Justin Fensterman and Trevor Ray discuss the end of the NFL season. They look at some prospects for Week 17 Fantasy Playoffs and also look forward to a few keepers to next year.
Michael Vick, Jordan Shipley, Adrian Peterson, Denario Alexander, Mark Ingram, Shonn Greene, Mark Sanchez
On this week’s edition of the beat, Justin and Trevor look back at their fantasy season’s as a whole and while Trevor had a “Dream Season”, it was rather nightmarish for Justin. The guys talked about what went wrong for Justin and the players and strategies that caused issues for him. Some of the issues Justin faced are faced by many who play fantasy football. Trevor celebrates his regular season dominance.
Bryce Brown, Matt Forte, Steve Smith, Jeremy Maclin, RGIII, Peyton Manning, Cam Newton, Matthew Stafford, Jonathan Dwyer and Mark Ingram.
Justin Fensterman and Trevor Ray discuss the latest fantasy fad in Doug “the MuscleHampster” Martin. They discuss his current rank compared to some other top RBs, and they will discuss their thoughts on why he might be over hyped.
Marshawn Lynch, Doug Martin, LeSean McCoy, Chris Johnson, Alfred Morris, Trent Richardson, Jamaal Charles, Matt Forte, Frank Gore and Darren Sproles
The 2012 NFL DRAFT GUIDE is here and better than ever!
I’m not going to weigh it down by adding all kinds of reports on team that you won’t read. I’m also not gonna rank players based on 19 different scoring systems. It’s time to get down and dirty folks.
So what does The Guide include and how to get you a copy of the PDF file?
* Players are ranked by position (based on PPR Scoring).
The top-40 quarterbacks and tight ends.
The top 90 running backs and wide receivers
The top-32 kickers and defenses.
I’ll also answer 10 Burning Questions for each position.
* All players also are accompanied by auction dollar values.
* In addition to the actual dollar amounts I’ve also written about how you should attack the draft and what strategies you should employ.
* I’ve also included articles describing my preferred scoring system and roster requirements.
* There is also a report on how to evaluate players. Why shouldn’t you take a quarterback with your first selection?
* You want to take a rookie this year? Make sure you give the Rookie Review a read – it might cause you some pause when it comes to drafting first year players.
* Which players over/under performed last season? I’ve got answers for all 32 teams.
Like I said, down and dirty to help get you into the full swing of fantasy football draft season.
So, how do you get it? Simple really.
The Guide costs $9.95. Come on, that’s about the same as sandwich and sods at Subway or a a three gallons of gas. It’s easily worth it to dominate the competition.
Simply click on the yellow DONATE Tab to the right of this article which will redirect you to the BaseballGuys’ PayPal page. Once there, simply submit a donation for $9.95 and I’ll be happy to email you directly the 45 page PDF file with all the above information in it.
One final note… care to try your football knowledge against The Oracle, Ray Flowers? Find out how you can do just that, while getting a chance to win $100,000 in the National Fantasy Football Championship. You will be able to take me on directly in the event. For details, click on the link.
Are you ready for some football !
I’m switching things up this Monday. With fantasy football season approaching quickly, I thought I would do two things today.
(1) I’ll present you with an opportunity to join a league at DailyJoust.com in which you can have a shot at winning part of the $1500 Free Roll — for free (it’s in the title).
(2) I’ll review the team that I drafted for the National Fantasy Football Championship because I’m always about transparency with my fantasy squads.
DAILY JOUST – $1500 FREE ROLL
I’ve been telling you all about DailyJoust all baseball season, but you know they also do basketball, hockey and football, right? Here’s an exciting option for the 2012 NFL Season.
DailyJoust is offering a $1500 Tournament in which $1500 prizes are available (top prize is $150.00, and the top-200 places receive a prize as well).
The best part about the tournament is that it is FREE to sign up.
Obviously there is no reason on earth that you shouldn’t take a few minutes out of your day to sign up for a free game in which you can win real cash. Not to mention the fun that accompanies cheering on your fantasy squad as you demolish the competition. So get over to DailyJoust and make it happen (you can easily sign up from the link that takes you to the BaseballGuys/DailyJoust partner page).
NATIONAL FANTASY FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
On Saturday I was part of a 12-team league in the NFFC 12-team Online Championship (I wrote about the league in Beat Ray Flowers, Win $100,000?). Today I’ll review the squad (you can still sign up for leagues with the NFFC so go ahead and head that way when you get a chance).
League Rules
12 teams, 20 rounds, #10 draft selection
PPR
3rd round reversal (more on that below)
KDS (more on that below)
Starting lineup: QB, RB, RB, WR, WR, WR, TE, Flex, K, DEF
6 points for all TDs
QB: Philip Rivers (7th round), Christian Ponder (16), Tim Tebow (17)
RB: Darren McFadden (1), Adrian Peterson (3), Fred Jackson (4), Roy Helu (8), LeGarrette Blount (10), Ronnie Brown (12), Mike Goodson (14)
WR: Larry Fitzgerald (2), Jeremy Maclin (5), Darrius Heyward-Bey (9), Kendall Wright (11), Danny Amendola (13), Alshon Jeffrey (15)
TE: Fred Davis (6), Heath Miller (20)
K: Matt Prater (18)
D: Atlanta Falcons (19)
Quarterback: As I say everyday on Sirius 210, XM 87 on The Drive (Mon-Fri 7-10 PM EDT), I’m not going to go nuts on the QBs early. This league was a perfect example of that. I’m a huge fan of Matt Ryan and Tony Romo, but they went in the 4th and 5th rounds. I happily waited for Rivers, the 10th QB taken. I grabbed Ponder late, like the foot/arm combo, and then took Tebow. I don’t ever draft three signal callers, but two things. (1) This league drafts 20 players, an extremely deep total forcing more aggressive drafting with so little left on the waiver-wire. (2) I’ve said this since before last season, if Tebow is starting he’s a top-10 QB option every week. I’m not sure that Mark Sanchez will hold him off for that starting spot all year, an if so I got me a great late round bargain, or at least blocked someone else from getting the chance to grab a potential starter at the end of the draft.
Running Back: If DMC and AD are healthy this will be the top duo in the league. If DMC ends up injured and AD lacks his normal boost coming back from knee surgery, my team is in trouble. Go big or go home I say. F-Jax gives me the best RB3 in the league. All this nonsense in Washington — Helu is still the most talented back there. Blount has been undervalued because of the Doug Martin hoopla. I think he carves out a bigger role than most. Ronnie Brown could get a couple of starts while the always brittle Ryan Mathews heals that shoulder. Goodson was my must add handcuff for DMC.
Wide Receiver: My weak link. Fitzgerald is amazingly consistent, and I wouldn’t be shocked if Maclin ended the year as a WR1. I like DHB but would have preferred his teammate, Denarius Moore. That’s a decent trio that I like a lot, but DHB doesn’t give me the warm and fuzzies even though he had some excellent games last year. Wright could be big as a rookie with Kenny Britt’s woes, and Amendola may not score but he catches passes (85 two years ago). Jeffrey was my go for broke late selection. He has the talent, and opportunity, to be a big player as the season progresses.
Tight End: Fred Davis, as long as he stays healthy and away from illicit substances, will be the breakout player at the tight end position this year. I would have preferred Rob Housler as my backup over Miller but Housler shares the same bye week as Davis.
K/DEF: Per usual, I just waited and grab the best available options at the end of the draft.
This league was a Third Round Reversal (3RR). What that means is that after the first two rounds the draft order flip flops.
Picks 1-12 are then followed by pick 12-1 as always in snake drafts. However, in round three the order is reversed so it ends up looking like this: 1-12, 12-1, 12-1.
Since I had the 10th pick I ended up with: pick #10, pick #15, pick #27
Since everyone knows I’m not gonna take a QB or TE that early, I felt like if I ended up with a pick at the end of the first round I would be able to grab a runner in round one, a pass catcher in round two, an another runner in round three. Guess what? I did exactly that.
How did I know I was going to end up with a late first round selection? Because the NFFC allows you to bid on which pick, #1-12, you want by use of the Kentucky Derby Style process. In this setup, each player submits their list of preferred draft slots (in my case, I went 10, 11, 12 etc.). Players names are then randomly drawn and they are assigned their highest preference on their draft list based upon which spots remain. Luckily for me I got the spot I wanted at the end of the round and my strategy played out perfectly. Now we’ll have to wait and see if my strategy was sound or not.
*** DON’T FORGET TO GET YOUR COPY OF THE 2012 NFL FANTASY FOOTBALL GUIDE.
By Ray Flowers
Have you ever wanted to test your fantasy skills against Ray Flowers? Now you can do just that and take him on head-to-head with a chance to not only beat Ray but to win over $100,000 in prizes.
Ray has agreed to participate in the NFFC Online Championship (National Fantasy Football Championship), where owners can win a $1,600 league prize and a $100,000 grand prize. He will be drafting on Saturday, August 11, 2012 at 1 pm ET and will be among the 1,000+ owners competing for the overall grand prize. BaseballGuys.com followers can join that individual league to compete against Ray and will be in competition with Ray all year long for the overall grand prize.
Also, even if you don’t get into Ray’s actual 12-team league, all BaseballGuys.com participants in the NFFC Online Championship will also be competing against Ray each week in the Overall Standings. More than 1,000 teams will be competing for league prizes and the overall grand prize of $100,000. See if your point total after Week 16 is better than Ray’s and compete against him during the final three weeks of the season (Weeks 14-16) for the overall prizes.
Sign up now for the Beat Ray Flowers NFFC Online Championship league because spots will fill fast. This is a 12-team league, 20 rounds using Third Round Reversal. Cost of entry is $350 and first place in the league pays $1,600 and second place pays $500. Top two teams from each league advance to the Championship Round and the team with the most points from Weeks 14-16 (plus their weekly scoring average from Weeks 1-13) wins the $100,000 grand prize.
It’s simple and rewarding, but the best reward could be defeating Ray head-to-head. Only 11 owners will get that chance, so sign up now and join us on August 11th at 1 pm ET for the NFFC Online Championship. Good luck all.
It’s way too early to be talking about who to take in the first round of the 2012 fantasy baseball season (OK, it’s not way too early but it’s still early). I mean, I could swear that I’m still a wee bit faded from all the booze I inhaled over the holiday weekend when the calendar flipped to 2012. However, with the regular season in the NFL in our rear-view mirror, people are going to start to migrate back over to the world of baseball. Today, I’m going to explain why I feel that fantasy baseball is a better game than fantasy football, so grab that bottle of spiced rum you got for the holidays and pull up a chair.
(1) Fantasy Football doesn’t have enough starting positions.
In standard football leagues the starting lineup consists of 10 players: QB, RB, RB, WR, WR, WR, TE, Flex, K, DEF
In standard fantasy baseball leagues there are nine starting pitchers and 23 overall starters. You can read more about the “standard” setup in SiriusXM Experts League Draft. I find the additional positions that need to be filled on a weekly basis more intriguing an enjoyable. Plus, I get the feeling of being able to personally mold my team based upon my choices versus just lock an loading for fantasy football.
(2) Fantasy Football is too formulaic.
Everyone knows you don’t have to take a defense or a kicker until your last two picks. In essence, you’re drafting four positions (QB, RB, WR, TE) for 95 percent of your draft. How tough is that? You have to draft five positions just for the infield in baseball.
Second, in fantasy football there’s really only two main ways to win. You can either build up a strong backfield or a strong group of wideouts. That’s totally different than baseball where you can build a power club, a speed team, a team focused just on pitching, a team focused just on pitching. There is more variability in fantasy baseball, largely because of the fact that there are more players drafted and a larger group of players in your starting lineup giving you more freedom to construct a winning lineup than the ‘just the facts ma’am’ approach in fantasy football.
(3) Fantasy football is only 16 unique snapshots.
A perfect example of what I’m talking about is that in the Livin’ The Fantasy Football League for SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio, I finished the regular season with an abysmal 5-8 record because I happened to play teams that scored the most points in the league against me. Despite that fact I led the entire league in fantasy points, that’s right I led the league in points, I finished three games under .500. In fantasy baseball when you lead the league in points you win the league (as it should be). A season should be about the first game to the last, not an artificially concocted series of matchups like fantasy football uses. Don’t even get me started on Head 2 Head either – I just hate it especially in fantasy baseball. Some of my thoughts on that topic can be found in Mailbag September 21, 2011.
Also, whereas fantasy football is only 16 days, fantasy baseball requires more of a commitment. If you only paid attention one day a week in fantasy baseball you would be screwed. In fantasy football you can get away with less than consistent concentration on your team.
(4) Fantasy football is a conveyor belt that takes expertise out of the mix.
In football the difference between fantasy stardom and the waiver-wire is almost always nothing more than opportunity. A perfect example is the Washington Redskins’ backfield in 2011. Tim Hightower was a top-20 RB when he was healthy at the start of the season. He got hurt. Ryan Torain came in and was a top-20 RB for one week. After the ‘Skins moved on from Torain, Roy Helu came on and was a top-20 RB. When Helu was injured late in the year Evan Royster was a top-20 RB the last two weeks of the year. The bottom line with fantasy football is that offensive systems are in place an it’s just a matter of who is in the role at the moment (some back is gonna touch the ball 15-20 times a week). Therefore, if you owned Hightower all you had to do to cover yourself was to also add Helu. It took no thought to do that, you merely “handcuffed” the starter with his backup.
In baseball, that strategy would NEVER work. If Albert Pujols is hurt you can go an add Mark Trumbo thinking that he would become the everyday first baseman for the Angels. However, Pujols is a .300 hitter with 40 homer power whereas Trumbo is a .250 hitter with 30 homer power. Just because the “backup” enters the starting lineup in baseball doesn’t mean he will be able to replace the “starter’s” production. In fact, often times the secondary player may not even be 50 percent effect as the starter. Therefore, you almost never want to simply add the “backup” in baseball – you’re usually better off looking to add someone else to fill the vacant spot. It’s like this. Football is a digital camera – you just point and shoot – whereas baseball is a Leica camera. It might take a little more work, but you have a much better chance of not only getting a better picture but also being able to manipulate the image in a way that is pleasing to you if you used the “real” camera.
Don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy fantasy football, but I’m also very happy to see the approach of the fantasy baseball season because it’s time to take my mind off cruise control and engage it in some active driving on the autobahn.
By Ray Flowers
The 2011 NFL DRAFT GUIDE is here.
I’m not going to weigh it down by adding all kinds of reports on team that you won’t read. I’m also not gonna rank players based on 19 different scoring systems. It’s time to get down and dirty folks.
So what does The Guide include and how to get you a copy?
* Players are ranked by position (based on PPR Scoring):
The top-30 quarterbacks and tight ends.
The top-100 running backs and wide receivers.
The top-32 kickers and defenses.
* All players also are accompanied by auction dollar values.
* The top-200 overall players are ranked.
* I’ve also included an article describing my preferred scoring system.
* There is also a quick report on how to evaluate players. Why shouldn’t you take a quarterback with your first selection?
* NOTE: The Guide is continually updated, so even though this post is old, the information in The Guide is up to the minute.
There it is. Like I said, down and dirty to help get you into the full swing of fantasy football draft season.
So, how do you get it? Simple really.
The Guide costs $3. Come on, that’s less than a sandwich at Subway or a gallon of gas. It’s worth it.
Simply click on the yellow DONATE Tab to the right of this article (it’s in the far right column) which will redirect you to the BaseballGuys‘ PayPal page. Once there, simply submit a donation for $3 and I’ll be happy to email you directly the eight page PDF file with all the above information in it.
Are you ready for some football !
By Ray Flowers
Yes, I made it home. If you are wondering why that is a slight shock, make sure you give my last blog posting a read where I lay out what the just completed weekend had in store for this kid (you can find that entry at Las Vegas Vacation). I don’t normally write about football here – pretty obvious when the title of my blog is BaseballGuys.com, but with less than a week to go before the NFL season counts, and with a wild weekend to recap, I’m going to push ahead with an entry about the gridiron.
Here are some of the highlights of the proceedings in Vegas as Fanball hosted the National Fantasy Football Championship.
* Some of the ADP numbers – Average Draft Position – certainly didn’t seem to play themselves out at the NFFC.
Jay Cutler was getting no love as he even fell out of the top-10 at the quarterback position at times.
Kevin Kolb who soared up to #7 at the QB spot has seen his ADP dip back to #10. He was being taken by some inside the top-10, but there may have been as many times when he was on the outside looking in at the top-10 at the position.
Maurice Jones-Drew has everyone panicked with that knee injury of his. The clear cut #3 option overall according to almost everyone worth a darn, he was falling to 4-5-6 and he even fell to #7 in one draft I witnessed. If he falls to you at #7 thank your lucky stars as you’ll likely get a tremendous value (kind of like last season when Joe Mauer was falling into the 7th to 9th round because people were worried about the back injury that was likely to sideline him for the month of April. We all know how fantabulistic that turned out for those that took a chance on the Twins’ catcher. What, you thought I would write a whole piece without mentioning baseball? You know me better than that by now don’t you?).
* Ryan Grant continues to get no love. I guess people see him and think ‘little’ upside, though in his defense, he is one of only four running backs to have rushed for at least 1,200-yards in each of the past two seasons. The others are Adrian Peterson, Thomas Jones and Chris Johnson.
* The Bellagio hosts a hell of an event. Plus, I swear on my mother’s life, I think there are only hot women with four inch heels and tight miniskirts allowed within the city limits of Las Vegas. There’s some astounding scenery in that town.
* Everyone is on the bandwagon with the 49ers defense.
* Speaking of that bandwagon, Arian Foster‘s can barely hold another soul. The guy is simply zooming up draft boards at an astounding rate for a guy who, four months ago, was barely on anyone’s radar.
* How in the world did I have to pay $13 for a White Russian? And no, I’m not talking about one of those hotties in a mini-skirt, I mean the drink. Don’t worry, I got back at them though with my $17 dollar Eiffel Tower drink from Paris. That’s my 15.6 laptop in the picture for scale, and despite what looks like a pink hue, the color was a manly white.
* People still seem to love taking quarterback’s early. I touched on why I think that isn’t necessarily the best plan of action in NFL Mailbag – The QB Conundrum.
So there it is.
I’m back at home in sunny California, I didn’t lose a kidney or get arrested, and I remember the entire trip (no blackouts). All in all, that sounds like a pretty good weekend doesn’t it?
By Ray Flowers
The FSWA winner of the Best Baseball Series of 2011, BaseballGuys.com is the only source you will need for your fantasy baseball knowledge. OK, you might need other sources, but BaseballGuys.com should be on your daily list of must reads for the insights an analysis it provides on the world of baseball.
The co-host of The Drive on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio (Sirius 210, XM 87: M-F at 5-8 PM EDT), Ray has spent years squirreled away studying the inner workings of the fantasy game to the detriment of his personal life. Specializing in baseball, football and hockey, some consider him an expert in all three. Ray's work can also be found as feature writer for: Fantasy Alarm, Rotoinfo, Rotowire and Sports Illustrated.
You can contact Ray through e-mail at fantasyfandom@yahoo(dot)com or on Twitter.
