Friday, November 13, 2015

Most Valuable Fantasy Players of the Year

With the season already half way over many year long fantasy leagues are coming down to the wire. People are being eliminated from playoff contention and many others are frustrated with injuries. So now that we have a sizable sample underneath our belt I ask to you, who are the most valuable fantasy football players at the top positions? I think we can all agree that Julio Jones and Tom Brady are off to monster starts but would you pick anyone over them? Here are my picks for the most valuable players at Quarterback, wide receiver, and running back.

Quarterback: Tom Brady
Brady has had a monster season thus far and I think he will easily finish as the number one point scorer in all of fantasy. Through eight games thus far he's only scored under twenty points once. It seems like even in his growing age Brady is still one of the most elite players to ever play the position.

Wide Receiver: Julio Jones
I would say Jones has carried the entire Atlanta offense but the appearance of Devonta Freeman seems to have lessened his load. Still Jones appears to be in the prime of his career and has posted over 130 yards 5 out of his 9 games this season. With the rest of the Falcons schedule being what it is I think Jones should easily finish this year as the number one option at receiver.

Running Back: Todd Gurley
While Gurley didn't even start a game until week 4 he is still somehow the seventh highest scoring running back in fantasy. Since coming into the league he has gained over 100 yards from scrimmage in every start he has and barring an injury he looks to become a force to be reckoned with for quite some time to come. Even having missed four games I'm confident at the end of the season Gurley will be the most valuable player at the position and possibly even at any position.

So what do you think? Who will finish number one? Let me know in the comments.

Sunday, November 1, 2015

Week 8 and Who I Like

Quarterbacks:
Philip Rivers: Rivers has been playing out of his mind over in San Diego. With the Chargers complete lack of a running game Rivers has been forced to throw the ball a lot this season and a high volume of passes against arguably the leagues worst pass defense in the Ravens sounds like a good outing for Rivers.
Alex Smith: While Smith isn't exactly an all-star QB he's pretty good in my opinion. He doesn't often throw deep or post huge numbers but going against a suspect Detroit secondary with Maclin coming back from injury sounds good to me. As an added bonus Smith has only turned the ball over 3 times this season so while he may not have a huge game he definitely isn't going to hurt you in the process. Given his extremely cheap price I like him this week.
Matt Ryan: While Ryan hasn't quite reached those big numbers his season long fantasy owners have been looking for he's been pretty solid. Now add in a division game against a Buccaneers team that just allowed Kirk Cousins to throw for 300+ and 3 touchdowns and I think we have a big outing on our hands. Hopefully they don't run away with the lead early so Ryan will keep airing it out to his man Julio Jones and give us a big fantasy performance.

Wide Receivers:
Julio Jones: I don't really need to justify picking Jones here. He's a total stud and has put up huge fantasy points already this year. Add in a bad Tampa Bay defense and we could be looking at another 30+ point outing from Julio this week.
Stefon Diggs: Relatively unknown until last week the Vikings rookie receiver has had quite a start in his first 3 NFL games. Now that he is the clear number one receiver in the Vikings offense we may see him get a lot of targets and catches against a poor Chicago Bears defense. When you consider the Bears will probably be focusing on bottling up Adrian Peterson this is going to leave the door open for Diggs who has yet to have under 80 yards in a game he's played. Given his cheap price tag I'm rolling with him this week and considering he's still available in a large number of season long leagues I'd try and pick him up there as well.
Keenan Allen: Allen should be a great double play with Rivers against a terrible Ravens defense. Given that Antonio Gates is looking like he'll miss this game this only adds to Allen's value. He should see plenty of targets and I'm looking for him to a have a breakout game.

Running Backs:
Todd Gurley: In Gurley's first three starts he has put up 433 yards and two touchdowns. In the first five weeks of this season the leading rusher was Matt Forte with 438 yards. That's five more yards in two more games. Gurley is running over defenses right now and until someone proves capable of stopping him I'm starting him in all leagues regardless of the match-up.

Saturday, October 17, 2015

Week 6 of the NFL Season!

Well I haven't made a posting in quite a bit, I am still very active in the fantasy football community. I've been doing some DFS (daily fantasy sports) leagues these past few weeks and I'm not trying to brag here but I haven't lost yet. So take these recommendations with a grain of salt as we get down and dirty looking at who I'm picking in week 6.
Quarterbacks:
Colin Kaepernick: While picking Kaepernick is a risky move we've got to look at his awesome match-up versus a Raven's defense who has been absolutely awful against the pass all season. I mean just last week they let the Browns throw for 400+ yards on them. Plus Kaepernick still has those legs of his they give him that much more to score with. He isn't the safest pick but I'm willing to bet he could explode this week and given his current low price tag I'm riding him in a few of my lineups.
Sam Bradford: The Eagles have struggled heavily in the beginning of the season but things look like they may start to turn around for them. Bradford has thrown for over 600 yards his past two games and 5 touchdowns. While turning over the ball is still a problem he's going up against a pretty week Giant's secondary and the Eagles under Chip Kelly have only lost 1 of their 4 games with the Giants. With the Eagles running game finally starting to do something that opens up Bradford to make some deeper throws and at his current price tag I'm riding with Sam.
Andy Dalton: Dalton has been on fire all year and he's currently the #1 fantasy quarterback. You might say but the Buffalo defense is good, and it is... against the run. I figure Dalton to pass for at least 300 yards while chucking a few TDs to his boys A.J. Green Tyler Eifert. His price is a little higher but he's more of a sure thing at this point in the season.

Running Backs:
Adrian Peterson: Not much to be said here, dude is a total beast and they're playing a shaky Kansas City team that just lost Jamaal Charles. I expect Minnesota to come out with a win here and they're going to do it on the back of Adrian Peterson.
Arian Foster: Come on Paul picking two obvious studs!? Yeah I am. With a game that the Texans actually might win I expect them to do so with their #1 guy Arian Foster. Plus do you really need any reason to play someone when they're going up against Jacksonville? I mean come on it's Jacksonville.
Knile Davis: With Jamaal Charles out for the season the Kansas City backfield is left with Knile Davis and Charcandrick West. While West got more touches and yards than Davis after Charles left the game last week Davis has proved in the past that he's very capable of running the ball well. Coach Reid hasn't come out and said which will be the feature back so that leaves us all guessing and with Davis having the considerably lower price tag in DFS I'm going with him. Risky? Yes. Potentially big rewards? Oh yeah.

Wide Receivers:
Jeremy Maclin: I love this guy, loved him in Philly and was really sad to see him go. Many people thought he wouldn't put up near the numbers he did last year in this Chiefs offense but right now with almost 500 yards receiving through five games I'm a believer. Again now that Charles is gone that's going to leave a lot of production for Maclin to pick up. With a growing chemistry between him and Alex Smith I think Maclin is poised for another big game against a beatable Vikings secondary and for his price I'll pay it every time.
DeAndre Hopkins: I think all I really need to say here is that they're playing Jacksonville. After just torching the Colts secondary and having 100+ yards receiving the past three weeks I don't think it's too much to ask that he repeat those numbers against the Jaguars and I'm locking him in this week.
Torrey Smith: This pick is all risk as Torrey either shows up with some huge numbers or duds and does nothing but I like the match-up against the Raven's secondary and I'm rolling the dice with Smith with his low cost high reward prospects.

Tight Ends:
Rob Gronkowski: Nothing needs to be said about why you should pick Gronk. He's the obvious best player at the position and if you've got the cash you should play him.
Martellus Bennett: With Alshon Jeffery still questionable the Bears go to there next best option with Bennett. Versus a beatable Detroit defense I think Bennett could put up some big numbers this week and I'm feeling good about him.
Antonio Gates: For some reason he's got a really low price tag this week so I'm grabbing him against an okay Packers defense. After he put up two touchdowns and ninety yards in his first outing this season I feel safe picking him this week for the price.


So there you have it, love em? Hate em? Anybody you think I missed or that you just totally disagree with me on? Leave a comment and I'll let you know my opinion on them.
See you guys next week!

Friday, September 25, 2015

Week 3 and All the things I got wrong in Week 2

Well we can now probably call week 2 of the NFL season the week of the upset. The Rams falling to the Redskins, the Ravens to the Raiders, and the Colts to the Jets just to name a few. I certainly didn't see those coming but I've learned from my mistakes. No longer will I only pick favorites to win from this moment onward I will pick upsets! For the most part however on my player picks I think I was pretty spot on. Yeah Mariota didn't have quite the week I thought he would, nor did the Eagles, but Flacco put up some great numbers as did Big Ben so I think I'm about 50/50 on good picks versus bad picks. That's not good enough so lets get down to it and improve that percentage with my opinion on who's going to explode this week.
Quarterbacks:
Tom Brady. This guy has had a fantastic start to his season putting up some huge fantasy numbers and going into week 3 playing the Jaguars yeah I'm going to pay big for this guy because he's going to come up big.
Tyrod Taylor. Who is this guy? Coming out of nowhere on the Bills and putting up some great fantasy numbers I'm picking Tyrod this week for his low buy cost and high upside if he decides to run the ball. Mobile quarterbacks = big fantasy production and if he can get running against Miami he's gonna pay out big.
Andy Dalton. The ravens just got torched by the raiders last week to the tune of 351 passing yards from Derek Carr. A.J. Green has started off this year slow but I think week 3 is the time to buy and he's going to run all over this ravens secondary. Dalton should put up some good numbers but if you're gonna get him make sure you grab A.J.
Wide Receivers:
A.J. Green. While Green has started off his 2015 campaign a little slow a week 3 match-up versus the ravens who just let Amari Cooper and Michael Crabtree have 100+ yards receiving each spells out a breakout performance for Green.
DeAndre Hopkins. Hopkins had a big week in week 1 but fell a bit in production week 2. Going into week 3 playing Tampa Bay at home is a promising matchup for the Texans number one receiver and I don't think another performance similar to his week one debut is out of the cards.
Brandon Marshall. While Marshall's fantasy stock took a huge hit when he left the bears for the jets he's going up against an Eagles secondary that allowed Julio Jones to rack up 140+ yards and two touchdowns in week 1. Marshall has got the talent to put up big numbers but it all relies on how Fitzpatrick plays. Still the Eagles have been looking pretty bad as of late and he could have a great game.
Running Backs:
Wow I got Darren Sproles wrong last week. Sure he was the best running back on an abysmal running game in Philadelphia but that performance is not going to cut it, stay clear of him and all Eagles backs going forward until they find some traction and get going but I don't think that's going to be week 3 versus a stout jets defense.
Latavius Murray. This guy has been putting up some good numbers and as an added bonus he's going up week 3 against the Browns with the worst run defense in the NFL. Given that he also catches passes a bunch Murray has an added bonus in PPR leagues and should be available pretty cheap.
Adrian Peterson. Well Peterson did exactly what I thought he would last week and played like Adrian Peterson. I fully expect that to continue and you should pay the high price for him this week against a mediocre chargers defense.
Justin Forsett. Forsett hasn't done much this year and I'm not really sure why I'm picking him this week but I've just got a gut feeling he's gonna put up some big numbers. Sure my gut is wrong a bunch but I feel good about Forsett this week.

Well those are some guys I think should put up some big numbers but who knows. I'm going to skip out on picking games this week due to my less than stellar performance last week but I'll be back to that soon. Good luck and may you score 100s of points in your fantasy endeavors.

Saturday, September 19, 2015

Week 2 of the Madness that is the NFL

Well with the first week of the 2015 NFL season in the wraps and now that we’ve seen that Peyton Manning is still Peyton Manning lets get into some predictions for this Sunday’s matchups. As a lifelong Eagles fan it is my belief that they are poised to score big this Sunday against the Cowboys. Fresh off of a stunning loss to the Falcons I think the Eagles are going to come out strong in their home opener and I would lock up running back Darren Sproles and throw him into your line-up as a flex play in PPR leagues. He’s still got some value in traditional scoring formats but in PPR his production could be awesome. Last week he had over 100 yards from scrimmage and if Sam Bradford keeps chucking it to him we might start to expect that on a weekly basis. I would however stay away from Demarco Murray and Ryan Matthews because I believe they will be running the ball more this week but there production  will be split and I think Sproles will be getting all the touchdowns.
Now that I’ve talked about the Eagles let’s talk about some quarterbacks you should start this week. I’m pretty high on Matt Ryan, Ben Roethlisberger, Joe Flacco, and
Marcus Mariota for this Sunday’s matchups. Matt Ryan after just torching the Eagles new secondary goes into New York facing a totally suspect Giants secondary and I think he and Julio Jones are in for another big week. Big Ben fresh off that Thursday loss to the Patriots is going to come in big without Leveon Bell again against the 49ers. Meanwhile Joe Flacco after not being able to do anything against the Broncos is going into Oakland against a garbage Raiders team and I think he’s going to find his groove early and give you some great production. Then we have the rookie Mariota, he looked absolutely awesome against the Buccaneers last week and while yes they’re the Buccaneers and they’re terrible his week two matchup is against the Browns! The Browns just gave up 31 points to the Jets in their opener. Cleveland it feels like has been perpetually bad and I expect Mariota to put up similar numbers to his week one debut.
Let’s talk about some picks now, I’ll give you guys my pick for each game this week with the exception of the Broncos Chiefs but if you really want to know I had picked the Chiefs to win that one so I’m sitting at 0-1 now. Not a great start but we’ve all got to start somewhere.
Eagles over Dallas. (I fear Philadelphia may explode if this doesn’t happen)
Houston over Carolina
Pittsburgh over San Francisco
New Orleans over Tampa Bay
Minnesota over Detroit (Adrian Peterson is going to rush for 120+ yards, you heard it hear first)
Arizona over Chicago
New England over Buffalo
Tennessee over Cleveland
Atlanta over NYG
St. Louis over Washington
Miami over Jacksonville
Baltimore over Oakland
Green Bay over Seattle
Indianapolis over NYJ

So there you have it, I’m hoping next week if you check back in I’ll be 14-1 with picks and you will all bow down to me as the game picking genius. Let’s be real that’s probably not going to happen but hey we can hope right?

Thursday, September 3, 2015

Fantasy and the road to Victory

Here I'll be talking about some of my deepest, darkest, and most twisted fantasies... and by fantasies I mean fantasy football scenarios. As the fantasy football fad sweeps the nation I too have become enamored by it and often it consumes my weekends. Do I draft Andrew Luck or Aaron Rodgers, Adrian Peterson or Le'Veon Bell, Calvin Johnson or Julio Jones? On a week to week basis I plan on telling you guys who I'm playing in what leagues and why and who I'm avoiding. Sure I don't know more about fantasy football than any other guy but I can still talk about it because really no one knows what's going to happen. While I may not have the credibility of an ESPN writer I do have years of fantasy experience under my belt and I've come to learn it's essentially like throwing darts at a hundred foot dart board. Inevitably I'll hit on some guys and completely miss on others and that's okay. So join me on my fantasy as I quest for victory again this 2015-16 NFL season.