when Mullynation ascended from being a commoner to become a queen. All three nations however would have a tragic ending, the "outlaws"; and "mullys"; would in fact join forces and become king and queen of the "Outlaw Nation"; But they would continue to fall from grace and have yet to regain the crown they promised us. As for us, we fell further than we could have ever imagine. We were forced from our castles and forced to rebuild our civilization around the borders of other nations and float from nation to nation asking for handouts and gifts to make ends meet. After years and years of years of riding the rapids and becoming gypsies of the river, we pull together our tribe and draft peace accords in hopes of regaining our wealth and status among the new crown bearers. The Church has held power for too long and we all know the countryfolk militia who held power was really a front from the Church. No one would believe those hunters of mythical creatures to actually obtain and hold the crown for a year, let alone a month. The plan for the tribe was actually genius to them, they have learned so much from the river/water/sea that they would focus on courting the greatest warrior the sea has to offer and if that wasn't enough we will acquire the 2nd best of the sea as well. Also, why stop there, the sea is so plentiful that we could as much of the sea as we desire. It will be a full proof plan. All we have to do is mix in a few serviceable general and solid captains of the land. We the River Gypsies were born from the water and we will reclaim our land… from the water… and unfortunately they were too focused on the sea to realize they need a stronger, faster, more powerful general and battalion of the land and/or sky to win any real battle to reclaim their high society status.
Grade: F
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TrollHunters - hunted trolls or rather studied their habits and learn new hunting techniques (via Amazon prime and if you haven’t seen Troll Hunter I pity you aka newbies)
3-putt slicers - golf everyday prior to the draft to work out that slice. Only got out Friday and sliced two OB on the front 9… also no 3 putts but plenty of 2 putts + 1 “chip” with the putter of the green. Northside Angels - went to church; had communion Outlaws - robbed a Spirit Halloween to start prepping for next year’s decorations and party (since this years is already ready to go) Cadets - went to a gun range (aka backyard) and practiced their firepower with 5 shots from their 50 cal then practiced their AI drone skills to take over for the rest of the night Gypies - had another kid… gotta pass on the tradition to someone Cats - bought tickets to the twins game, somehow end up at the saints game. Missed the twins win and got stuck with the saints loss… Big city- hit up bottle service in NYC for some top self moonshine Week 1 RecapTroll Hunters (128) over Indian Outlaws (108) No picks caused would’ve impacted these results. Troll Hunters had 3 RBs with top 10 weeks. Horrible WR production and QB production and elected to avoid starting the vikes (16 pt) this week. However, still put up top 3 results this week. Indian Outlaws also didn’t have any potential bench help and weak production across the board (except WR1 for the Giants Evan Engram). A fair amount of potential but also a fair amount of bust potential as well… We’ll just see if he can turn it around week 2. Mullynation (107) over NorthSide Angels (80) Basically this was the pillow fight of the week 3rd worst vs worst scores of the week… However, one move away from a Mullynation upset. Swap Michel for Jackson and Mullynation falls to (0-1). If NSA did that, I would of accused him from being from the future… He had to take Michel here as well as the Jags. Drafting the Jags and benching them was the best idea but a tough one knowing you have to lose a bench spot that week… Outside of the expected Thomas performance, Lamar was outstanding but everyone else was 100% disappointing. Mullynation a great performance from Watson and solid performance for Kamara. But a off week gave her 105 points and that was a 100% off week. I would expect better results next week from Mullynation. Big Ass Cup O’ Franzia (113) over Twin City Tree Cats (110) One of the closest battles this week. Tree cats did everything they could to muster up 110 (really really doubt Mark Andrews would’ve been started with no experience). Outside of that Tree Cats maxed their score with would I feel was his best line-up available. Great start for Jacobs and good for Brees. Outside of that, pretty average or expected across the board (see below for rankings to continue Tree Cats expecations). Franzia might be the roller coaster team of the year. A lot of mid tiers who could boom, bust or be average which makes it real tough to set up that line-up weekly. Great move adding Sanders over other bench spots to earn this win. But he also had Gallup who could’ve made him a top 5 score if swapped for shepard. If I had Franzia’s team I would have so many regrets week to week if the final results don’t end favorable like they did this week. However, I guess having the name “Big Ass Cup O’ Franzia” has given you a season of regrets so I’m sure you are used to it right now. 302 Cadets (138) over Vicious Veg-Heads (100) This one was another one side battle when you look at it. 40ish point smack down but 2nd lowest score from VVs with only the coin flip Brown/Jackson giving him a potential 10 pts would’ve have changed anything. Maybe… Maybe… Brown could’ve performed a miracle if he was still on the Raiders… but that would’ve been highly unlikely. Also 302 had his line-up picked since the draft so that wasn’t going to change anything. Worst news for 302 is Tyreek Hill his WR1 is out for weeks and he’s got no replacement. Jeffery’s honestly can’t be expected 20ish points a week with how many weapons the eagles have but his RBs are more potent than expected so that could be deadly for the returning champ. Veg-heads needs some waiver hits or outstanding performance from his WR1s on a weekly basis or hope for off weeks (like Mullynation this week) to steal wins this season. River Gypsies (129) over Big City Hillbillies (124) This was the best game of the week and both teams had chances to either win or lose this week. Let me start by saying that RGs would’ve killed if he had played Watkins which I did see as a viable flex play over Marvin Jones. But he was left on the bench which I am sure won’t be the case for a lot of weeks to come. However, this was also BCH game to win. If he swaps Hilton this would’ve been an easy win. Any WR/Flex spot swapped with Hilton would’ve resulted in a W for BCH. NOTE and taboo: I did play Hilton in another league so this isn’t simply me not having any Hilton shares and criticizing from the outside. Or swap Williams for Lindsay. Other options would’ve worked but if this week 1 decision somehow has playoff I will surely try to bring it up. RGs really had a average week expect for Mahomes (because why not pick up where he left off) and a outstanding week 1 for McCaffrey. Same goes for Hillbillies who honestly had a fine or good week expect of Ekler who was outstanding as well. A lot things could’ve impacted this match and hopefully I see many more of these types of games in weeks to come. Week 2 Power Rankings1) River Gypsies (1-0) - 2nd highest score. Zek is back no issues expected and gained another WR1 with Watkins. Helps RGs a ton. Love the RBs, Love the WRs, and Love the QB. Let’s see if he can keep it.
2) Mullynation (1-0) – 3rd lowest score… and you luckily played the worst score… Mixon could be hurt concerned a bit for Kerryon. But still have the other 2 top 4 RB and another awesome QB. I would expect this 3rd lowest score is a outlier but she has to beat RGs this week to reclaim the top spot. 3) Troll Hunters (1-0) – No big changes, with a win and 3rd best score week 1. 4) 302 Cadets (1-0) – Carson/Mack were much better than I expected. And no delay with Bell coming back week 1. However, Hill is out for weeks and his new WR are waiver picks… we’ll see what Hollywood Brown and move Cadets up the ranks. 5) Indian Outlaws (0-1) – Um what happened to these RBs… some might have expected it, others didn’t. If this continues one more week IO will fall off their horse and it won’t be a fun landing… 6) Northside Angels (0-1) – Nervous about Conner, Michel, and Freeman. My initial bro HH is out for weeks… and lowest score of week 1 by 20, yeah you lost a lot of my confidence 7) Big Ass Cup O’ Franzia (1-0) – Ingram took his RB1 role seriously and could be a very solid RB2 with RB1 upside week to week. Gurley however offset this with mediocre performance. However, moves up a spot with a solid win and potential consistent performance. 8) Twin City Tree Cats (0-1) – Nervous about Fournette, Drake, Kirk as starting options. Josh Jacobs/Thielen are solid #2 or low #1 with OBJ the only true #1 player. Gotta see these guys take over as weekly top 10 players to move up this rankings. 9) Big City Hillbillies (0-1) – Long road for BCH to move up this list but it starts Week 1 with the 2nd highest score. Nervous about long term starting RB role for Williams/Ekeler and Gordon could lose a lot of target to AB (could) and Colemon is now out for weeks. Might be a roller coaster but I do see the BCH moving up at least for the beginning of the season. 10) Vicious Veg-Heads (0-1) - RBs were issue for VVs week 1 as expected and not having his other WR1 made it a real up hill climb… 2nd worst score and his starting RBs week 2 appear to be waiver wire picks ups… If Brown is back and the Redskins dominate giving Thompson/Peterson a lot of points would be the first step for VVs to move up this list. You all have waiting long enough, so let's just get right into it!!! Keeper SituationMy guess for everyone’s keeper: Indian Outlaws – Nick Chubb (Correct) Northside Angels – James Conner (Correct) Big City Hillbillies – Damien Williams (Correct) The Mullynation – Kerryon Johnson (Correct) Troll Hunters – Derrick Henry (Correct – obviously) Big Ass Cup of O’ Franzia – Julian Edelman (Correct) River Gypsies – Christian McCaffrey (Incorrect, thought Chris Carson for more $ value but it was a toss-up me) 302 Cadets – Tyreek Hill (Incorrect, thought Robert Woods for more $ value but it was a toss-up me) Vicious Veg-Heads – George Kittle (Correct) Twin City Tree Cats – Travis Kelce (Correct, but originally got the dollars wrong) Overall, I wanted to recap where it all started and how teams were sitting after the end of last season in terms of keepers. This year, it would look like we wouldn’t have any real sunk cost keepers like we did last year. If we just open up the archives to last season, we had two huge sunk costs related to prior year keepers. One of these was the one, the only, DeMarco Murray. Veg-Heads made the risky move in the 17-18 season by locking down his top RB from the season prior. The 18-19 season put Veg-Heads at a huge disadvantage being down 26 dollars or 13% AND losing a draft spot. As such, this would the first season in a couple years allowing him to start fresh and with the 1 year keeper option for George Kittle the consensus TE2/3 at a great value puts Veg-Heads in middle of the pack from a starting position. Additionally, Big Ass Cup of O’ Franzia (Formally 90* Putters) had this same predicament with Bilal Powell. Not nearly as severe and potentially, some believed that he had minimal value that was worth rostering however, it was definitively a 12 dollar loss that he started with. Moving forward to the current year, Big Ass Cup of O’ Franzia didn’t have this liability AND had another decent keeper himself (who he drafted) which will give him immediate benefit and the option for an additional year if Edelman keeps his WR1 spot. Overall, he is in the lower middle of the pack as well as one who has the most available funds to draft the team he wants compared to the team he is stuck with Lower purchasing power teams are Big City Hillbillies and Troll Hunters. Big City Hillbillies really only had one option for a keeper and the value for Damiem Williams was there. Potential RB2 or better in a high powered KC offense could be great (or at least very good) again this year. We can talk more about Damiem Williams later but overall it was his only option but basically he is one of the teams with the most purchasing power and could make any team he wants. Subsequently, Troll Hunters didn’t have many solid options either. Not to say the players weren’t solid, but rather the value compared to others isn’t nearly there like other teams. Either risk Calvin Ridley (10 vs purchased for 10 in the draft) or Derrick Henry for 23 with the expected purchase price of 21. Since we now have the option of 2 years compared to the lock of 2 years, the risk (or opportunity) for next year was greater so overall the choice was made. Basically, no (or very minimal) value for Troll Hunters picks and also put him in the 2nd worse purchasing power position. Best purchasing power teams would be Mullynation and Northside Angels. Mullynation is the overwhelming value team with around a 65 dollar benefit. She could pick either of the top RB or WR for basically “free”. She already has two solid (1 great, 1 solid) RBs so WRs might be the best option but the top RBs are almost priceless so jumping on one isn’t a bad idea. Northside Angels is on the light side of Mullynation but still has his RB1 locked at a great price. Additionally he has one of the top purchasing power (190) to help create the team he wants. Also want to note the high value for River Gypsies but the only reason why I didn’t say him was the purchasing power is almost lost. He only has 133 or 66% of the funds remaining. Has his RB1 and WR1 locked so in a very great position and has great value, but still less likely to go all in again on another top WR/RB or if they do we won’t seem them for a while. Remaining teams are 302 Cadets, Twin City Tree Cats, and Indian Outlaws. Honestly, they all have solid keepers with Cadets and Tree Cadets locking their top TEs and WRs with Outlaws locking down his WR1/RB1. I would probably say that Cadets is in the best position with the TE2/3 and a top 5 WR but like I said, all three teams are in a good position as they already have a couple key starting spots covered. See below for the chart regarding keepers and value What went on in the draft...Okay, now we are ready to go. We have our Keepers locked, our strategies set (for now at least), and we are ready for this auction to begin. First couple rounds: (1) Saquon Barkley (76)– Barkley was going to be one of the first auction players on the block. Whether you want him or want others to “waste” their funds, it was the easiest first player to put on the block. Honestly with our additional funds due to the keepers, the price of 76 isn’t too unrealizable. Honestly, Tree Cats took him for 72 last year so I was honestly thinking he would go higher. Additionally, I was expecting Mully/TC2/”ASS”/BCH to be interested but personal opinon thought Mullynation would’ve spent anything to lock down Barkley (and Kamara) to continue her dominance. (2-3) Hopkins/Beckham (57/53) – not surprised WRs went next since I was one of those who selected them and thought their average price were as expected. Actually Hopkins I had as a slight discount from the additional purchasing power of the keepers but overall, 57/53 were solid prices for these two top 5 WRs. Both TC2 (Beckham) and VVs (Hopkins) I think made solid first round purchases. Both had needs for WR1s so they made good picks locking them down early. (4-6) Bell/Zek/DJ (57/59/58) – Overall, you can see these RB1s were fairly similarly purchased. My personal opinion has River Gypsies the edge with getting Zek at a similar price compared to these two. There is more uncertainty of the early season availability for Zek but RGs has McCaffrey to help “survive” and if things go as he would expect, this is a comparable one two punch like Mullynation. Troll Hunters followed Mullynation with solidifying his 3rd… RB prior to locking down WRs but due to how valuable the top ones are, it really isn’t a bad choice. Lastly, 302 Cadets might’ve overpaid for Bell who is coming off a missed 2018-2019 year but it is Le’Veon Bell and he is being paid to be the RB1 he will be. (7) Amari Cooper (34) – Big Ass Cup O’ Franzia (Super annoying to type out Derek… so we are going to attempt to shorten this to Big Ass C or “ASS” for short, wasn’t my idea but like it). Honestly, nothing special here. I valued with increase in purchasing power to be 34, he was purchased for 34. Nuff said. (8) David Montgomery (30) – Indian Outlaws said he was ready to play and ready for a comeback and basically is betting on a rookie… Outlaws wanted this guy and it was clear spending an increased value of 20 to make this guy an outlaw. I understand that Jordan Howard is no longer a Bear but there is still Tarik Cohen and there is a lot of risk here. (in my own opinion here) (9-15) Adams (54)/Fournette (43)/Mahomes (21)/Hunt (4)/Gurley (51)/Thomas (53) – one of the purchases here is a bit… out of the ordinary. Adams/Thomas both went to Northside Angels. NSA had a lot of money to spend and honestly was comparable to the Hopkins/Beckham purchases above. NSA had a low RB1 and now has two top WR1s. Sitting pretty good. Tree Cats got Fournette at 43 which was a RB needed but I see this as an overpaid. Fournette was a huge bust and I won’t anything to do with him. Gurley a couple picks later at 8 dollars more is 100% better pick but we shall see. Big Ass C making a bigger dent to the pocket book with Gurley who (when comparing to Zek/DJ) is actually a pretty good price. RGs getting Mahomes at 21 was surprising. Typically one or two QBs are expensive and I thought he would go higher. I wasn’t interested but I think this was a great pickup. Lastly, are you kidding me??? Kareem Hunt was actually drafted? He isn’t going to play for 7 weeks (after the bye week 7). First off, this all started off as a cluster FUCK, $1… $2… $30!!! Wait, hold the phone, 30 for Kareem Hunt… this has to be worse when Cadets drafted a 2nd Brady (after Rogers) when we switched to non superflex league. At least cadets had value to trade in this situation. Kareem Hunt, has very little. You now have him locked in on our bench (assume you want to keep him) for 7+weeks in hopes he might steal carries for Chubb who took the role himself last year. Maybe a 1 dollar flyer but that extra $3 could be useful down the road… 16-25 Mixon (43)/Melvin Gordon (41)/ Jeffery (16)/AJ Green (17)/Brown (43)/Freeman (34)/Drake (12)/ Josh Gordon (13)/ Julio (50)/ Brandin Cooks (20) – okay, we’ll get there later but why is Mullynation still drafting RBs? With this purchase, she is down %70+ of and ONLY has RBs… she could’ve had a WR1 for this price Brown/Evans for the exact same price. Other than that, there isn’t a bad pick here. HOWEVER, in this group of 10 one team drafted 3 players. In addition, they only drafted WR and spent 55% of their funds. Veg-Heads purchased Green/Brown/Jones (knowing he already spent 57 on Hopkins earlier. Once again, this is the exact opposite plan the Mullynation who drafted only RBs… we’ll see how this turns out. Okay – this is getting longer than I thought so I will be selective on my comments from now on: 25-50 Top remaining player (and middle tier WRs) - Mike Evans – (43) last upper tier player available and purchased for the good price. He was also the last available in the upper tier of WR1. TY Hilton 28, Diggs 25, Wood 21, Golladay 20. Throughout this bunch Hillbillies, Troll Hunters, and Outlaws managed to clean up this middle tier WRs. Middle Tier RBs – Sony Michel (16), James White (11), Tevin Coleman (10), Ingram II (19), Aaron Jones (22), Marlon Mack (31), Carson (30), Drake (12), Jacobs (33). TC2 got two of these middle tier RBs and is also betting on rookies again this year hoping it turns out like last year (with Barkley). Cadets also rounded out his RB2 and flex with Mack and Carson 10 spots away but basically the same price. Big City Hillbillies went for RB2/Flex but looking for a little better deal with White and Coleman. With the price tags of Carson, BCH had the option 1 round before white to get a more valuable RB2 but missed out on him. TE without the top 3 TEs available this is where the next group went. Engram was the priciest by Outlaws with Engram looking to have a great season without OBJ. Next pricewise (not selection wise) OJ Howard by Mully (who avoided WR again) followed closely by Hunter Henry. Both didn’t do much last year but look to have great breakout seasons. Pollard (5) /Sanders (9) – Backup handcuffs. Outlaws is hoping for an injury (or hold out). Betting on an injury or holdout is always a bold strategy and is more likely to provide serviceable RB/WR2 or flex options but not often do you see top 10 talents like James Conner. Other key picks 51+ by team Indian Outlaws – Duke Johnson (9) – obviously much more valuable now with Lamar’s injury but this was a great late round purchase when having the money to spend. I mean I might’ve said Luck but… RIP Luck and happy retirement. Northside Angels – DJ Moore (3) and Geronimo (1) I think DJ Moore is a great value as a starting WR for Carolina and a GB WR is always potentially high reward. For 4 dollars, this isn’t a bad investment. Big City Hillbillies – Lindsay (8), Cohen (7), and Ekeler (15) – I am going to say these are good picks compared to “value” picks. Since you had too much money to spend not the value of players weren’t really here… But Ekeler could be very useful if Gordon sits out for an extended time and honestly Cohen has been a great RB off and on so who knows who really takes over the most reps in this season. Mullynation – Scantling (2), Singletary (4) and Williams (2) – Same comment as Geronimo for 2 bucks nuff said. Not that Mullynation needs the RB depth but Shady is getting old and there could be a real option for Singletary to try and take his role. But the Bills are Bad... so unsure if there is huge upside but for 4 bucks it’s not bad. Tyrell was boom or bust as a Charger but that is what Mullynation can deal with having the RBs she has lined up for this year. Troll Hunters – Guice (13) Westbrook (6) and Washington (1). Guice was 2nd round draft pick up and will be the Red Skins guy sometime in 2019-2020. ACL caused him to miss his rookie year but will (or I hope) have a huge bounce back year. Westbrook/Washington are potential WR2 or flex plays if things pan out so at a 6 or 1 dollar value you can’t go wrong. Big Ass Cup O’ Franzia – Shepard (6) and Sanders (5). Shepard should see volume increase with OBJ gone so we shall see but the 6 dollar bet is worth it in my mind. Same with Sanders, who is still performing (and now without DT in Den) could be a sneaky top 25 WR for a relatively cheap price. River Gypsies – Watkins (4) and Fitzgerald (2). Watkins in the high power KC offense for $4 isn’t bad. Double down with Mahomes could give the RGs a powerful duo. Fitzgerald could be a solid WR2 starting out as an outlet for Kyler until he gets his rhythm. 302 Cadets – Jared Cook (2) Expected to be a solid TE and especially a good pickup before the end TEs were getting picked up. NOTE: Unsure if this is valid since I believe ESPN was doing the autodrafting at this point… Vicious Veg-heads – Jordan Howard (1), Darwin Thompson (4) and Alexander Mattison (4). Basically, VVs is looking for flyers at this point. Howard (who has been solid in Chicago in the past) for 1 dollar isn’t bad at all. Additionally, potential breakout RBs Thompson and Mattison couldbe valuable depending on injuries… Twin City Tree Cats – Baker Mayfield (4) and Christian Kirk (5). Baker has the most powerful assets he could ask for. As such, you can’t not expect him to be solid this year and for 4 is a great price. That is the 3rd most expensive QB??? 3rd which is fantastic. Fitz is getting old so Arizona needs a new breakout WR1 so I wouldn’t be surprised if Kirk takes the number 1 spot. Draft GradesA Troll Hunters – I am trying to not be biased but having the 2nd worst purchasing power and the least amount of “value” of my keepers my picks were pretty fantastic. Getting a RB1 (DJ) and two solid WR2 with plenty of depth at either the WR (Williams/Westbrook/Washington/Coutee) and RB being Guice meaning I have plenty of depth across the board. Yes TE is a question mark but Kittle was a waiver pick last year so if this is my one weak spot I’ll take it. B North Side Angels – Basically NSA covered off on everything needed. Grabbing 2 WR1s and a RB2 to join his RB1 Conners (his keeper). Plenty of flex options with Michel/Moore/Boyd with a potential break out TE Henry really has him set up. NSA saw a need on his team and picked up starters and flex players to round out the team (Unlike many teams further down the list). Note: Individual team comments on their draft grade are in red Draft Grade: C+ With Conner as my keeper and the new rules I went into the draft focusing on a WR-heavy team. In that I think I failed. While I drafted two top wide receivers in Adams and Thomas it was not the balance I started the draft on. I was aiming for 1 top WR and 2-3 other mid-tier ones. I'm not sure how the current situation will work out. With Freeman and Conner I think I have a reasonably good RB Corp with Michel as a possible backup and flex play. Hunter Henry was a bit of an overspend but I wanted a reliable TE and I think he fit the bill. Matt Ryan and Lamar Jackson give a great amount of flexibility and I aimed to pick up Ryan at the beginning of the draft so that's a plus! After that I think my team is quite thin and lacking in keeper opportunities which is my major problem with my draft. I am a walking time bomb of injuries (which is normal for me so at least it is familiar!) B- Indian Outlaws – Okay there is an asterisk next to Outlaws since I can’t not factor in the Millar injury into the Duke Johnson purchase. Basically, I see Outlaws draft as 2/3 solid picks and then bet on injuries or upsets or earning their position. Chubb/Allen/Evans are locks. Montgomery has the top RB spot in Chi-town but he is a rookie so there is risk. Woods/Engram are expected to be solid However, Pollard, Henderson, Hines, and Royce are all backups that need something big to make them relevant. It already happened though and Duke is now the best option in Houston… so Indian Outlaws has a good starting line-up and some (or potential more) depth depending on how depth charts shake out. Overall, you can see outlaw going after raw talent hoping the players will blossom into a top player as well as lock down that 2 year keeper. Kinda like Veg-heads attempted to do below, but much much better executed since there are WR and RBs drafted who have potential. Draft grade B/B+ Keepers were Chubb for 10 and Allen for 36 - Decent value but not great. Not a huge head start. Drafted: Evans for 43, Montgomery for 30, a flurry of Zero RB targets (Sanders, Duke, Henderson, Royce) for cheap. The most underrated fringe WR1, Robert Woods. Corey Davis for $1 - a top-5 steal in this draft (Watson for 3 and Godwin for 9 are better, but not a lot better). Engram was $15 but will be the only target for the Giants for the first four weeks, leading to a huge hot start. Drafted Luck for 3 which was a great deal, but just bad luck. Traded Hines for Kyler, which offers top-5 upside due to his rushing. Worst case, I drop him for FA streaming. Montgomery has mammoth opportunity and won't come off the field much. Sanders was my biggest draft target, and I think by Week five he'll be a high-end RB2 on that dope Eagles offense. Howard stinks. I think I'll have one solid RB1 (Chubb), two high end RB2s (Monty and Sanders), with Duke suddenly becoming a legit fringe RB1 option as the undisputed back in a top-3 offense. I have one solid WR1, two more guys who can be WR1s any week (Allen and Woods), and a dirt cheap upside pick in Davis. Engram will be fire. Murray can be a league winning QB as a runner in Air Raid. Depth at RB for days with Edmonds, Henderson, and Royce as guys who can get significant work with any injury. This is definitely a playoff team, and it will get stronger as the season goes on due to starting RBs getting injured. It already started with Miller going down. C- Mullynation – you are lucky I am grading you C. Yes you got Barkley (Over but fair priced) and Mixon (good deal) but what did you do after this? You already had 2 RBs with your keeper, please share your rational why you needed to draft two more? They you followed up with 10 on OJ which is fine but you didn’t have a single WR… Yes Landry/Lockett are fine but as WR2s that’s even is a bit of a stretch for me. For my grade I give myself an A, obvi, I got a good deal on watson, mixon and Howard, plus paying a fair amount for Barkley who was the best player in the draft Bonus commentary from the editor - Really...? you call drafting 4 players a A? Anyone could've done that and you just got lucky with your keepers. Passing for sure but I don't know what teachers see that and give you an A. C- Big Ass Cup O’ Franzia - with only Edelman as a Keeper, Big Ass C had to do something special to move back off the bottom of the league to 1) avoid last place but 2) make the playoffs. Overall, without significant keepers, I would say ASS did fine. 2 RB1s with Gurley and Gordon and Cooper as fringe WR1 but WR2 for sure with Ingram/McCoy as flex options and Ridley/Shepard as WR flex options are just fine. Yes I am worried about Gordon but he has to play at some point to be eligible for a full season and become a free agent next year. So risk but I see less risk for a full year holdout like bell. Nothing special but he has serviceable players with Sanders/Murry/McCoy allow for depth. Once again, he actually drafted players compared to drafting 3-4 players and checking out for the next 30-40 mins like some of the payers below. I’m going C+ (B+ if I picked Mixon, fournette or Freeman) but that was a terrible move without having the cash for Ekeler. (I’ll build around the B+ TBD) ending will be 6th seed, playoff bound with a real chance of winning with Gordon starting week 14! D River Gypsies – from a draft grading perspective, you can’t tell me you drafted 3 players (Elliot/Mahomes/Jones) and walk away thinking you had a unbelieve draft. RGs was missing for the next 30ish turns to only jump on potential value picks Robby Anderson and Watkins. After that it was simply pick up any scrapes available. B+ RG is a locked and loaded top contender in RZ this year. Playing off the keepers solidifying two of the top four RBs, a top 5 WR (spoils of last year), and the undisputed top QB and overall scorer, this squad is built to compete against any opponent. Top this off with a solid flex1 play in Aaron Jones, along with the up and coming Robby Anderson plugged in at WR, and the incredible WR depth on the bench, and this squad has breakout potential, along with the ability to plug holes that come with injuries and byes. Everyone will be shivering in their boots when they have to face RG this year, and for great reason. This is the year RG marches to his third championship run, leaving the competition to quake in his wake, and concede that they will need to do better next year to take down this behemoth. Best of luck to the rest of the RZ league, because they will need it! D 302 Cadets - yes your RBs (Bell/Mack/Carson) and other WR (Alshon) are solid and would earn you C rating (based on overspending a bit on each of them). However, you 1) drafted Kareem at $4… great bench spot for half the year 2) you drafted 3 QBs? And 3) you drafted 3 TEs??? You know you get a benefit for drafting your keeper correct? Autodraft has always been 302s friend but doesn’t mean it’s a great draft strategy every year. So I’d give my draft a solid B. I think all and all my team has the potential to actually be pretty strong. My running backs are very solid if: Bell gets the touch’s I expect and remains healthy, Carson continues to get strong touches, and Mack is able to overcome the loss of Luck. Hunt mid/late season could prove to be a strong pick for the price I payed (I’m hoping). With recent trades, Gore and Hyde are actually setup to have significant impact, depending on how there “sharing backs” fair. I feel like I got Hill for a great price, but hope PM won’t correct too hard this season. Other than him though.... Fuller and Jeffery are kind of unsettling for me. TBD. Prescott and Ertz are generally solid. D Twin City Tree Cats – Same comment as River Gypsies. You drafted 4 players over 5 dollars and the rest are either 5 (1), 4 (1) and 1 (7). You pick 7 players for 1 dollar and you better expect a poor draft rating. I’m number 10, cause Elle has that #11 locked down on stranger things. It ain’t easy keeping breezy, but Baker is not much to look at. Beckham can catch a football. Basically I’m betting on the Vikings winning the super bowl, cause I don’t have much. Thielen for the win! Oh and Big Ben, thought G might take him having juju, epic fail haha, but what I s a guy to do if you can’t skip your turn anymore 🏿 F Vicious Veg-Heads – I think everyone knows why he is here. First off, he had to ask for a “redo” when he bid 30 on Kareem Hunt assuming it was Tyreek Hill. Yes they both have a 4 letter H last name but come on… you are lucky we are a generous league but honestly it would’ve sucked if you were stuck with him for 30 so I am glad we all agreed to walk that one back. However, that is only the icing on the cake for why it’s a F grade, the “drafting” 4 WR wand then waiting (or being forced to wait) 60+ rounds before you next purchase which was indeed a RB the change of pace RB in Seattle. You have a couple long shots but as your required RBs, this isn’t a great situation actually it is a rather poor situation…. You have 3 WR1 and Green a potential WR1/2 when healthy. Best case (barring an injury) is that Howard owns the solo RB spot in Phi and Darwin steals the rule from Damien Williams. Looking forward to seeing what Veg-Heads can do to turn this situation around. I’d give myself a D. Smart trades, not good drafting is the pathway to a great team. I have several passcatchers that barring injuries are auto-starts and should finish at the top of their position. That makes them close to untradable in my position unless I want to significantly dilute my roster. I also have lots of dart-throw RBs that could turn into great players should something happen to starting RBs throughout the season. The problem with my draft is that I don’t have anybody on my team that I’d be willing to trade that is of any value and the only players I would trade Dont have any value now, so I am stuck with what will be an underperforming team and having to wait on the waiver wire and for injuries. With all that being said I think I have a better than average chance of winning it all because of the frequency of RB injuries and the types of handcuffs I selected. I also have a better than average chance of getting last place. F Big City Hillbillies – So the biggest problem I see with BCH is that he didn’t make a selection until around the 25 transaction. Additionally, this purchase was Josh Gordon, which is fine but definitely glass cannon worth a WR2 with a lot of upside but potentially worthless if he can’t keep his shit straight. The he followed this up with WR, WR, WR… big move options after Gordon were Evans (43), Julio (50), Mack (30), Carson (31), Jacobs (33). ALL OF THESE would’ve been free with the funds spent in the last 3 round. Okay maybe not Julio but you ended with 30 dollars and spent an excessive amount on Ekeler but could be useful wit this holdout. Like you didn’t spend more than 30 on a player… and these are the players who are going to win you games… I don’t see any sure fire winners on this team and with a substantial amount of funds remaining (30 on Jordan Reed doesn’t count for me). I hope your excuse is that you continued to have technically issues and/or where enjoying plenty of beverages while drafting at the bar. I’d give my draft like a D+. Scored value at WR with 5 guys who could all get in the top 15 there. But didn’t use the savings to get reliable studs at RB. TE will be a struggle but think Rodgers will be great this year as my QB. Got work to do if I’m gonna make the playoffs. Week 1 Power Rankings1. Mullynation – Barkley, Kamara, Mixon, Kerryon… nuff said. Who cares about the rest of the team anyway.
Note: Best thing about this is that Mullynation has like 40% of the top RB position which makes things a lot better for those who have the others (since many are left without). 2. Troll Hunters – DJ with plenty of low end 1s or solid 2 to cover every single RB/WR/FLEX spot with plenty of bench support as well. 3. NorthSide Angels – 2 top WR with Conner as the core. Freeman could be potential fringe RB1. Henry/Michel/Moore are solid twos/flex/TEs. I’d be comfortable week one with this squad unless I’m against Mullynation, oh wait… hope you’ve been praying angels because you’ll need it. 4. Indian Outlaws – Honestly wanted to put him lower but teams like River Gypsies (who lost this spot due to Zek no show) didn’t pickup key back… Couple WR1s, plenty of RB2s who will (or should) get action early with too much trade bait on the bench with injuries or holdouts… Could catapult up or down depending on usage over the next week or two 5. 302 Cadets – Solid 1/2/Flex for both RB/WR positions with a top 3 TE. 6. Twin City Tree Cats – Same as above but like Cadets team line-up just a bit better 7. River Gypsies - very nervous about Zek being available week 1 and near future and without the DAL back-up, who you got? Not excited about Aaron Jones week 1 against the Bears... 8. Big Ass Cup O’ Franzia – Yes hurt by Melvin (and no Ekler) but strong RB1 and a lot of number 2s and flex guys we need to see something if he wants his name back this year. 9. Vicious VegHeads - 3 top WRs, with a great TE. RBs (who start) are backups or committees for now... so there is come work to do for sure 10. Big City Hillibillie - the rich get richer and the poorer get poorer... Unsure if TY loses that much value but Hyde joining the KC backfield as his RB 1 most likely does. I have to see it to believe it for any of these guys to have a chance at the top 10 in their position and honestly, that's no way to make the playoffs. Wait, i misspoke, the Bears look good but that's the only top position BCH has locked down for now. Time to take the ol' fingers out for a spin. Man this year has gone fast, and my weekly responsibilities have gotten the best of me! That's simply going to have to change now that we've officially crossed the midpoint of the season. In less than eight weeks, we will have another Schadenfreude champion, and it's just not sitting right with me that I'm not documenting this process along the way. I'll be better. So, how does one go about consolidating eight weeks of play into one piece? I have a couple ideas, but they might be messy. We're going to go team-by-team, picking one area in which their strategy/drafting/FA worked as planned, and one area that has not panned out. Then we're going to preview this next week (which begins tonight), and close with a general outlook for the next eight weeks. We begin with our current #1 seed and also reigning champion, the team that puts the auto in autodraft, the 302 Cadets! 302 CadetsDerek had a simple goal, draft Gurley, Wentz, and Hill, then peace out. Aaaaand, I'd say that worked out pretty well. Gurley is looking like prime LT, and Hill is WR#2 and has had 2 out of 8 games go for 35+ points. You didn't do much, Derek, but what you did has worked out very very well. As for what hasn't, I'd say that the Cadets' RB situation is still looking grim besides Gurley. There's Dion Lewis, Philip Lindsay, and then...no one else. There have been so many great FA RBs this year! Peterson, Conner, Mack, White, Chubb, Cohen, Carson, and more have all come from the waiver wire, and yet they all found their way onto other rosters instead of the RB-needy Cadets. Gurley is producing like two RB2s, so it's inconsequential, but Gurley's continued health is the only thing keeping 302 from slipping into an RB-pocalypse. Troll HuntersTH focused on spending big on four main fixtures of the team - Julio Jones, Brandin Cooks, Dalvin Cook, and Kareem Hunt. 3/4 ain't bad, and TH was ready for Dalvin's injury by locking up Latavius Murray, which has already proven to be an incredibly smart move. This core grouping (Cook --> Murray) has given TH a nice weekly advantage, allowing for a five-game winning streak only just halted last week (though they scored 126), and the #2 seed. Dalvin Cook was penciled in as either the RB1 or the RB2 of this team, and he's been useless. That hasn't worked out great, though as mentioned, Murray has been a capable fill-in. If I had to pick another option, the thing that hasn't gone right for the Hunters this season has been Derrick Henry. He was going to be your RB3, and he wouldn't even be starting on the Cadets at this point. Obviously, this hasn't impacted TH's wins and losses, since things are still going well. But hey, I've gotta pick something. River GypsiesAs far as things going according to plan, I'd say that McCaffrey has been easily worth his pricetag. He's the RB#10 despite already having his bye, and his role in the offense has been sublime. He's exactly what RG was hoping to buy for an RB1. Gentry had Davante Adams planned as his sole elite WR, and Adams has delivered and then some. I'm guessing the plan, per se, wasn't for Jordan Reed to stay healthy (that was more a wish), but it's happened nonetheless, and he's playing well. It's a testament to Gentry's skill that he can be sitting at 5-3 and have so many things go outside his original plan. Fournette has been an abject failure. McKinnon was never used in a single week. Rodgers has not remotely been worth his pricetag as the most expensive QB. Keepering JuJu over Tyreek has been a mistake, though JuJu is still WR#17. Josh Gordon hasn't had the role anyone was hoping, either in Cleveland or in New England. And yet, RG has pivoted into TJ Yeldon and Chris Carson, and is getting along just fine. Vicious Veg-HeadsLets revisit the moment post-draft when VV picked up Adrian Peterson from the waiver wire by dropping Devante Parker. Yeah, that's gone swimmingly. Also, Melvin Gordon, Manny Sanders (!!), OBJ, and the aggressive move to grab George Kittle have all been rock solid and dependable. Your choice in RB1 and WR1 were sound, and you've surrounded them with undervalued talent. Overall, it's worked. I'm guessing that VV had Larry Fitzgerald lined up as their weekly WR2 this year, a move that I actually really liked! But wow, Larry has just been a ghost of his former self. Perhaps the move to Leftwich at OC will continue to revive him like last week, but color me skeptical. No matter though, since Sanders is WR#8. "Look at me. I'm the WR2 now." Wire Wastebasket WoesThis one is hard. It's blended. I have to say, the plan to draft two elite TEs so far has been tough to grade. Yes, WWW traded one of those assets for Adam Thielen, the WR#1. That's good (going out on a limb here, I know). Buuut choosing to keep Gronk over Kelce is looking like an awful move thus far. Planning for Gronk to be the TE#1 has been a major disappointment. Since his 19 points in Week One, he's cracked double digits only twice (10 and 11 points), and he simply doesn't look like the old Gronk. Meanwhile Kelce is the TE#2. That said, grabbing TY Hilton as the team's WR1 looks perfect, drafting Cooper Kupp as a bench lottery ticket couldn't have worked much better, and picking up Tarik Cohen off the wire has saved WWW's RB situation. This team could have been so much better, but it's still decent. Twin City Tree CatsTC2, like 302, simply crushed its top RB and WR in the draft. Can't do much better than Barkley and Hopkins, and the stones to spend huge money on Barkley has paid enormous returns already. Trey Burton has also been a very pleasant surprise at the TE position (TE#6), making TC2's modest $5 investment look worthwhile so far. Grabbing the duo of Cousins and Luck early on from the wire has locked up the QB position. And the cherry on top? The foresight to grab James White (RB#7) from the wire back in August as a complementary piece is saving TC2's RB situation (outside Barkley, of course). Otherwise, the RB situation has been a bit rough. Royce Freeman has been lukewarm at best, and the decision not to spend big and acquire his counterpart, Philip Lindsay, was headscratching then and is headscratching now. Marshawn Lynch finally appeared old, just like Larry. After a great 2017. they got got. Breida suddenly looked like a savior, but he's been getting banged up every week, leading to a very difficult decision about starting him. It's hard to care too much about missing Freeman, Lindsay, Lynch, and Breida though when Barkley and White are the two starters. Northside AngelsAs far as plans go, the Angels have had quite a tumultuous year so far. Most of their big moves haven't worked out great. However, there are two moves in particular that have been so spectacular, they've dragged NSA to a 4-4 record. Grabbing James Conner from FA is simply the only reason NSA has won a single game at all. He's been transcendent, and NSA would be dead in the water without him. And Mike Evans has had one hell of a bounce-back year as NSA's WR1, a role I thought he may attain, but not with the vigor in which he's seized it. Fitzpatrick especially has buoyed Evans into 2018 stardom. Whelp, the plan to go after Bell is looking...not great. Bell may not even get meaningful snaps this year, much less justify his $74 pricetag. McCoy has been a bust. Collins is simply bad. Golden Tate has had one good game since Week Two, and he was just traded to a team that doesn't throw as much as the Lions, and he'll be the third priority in the pecking order. Less than ideal. The Mullynation?Spending huge in FAAB to grab Patrick Mahomes post Week One is MN's move of the year. She dumped Stafford immediately and pivoted to a new avenue, and Mahomes is basically her most valuable asset behind Kamara now. Also, drafting Kerryon Johnson and Aaron Jones have kind of gone according to plan, as they both clearly look like the top option in their backfields, but neither is getting the coaches to agree yet. The preemptive strike to grab Courtland Sutton is one of the only rays of positivity in this WR corps. That was a great move, but it may not be enough. Most moves haven't panned out at all, really. Do we start with Baldwin? A perennial WR1, slated to be MN's WR1 this year, is borderline droppable. The tertiary support - Amari Cooper and Corey Davis - are looking pitiful. Nelson Agholor was dropped already. David Johnson of 2018 does not look like David Johnson of 2016, though his scoring has been mediocre. But you don't spend $74 on mediocre. That's a swing and a miss. Ingram also is looking less and less useful by the day, though the Saints' schedule gets waaay easier after this week. Maybe he and Kamara can remix some 2017 into MN's team? Indian OutlawsuOof. The plan to spend big on three elite WRs has culminated in two quasi-elite WRs. Woohoo. Antonio Brown is the WR#5, and somehow even with that, it feels like a disappointment. Brown has been the WR#1 forever. But still, WR#5 is nothing to sneeze at. AJ Green clocks in at WR#7, which is respectable, but slightly below my expectations. If we're talking about plans though, Kenny Golladay and Nick Chubb are looking better than advertised on draft day. Holding them was worth it. The move to ditch Ronald Jones and grab Marlon Mack as the new upside lottery pick also proved to be a winning ticket. It's taken awhile, but maybe the RB corps has finally come together for IO. And being two games back of the #1 seed, no, it's actually not too late for a run. Brown was disappointing. Green was kind of disappointing. Allen has been a failure. Ajayi was supposed to be the RB1, and he's gone. Drake shows that talent of his, but he's maddening to start. Drafting Andrew Luck, being scared by one game of poor arm strength, dumping him, then watching him flourish? Would not recommend. Engram is gone. Hell, even the Jaguars DST isn't valuable. The plan has utterly gone to hell in a handbasket. 90* PuttersJoe Mixon is starting to string those flashes of talent I mentioned post-draft into predictable weekly production, which absolutely makes him worth the draft capital 90* spent on him. That's been a rousing success, even despite his injury. Unfortunately, not much else has gone according to plan for 90*. Correct me if I'm wrong, Chris. Diggs may be WR#10, but that's essentially come in just two games, with a litany of busts in between. Thielen has clearly supplanted him as far as fantasy football goes. Demaryius Thomas is a pure bust. Watson was the second most-expensive QB, and he's barely a QB1. Crowell looked like a genius move early on, but he's crashed back to Earth. I mean, even Zeke is the RB#9 in points per game. That's not what his pricetag is supposed to return. So yes, the Putters are 1-7, and though they may not be mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, that goose is cooked. Now it's time to make a plan to play spoiler, and see if the Putters can stick to that. Week NineWire Wastebasket Woes (Hilton on bye) vs. Troll Hunters (no notable byes) River Gypsies (Fournette, Yeldon on bye) vs. Northside Angels (Golden Tate on bye) Vicious Veg-Heads (OBJ, Fitzgerald on bye) vs. The Mullynation (David Johnson on bye) Twin City Tree Cats (Barkley, Luck on bye) vs. Indian Outlaws (Green, Boyd, Mack on bye) 302 Cadets (Ertz, Jeffrey, Wentz on bye) vs. 90* Putters (Mixon on bye) The Playoff PictureAs of now, our top six seeds are as follows:
1. 302 (5-3) 2. TH (5-3) 3. RG (5-3) 4. VV (5-3) 5. WWW (5-3) 6. TC2 (4-4) It's a glut. Any of these teams could suffer one injury (or not) and fall straight out of the race. No one is safe. No has has locked anything up. Technically, the Putters (!!) could still catch anyone. That's nuts. The teams still in the hunt are NSA (4-4), MN (3-5), and IO (3-5). Unfortunately, it would pretty much take an act of God for 90* to make it at this point. NSA plays RG (Fournette, Yeldon), TC2 (Cousins, Hopkins, Brown, Freeman), 302 (Landry), MN (Mahomes), and VV (no byes). MN plays VV (OBJ, Fitzgerald), TH (Cook, Murray), RG (Gordon), NSA (no byes), and IO (no byes) IO plays TC2 (Barkley, Luck), VV (Sanders), 90* (Crowell, Edelman), TH (Hunt, Cooks, Watkins), and MN (no byes). I think NSA has a ceiling of 4-1 (don't see them beating 302), with a median outcome of probably 2-3. That would put them at 6-7, which may be enough depending on TC2's performance and the results of the NSA-TC2 match in Week 10 (which I see NSA winning). I see them favored over TC2, with a push against MN. I think MN also has a ceiling of 4-1 (don't see them beating RG), with a median outcome of 3-2. I think MN has a notably easier schedule than NSA, though her bye situation is doesn't give her as much of an advantage. A 3-2 finish would likely stem from a MN victory over NSA in Week 12, though that likely wouldn't propel MN past TC2 into the playoffs. I see them favored over VV, with a push against TH and NSA. I think IO certainly has the easiest schedule remaining, also with excellent help from byes, so I do think it's unlikely but possible that IO could finish 5-0 if things fell right. IO is favored over TC2 this week, and should be favored over 90*, TH, and MN. The median outcome would probably be 3-2 like MN, but I think it wouldn't take much to sneak up to 4-1, which would make the playoff race very interesting. Basically, IO is still going to make the playoffs despite being 2-5 going into Week Eight and last in Points-Scored. Start preparing yourself now. The comeback is gonna be something to behold. Oh, and Evan, don't think I haven't noticed that WWW and IO are within 30 points in terms of points-scored (<4 per game), but you're averaging twenty-five fewer points-against per game en route to our complementary 5-3 and 3-5 records. It's cool, I'm gonna getcha. Doesn’t it just feel good to be back?
There’s a buzz in the air, a spring in my step, and that old familiar feeling of football season has gone and snuck right upon us once more. And for the first time in three years, I’ve been able to really dig into fantasy football prior to the draft. This represents a return to the glory days of the Outlaws, and I’m pretty sure I can speak for everyone when I say, the world just cannot wait. I think it’s really happening. I feel like that scene in Lion King when Simba finally comes back to Pride Rock, and shit is all messed, hyenas everywhere. We had a damn autodrafted team win last year! What’s happened these last three years? It’s time for some Febreze, Mr. Clean, and Miracle-Gro up in this Red Zone. No more elephant bones here, no sir. So now is the part where I’m supposed to rip y’all up, say your hard work was for naught, and essentially give you a good ol’ virtual spit in the eye. But you see, being a man of the healing arts (you should see my face as I write this), I have grown and transcended into a different plane of thinking. I am here to love, not divide. I am here to encourage, not dishearten. I am here to guide y’all on the path to excellency, and my hard work starts today. There is plenty of good for me to throw around. Honestly, all of y’all did a good job this year. I’m impressed. My nit-picking is extra nit-picky this year. We have ten good teams. Plus, I plan to just rip y’all up as I resume my rightful mantle as our weekly writer. So there’s that. Vitriol comes later, now it the season of optimism. And get a cup of coffee, because, as the bailiff in Deuce Bigalow would say regarding this post, "That's a huuuuuge bitch." Every year I try to make a new spin on how to start the season. What kind of analysis or comparison am I going to do this year?
I mean these things are just obvious. Some things cannot be ignored. But I don’t need to spell that nonsense out. This year, I have a novel idea. For those of you who are very into trashy US-Weekly style magazines, so therefore all nine of you, I am adopting our own version of “Who Wore It Better.” Though, since I can offer no viable critiques of any of y’all’s wardrobe, except you, my wonderful wife who I love ever so much, I have evolved this into… Who Drafted It Better Each team will be judged on its overall drafting strategy and compared to its “buddy” team this year, another one adopting a similar general strategy. Then we’re going to highlight the things each one did well, and the things each one did not so well. QBs are hats, WRs are tops, RBs are pants, TEs are shoes, bench players are accessories. Warning – my descriptions will make your eyes bleed. Leading us off, we have the Big City Hillbillies. BCH chose to utterly dominate one position group, perhaps to the point of reckless overkill, while also sinking a relatively small investment into the RB position, with two nice RB choices being complementary backs with upside, Coleman and Duke. Squint your eyes, and what do you see? That looks like the same strategy that IO employed. IO has an equivalent level of dominance, but this time at the WR position, and the overall RB investment was light, featuring upside guys like Michel and Chubb. So viewers, the question is, which team drafted it best? Evan, in your own way, you’re a pioneer. No one in Red Zone history has tried to amass talent at the TE position like you’re doing. In that same vein though, since we only start one TE weekly, the perception is that an advantage at that position is less valuable than dominating at either WR or RB. Because you invested $64 (!) into TE, clearly both the depth and elite talent at every other position (except QB) is going to be lacking. That could actually be okay, as Gronk can offer a massive PPG advantage over your nine opponents, but Kelce in the flex is the question mark here. WHAT WORKED: Gronk represents one of the best values in the draft, year after year. That $38 is usually worth every penny, even if it makes the drafter feel a little envious regarding other positional depth. I also love the Tevin Coleman pickup. As a potential free agent, he offers both RB1 upside and excellent keeper value. That was your best pick. I’m also a fan of the Hilton pick. With a healthy Luck, he offers top-5 potential. For $29, that’s an absolute steal. With two unspectacular-but-dependable RBs, the chance of an elite WR, and Gronk at TE, that team could compete with almost anyone. WHAT DIDN'T: I don’t want to belabor the Kelce pick, but that $26 investment could prove very costly. Don’t forget that Jordy Nelson also cost $12. With that kind of capital, BCH could have nabbed Mixon or Evans, or it could have scored Baldwin, Diggs, or Fitzgerald with plenty to spare. I like Marquise Goodwin, but relying on him as an every-week WR2 with Randall Cobb backing him up makes me nervous. I also don’t like passing on Tarik Cohen. Duke cost BCH $5, and Cohen was $4. That pick would offer more safety here. As for IO, the question of the season is whether IO can get reliable RB2-level play from its stable of RBs. With a trio of WRs rivaling BCH’s TE elitism, IO simply needs passable RB production to outpace its weekly competition. Do Drake, Ajayi, Miller, Michel, and Chubb offer enough consistency and upside? That remains to be seen. But with a pass-catching corps of Brown, Allen, Green, and Engram, the idea is that they won’t have to do much heavy lifting. WHAT WORKED: We have to start with Evan Engram for $2. That’s the early frontrunner for “Steal of the Draft.” Engram was last year’s TE5 as a rookie despite missing two games, and his youth suggests he may improve on that figure. Beyond that, I think that Drake at $17 represents excellent value. I’m a huge fan of Drake, and I would be surprised if his talent doesn’t allow for at least RB2 production. WHAT DIDN'T: Drafting Njoku was an error, plain and simple. That was the case of an “I’ll nominate so someone else pays,” strategy going wrong. No one bid, meaning a valuable roster space that could have been used to draft Nick Chubb, rather than having to use FAAB and losing the keeper option, was no longer available. That might end up being consequential. Also, Andrew Luck for $4 is a question mark. It’s a gamble, and one that doesn’t look as appealing as Cam Newton for $4, or Aaron Rodgers for $9. THE VERDICT: I think the Outlaws win this one. BCH has a mild edge at QB, top-end RB but not depth, and TE, but the WRs of IO are just devastating and can make up those smallish gaps. Engram is the key, offering IO “Gronk lite” production, the one area where BCH focused its talents. BCH is rocking a classic grey beanie with a pristine-condition vintage T-shirt…of Sum 41. He’s got a slightly too-baggy pair of svelte dark jeans, with Air Jordan I’s in the Royal color-scheme. There’s a chain wallet hanging from his belt. Meanwhile IO is going with the risky look of a cowboy hat, with a perfectly tailored coffee-colored leather jacket over a light blue oxford button up, with muddy, worn, straight-cut light (ew) jeans and a pair of Red Wing boots. He has a big belt buckle. Advantage IO. Next, we have the Northside Angels. NSA immediately focused on acquiring an elite RB for an astronomical pricetag (Bell for $74). That was paired with a nice third-tier RB talent, however with some serious question marks (McCoy for $33), forming an exciting duo. Grabbing another unexciting but starting RB (Collins at $18) offers a nice floor and stable flex play. Due to the huge investment at RB, there was a need for some bargain hunting to find viable WR options. This was successful, with the young Evans ($32) and old Tate ($15) offering potential WR1 upside. A sizeable investment in an aging TE followed (Olsen at $12), with the rest of the team being largely WRs with upside. Who else pulled from this exact playbook? Why that’s the 90 Degree Putters, of course! The Putters grabbed Elliot ($68) instead of Bell, Mixon ($37) instead of McCoy, and Crowell ($7) instead of Collins. They also took Diggs ($25) instead of Evans, Thomas ($12) instead of Tate, and Graham ($7) instead of Olsen. Who drafted it best? Both teams are quite balanced, but did employ a slightly RB-heavy approach for the starting lineup, with a WR-centric bench. Both will likely be starting 3 RBs at full strength, with very viable RB4s - Burkhead for NSA and Thompson for 90*. NSA’s outcome this season will obviously be tied to the health of Bell and McCoy, but the presence of Collins and Burkhead actually could be playoff-worthy under opportune circumstances. Evans has been THE WR1 before, but he’s trended downwards ever since. Can he rebound, especially with the QB turmoil in Tampa Bay and the presence of other talented pass-catchers (Jackson, Godwin, Brate, Howard)? I’m not so sure. WHAT WORKED: My favorite pick here was the Burkhead pick. I think Belichick will carve out a nice role for him, even with Sony Michel in New England. I also think the value of a $1 Ben Roethlisberger is fantastic. The combination of Bell and Ben is going to give NSA opponents nightmares. I’m guessing about six times this year, NSA will get double credit for TDs, which can swing a whole week. Bell is going to get a HEAVY workload this year in preparation for Pittsburgh cutting him loose. McCoy is still McCoy. The Bills sucking doesn’t change that. $33 is a great price. WHAT DIDN'T: The Greg Olsen pick at $12 is arguably my least favorite of the entire draft. Not only do I not believe in Olsen coming back fully from his injury this year, he was going to do color commentary and retire…until Jason Witten was offered his job at the network. Adapting to the auction is critical, and there was value to be mined at tight end this year. Olsen was a gross overpay. I also dislike the Tate pick. Yes, there are targets to spare from Ebron’s absence, but those are mainly red zone targets that will go to the emerging Kenny Golladay and also Marvin Jones. Tate is leaving after this season; I think he’s being phased out. On top of that, he has an undeserved reputation of being consistent. Strangely, Tate is about as boom-bust as anyone. Check if you don’t believe me. I have no idea where he got the reputation. Between Evans, Tate, Stills, Ginn, Jackson, Miller, and Amendola, I really don’t see one single “dependable” WR of the bunch. There’s upside to be sure – Stills or Amendola could be the Dolphin’s primary target, Miller could play the Mohammed Sanu to Robinson’s Julio Jones, and Jackson and Ginn can blow up any week. But is there a single guy that’s “safe?” I’m not sure. *Of note, Amendola just got dropped for Donte Moncrief as I wrote this. My point is made even stronger, I believe.* As for 90*, I see them taking an overall riskier approach, if that’s even possible. This team is incredibly risky, though I do genuinely like the choices. Let’s break it down. WHAT WORKED: Grabbing Chris Thompson for $4 is one of my very favorite picks of the draft, and is one of the "Steals of the Draft." This guy established himself as a bonafide RB1 last year prior to injury, and he’s almost an afterthought on your team. Taking the Julian Edelman ($4) gamble is a cheap, worthwhile lottery ticket. He could be an every-week flex play for 90*, depending on Crowell, Thompson’s, Watkins’ ($7), and Fuller’s ($3) production. This bench is DEEP. The combination of Fuller and Watson ($7) pretty much won IO like three games alone last year. That could be a fun ride for the Putters, and the investment was minimal. WHAT DIDN'T: I want to like Joe Mixon. I really do. I watch him play and enjoy the flashes of his clear talent. But he really, really doesn’t show it often enough. I know the Bengals revamped their offensive line, which I’m excited about for my own AJ Green, but I think Mixon still could struggle this year with his maddening inconsistency. Also, Elliot’s offensive line is suddenly not the top-end unit it once was. How will that affect him? I personally dropped him down my board a bit due to Travis Frederick, to the point where I would consider (gasp!) Saquon Barkley and Melvin Gordon over him. Hot take indeed. Every major position player on this team has questions. Elliot and Mixon have been covered. Diggs is incredibly injury prone. Thomas may be washed up. Crowell is…Crowell. Graham frankly didn’t run like his old self last year. Watson played SIX GAMES. This may be a powderkeg. At least the bench is solid. THE VERDICT: Though I cannot stand the TE decision, and I am wholly underwhelmed by the bench, I have to give the slight edge to NSA. Bell > Elliot, McCoy > Mixon, Evans > Diggs, and Collins > Crowell, and frankly that’s enough for me to make my call. If any injuries hit either team though, count on 90* weathering the storm while NSA flounders. NSA is wearing an ushanka with a stand collar green military jacket, dark brown khakis, and Teva Hudsons. He’s wearing dog tags. 90* is wearing an ascot cap with a brown checkered knit sweater, with olive chinos and blinding white espadrilles. He’s holding a baguette that he brought from home. Advantage NSA. Next, we are on to the Troll Hunters! Because of TH’s semi-expensive keepers, they were essentially limited to acquiring just two additional impact players, none of them elite, making an equivalent value corps of 2 RBs and 2 WRs – Cook and Hunt, Jones and Cooks. This offers nice stability, though it is lacking any big-name, blue chip talent. This stretched the TH dollars a bit further, allowing for some intriguing complementary pieces. Is there another team that followed that plan? There sure is, the River Gypsies. The Gypsies also acquired a safe four-man corps missing that (potentially overpriced) blue chip talent, though in typical Gentry fashion, he favored the RB side of the equation just slightly. His core players are Fournette, McCaffrey, Adams, and McKinnon. He did have the luxury of a less expensive keeper, JuJu Smith-Schuster, allowing for a little bit more WR flexibility than TH had, which perhaps explains his RB-favoring. So who drafted it best? The Troll Hunters staked their claim on acquiring their four critical pieces, with one lesser flex play (Henry), and foregoing the TE and QB position until late, for cheap. Generally, that’s the most advantageous strategy. In this auction though, TE and QB were pretty alarmingly undervalued, and a small increase in budget could yield a huge increase in return. Choosing Brees and Doyle for $2 total kind of pales in comparison to grabbing Wilson for $3 and Engram or Rudolph for $2. There was an opportunity there, but the strategizing didn’t hold up. WHAT WORKED: In general, I love the aggression. Your keepers were a little pricy (but still valuable of course!), so TH started with less cash. That didn’t curb the spending appeal, with TH immediately grabbing Jones ($47) and Hunt ($57) for what I see as decent values. Jones especially. I think the Jamison Crowder pick was a savvy one, especially in the context of your strapped budget. You had very little wiggle room, and you still managed to secure two dependable WR3-4s (Garcon and Crowder) and your all-important Latavius Murray handcuff ($1). Excellent late-auction nomination discipline. WHAT DIDN'T: As I alluded to earlier, I don’t like the Doyle pick at $1. But really, it stems from the Derrick Henry pick at $18. At that point in the draft, you had ten unfilled spots and 31 dollars left in your budget, for a max bid of $22. TH spent $18 on Derrick Henry. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind Henry, but that was too big of an allocation of your budget, especially in this specific auction with QBs and TEs going for as cheap as they were. That’s when you pivot, spend a little less at flex (Dion Lewis for $11, Lamar Miller for $10), and sink those savings into buying both an elite QB and elite TE. That was actually possible. Brees has a big ol’ name at this point, but with the Saints transitioning to a run-heavy team last year, Brees’ numbers suffered. How’s that going to go this year? Is that really a good bet? As for the Gypsies, they pretty much employed the exact late-game pivot that I just described. They spent a total of $14 to acquire the best QB in football and a TE that has been a top-3 guy multiple times before. That, along with their main core four players, makes it tough to see how this team doesn’t make the playoffs. WHAT WORKED: Grabbing Rodgers for $9 is amazing value. This is another strong contender for “Steal of the Draft.” I also love the two choices for RB – Fournette and McCaffrey. Those are both guys that I was considering (until I opted for a WR-loaded strategy), and I watched MN bid feverishly to try to acquire both of them, so you’re in good company. Fournette’s ankle makes me just the tiniest bit wary, but the improved offensive line and game scripts basically dictates him being monster. Great value at $55. Lastly, I like the decision to keeper JuJu for $6 instead of Tyreek Hill for $12. It’s a bit of a toss-up value-wise, but I think JuJu, while not a safe investment per se, is a safer investment. WHAT DIDN'T: I kiiiiiind of hate the McKinnon pick. I’m sorry Gentry, I know I told you by text it was good value but I was kiiiiiind of being nice. I don’t like the value, don’t like the player, and don’t like the choice for your roster construction. Davante Adams, while undeniably a beast, is about one concussion away from being Jordan-Reed-status. You’ve got Josh Gordon backing him up with JuJu, and then Robby Anderson. I can make arguments for every one of those guys, but I can also make a hell of a lot of arguments against each one. Spending $30 on McKinnon that could have procured Doug Baldwin, TY Hilton, Tyreek Hill (lol), Mike Evans, Larry Fitzgerald, or Stefon Diggs makes me think you swung and missed. You got two stud RBs; go and grab their handcuffs, an upside satellite back (Cohen, nice work), and sink the rest of that money into pairing elite WRs with Adams, not grabbing another equivalent value to your keepered JuJu, like Josh Gordon. Hayden nailed the mindset – no blue chips, two stud RBs, two stud WRs. You fractioned your last WR into a crappy RB and a dangerous gamble at WR. Why’d you do that? As a last note, I was never going to buy Josh Gordon. I knew y’all would make me overpay. You think I’m that dumb? THE VERDICT: If it weren’t for Rodgers, I’d honestly give this to TH. We have to acknowledge that RG had a very nice head start keeper-wise, and since both had great drafts, I’d give TH a lot of credit here. But nope, RG securing the #1 QB for $9 tips the scales. TH is wearing a coon-skin cap (ironically, of course), with a long sleeve white shirt covered by a fashionable black puffy vest. He has dark skinny jeans and soccer cleats (unironically). He has an eyebrow piercing. RG is wearing a motherfucking straw boater hat with a light blue seersucker suit jacket over a plain white shirt with a questionable red paisley tie. He has the matching seersucker suit pants, perfectly cut over some scuffed brown leather loafers. He’s holding a parasol, because he’s a bitch. Advantage RG. Here comes the Mullynation. It’s important to get the keeper situation out of the way from the start. Like RG and 302, MN had an elite keeper situation. That always changes how teams draft from start to finish. So as usual, let’s compare like-with-like, and pit the two teams with the best keepers against each other to see how their strategies fared. We’re leading with the Mullynation, and the partner simply has to be the 302 Cadets. The Mullynation spent $17 on Alvin Kamara and Ty Montgomery, while the 302 Cadets spent $18 on Mike Thomas and Zach Ertz. MN doubled down on that RB strength and spent big to land David Johnson, then grabbed Kamara’s running-mate and RB#6 last year, Mark Ingram. The RB love continued, grabbing Montgomery’s running-mate, Aaron Jones, along with Kerryon Johnson and Marlon Mack. Clearly MN favored RB, as she usually does. She, like NSA and 90*, aimed for a ~$30 value for her WR1, with some bargain hunting to fill out the rest of her WR corps. WHAT WORKED: The trio of David Johnson, Alvin Kamara, and Mark Ingram will give MN an RB corps that theoretically should rival the WR corps of IO and the TE corps of BCH. In their most recent seasons, that’s an RB#1, RB#3, and RB#6. $74 is a great deal to spend, but I personally think people have forgotten a little bit too quickly about how dominant David Johnson last was. Gurley cost $9 more. I also love the moves to get Ingram ($14) and Jones ($5), effectively locking up those backfields. Jamaal Williams is a terrible runner, don’t ask me to consider him. I wont. Amari Cooper is great value at $17. Both he and his QB were injured last year, and the two years prior he had 1,000 yards each year. I was targeting him myself as a backup plan if I lost out on AJ Green. I believe. Kyle Rudolph for $2 is, in my opinion, a better pick than every TE drafted except Engram and maaaybe Walker (I’m not counting Ertz since he was keepered). Kirk loves TEs, and you can’t get much cheaper and safer than $2 for Rudy. WHAT DIDN'T: First of all, MN went pretty hard after the RBs. I get that. But maybe instead of a Marlon Mack pick at the end, she could have parlayed that last roster spot and that $5 into another nice WR bench piece like Cooper Kupp or Mike Williams. I value Mack higher than those guys, so I understand why she went that direction, but there are only four WRs on MN’s roster: Baldwin, Cooper, Davis, and Agholor. There’s risk baked into every one of those guys, except Agholor really. On the same note, I’m tentative about Baldwin. If he’s healthy, great, MN got a little bit of value with the price. If he’s not, MN certainly overpaid, given the other available WRs in that tier. We’ll have to see. Now we have the 302 Cadets. As was mentioned, they also had one hell of a head start on the Red Zone by having Thomas and Ertz for $18. Once again, the Cadets fell under the spell of the Autodraft. Derek peaced out after buying Gurley ($83), Wentz ($5), and Tyreek Hill ($31). That five-man group cost $137, leaving plenty of money to grab another starter-quality RB, maybe two. Autodraft finished the job, six WRs, one QB, and one single solitary RB - Dion Lewis for $11. Oof. Maybe Autodraft felt Derek wasn’t appropriately thankful for its bountiful harvest last year? Either way, this looks a bit rough. This team is not remotely balanced, though I admittedly don’t hate the WRs that Autodraft picked (JUST LIKE HOPKINS LAST YEAR DAMN YOU AUTODRAFT DAMN YOU RIGHT TO HELL). WHAT WORKED: I like the Tyreek Hill pick for $31, especially in the context of the other WRs 302 ended up with, who are all more “stable-floor” than “high-ceiling” guys. Hill will have at least one 30 point game this year, and that’s going to win 302 the week. This is weird; do I give 302 credit for autodraft picks that I liked? Is that kosher? I’m going to do it anyway. I really like the Jarvis Landry ($8) value, though obviously as 302’s SIXTH WR drafted, the roster construction is lacking. Wilson ($3) and Richardson ($1) represent good value, with Richardson having a nice potential breakout, but again, they’re somewhat wasted on this roster. WHAT DIDN'T: I really think Gurley ($83) was a bit of an overpay, unfortunately. With that cost, he’s pretty much required to both stay injury-free and replicate his 2018 efficiency and usage in the year’s #1 offense to validate his $9 premium price above both Bell and Johnson, and $15 (!) more than Elliot. That’s a lot of risk tied to that money. Obviously I could pick apart the Autodraft mess, but that’s kind of low-hanging fruit. The damage is done; the lack of RBs is clear. I would suggest trading Wilson + WR for a bench RB piece, but as usual, those are clutched pretty tightly. And furthermore, everyone already seems to have a pretty good QB option. This one will have to be mended via some aggressive wire moves, methinks. But then why didn’t you grab Nick Chubb?! THE VERDICT: This one doesn’t seem all that close, tipping in MN’s direction. MN built a safe team with immense upside, while 302 built a team absolutely reliant on Dion Lewis getting heavy usage with no real backup plan. MN is wearing a backwards solid blue baseball cap, with a black throwback Adidas Kevin Garnett jersey (you know the one I mean), perfect…woman jeans (?), and some reliable white Adidas Superstars. She’s holding a venti Starbucks caramel macchiato, light ice, skim milk. 302 is wearing a black balaclava (full QB coverage), a luxurious and slimming black Merino wool turtleneck, with black men’s Soffe cotton shorts (yes they make them), and a pair of charcoal Arc’Teryx Norvans. HE’s GOT A KNIFE!!! Advantage MN, unless nighttime burgling is involved. And finally, we have reached our final pairing. We begin with the Veg-Heads (sometimes I forget that’s actually your team name, like for real). The Veg-Heads were at a bit of a disadvantage, especially compared to the two preceding teams, in terms of the keeper situation. Demarco Murray hung like a $27 lead balloon, so clearly, we’ll have to keep that in mind. How did VV build their team in response? Quite reasonably, I’d say. VV spent big on one elite RB and one elite WR, grabbed mostly a mix of established veterans to fill out the remaining spots, with reliance on one rookie RB to provide some potential breakout upside. Aaaand how did their partner in crime do it? TC2, let’s see what you did! TC2 grabbed an elite RB (rookie, but I mean come on, it’s Saquon), elite WR, grabbed a mix of established veterans, and then also grabbed (another) rookie RB for the starting lineup to offer some upside. Two peas in a pod, those Cats and Veggies. So, the Veg-Heads opted for a more robust-WR approach, much like myself, and for that I’ve got to give them all the credit in the world. I mean it’s clearly the correct strategy, right? It insulates from injury. Sure, there isn’t the big allure of having bellcow backs, but that’s okay, isn’t it? Anyway, I appreciate the strategy. WHAT WORKED: OBJ for eleven fewer dollars than my own Antonio Brown makes me feel bad. That’s a good chunk of cash. Well done, VV. Also, locking up both elements of the Seattle backfield for a total of $13 is a pro move. I like Penny, but it’s clear that Carson will have a significant role. Getting both is a cheap way to find an RB2…if one of them is able to take control. If neither can, you’re left with a headache. But no risk, no reward! Fitz ($24) and Hogan ($9) are both criminally undervalued here. Fitzgerald has been a WR1 year after year, despite people always moaning about his age. Hogan is the fourth contender for “Steal of the Draft” this year, along with Engram, Rodgers, and Thompson. I adore that pick. Hogan was an every-week WR1 last year before his injury. People apparently have forgotten. I also like the Cam Newton pickup for $4. His accuracy may be abysmal, but his legs still work, at least for now! WHAT DIDN'T: Honestly, not a lot. This was a good draft. I don’t love the Marqise Lee ($2) and DeVante Parker ($3) picks, just because of VV’s lack of viable RBs, but you’ve already dumped Parker and grabbed two additional RBs (Adrian Peterson and Corey Clement) from FAAB. The only thing I will say is that your RB situation is hanging on a bit of a cliff. I am a believer in Melvin Gordon, so that’s not the issue. But with the RB2-RB5 spots on your team being occupied by two pieces of a backfield (and not exactly Kamara/Ingram here), Peterson, and Clement, there’s a very real possibility of you having to start a complementary back as an every-week RB2. If Penny or Carson emerges, you’ll be alright. If neither does, your team won’t make the playoffs. The WR talent is great, but not spectacular enough to overcome that. Now we have the Twin City Tree Cats. Between VV and TC2, their starting lineup strategies are mirror-images of each other, and that extended to the bench as well. TC2 went pretty light on bench RB options, grabbing just Royce Freeman ($15) and Jamaal Williams ($1). Like VV, TC2 has already regretted going that light, and dumped Josh Doctson ($1) for James White from FAAB. Let’s break it down. WHAT WORKED: If I’m going to give props to VV for landing OBJ for $55, then I’ve got to give props to TC2 for landing Hopkins for $56. Though I may believe that Brown is in his own tier at the top of the WR pyramid, putting all three guys there is perfectly acceptable, and the cost differential helped TC2 grab some nice additional players. Good value there. I’m a big fan of the Marshawn Lynch for $12 pick. People have been assuming that he’s washed up due to his age, but watching him play late in the 2017 season was fun. He’s still got it. Running behind a nice Raider offensive line, too? That’s an easy RB2 pick for peanuts. Royce Freeman ($15) is already looking like a great pick. I like the $1 lotto Matt Ryan pick, as well as Cameron Meredith for $1. Those are dirt cheap ways to buy into great offenses, and that flexibility is what allowed TC2 to spend “big” earlier and grab Freeman. WHAT DIDN'T: Saquon for $72 seems a bit insane, no? I mean I know he’s a generational prospect, but aren’t we essentially hoping that he can produce like Bell, Gurley, Johnson, and Elliot? That’s the goal, right? Yet one of those guys went for less than Saquon! And two of them were only $2 more expensive! That’s one hell of a gamble. I’m lukewarm on the Trey Burton ($5) pick. I know he’s got potential, and Matt Nagy is supposed to turn everything around, but $5 for an unproven TE in that particular auction? That was an overpay. I’m not exactly sure why you’re carrying two QBs (Mahomes for $1), but I can’t really fault the choice in players. I like both Ryan and Mahomes this year. Maybe you’re trying to mitigate risk? I guess I could buy that. Anyway, this was another draft, like your partner VV, that I overall enjoyed. I think TC2 made many more smart decisions than bad ones. THE VERDICT: While TC2 has three RBs I really like (Saquon, Lynch, Freeman), VV has three WRs I really like (OBJ, Fitz, Hogan). Overall, I’m going to give it to TC2, because frankly that Thielen keeper pushes your team over the edge. Don’t feel bad, VV. Murray for $27 vs. Thielen for $7 makes this a hard one to overcome. VV is wearing a bright yellow hardhat with neon reflective safety vest (no shirt, obviously), paired with grey cargo pants and some 34 year-old steel-toed boots. He has a whistle in his mouth that he never lets go of. TC2 is wearing a boondocker (boonie, if you will) with one of those “outdoors” long-sleeve shirt/jackets with hella pockets. On the bottom, TC2 is wearing some olive green waders, buuuut he’s wearing socks inside them for some reason. He’s holding a pack of Griz. Advantage TC2, but both are suitable for their respective environments. So now that we’ve established IO outdrafted BCH, NSA outdrafted 90*, RG outdrafted TH, MN outdrafted 302, and TC2 outdrafted VV, how do we align all of these teams into one mish-mash of a rankings? Leave it to me. Post-Draft Power Rankings:
In general, I see a tier break after the top four and after the top seven. MN, RG, IO, and TC2 are somewhat interchangeable, same with TH, VV, and NSA, and unfortunately also with 302, BCH, and 90. We will see! Lastly, our Steal of the Draft! The nominees:
For real, I think it should go to Aaron Rodgers. That would be the defacto “right” call. He’s Aaron freaking Rodgers, and he cost nine dollars. But actually, considering he *was* the most expensive QB drafted (second place at $5), does that make him a steal…? I’m not sure how to quantify that. I love the Chris Thompson pick, and I think he offers immense upside. I'm not sure if the injury scared people off, or Adrian Peterson, or what. Maybe I just believe in him too much. Furthermore, despite the fact that I think Hogan will be a WR1 until Edelman returns, and even then, continue as a high-end WR2 (Edelman is washed, in my opinion), I’m giving it to the ol’ IO player. When in doubt, give the award to yourself, right? Engram was essentially the second-cheapest TE drafted. Only Jack Doyle cost less out of all the teams’ starters. Because of that, I’m going with Engram. Kudos Andrew, you’ve done it again. I didn't have time for a proper blog post this week, but obviously I had some time for a very hastily-made bullshit-tier meme. Enjoy at your leisure. Warning #1: Spoilers abound for the yet-to-be-released season of Game of Thrones! Warning #2: This literally took fewer than fifteen minutes to make, so it is remarkably shitty. Okay so it has been a while since I did my last blog post. We had one from our Chieftain and the new Guy "Mike"… still working on his pen name. Then we skipped a week because I lost another week and wasn't happy with the slow decline. However, we could also call this bad luck since two of the last three weeks I have been 4th in scoring playing the 2nd best score of the week. Yeah, I understand everyone else has tough matches too but I am still leading the Points for "Handily". His current base, he would finally catch me by week 11. However, with Gurly back from the bye and hopefully my QB situation figured out… I plan to pull away in the home stretch before the playoffs. Okay, on that note, let's get into the week 9 game recaps Indian Outlaws (121) over Troll Hunters (117) Okay, so IO mention this week that this was looking like one of the most volatile matches we have seen of late. I would have to disagree… This would have only be true if Golden Tate would've scored on his last catch (which he was 4 yds short!!!) His average points of 14 (which is pretty avg) would've increased to just over 20 and then we would've truly seen the most volatile match (and a win for the good guys too!!). Okay, enough complaining but he was actually right. TH winners were Gurly (23), Jeffery (23), and Hilton (32) with loser of Winston (3.5), CJA (1.3), and Brate (1.4). The remaining guys were for the most part average. IO on the other hand had Goff (28), Kelce (17), Seahawks (16) and Zuerlein (17) with duds from Sanders (3.5) and Hunt (8.1) which for a RB1 is a duds. IO was the more consistent team and probably deserved the win. The only upgrade could've been a 5 point boast for IO with Ajayi in for Ameer (those two fumbles…). TH could've seen a much bigger bump and possible win if he would've bet on Drake which I was honestly considering!! Also considered swapping Drake for Hilton but I don't need to admit that. Overall, we saw some solid scores from two of the top two teams. Byes probably hurt TH more this week but overall were comparable. Looking forward to what kind of scores these teams will put up in week 11 for their grudge match. The Christicles (126) over River Gypsies (94) Might as well start with the highest point winner and work our way down. Christicles (apparently this has the same magic as "Gin makes my bum pucker") Since Chris has another solid week and leader of the points. Overall, this team doesn't have much to share since there were no real weak links. Chris Thompson had his 2nd week sub double digits but 6 out of 8 with 2 plus 24 weeks you can't not play this guy. His bench was still solid as well. With weeks like this the reigning loser from last year looks to be pressing for one of the two byes in the playoffs. The RBs were a little worrisome but McCaffrey and Thompson have really proved themselves as top 20 RBs. Even without Julios TD that we were promised, Chris just keeps pushing himself up the rankings. On the other hand, the River Gypsies are in Code Red. If Zek would have been suspended for the first 6 weeks then there might have been some hope. Additionally, with Zek getting a 1 weeks stay, this was the week he had to win. If he could've gone 1-1 with Christicles there could've been a outside chance to sneak into the last playoff spot. However, unlike his opponent, no one showed up this week. Zek was the only player to score more then 15 pts with 15.3. Mix in a few 5s and a couple more single digits gets you to a 94 score. Yes you can win with a 94 (just ask TCTC down the list winning with a 94) but not against the red hot Christicles and their name change magic. Without Zek next week and beyond, this is a significant up hill climb if RGs is hoping for playoffs this season. 302 Cadets (119) over Mullynation (93) Mullynation in rare form getting under 100 pts as this is the only the 3rd time not reaching that benchmark. Now, I think 302 Cadets would've still won this match regardless since he had a pretty great week except for that Ertz play (maybe turn on notifications or something because this was a flat out miss on your part). 302 even with the tank that is Le'Veon Bell still managed to bring home 119 points. The only real weak spot was the 0 in the TE spot. Yes the DST could've been better but this is a similar case like Chris above with simply a over powering performance. 302 had some favorable match ups (AP against SF, Hopkins against Indy) but still 119 without Bell is pretty impressive. We know the Commish has been praising this team and this week (among other weeks) sure showed us why. Mullynation on the other had had some problems. Primarily 3 spots starting with AJ Green deciding to punch someone immediately causing his ejection. Could've got her the extra 25+ pts needed to win (but not likely). She definitely would have broke 100 so this 93 is more like a 93*. Gordon was also on a bye so her 2.9 flex would've most likely improved if he was in the line-up. Kamara continues to show how explosive a player he is with his 6th consecutive double digit game and his highest single game total of the year. If both teams were at full strength and no players fighting, this would've been a really high scoring close match. Big City Hillbillies (103) over Vicious Veg-Head (63.6) Looking at BCH box score it doesn’t look too great. Stafford and Engram had great numbers but other then that the team kinda under performed. However, you look at his bench and see Howard/Brady on a Bye and Fournette was inactive. So you mix in these starters for Martin and maybe Shepard and this would be a high scoring team. There really isn't too much to say when your opponent has a really off day. I mean VVs has had another sub 70 day (but we that was like week 4…). I mean VVs didn't have much bench help with Sammy 13.2 looking good but upon further investigation you see it was only 1 catch for 60 yds and a TD… not what you are hoping for. I mean, this team lives and dies by these RBs. McCoy had a horrendous game with 2.5 and Murray is starting to show his age with only 5.1 pts and Derrick Henry beating him in pts. Yes, Murray will continue to be the Starter but it is still a bit nerve wrecking. VVs has been winning and losing depending on how well McCoy does. When VVs wins McCoy is scoring 25+ pts. When he scores less them 10, VVs has some tough weeks. Overall, this was a one sided match. Both teams are shooting for that last playoff spot so no more slip ups from either team if one of them hopes to sneak in with a 6-7 record. Twin City Tree Cats (94) over Northside Reapers (87) We saw some much needed love for the TC2 with the 6/7th best score at 94 beating the 2nd worst score of 87. Not that TC2 really deserve some love since he has the most favorable Points against but the worst points for. However, the 2-6 TC2 had a much needed win to keep his playoffs hopes alive if he wins out (or only loses one more but wins the tie-break). TC2 won the game with the Saints DST putting their team on their back. 22 pts and the 4th time they have exceed 15 pts. D Thomas is about the only startable player on the Denver offense (outside of the DST probably) and putting up a great 17 pts was another reason TC2 earned his 3rd win of the season. Evans was basically pointless (and now suspended week 10) with only 1.8 pts. Other poor performances from Aaron Jones and Collins are not ideal when you are getting close to your last straw. Also Ajayi to Philly doesn't help the case for making Blount a serviceable RB2 or even flex. TC2 better hope Ingram can continue his RB1 production from a couple weeks ago to push him from the bottom of the standing maybe into the last playoff spot. NSR has been hurting for the past few weeks. He does have two shining bright spots. Carson Wentz and Jags DST. However, a consistent RB2 and WR2 is what this team needs. Additionally, with Antonio on a Bye and Chris Hogan Injury (surprising right?) it was going to be a tough week. NSR has been going from bad to worse but the primary reason like all year has been the injuries. Reed has been on and off the injury report but its not surprising that the NSR aren't dropping someone weekly that becomes a designated IR player. Basically, he's hoping for off weeks from his opponents and hopefully 95 pts. Playoffs are still a possibility just like every team that's just assuming the duct tape can hold this team together long enough. Week 10 Power Rankings
Author IntroRecently Promoted Michael Tibstra (Staff Author) will be your solo author for this weeks blog post recap. You might remember a few of his high quality works as an intern so please enjoy his new piece as a full fledge member of the team. With Michael's new promotion we are now looking for an intern to get us coffee, find obscure stats upon request (i.e. what is Troll Hunters average Flex position for WR vs RBs the past 2.5 years for only games played outside and on Thursday). You will love the team and allow Michael to someday earn another promotion to Senior Author. Anyway's back to it and please enjoy his first post of the year!! Hot TakesWelcome, welcome to the Tibstra Analysis Center. Here we will take a look at the season from the proletariat viewpoints of those in the bottom half of the power rankings. I know there may be some pushback as the TAC represents a former high-placing team last year, but know that I am one of you, not one of the bourgeois in the top half. Let us first take a look at my favorite (even going back to last year) subject: injuries. This year’s All-IR Fantasy team is looking pretty strong. This first few weeks of 2017 have been brutal for injuries in terms of fantasy relevant studs. We will use last year’s average PPG just to ensure we get a full sample size of being non-IR, unless they are a rookie. Then we will use their average for this year. I’m picking based off those who were drafted (except for where someone paid more for a player, which is my discretion, which ESPN makes pretty easy. I’m also picking the Texans D/ST as it got hit with the boomstick with Watt and Mercilus. Not too bad of a team at all. It’d be the top scoring team in the league if you managed to assemble all onto one team. It just passes up the TH at 119.5 who is our top scorer this year. So yeah, on top of a bit of an already fluky season in terms of scoring we have seen a great team already assembled out of year ending injuries. All praise to the fantasy football gods! Game Breakdown NSA (132) beats TH (121.1) The trends continue for NSA (now going by the Northside Reapers). The real question is what trend it is. Either it’s an odd week trend or a >100 point trend. Either way NSA pulled out a big win over the second-best team in the league after a sort of trying start watching Cooper put up almost 40 points on the bench. Hopefully that’s a sign of resurgence itself as NSA will need Cooper for the homestretch. Troll Hunters put up a super respectable week that only fell short as they faced the second highest scorer. A troubling trend may be appearing with Jeffrey and Anderson however as their fantasy relevance is falling over time. Wentz is looking to spread it around quite a bit and Anderson and the Broncos offense in general are anemic at best. But the depth of the Hunters are where it’s strength lies so I am certain they will continue their dominance of the league and division. After the rebrand, NSA came up with its second highest scoring game of the season, giving NSA a brief taste of what it remembered week in and week out last year (sobs). The pickup of Wentz and Agholar were brilliant in hindsight, even after the aforementioned benching of Cooper. Reed finally came up with a big game that NSA drafted him for after a disappointing year so far. Odds are that the upswing will turn downwards next week as NSA is the definition of boom or bust. 90° (122.8) beats IO (95.1) Basically 90° had an excellent week and IO had the bye week hit them on top of a mediocre week. Nothing would have changed if their bye players were back, but it surely didn’t make it easier. IO had 4 of his players on bye this past week and the rest of his bench scored zero points. So what he put on the board was all there was to be had. There wasn’t anything special on the IO in terms of big weeks or low lows. Taylor put up his best week but it wasn’t anything special. The rest of the squad most likely met their projected scores or close to them. IO needed that boom player this week to draw this closer but even then it most likely not been enough. 90° had a pretty darn good week. Carr started it big on Thursday with 30 points. The rest of the team (barring Bryant) followed it up with big weeks themselves. Julio finally, finally found the endzone that we’ve all been waiting for in the fog (frankly it’s a miracle that 90° is above .500 with him lacking in that department). Baldwin had another of his big weeks on the back of Wilson’s craziness. Thompson is looking like an excellent pickup as well. Nice work on the FAAB there. Much better than Carson, Cohen, or Gordon! 302 (110.4) triumphs over TCTC (96.2) (Showcase Mon Night Match until the NSA upset) In the game we were all really watching Monday night we say the upset happen. TCTC just needed Blount to have a decent game and outscore Elliot and Ertz. But alas, it was not to be. 302 claimed their second victory of the year. Blount and Thomas really let down TCTC who had a good game besides that. High single or double digits from every other position. Thielen was a bit of a let down but that’s mainly from the Vikings game plan and extreme use of field goals. May be something to watch however in the future. Mark Ingram is looking like a good trade now that he can run by himself and not have AP over his shoulder. I think TCTC is gonna do better here in the home stretch. 302 demonstrated why others on the blog commitee like him. He keeps on getting good point totals. He is consistent there. The only problem is their opponents getting even more points 5 out of the 7 times. Lev Bell is finally getting the rock a lot more which helps the team maintain the highs and lows of boom or bust players. Dak is looking good still so the trend should continue for points scored at least. RG (147.6) destroys BCH (93.4) In this week’s name-change game, RG came in swinging hard and laid out BCH hard. The only missed haymaker was Jordy Nelson as RG shows they have a team of absolute monsters if they all play well. BCH experienced a mediocre to poor game from their RBs and WRs. None of them broke 10 points so it wasn’t going to be pretty against a team with only 2 players being below 10 points. Justin Tucker balled out (though not as much as Kobra Kai). A bit of a glimmer of hope is BCH’s TE in Engram who appears to be the new target of choice in New Jersey. This is their second name change on the season so the PF-PA split (655 to 803) is none too surprising. The Gypsies decided this week would be the one they put up the numbers. 2 players (Jordy and Rudy) were the only ones below 10 points. Just knowing that is enough to say they probably won. But then comes along the Legal-Enigma Zeke. Apparently wanting to get in a season’s worth of fantasy production before he is suspended for the playoffs, Zeke dropped 40 points on the board consisting of 200+ yards and 3 TDs. And that run down the sideline was a thing of beauty. Here’s to hoping he keeps it up for at least one more week! VV (99.7) drops the champ MN (73) All must come falling down. The Veg Heads have done it. They beat the former champs where no one else could and have ended a 11 game winning streak (counting the post-season last year)! Well done! MN had it’s second down week this year, but this time they didn’t go up against their punching bag and close-game nemesis NSA. Just a down day across the board with the only highlights being AJ Green getting some passes early on in the Bengals game. And when your highpoint is 12.6 points, it’s gonna be a rough day, All MN needs is for Gordon to keep having decent games to keep the engine rolling, but it becomes evident when he doesn’t as both times it happened MN was sub-100 points. I’m sure it’s just a temporary downswing as MN looks to clinch a playoff spot next week. The VV didn’t have a spectacular game but they did have a good game, and that’s all that appears to be needed this year to grab wins.Alex Smith continues to be a good QB, both in fantasy and on the gridiron. Shady came up with the big win after a bit of a slump from what we’d expect from the Shade-meister. I’m really liking Sefarian-Jenkins this year. Dude is a touchdown machine. Power Rankings
It’s been awhile! Our last blog post was the Week 3 recap, and here we are on the Week 6 recap. Life has gotten in the way, but here we are once again.
Best Move of the Week: For a week with several close matches, there was really only one move that made a definitive difference in outcome. MN had Phillip Rivers slated in at the QB spot in place of the injured Mariota, with a vacant WR (and TE) spot, since she didn’t want to drop Derrick Henry to roster another pass-catcher. Just before the Chargers game, she reverted back to Mariota, dropping Rivers, and grabbing John Brown (13.8). Her margin of victory ended up being 10.4, and Mariota only scored 0.1 points fewer than Rivers. Going with Mariota won MN her sixth game. Worst Move of the Week: It would be easy to pick on the decision to bench Ingram (27.5), but TC2 still won his game easily, and the decision itself wasn’t really too controversial. I don’t think many people saw Ingram’s explosion coming this week, given the fact he hadn’t yet broken double-digits in any game this year. Instead, I’ll pick on myself, for IO’s last-second decision to start Abdullah (5.4) @NO instead of Ajayi (13) @ATL. That was classic tinkering, and it nearly cost IO their match against RG. Ajayi was getting more volume than Abdullah and also had a good matchup. He shouldn’t have been benched. Game Breakdowns TC2 defeats NSA, 82.1 – 56.6 This was the short-bus matchup of the week, and it didn’t disappoint. TC2 had a promising week overall, despite the low point total. Benching Crowell (8.3) for the first time this year somehow turned out to be the wrong choice, compared to Jones (4.7), but I respect the choice nonetheless. Ingram (27.5) was a major plus…on the bench. Ingram, Blount, and Crowell gives TC2 a very shaky, but potentially passable, RB corps. I actually like it better than NSA’s, currently. Evans (17.7) had a rough day until a last-minute Derek Anderson pass got him a TD. The injury to Winston is potentially troubling for Evans. DT (16.3) feasted on 14 targets, but got a little nicked up. Shouldn’t be an issue for him, and with Sanders’ injury, DT is in line for some big production. Thielen (12.2) and Marvin Jones (18.6) also looked valuable, so this team is actually trending in a positive direction. Could we have turned the corner on TC2? NSA took a major blow with the early loss of Rodgers, but can take solace in the fact that Rodgers would have needed to score nearly 27 in order for NSA to win. The injury probably didn’t alter the outcome. NSA came back to earth with disappointing totals from Duke (5.4), Buck (8.1), Reed (5.7), Ellington (0), and Crosby (4). Hogan posted his first down week of the year (2.4), and even the mighty Jaguars DST (6.8) couldn’t come through for NSA with another TD. This week shows NSA’s floor, and it is troubling. Even Brown’s 23.5 points couldn’t propel NSA over the 60-point mark. This team can hit high notes, but is really tough to rely on. IO defeats RG, 95.1 – 81.6 I’ve written the above statement once before this season, but I don’t think a stat correction is going to wipe this one out. IO actually turned in a pretty underwhelming performance this week, other than Watson (23.3) and Fuller (13.2) continuing their amazing streak, and Hunt (13.5) showing his incredibly high floor. The Broncos DST (8.9) was a major disappointment against a decimated NYG team, and Abdullah (5.4), Allen (7), and Kelce (5.7) were lackluster. On the bench, Ajayi (13), Dez (BYE), and Mixon (BYE) could have been useful this week. One bright spot is that Donta Foreman continues to perform admirably behind Lamar Miller. I’m still on the Foreman bandwagon. He’s the future. This was a really tough week for the Gypsy crew, both in score and in overall roster news. Zeke’s suspension looms like a dark cloud, though he wouldn’t have helped this week anyway (BYE). Freeman (9.6) and Coleman (10.1) are a surprisingly capable 1-2 punch, but losing Zeke would hurt big time. Gore is likely not up to the challenge of covering the RB2 spot. Also, the injury to Rodgers puts a damper on the impressive seasons Jordy (9.7) and Adams (13.9) have had. They’re still likely to get plenty of volume from Hundley, but their ceiling just got a whole lot lower. The Packers passing attack is going to struggle. Tyreek (5) busted this week, which per his pattern indicates he will boom this Thursday night. Landry (16.2) turned in a nice bench performance, but he wouldn’t have been the difference anyway. RG is 2-4 and trending in the wrong direction with the recent news, despite solid points-scored in the early season. Enjoy the Kardashians, Gentry! BBB defeats VV, 113.9 – 101.1 This game was pretty important for future playoff implications, and it was pretty close up until the end. This goes down as an unfortunate loss for VV, and a huge win for BBB’s playoff hopes. BBB is putting together a pretty decent team all of the sudden. I still can’t get on board with Murray (4.2), but with Thompson (13.8), Perine (12.2), McFadden (BYE), and Powell (injured) on the bench, there are plenty of rotational RBs to choose from to complement Miller (9.6) and McCaffrey (15.7). McCaffrey turned in his best game yet, despite the Panthers offense looking disjointed. BBB really could benefit from Julio (10.2) getting his act together and actually scoring, but the points will come. Fitzgerald (22.8) and Baldwin (BYE) round out a decent WR corps. Stafford may look banged up, but if BBB wanted to make a swap, there are tons of QBs available. This is a playoff team. VV really missed Lesean McCoy (BYE) this week. He had to start Elijah McGuire (2.2) instead, and with a margin of defeat of just 12.8, it’s perfectly reasonable to think that McCoy may have turned the tide. Cobb (4.3) is hurt by the Rodgers news, which makes VV’s already-thin WR corps even more underwhelming. Crabtree (14.2) is the lone bright spot and consistent producer. Even though Demarco Murray (16.7) turned in a nice game, he looked banged up on the sidelines, and was grimacing. It will be interesting to see how Murray’s soft tissue survives the season, especially with a capable young, healthy RB waiting in the wings. If Murray missed any time, this team plummets to the bottom of the standings. And frankly, it might be on its way there regardless. TH defeats 302, 149.9 – 105.4 Yet another loss for 302 despite a decent showing, and the clock is beginning to tick. TH put on a show this week, mostly driven by three waiver pickups last week (Cousins’ 28.5, Texans DST’s 28.8, and Succop’s 21.3). So that certainly helps. Gurley posted solid numbers (12.5), but is becoming more clear that he’s hit the rough patch of his schedule, defense-wise. Hilton (2.4) struggled without Luck once again. He and Tyreek Hill are arguably the most boom-bust WRs this year. It’s difficult to predict which weeks to play them. Anderson (1.7) is a major problem potentially, getting poor usage and losing snaps to other RBs. Charles and Booker are no longer afterthoughts, though I do think Anderson just had a down game during a game where the Broncos overall simply underwhelmed. Another concern is the loss of Tate to an injury that will sideline him for several weeks at least. His 19.1 points helped this week, but I’m guessing TH would rather keep him long term. Gronk (23.3) and Cooks (12.3) were a dynamic Patriot duo. The bright spot is found on the bench, with McKinnon (22.4), Adrian (24.1) and Brate (16.6). Those guys may have to pick up a little slack with Anderson losing a little bit of his early-season luster, but they’re up to the task. Great waiver pickups all around. It is becoming tougher and tougher to envision a road where 302 makes the playoffs from his current 1-5 perch, but I’m still buying in for now. Newton (20.7), Bell (26.6), Benjamin (14.4) and Ertz (14.8) were fantastic, but surprisingly they couldn’t carry Thomas (3.3) and Hopkins (8.9). It’s a little bit of a red flag that the Saints and Texans combined to score 85 points, yet their two stud WR1s only got utilized to the tune of 12.2 points. Alshon (9.1) is a solid bench piece, as usual, but I’m guessing 302 (or rather the computer) had higher hopes when he spent $32 on him. Lynch once again struggled (7), as have all non-Crabtree Raiders. I would say that 302 needs to find consistent points to get some wins, but they’ve already done that. It’s simply the points-against at this point. With back-to-back games against TC2 though, 3-5 remains a very realistic hope. MN defeats BCH, 128.7 – 118.3 In what was originally the second-lowest projected total of the week, these two combined for the most high-octane matchup during Week Six. MN continued to roll this year, despite being originally projected for only 83 points this week. The decision to forego a tight end proved to be worthwhile, both with the victory, and with the fact that Derrick Henry (21) proved he really should not be dropped. Gordon (31.5) turned in another elite week, Hyde (22) returned to form after his hip injury, and the Vikings DST (17.5) feasted on Brett Hundley. Even the plug-and-play pickup of John Brown (13.8) was fruitful in a great matchup with Tampa Bay. Mariota (14.2) looked a bit rusty, but his long TD was enough to push MN past BCH. Montgomery (3.6) also looked a bit rusty, but the Packers trusted him enough to give him 11 touches, which bodes well for the future. The potential return of Corey Davis is also another intriguing option, as is the consistency of Kamara (10.7). This team already has its eye on 11 wins, and that seems possible. BCH had a great week, with nearly 120 points, but it wasn’t enough. Really, BCH had a fantastic week and showed how strong the majority of its roster is, but as anyone would guess, the WRs let BCH down. Pryor (3.8) and Funchess (5.1) handicapped the starters, and Bryant (3.7), Parker (injured), and Shepard (injured) don’t offer any more appealing bench options. The RBs Fournette (20.8), Howard (18.1) and Martin (14.9), along with Engram (16.7), Brady (16.2), and Tucker (12.7) were excellent assets this week, though week-to-week consistency is up in the air for a couple of them. I predict good things for all of them with time, and if BCH can find a way to bolster his WRs without seriously cutting into his RB talent, this team could easily make a run. As is, those WRs necessitate a nearly-perfect performance from the rest of the team, which is a tall order. And even this week, with that nearly-perfect performance, he still happened to run into a higher-scoring team. Rough luck, there. Power Rankings 1. The Mullynation: Obvious. Gordon is elite. Green and Graham are past their byes, and the team is still undefeated. 2. Troll Hunters: That kind of production from waiver QB-DST-K is impossible to rely on, but the team looked very impressive regardless. Excellent bench RBs. 3. Indian Outlaws: Any borderline return-to-form for Ajayi would be very welcome. 4. 302 Cadets: Even though I don’t buy Lynch, I think this team can outscore anyone on a given week. Nearly elite throughout. 5. Baby’s Big Blowout: RB stable is coming along. Now the WRs surprisingly need to pick up the slack. 6. River Gypsies: What’s going to happen to Zeke, and how far do Jordy and Adams tumble? Bias aside, this honestly may be one spot too high. 7. Big City Hillbillies: Dynamite RB trio, but by far the worst WR corps. In a 0.5PPR league, that’s tough to overcome. 8. Twin City Tree Cats: RBs are no longer putrid. WRs are trending up. Buy stock now. 9. Northside Angels: If Hogan is anything less than a WR1, NSA is screwed. Was this week an aberration, or was Hogan just having a hot start? RIP Cooper. 10. Vicious Veg-Heads: The loss of OBJ and uncertainty around Murray is really hindering this team. Crabtree and a resurgent effort from McCoy are their only hope. |
By: Hayden HansonMr. Hayden Hanson (Editor in Chief) is an Accountant-extraordinaire, as well as an aspiring writer. He has written several moderately-successful self-help books, the most famous of which is "What Do You Mean You Can Smell My BO?" Gustav Travers of the New York Times praised the book as "A vulnerable, courageous look into the mind of a man who has literally no sense that other people exist. And also no sense of smell. Nope, he definitely doesn't have that either. Just musk, like a hog that's gotten into the cabbage." Archives
September 2019
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