SiriusXM Experts Football League – 2012
In 2010 I was the SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio Experts Football League Champion (you can listen to the channel at Sirius 210 or XM 87. You can also hear my daily show, from 7-10 PM EDT, Monday through Friday). I failed to win last season, but I’m back to reclaim my throne in 2012. In what follows I’ll run through the participants and the rules, before breaking down the team that I put together for the coming campaign.
Here are the participants.
1. Ted Schuster
2. George Kurtz
3. Drew Dinkmeyer
4. Bob Harris
5. Mike Dempsey
6. Matt Camp – phone
7. Mike Blewitt – phone
8. Rick Wolf / Glenn Colton
9. Adam Caplan
10. Gary Hamill
11. Ray Flowers
12. Emil Kadlec
13. Kyle Elfrink
14. Kevin Payne
League Rules
14 teams, 15 rounds, #11 draft selection
PPR
Starting lineup: QB, RB, RB, WR, WR, WR, TE, Flex (only RR/WR), K, DEF
4 points passing TD, 6 for all others.
QB: Carson Palmer (11th round), Ryan Fitzpatrick (12)
RB: DeMarco Murray (1), Beanie Wells (4), Shonn Greene (5), David Wilson (7), LeGarrette Blount (9)
WR: Larry Fitzgerald (2), Hakeem Nicks (3), Titus Young (8), Kendall Wright (10), Alshon Jeffrey (13)
TE: Jermichael Finley (6)
K: Stephen Gostkowski (14)
DEF: Atlanta Falcons (15)
Quarterback: The first think you will notice is that my QBs are not elite. Not even close. Still, this is a 14 team league, and like I always say, you can win a fantasy league even when your QB isn’t a superstar. It might surprise a few folks to learn that Palmer averaged 275.3 yards a game last season, more than Big Ben (271.8), Tony Romo (261.5) or Matt Ryan (261.1). It might also surprise many to learn that Fitzpatrick threw for more yards than Joe Flacco or Michael Vick, and he also tossed more scores than Big Ben and Cam Newton to name just a few. This duo should be solid enough for me to compete.
Running Back: Murray needs to stay healthy. If he does he could be a huge performer in what figures to be an explosive offense in Big D. Murray runs with power, can catch passes, an averaged 5.5 yards a carry last season. Wells is always injured, and it remains to be seen where he is at physically after another knee surgery, but he did run for 1,047 yards and 10 scores last year. Greene is plodding, but the Jets say that are re-committed to the run this season. That means he could improve slightly on his 1,054 yard, six score season from last year. Wilson is an electric rookie who could post huge numbers if/when Ahmad Bradshaw were to come up lame again. And Blount… I’ve got a good feeling about him. Everyone is falling all over themselves to draft Doug Martin, but I’m on record as saying that I think Blount will be a better value add in 2012.
Wide Receiver: Fitzgerald and Nicks give me the best duo out wide in the league (remember, it’s a 14 team league). Beyond that, I took three shots at talented but unproven players leaving the depth of this unit suspect. Young has looked great in camp, an if he emerges as the #2 wideout for the Lions he could totally support my selection of him as a WR3 in this league. Wright is polished and should find a solid role with all of Kenny Britt’s woes in Tennessee. Jeffrey? Supremely talented. I’m hoping his role grows as the season progresses.
Tight End: Finley was supposed to be Jimmy Graham last season. He fell well short of those expectations, but he still caught 55 balls for 767 yards and eight scores in a pretty darn solid season. A slight improvement and Finley still becomes an elite option.
It’s a 14 team league so everyone has holes. Overall I like the club I was able to put together, an in the end the it’s as much about how I work the waiver-wire and whether or not my team stays healthy as it is about the names that I rostered on draft day.
For the results of the entire 14 team experts draft click on the link to SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio – Host FF Draft # 1.
CONTEST – SHOT AT $15,000
DailyJoust.com has got a fantasy football league that you need to know about called the NFL Gladiator Tournament. You can learn all the details in the link I just posted, but here are the highlights of the tournament.
It’s basically an eliminator tournament. Each week every team makes it to the next week except the lowest scorer for that week. The field continues to be whittled down until there is just one team standing (even the teams that lose an are eliminated early get a chance to join the 2nd Chance Gauntlet to play for prizes).
Sounds like a winning scenario to me. Does it to you? So get over to the link to read just how you can get involved in the survivor tournament, and when you are ready to sign up go ahead and click on the BaseballGuys/DailyJoust page to sign up.
Prove your worth by winning the 15 week battle.
By Ray Flowers
