FantasyLion.com: All Day

Want to write for my new site?

Sat, 10 Jul 2010 15:53:37 -0700

What’s going on everyone?

Some of you may or may not know this, but I’ve left the confines of my own blog FantasyLion.com and joined the awesome staff over at Pyromaniac.com, so you can catch all of my future articles and videos there.

I also wanted to let you know that I’m looking for writers/contributers for a new site that we’re launching called the Fantasy Football Pharmacy (www.ffpharmacy.com). If you are interested on contributing to the site or looking for an additional way to promote your website/blog, let me know. If you’ve always wanted to write about football, but never had an outlet, this is for you!

We are launching on Wednesday and are pumped about it!

Where do I go to sign up for one of your leagues?

Tue, 29 Jun 2010 00:06:20 -0700

If you’re interested in playing in a league with me, email me at john@fantasylion.com and I’ll send you all the info!

FRANK THE TANK! FRANK THE TANK! Frank Gore - 2010 Fantasy...

Sat, 19 Jun 2010 12:56:00 -0700

FRANK THE TANK! FRANK THE TANK!

Frank Gore - 2010 Fantasy Outlook Video courtesy of Pyromaniac.com!

Philip Rivers - 2010 Fantasy Outlook Video courtesy of...

Wed, 16 Jun 2010 23:30:20 -0700

Philip Rivers - 2010 Fantasy Outlook Video courtesy of Pyromaniac.com!

Points Per Reception: The Cadillac of Fantasy Football

Wed, 16 Jun 2010 00:34:52 -0700

Points Per Reception: The Cadillac of Fantasy Football

by John Gustafson

In 1996, when I was in the sixth grade, I was bit by the fantasy bug. It all started on a Sunday morning after a Saturday night sleepover. That morning after some pancakes my friend Clint and I headed into the living room to catch some NFL action on the tube. This was a pretty normal activity as Clint was a big Dolphins fan, and me, of course a Niners fan. About 30 minutes later, Clint’s dad came into the room going apeshit because Dan Marino had already thrown 2 TD passes and his team had 12 points. Wait a second? Why was Clint’s dad so excited? Unlike Clint, he wasn’t a Dolphins fan, he was a 49ers fan. And 12 points? We all know TDs are worth 14 points. What the hell was going on here? Well once Clint and his dad calmed down, they introduced me to the greatest hobby known to all man-kind; fantasy football.

Since that day, I have been hooked. The next 2 years I followed Clint and his dad’s team as closely as I could. That was fine, but one of the greatest days of my fantasy career came when I convinced my parents to let me sign up for an email account so I could own my own team. I know what most of you are thinking, “geez, how sheltered is this guy?” Now I was a little sheltered, I mean, hell, I wasn’t even allowed to watch the Simpsons, so getting an email account was a big deal. But let’s also not forget, this was 1998 and the great internet discovered by Al Gore had barely been gaining popularity.

Anyways, your first time playing fantasy football is like the first time you got your first 8-bit Nintendo… life changing. That year I ran the table on my free Yahoo! league behind Steve Young, Barry Sanders, and Terrance Mathis. One year, one championship, I was the shit, the next greatest thing, the Jimmy the Greek of fantasy football… or so I thought.

That was until the next year when I played in my first money league. Yes, that’s right, I was 15 and already spending $100 of my hard earned money from my summer job to play in the company fantasy football league. Now this league was about as archaic as they come. It didn’t reward points for TDs, just yardage. No problem, the fantasy football prodigy (I thought I was) was going to take this sucker down anyways especially since I had the #1 pick. Then reality hit. My first overall pick of Terrell Davis tore his knee a few games into the season. My WRs were crap and I was left in shambles as Drew Bledsoe and Jerome Bettis didn’t live up to expectations and while the owner who won the league was led by a guy I had never heard of (Kurt Warner) and an old RB who resurrected his career (Curtis Martin).

After the pitfall of 1999, I vowed to get obsessively better at fantasy football. Never again would I let a sleeper like Warner get past me. If something was going down, I was going to know about it weeks before anyone else. The next 2 years, I dominated that league. Everything I learned that offseason helped shape me into the experienced fantasy player I am today.

After the 2001 season, I had 3 titles in 4 years under my belt, I was ready for another challenge, time to “up the ante” as they say. I wasn’t looking for much. After dominating the yardage league, I was looking for a league with points for TDs or as I put it to my yardage league mates, “a real league”. In 2002, I discovered a little known site called Antsports.com. The site is still hosting leagues, but is pretty damn obsolete. I’ll never play in a league on there again after some bad experiences, but I will give it some credit.

The Antsports league not only awarded points for TDs, but also had PPR. PPR? WTF was that?! I had to investigate! I came to find out that PPR stood for points per reception meaning that every time an offensive player caught a pass, they would get an additional point. This blew my mind. It was like the scene in Indiana Jones and Raiders of the Lost Ark when Indy first encounters the gold head thingy. I was shocked… appalled at a rule so bold, but enthralled and had to have more.

I spent that whole summer reading about PPR and how leagues with PPR make WRs more valuable and give the worthless TEs value. Wait a second! A league where you didn’t have to build your team around RBs? Unheard of! TEs with value? No freaking way! I had to be in a league like this! Now I thought this was probably a fluke type thing, but I wanted to strike while the iron was hot! So I convinced my buddies Nick and Geoff to sign up for 2 Antsports leagues. I’d split the teams with each of them and co-own 2 teams in a big time PPR real league.

Nick and I gambled on Ricky Williams in the first round of our draft. Up until that point Ricky had been a disappointment for most of his career and would be playing his first year in Miami. We rode Ricky and his 2,200+ total yards and 37 catches all the way until the semi-finals. Our downfall was our WRs.

Geoff and I on the other hand rolled. That year we cruised with a WR corps of Terrell Owens (100 catches, #2 overall WR), Hines Ward (112 catches, #3 overall WR), Joe Horn (88 catches, #8 overall WR), and Koren Robinson (78 catches, #15 overall WR), yes he had fantasy value at one point. Not to mention this league only required one starting RB so we only started one. Our guy, Charlie Garner, led all backs that year with a cool 91 catches and finished 4th overall at RB in fantasy points. A team built on WRs and 1 RB? This league didn’t know what him them. What’s funny is each week Geoff and I thought we would lose when we compared our roster to the other team because that guy had better RBs. Boy were we wrong! We lost 2 games all year, one was early in the season and the other was in the fantasy championship in one of the worst fantasy nightmares ever… but that’s a story for a future Pyro article.

At some point in our friendship, Geoff, told me that No Limit Texas Hold Em was nicknamed the Cadillac of poker. I always liked that. After that near glorious season of 2002, I christened PPR the Cadillac of Fantasy Football. I now consider non-PPR leagues the devil, archaic, bush league; the list goes on and on baby.

If you’re not playing in a PPR league, you are missing out on one of the purest, most fun ways to play fantasy football. It may sound like more work and research, but it’s really not. All it’s really doing is giving more balance to the scoring and making leagues more fair and competitive in a day age where NFL backfields are riddled with committees.

If you’re playing in a non-PPR league and you don’t get one of the top 5 RBs, then you might as well kiss your fantasy season goodbye or have an extremely lucky rabbit’s foot because the odds are stacked up against you pal. And come on, where’s the skill in picking one of the top 5 RBs? My grandma who thinks Joe Montana still plays QB for the 49ers could do that if I gave her a list with a big circle around the top 5 and instructions to pick one of these guys at all costs.

Once worried about PPR balanced scoring being a fluke, it’s not. It’s the real deal. Every year there are about the same number of QBs, RBs, and WRs, that finish in the top 30 with a few TEs sprinkled in. There are even some PPR leagues that award 1.25 points for the TEs, now making the scoring that much more balanced.

So heap your pile of junk hoopty of a league and hop into a Cadillac. This is the 2010s. Our president is black so your fantasy league shouldn’t be whack. Not to get political, but this will be a change you want. You’ll thank me later. My name is John Gustafson and I approve this message.

2009 Non-PPR Top 20 Scorers (QBs Exempt)

1. Chris Johnson 2. Adrian Peterson 3. Maurice Jones-Drew 4. Ray Rice 5. Thomas Jones 6. Frank Gore 7. Ricky Wiliams 8. Andre Johnson 9. Ryan Grant 10. Randy Moss 11. Miles Austin 12. Steven Jackson 13. Joseph Addai 14. Jonathan Stewart 15. DeSean Jackson 16. Larry Fitzgerald 17. Jamaal Charles 18. Reggie Wayne 19. Rashard Mendenhall 20. Roddy White Totals: Top 10- 8 RBs, 2 WRs, 0 TEs. Top 20- 13 RBs, 7 WRs, 0 TEs
2009 PPR Top 20 Scorers (QBs Exempt)
1. Chris Johnson 2. Adrian Peterson 3. Ray Rice 4. Maurice Jones-Drew 5. Andre Johnson 6. Randy Moss 7. Reggie Wayne 8. Wes Welker 9. Larry Fitzgerald 10. Frank Gore 11. Miles Austin 12. Brandon Marshall 13. Dallas Clark 14. Steve Smith, NYG 15. Roddy White 16. Sidney Rice 17. DeSean Jackson 18. Vernon Davis 19. Ricky Williams 20. Steven Jackson Totals: Top 10- 5 RBs, 5 WRs, 0 TEs. Top 20- 7 RBs, 11 WRs, 2 TEs

Fantasy Football Hustle Podcast Episode 3

Wed, 16 Jun 2010 00:33:35 -0700

On Episode 3 of the Fantasy Football Hustle Podcast I cover the toughest position to draft from this year, where to take your QB, how to maximize the first 4 rounds of your draft, who I’m taking every single time in the 5th round, and tell you what to do when faced with the decision of Harvin, Nicks, or Maclin.

The Great Chicago Debate: No Not Cubs or White Sox, Forte or Taylor?

Sat, 29 May 2010 06:30:28 -0700

by John Gustafson and Dave Perrin

A few days ago I engaged in a discussion about Chester Taylor being over-hyped. This was alarming to me because I love Chester Taylor as a 4th RB and have been targeting him around the 8th round.

I have also been avoiding Forte. I loved him last year, but after 2009’s disappointing performance, I wasn’t going to go out of my way to pick him. With the help of special contributor Dave Perrin, I’d like to re-create that discussion. Dave’s arguments helped open my eyes to a possible fantasy gem that I may have been overlooking.

One of the keys to being a successful fantasy player is being flexible and open-minded. With that in mind, take a look at the back and forth between Dave and me regarding the Chicago Bears RB situation.

Dave: Okay, here’s something that’s been sticking in my craw since he moved to Chicago:

All this talk about Chester Taylor being “the guy” in over Matt Forte — based on what exactly? On how he’s pretty much never done it in almost an entire decade in the NFL? I’m sorry, but this reeks of the worst kind of band-wagoneering, for both players.

Lets take a sober look at the Chicago RBs:

Chester Taylor — he had one good year, and it really wasn’t that good. Trust me, I had him that year. Yes, he got 1,200 yards rushing and about another 300 receiving, but he had 6 lousy TDs and only 2 in the first 9 games. He had one TD in his first game and then only one more for the next 2 solid months. Two months! And that was 4 years ago. His best season in 9 years was 100 yards and 2 TDs better than the “horrible” season Forte had just last year (and if you consider that one of those TDs came in week 17, its only 1 TD better).

Matt Forte — yes, he had a disappointing season. Disappointing based on his being projected as a top-3 RB, but the guy was dinged up all year and Chicago’s line played like crap for him compared to ‘08. He still put up 1,400 total yards.

So why is everyone jumping all over themselves about a guy who been in the league since ‘02 and put up 1,000+ yards rushing exactly once, four years ago? Why is he going to be “the guy” and take the job from a guy who had a down year last year and a great year as a rookie? I don’t care what they’re paying Chester Taylor. Its a little more than what LT’s getting and he’s not going to be “the guy” either. Doesn’t it make sense that they got Taylor as insurance and to take a decent load off of Forte’s shoulders, because 380 touches his rookie year was too much?

Here’s what’s really burning my britches, though — where’s the real analysis???

All I’ve been hearing is “Oh! Chester Taylor is just soooo much more talented a running back than Matt Forte!” Really? Because that’s not what everyone was saying about Forte last year. Either people were wrong about Forte last year or they’re wrong about him this year. Or both.

Here’s the arc of how Matt Forte has been perceived over the last 2+ years:

2008 preseason — Matt Forte is a great guy, works hard, just not truly special. The kind of guy you root for but not an elite talent. Could have a chance to surpass Benson if Benson keeps screwing up.

2009 preseason — Matt Forte IS a special back! Sure-fire top-3 next year, possibly even the #1 pick in PPR format! “A lock” for 300+ carries, 70+ receptions, 1,500+ yards, 12+ TDs, yadda, yadda, yadda…

2010 preseason — Matt Forte is an absolute dog! He’s never even averaged 4.0 YPC! Chester Taylor is gonna take that job!

So what’s up?

Maybe this is what’s up — Matt Forte, everyone was right the first time. Great guy, lotta heart, well-rounded player, not an elite talent. Overachieved in ‘08, underachieved in ‘09. What should we expect in 2010? How about a bounceback year but not what we saw in ‘08?

And Taylor? Maybe everyone was right the first 9 times — he’s not a starting RB.

So everyone was wrong about Forte last year. So we’re all mad because we got burned taking him early in the first round. Lets not make it worse by being wrong about both of these guys this year.

If Chester Taylor is soooo much more talented than Matt Forte, why has he only gotten one chance in 9 years to be “the guy”. Four years ago.

Seriously, who do you trust to be “the guy” if you’re Lovie Smith? The guy who’s had one borderline RB1/RB2 season in 9 years? Or the guy who had a serviceable RB2 season and a top-5 season in just 2 years in the league?

Chile, please.

Okay, I’m officially off the soapbox. Your turn

John: Interesting argument, but Taylor played behind one of the best backs in the NFL. Also, if I’m Taylor, where else can I make loads of coin for basically playing a part time role while saving my body and increasing my bank account? Not may other professions, so if I were him, I would have happily played second fiddle to AP.

I’m not ready to peg him the man, but I do think we’ll see a timeshare here. I think most are in love with Taylor because he can be picked around the 8th round or later while Forte will cost a 4th or 5th round pick.

Backs do well in a Martz offense so we’re all trying to find the gem here. If you look at history, Martz only had 2 backs worthy of getting the ball once and that was in 2004 when he had Faulk on his way out and Jackson on his way in.

That year Faulk got 51% of the touches to Jackson’s 35%.

I think that’s a likely expectation in this situation. With that in mind, I’d still rather have Taylor late and hope he can increase his % and cut into Forte’s touches than spend a valuable early pick on Forte hoping he can get more.

Taylor = higher ceiling, lower risk.
Forte = lower ceiling, higher risk.

Taking Matt Forte is not a risk I’ll be taking this year.

Dave: And I’d be happy to get him as an RB2 in the 4th or 5th round, maybe with a nice set of WRs in between. Just don’t see Taylor as having much value except as a backup.

This is a good thing though — looks like we won’t have to fight over these guys if we play in the same league this year.

John: Very true lol. I’m glad you brought this up though because I’m seriously on the fence about Forte. I want to like him, but I’m just not totally convinced. I’m going to keeping searching for reasons to consider him.

Ha, I think I found my answer. As miserable as Forte’s season was last year he still finished 12th overall at RB in ppr. I think he may have found himself onto my list

Dave: Ok then — its on!

John: I added him to my list, but would still likely take a WR late round 4, early 5, so he’s all yours buddy!

Or is he…

Dave: All I’m saying is they’re not paying Forte to sit on the bench either. Look, I expect Taylor to play. I expect them to limit Forte’s carries — to less than 300. I’m not putting Forte up there with Gore and potential top-5 RBs, just saying he’s going to be better than last year. And better than Taylor.

John: Well said, thanks Dave! I may have missed a good one had you not brought your perspective to my attention.

In the end, it’s up to you decide which back you like more in Chicago, but as Dave pointed out, don’t fall in love with Taylor. He’s a nice mid-round value pick, but don’t go expecting him to steal the job from Forte anytime soon.

This could change over the summer, but right now it looks like Forte will be the higher scorer out of the backfield in Chicago.

This is a battle we’ll have our eyes on all fantasy summer long!

Follow FantasyLion.com on Twitter, www.twitter.com/FantasyLion or email John, john@fantasylion.com

who do u think will have a better fantasy football year Ryan Grant, Cedric Benson or Beanie Wells?

Sat, 29 May 2010 06:25:00 -0700

I’m not wild about any of them and won’t pick them this year because none of them catch the ball and I only play in points per reception leagues.

However, out of those 3, I’d rather have Beanie Wells. He seems to have the most upside.

The Cards upgraded their line and lost Warner so they’ll rely on their passing game more and Beanie has an easy schedule.

Beanie and Benson have an injury history which is two other reasons I’m not falling in love with either.

Benson should have a lot of running lanes as the Bengals look committed to being more effective in the passing game. However, I won’t be taking him because of the above mentioned reasons.

Ryan Grant was a top 10 back last year but that was only because there was a lot of transition at the RB position last year.

You saw guys getting hurt and new stars emerge, but Grant achieved his normal steady production and was a top 10er by default.

I don’t think that’s the case this year and I think a 2nd or 3rd round pick is too much to pay for him. He isn’t special and I like guys with a higher ceiling than Grant’s for an early pick like that.

Again, I’m partial because I only play in PPR leagues. In the 2nd and 3rd rounds, the RBs I’m targeting are Jamaal Charles, Ryan Mathews, Matt Forte, Knowshon Moreno, LeSean McCoy and Jonathan Stewart.

Great question!

Let's Rent Some RBs Shall We? WCOFF Draft Round 14

Wed, 26 May 2010 09:48:00 -0700

My Pick: This late in the draft, I like to employ what I like to call the “rent-a-RB” approach. I’ll typically target backup RBs that play behind RBs that have missed time the last 2-3 years and try and steal a few starts on a few to week basis. My RBs are not the strongest part of my team, but if I can steal a few starts here and there at the RB position, then my team as a whole gets stronger. Additionally, should one of these volatile starters miss extended time, then the “handcuff” backs will be fantasy gold. In part time work last year, Snelling averaged over 4 yards a carry, had over 750 total yards, and 5 TDs. He also chipped in with 30 catches which is something that Falcons starter does not do, catch the ball! The Falcons have an easier schedule, so I’d expect Turner to have a bounce back year, but if he misses any time, I’ll be able to plug Snelling in as a RB2 or flex player. I’ll take that kind of potential this late in the draft.

ROUND 14

Bills Are Back - Devin Thomas, Was WR
EarlyBird - Garrett Hartley, NO K
purestrength3 - Derrick Ward, TB RB
Ficitional Thugs - Matt Leinart, ARI QB
JerrysJets - Jason Campbell, Oak QB
HAWKNATION - Correll Buckhalter, Den RB
FantasyLion.com - Jason Snelling, ATL RB
Fantasy Assassins MF - Ravens D/ST
Did this dude just did this? - Joe McKnight, NYJ RB
CSACMA - Earl Bennett, Chi WR
L.A. CONNECTION - Roy Williams, Dal WR
No Mercy - Malcolm Floyd, SD WR

POSITION BREAKDOWN: 4 WRs, 4 RBs, 2 QBs, 1 D/ST, 1 K

Current Roster:

QB - Tom Brady
RB1 - Joseph Addai
RB2 - Ricky Williams
WR1 - Andre Johnson
WR2 - Miles Austin
WR3 - Michael Crabtree
TE - Jermichael Finley
Flex - Thomas Jones or Antonio Bryant
Bench - QB- Brett Favre, RB - Donald Brown, Jason Snelling, WR - Johnny Knox

FantasyLion.com Featured on the BleacherReport.com Chargers Homepage

Tue, 25 May 2010 15:08:32 -0700

I want to thank the folks at BleacherReport.com once again for featuring one of my articles on a team homepage. This time it was my Malcolm Floyd sleeper article. I really appreciate their help in getting the word out about my site and help in saving the world from bad fantasy football advice!

The Fantasy Football Hustle Podcast Episode 2

Tue, 25 May 2010 15:05:38 -0700

In the newest edition of the Fantasy Football Hustle Podcast, I go over a new dynasty league I’m starting. I also cover which RBs I would take in the first round and which ones I’d avoid like the plague. Who will this year’s Chris Johnson be? Check out and find out who I think may be this year’s 1st round diamond in the rough. Be sure to check out Episode 3 this Thursday night at 11pm on Blog Talk Radio. www.blogtalkradio.com/FantasyLion

Puff Puff or Pass on Ricky Williams This Year?

Tue, 25 May 2010 14:56:55 -0700

I was recently asked if Ricky Williams is being overlooked this year. And my answer is yes.

In my World Championships of Fantasy Football Draft that I just finished, I held of on a RB2 and picked Ricky up in the 7th round.

Ricky does it all and Ronnie Brown is a half a year player.I also like the value where you can get Ricky (6th-8th round).

Consider that last year in a points per reception (PPR) format Williams was averaging 15 points a game even with Brown there. That is nothing to balk at as some featured backs struggle to maintain that average.

Ricky actually averaged more points a game during that time than Ryan Grant and Pierre Thomas who are two RB2s that typically cost a 3rd or 4th round pick.

After Brown went down, Ricky was the 7th best RB. Although Ricky is older, there is a lot of upside to be had and it won’t cost you much to find out if he can do it again.

I’m going to target Ricky as my 3rd RB this year, but have no problem if I have to roll with him as my 2nd.

San Diego Super Chargers Super Sleeper: Malcolm Floyd

Sun, 23 May 2010 21:30:00 -0700

Here’s a fantasy football sneaky sleeper I really like, Chargers WR Malcolm Floyd.

With 2 DUI convictions in 2 years, Vincent Jackson will likely be suspended at some point this summer. VJack will probably be hit with a 4-gamer making Floyd a guy I’d begin to target around the 11th round as my 5th or 6th WR.

In those 4 weeks, Floyd will face the 2nd easiest schedule with matchups vs KC, Jac, Sea, and Ari. Those teams gave up an average of 35 points a games to WRs.

I’ve always like Floyd but behind Gates, VJack, and the backs, he doesn’t get a lot of looks. But in week 17 last year as SDs #1 WR, Floyd put up 9 catches for 140 yards, a cool 23 points in PPR. Also, at 6’5, he’s a huge red zone target.

He likely won’t have much value after that, but I’d start him as my flex for those first 4 weeks.

FantasyLion.com Has 2 Articles Featured on 2 BleacherReport.com Homepages in 1 Day

Fri, 21 May 2010 12:43:12 -0700

Now this is just crazy! I couldn’t believe when I saw the Braylon article up on the Jets page. An hour after uploading my article on Antonio Bryant, it makes the Bengals homepage! I feel so blessed. I am very lucky to have 2 articles featured in 1 day! Thank God!

FantasyLion.com's Article on Braylon Edwards Makes the Bleacher Report Homepage

Fri, 21 May 2010 10:03:00 -0700

In one of the more humbling moments of my career, the blog I wrote yesterday made it to the featured article on the Jets homepage at BleacherReport.com. It’s crazy this day and age and the power of the internet. I just love talking about fantasy football and helping people win and get better at. This is so fun for me and to receive any kind of recognition for it is mind-blowing. The article has almost 900 views. That is nuts. If you would have told me that almost 1,000 people would be interested in what I have to say about football, I’d call you crazy. That dog Braylon better not let me down! Who am I kidding? He won’t. Once a dog, always a dog, so DON’T DRAFT HIM!

Braylon "The Dog" Edwards Welcome to the 2010 DO NOT DRAFT List

Thu, 20 May 2010 09:00:00 -0700

Earlier this week someone asked me if they should target Braylon Edwards this year because his stock will be down. That got me thinking, fantasy football consumers need an advocate to help keep them from buying lemons. Enter my newest feature, “The 2010 DO NOT DRAFT” list. Most sites will tell you to avoid or shy away from a guy, but few will tell you to completely stay away in case there’s a slight chance that player doesn’t disappoint, they don’t have to worry about their credibility. Well partners, I’m not that type of guy. If I’m not going to draft a guy, I’m going to tell you not to draft him. I don’t give out advice I, myself, wouldn’t take. Most of the players I’ll tell you to avoid will have a headache factor higher than a potential factor. I love taking risks, but some guys aren’t worth the risk or they’ve burned me before and I’ll never trust them again. Some guys I add to this list may surprise you and you may disagree, that’s fine, go ahead and draft them. I’ve never one to say I told you so, but just remember not drafting one of the guys that end up on this list will be for your own good. Don’t be a sucker, stay away from this list!

The first inductee to the 2010 DO NOT DRAFT list is… Braylon “The Dog” Edwards

Typically, I look for guys coming off down years to grab late a la Cutler, Cooley, Daniels, etc. However, there are some cases guys are what I call flat out dogs. The worst part about dogs is not being able to trust them. I don’t think Braylon cares enough to improve and has rode the laurels of his 2007 season for the last 2 years. You can usually get him in the 7th or 8th round which is his lowest value since 2007, but I don’t trust him. He plays in a run first offense where he’s not even the best WR. He may be more talented than Cotchery, but Cotchery produces consistently, Braylon doesn’t. Furthermore, I don’t think the team would have pursued Santonio Holmes if they were convinced about Braylon. Braylon and Holmes are both in contract years and I doubt the Jets are going to ante up and pay both meaning one of them walks. Holmes is at a disadvantage because he’ll be missing 4 games, but I will not be surprised to see Holmes outproduce Braylon despite Bray Bray getting a 4 game headstart. This is the type of situation I stay away from and let someone else worry about. For the same value, you can get guys like potential star Jeremy Maclin, PPR-machine returning from injury Wes Welker, or the rock steady Hines Ward. I’d take any of those guys before I take Braylon Edwards. Hell, I’d take a disappointing Eddie Royal before I’d touch Edwards. In fact, I’d draft David Carr before I’d draft Braylon and I’m not drafting Carr at all this year and maybe ever again. So you know what that means? It means Bray Bray will find his ass riding pine on my “2010 Do Not Draft List”.

New art courtesy of my homies over at Pyromaniac.com. If you...

Wed, 19 May 2010 23:17:20 -0700

New art courtesy of my homies over at Pyromaniac.com. If you have never been to their site, do yourself a huge favor and check it out. Their site is one of my favorites. Their latest commentary on Roy Williams is hilarious. They do awesome work over there. I’m currently working on a piece for them and will be launching a new site with them next month. It’s going to be epic. I can’t wait to tell you guys more about it over the next few weeks!

-jg

A Mock a Day Keeps the Doctor Away: 5/18 Edition

Wed, 19 May 2010 12:55:00 -0700

Tuesday, 5/18 Draft done at MockDraftCentral.com 16 rounds, picked 8th. You can find the full draft results here. I omitted my picks in the 15th and 16th round as I took a draft mandated kicker and defense. Both positions have no relevence in a mock this early in the fantasy season.

1 - Andre Johnson
2 - Reggie Wayne
3 - Jamaal Charles
4 - Sidney Rice
5 - Felix Jones
6 - Jermichael Finley
7 - Brett Favre
8 - Wes Welker
9 - LenDale White
10 - Antonio Bryant
11 - Michael Bush
12 - Demaryius Thomas
13 - Tashard Choice
14 - Chester Taylor

Potential starting lineup

QB - Favre
RB1 - Charles
RB2 - Jones
WR1 - Johnson
WR2 - Wayne
WR3 - Rice
TE - Finley
Flex options - Welker, Bryant, White, Bush, Thomas

Thoughts

This team is fantasy dynamite, but it is loaded with question marks. If Favre doesn’t come back then my QBs are shot. Favre not coming back also kills the value of Rice. I’d love to get Rice in the 4th round if Favre comes back. If Favre doesn’t come back then I likely won’t be picking Rice at all this year.

At RB, Charles is coming of a surgery. I’m not worried about it now but I will start to worry about it if the subject keeps coming up. I’m skeptical about whether or not he can stay healthy a full season given his size, but then again Chris Johnson is built similarly and killed it last year while taking on one of the heaviest workloads in the NFL.

I’ve always like Felix Jones, but his inability to stay healthy is about as well known and his ability to break off long plays. In the 5th round, I thought it was worth the risk. The rest of the RBs are spot starters and handcuffs.

If this were a real draft, I’d be pumped about this team assuming Favre was coming back. I love the upside of the RBs and feel there is enough depth to fill in should my two starters not meet expectations. The WRs are stacked. I know Welker is returning from a brutal knee injury, but with all the other options I have at WR, I wouldn’t need him and anything he could do would be purely a bonus. If he returns 100% then, I just got a top 5 WR in the 9th round. Bryant and Thomas are solid bye week fill ins and should be decent points per reception guys.

Overall grade

-If Favre comes back: A

-If Favre doesn’t come back: C-

WCOFF Satellite Fantasy Football Draft Round 13

Wed, 19 May 2010 12:16:00 -0700

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ROUND 13

No Mercy - Demaryius Thomas, Den WR
L.A. CONNECTION - Tony Scheffler, Det TE
CSACMA - Josh Morgan, SF WR
Did this dude just did this? - Javon Ringer, Ten RB
Fantasy Assassins MF - Leon Washington, Ten RB
FantasyLion.com - Dustin Keller, NYJ TE
HAWKNATION - Viking D/ST
JerrysJets - Nate Burleson, Det WR
Ficitional Thugs - Arrelious Benn, TB WR
purestrength3 - Golden Tate, Sea WR
EarlyBird - Eagles D/ST
Bills Are Back - Matt Stafford, Det QB

POSITION BREAKDOWN: 5 WRs, 2 RBs, 2 TE, 2 D/STs, 1 QB

My Pick: Keller should be a decent starter and may even finish in the top 10 at TE this year as Sanchez will rely on him. I still think Sanchez and the Jets are a year away from truly opening things up on a regular basis which will translate to a steady dose of quick to intermediate passes to Keller. I love Finley as my starter but he did get hurt last year. I have no problem starting Keller as an every round TE should I need him in case of a Finley injury. Another thing I like about this pick is that Keller has a nice matchup vs Cleveland in week 10 when Finley has his bye. The Browns gave up 14 points a game to TEs last year which was the 3rd most. Solid player, good value, decent upside… these are all qualities I like in a pick this late.

Current Roster:

QB - Tom Brady
RB1 - Joseph Addai
RB2 - Ricky Williams
WR1 - Andre Johnson
WR2 - Miles Austin
WR3 - Michael Crabtree
TE - Jermichael Finley
Flex - Thomas Jones or Antonio Bryant
Bench - QB- Brett Favre, RB- Donald Brown, WR- Johnny Knox, TE- Dustin Keller

A Mock a Day Keeps the Doctor Away! 5/17 Edition

Tue, 18 May 2010 08:38:00 -0700

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Mock drafts are a tremendous way to prepare for your fantasy football draft. It’s May, but so what?! I’m ready to draft now! But before I get ahead of myself, I want to make sure I’m ready. In order to do that, I want to try and do at least 1 mock draft a day and work some different strategies to see which ones I like best for each draft position. I love WRs, but WR/WR isn’t always the best to take. I know that going RB/RB is the way to go given some drafts and I want to do enough mocks to know which combination I like best from each draft spot that way I don’t have a draft where I go for “value” every round and end up with a bag of crap. I also want to answer questions like, if I get AP 2nd, what kind of back can I get if I wait and don’t snag a back in the 2nd? I wait on QBs, but can I really pass on Peyton Manning in the 3rd round? With that in mind, let’s get it on!

Monday, 5/17 Draft done at fantasyfootballcalculator.com. 15 round, picked 2nd…

1 - AP
2 - Roddy
3 - Peyton
4 - Crabtree
5 - Addai
6 - Maclin
7 - The Ghost
8 - Antonio B
9 - Ahmad
10 - Z Miller
11 - M Bush
12 - LJ
13 - Avery
14 - Campbell
15 - Keller

Potential starting lineup…
QB - Peyton
RB1 - AP
RB2 - Addai
WR1 - Roddy
WR2 - Crabtree
WR3 - Maclin or Bryant
TE - Miller
Flex options - Bryant, Harrison, Ahmad, Bush LJ, Avery

Thoughts: This was only a 15 rounder and I bypassed picking a K and D. Seems pointless for now because I always pick them last anyways. The RBs aren’t sexy after AP, but they were decent values and between the 4 after AP, I should be able to get at least 1 quality start per week. The WRs should be solid. I really like Crabtree, Maclin, and Bryant this year and Roddy is as consistent as they come. There was a huge run on TEs which I’m fine with. I took Miller a little earlier than I could have got him for but I want to make sure this year that if I wait as long on TEs as I did in this draft, that I get Miller. It seems a no-brainer that his production will go up considerably with Campbell now throwing him the ball. Finally, I’m a big endorser of the waiting on a QB approach, but I don’t think I’ll be able to pass on Peyton or Drew Brees should one of them fall to me in the 3rd round like in this draft. I love WRs about as much as anyone in fantasy football, but even I think it’s crazy to pass on one of them for the likes of Jennings, Rice, Colston, and VJack.

Overall grade: B+