Happy 4th!

Greetings on the 4th of July. Always a fun time of year. This is "get ready to move to NYC" time of the year for us right now and yesterday that meant a trip to the vet to get our cats microchipped. All 17 of them. Kidding, kidding, we only have 2 cats (but admit it, for a second you believed I might be that crazy library lady with 17 cats didn't you?). According to the vet, our cats were some of the most mellow, well-behaved cats she'd ever microchipped before (yes, that pleases me) but I was the not-so-mellow one. This is a precursor to our car trip east when I'll be spending the whole time wondering just how traumatized our pets are. Should be fun, right? My husband is a saint.

Anyway, I hope you all have fun plans in the works for the 4th. Here are a few links to add some football to your holiday.

• FantasySharks have a whole bunch of good material right now - first, if you're interested in which old guy to try and capitalize on this season, read Meet the Warners of 2009 - Holt, Ward and Driver.
• More Sharks action: Sleeper Wide Receiver for 2009. I agree on most fronts here but I do think Steve Smith will be the Giants WR to own, not Domenik Hixon...time will tell!
• I'm digging the simplicity and helpfulness of Pigskin Addiction's 2009 Bye Week Grid. I appreciate the detail beyond just team names so that you can see which major fantasy players are included. Takes some of the extra thinking out of an already intense draft day, no?
  
• Finally, there are a lot of draft kits coming out these days...read on for some of the best:

1. Football Outsiders Almanac - they're doing something a little different this year. Typically they've printed the Pro Football Prospectus every preseason but this year they've got the almanac and it's available in different formats and price points. For a four-page preview of their RB analysis, take a look here.
2. Mac. Bros Fantasy Football Draft Guide - coming out on July 19 - is freely available and includes rankings and individual player analysis.
   
3. RotoExperts' Fantasy Football Draft Kit - not out yet, I don't think, but it's free for registered users and you can scope out what they offered in 2008 to see if it's up your alley.
   

Enjoy the weekend!

And the League is Getting Larger!

You guys are impressive - in the 24 hours since I posted the info about this season's FFLibrarian league I've signed up 45 of you. Amazing - thank you for the interest! Right now I have the league set at 48 but we can get much bigger. For those of you who are wondering how this will work, it will be divided into multiple conferences which will each have their own draft and weekly head-to-head competitions. Should be great fun so if you're interested and haven't signed up yet, e-mail me and I'll send an invitation your way.

• Those who have been reading this blog for awhile know that I get a great kick out of Matthe Berry's sense of humor...so I'm quite pleased to see his Love/Hate: 2009 edition column up - and check out the love for Michael Turner!
• For you die hard Browns fans Fifth Down has the following offering: 2009 Forecast: Browns should be much better.
• I just submitted my 4th round pick in a PPR league - see the results so far here. At this point I've got a squad of Michael Turner, Steve Smith, Wes Welker and Ryan Grant. Thoughts?
• Hatty Waiver Wire Guru has hit on one of my favorite football topics: offensive line analysis. Check out his ranking of the top 15 o-lines and which players might be impacted.
• A heads up for those of you in auction-style leagues that FFToolbox continuously updates their FF average auction values table.
• FantasySharks.com offers up their list of Keeper League Wide Receivers - a helpful ranking if you got one of the non-sure keeper guys.
  

The FFLibrarian League is on!

Oh yeah, you read that post title correctly: the FFLibrarian League has arrived. I have already sent out an invitation with the league details to a handful of people that e-mailed me about joining in on the league fun, but there's still plenty of room. So if you are interested, e-mail me and I'll send you an invitation. I set it up for a live draft but am wondering if you guys have thoughts on this - would you all prefer a live draft (at the end of August) or an e-mail draft (could take a few weeks so we would need to start in early August)? Whatever the majority prefers will be our draft method.

In the meantime, my mock draft slowly rolls on and I really appreciate all the comments I've heard from you guys so far on the mock. I've got some great options lined up for my next pick - which way do you think I'll go: RB or WR?

• Nearly an identical group of experts mock drafted in May - take a look at those results here if you're really interested in this mock draft thing.
• More offensive line analysis is being cranked out by Ultimate Fantasy Football Strategy - take a look at the Pats, Jets and Bears.
• FFToolbox has mobile cheatsheets for those who are making draft decisions on the go. I scoped it out on my iPhone and am digging it - looks good, easy to read, and as somebody who has had to make draft decisions far from my home laptop, I think this is a great idea.
• FFToolbox also has an interesting Who Not to Keep list - while I do agree that a lot of these guys will underperform compared to previous years or teams, I would certainly keep a good chunk of them on my dynasty team.
• I heart DeAngelo Williams - I think he's awesome, but CBS Sports reminds me to temper my expectations for him in 2009. Sigh, I'll do what I can but I think the guy is going to have another great season.
• Sports Grumblings' Fire Sale: The King is Back includes a non-lovefest for Michael Jackson before getting into the meat of the article - players whose value is going up or down in 09. There's some unique analysis here, names you don't see quite as much mentioned, which I really appreciate.
• Which 5 WRs will have 100+ receptions this season? Read SportingNews.com's Five WRs who could be in 100 club in 09.
  

Mocking my way through the day

This morning marks the start of a fantasy football industry mock draft that I'm involved in - I just grabbed Michael Turner with the 4th overall pick but feel free to follow along with the mock draft on FFToolbox's site, Experts Mock Draft Results. I'll be interested to hear your commentary on my team once it's complete (could take a little while) and what you think some of the best and worst draft picks are.

The mock draft is being run by MyFantasyLeague.com which is also the same great site that is going to host a FFLibrarian league this fall. There will be room for up to 96 teams, divided into multiple conferences. If you're not up for adding another league to your FF dossier, no problem - I'll be doing weekly contests, too, with 365FantasySports.com. More on both contests to come...

• The Hazean has a few thoughts on QBs that might be flying under the radar this year - I'm kind of digging the QB options this year. Lots of guys who have potential but have risks, too. I think it'll be easier to get a good QB at a decent value this season.
  
• ProFootballWeekly takes a look at how Joey Galloway is progressing up in New England and other news tidbits in AFC Whispers.
  
• More Wisdom of the Crowds The 2009 RBs, Part II from Football Outsiders - I've linked to this series they're doing a few times but if you haven't seen it yet, they're basically polling FF experts for projections and culling together an average for some key FF players.
• I don't normally just link to a whole entire site, usually I prefer to give you a little direction on which article or feature to check out...but in this case, I say take a look at all that Kilroyz Krystal Ball has to offer with the IDP Team Previews, IDP Sleepers, and general IDP Updates. I've been saying for awhile that the FF world desperately needs more IDP resources so I'm really pleased to find a new (to me!) IDP site.
• ProFootball101 has some AFC fantasy QB rankings by division: AFC East QBs, AFC North QBs, AFC South QBs, and AFC West QBs. Hmm, this feels like a very AFC-friendly post. Sorry NFCers.
  
• Check out Fifth Down's update on overtime in the NFL and how some fans are getting creative in A Better Way to Decide Overtime in the NFL.
  

Monday mashup

I was at the gym yesterday watching the first half of the U.S. vs Brazil final with a cohort of big soccer fans. Strangers until yesterday we all rejoiced with the U.S.'s first half goals as if we were lifelong buds. I love how sports brings people together, bridging across the treadmills and ellipticals. Must say I am kind of glad I ducked out of there at halftime or else I'd have observed my new best friends' dismay at Brazil's second half dominance.

Moving on to the other football:

• Hatty Waiver Wire Guru has some thoughts up on the Top Underrated by Position. Scope it out as the top piece for now in the articles section (sorry, no direct link to the article available).
• I love a good article on a totally random position that does actually have fantasy value in one way or another...enter FFToolbox's Top 10 Punters. Niiiice.
  
• I'm seeing some trends in wisdom of the crowds stuff again this season - I think a lot of us are aware of ADP (average draft position) that sites like myfantasyleague.com pull together from their many, many drafts during the preseason, but there are also sites like The Most Credible and a new one to me now - Fantasy Fanatics - that rely on the general public to inform their rankings; or as Fantasy Fanatics puts it, "crowd-sourced fantasy rankings" to whet your rankings appetite. So if you want your opinion to be heard, sign in to one of those social networking-esque rankings sites and voice your thoughts.
• Peter King is off on his summer vacay so who has MMQB covered this week you ask? Trent Green. Oh yeah, you heard me correctly. Enjoy.
• In the Rotoworld draft mag (in bookstores now, go snag yours!), in the Bold Predictions section I suggested that Braylon Edwards is the most likely player to be traded. A FanHouse interview with Edwards has me rethinking that...plus I just like learning about the major community contributions that Edwards has made both to Cleveland and Detroit - warms my heart to hear such things.
• You can count on Ultimate Fantasy Football Strategy to well, bring out some strategy talk, as one might expect from the site's name. So delve into their Strategies for Drafting Depth and see what they suggest for the first 9 rounds of an average 12-team league.
• Personally I'm pleased to see NFLGridIronGab's report that the Bears Don't Have Enough to Land Unhappy Broncos WR Marshall; I mean seriously, taking both Cutler and Marshall? Not cool.
  

End of an 80s Era

I should be wearing a white glove today in honor of the King of Pop. I fall in the category of Michael Jackson fans who just love the guy's music despite how increasingly bizarre he got with time. There's nothing like a little Billie Jean, Bad, Man in the Mirror or Thriller (this list could go on for some time...) to make every day a little better; seriously, if a coworker was having a rough day I would lead them to a little Thriller on youtube and I swear it was a magical short-term cure for the work blues.

Another cure for the work blues? Fantasy football links. And I won't let you down today my friends - it's Friday, no one really wants to be at work on a summertime Friday, so let me help you escape for a few moments...

• A couple of solid articles from FFXtreme - if you're wondering whether or not you should consider drafting Ronnie Brown, take a look at their Ronnie Brown a Must-Own in 2009? Do you agree that Brown will finish as a top 8 back this season? And don't forget about FFXtreme's Player Spotlights section, which has in-depth analysis of both key and up and coming fantasy players.
• I'm amused by the Johnson and White talk coming out of Tennessee - catch up on Chris Johnson's plans to become "every coach's dream" on NFL.com and see why the NFL.com analysts aren't too high on Johnson this year. Gotta say I really like Johnson so I'm happy to swoop in and grab him if others are feeling a bit hesitant.
• Those of you who are Cedric Benson fans (no really, I do think a few of you might exist!), you'll be pleased to see the Fifth Down sees good things in Benson's 2009 season. Read on in Lining Up a win-Win for the Bengals and Benson.
• Could this finally be Jerious' Year? from Rotoworld takes a look at the Atlanta backfield. I'm not buying into the 370 Curse for Michael Turner this season, but I am a fan of Norwood so I feel a bit conflicted here. As a side note here, the Rotoworld Fantasy Football Draft Guide is now available.
• Fantasyhulks.com provides a nice list of players that are going into a contract year and might have a little something extra to prove this coming season. It's hardly a ticket to fantasy success to have a contract player on your roster, but it certainly is something to be aware of as you prep for your draft.

Enjoy the weekend!

Living like the Cosby family

First and foremost, happy birthday to my brother-in-law today! I was contemplating getting him a Fantasy Football Librarian t-shirt for his birthday but that seemed a bit self-serving to give him a shirt that would just advertise my blog...sorry, Brian. If you really want one (or a mug - I mean who doesn't need a frosted beer mug emblazoned with the FFLibrarian URL?), let me know and I'll make that birthday wish a reality.

I'm back in Colorado after a whirlwind tour of New York City and am very excited to say I now have a home to call my own in NYC come August 1st. Well in Brooklyn Heights to be specific. And frankly the apartment is awesome. I didn't think that was going to be possible; perhaps that's the beauty of Brooklyn?

Now to the beauty of fantasy football:

• FantasySharks.com have a nice rookie RB overview in Rookie Running Backs of 09: Who's #1, Sleepers, Dynasty Ranks, Rookie of the Year. This Denver fan is hoping the hype on Moreno is accurate...speaking of which, NYCers, where is the best Broncos bar?? This is very important information! I might need to dedicate myself to a Broncos bar search this fall...
  
• If you haven't noticed, Ultimate Fantasy Football Strategy is slowly releasing their 2009 offensive line rankings as they do an analysis for each team. Here's a link to their 2009 rankings - so far! And in case you're wondering how they did with their 2008 o-line rankings, take a look here.
• Can't help but include this one - FFToolbox's Preseason College Football Rankings...where are my Northwestern Wildcats in this top 10 list?? Ha. But really those of you who play fantasy college football might want to start reading up on top teams for the season. If you all are interested in more fantasy college material, let me know in the comments or e-mail me and I'll be sure to keep them coming.
  
• Also from FFToolbox, a list of IDP Sleepers for the 2009 season.
• If it's sleepers you dig, then you'll find yourself quite happy with KFFL's Staff predictions: Top five fantasy football sleepers. Each staff member has taken a shot at their top sleepers of the season. I'm seeing lots of Julius Jones, Laurence Maroney and Donnie Avery...check it out for more detail.
  
• Rotoworld provides an overview (one of the first I've seen this preseason!) of the top 10 team defenses and special teams: look no further than the NFC East for your defense this year.
  

And finally, congrats to the US on a big win over Spain - kudos on a job well done!

Big Apple, Big Links

My feet feel like they might fall off; I've now pounded the pavement out there for the past 3 days or so, drinking in all that NYC has to offer (not literally, though I am excited to seek out some tasty New York brews - any suggestions?) and searching for the best apartment out there. I don't want to get my hopes up but I think we might have found a gem. In fact, it feels like merely typing that sentence might jinx our chances so I'll leave it at that...onto football links.

• Want to catch training camp with your favorite team this summer? Scope out FantasyPros911 for the training camp schedule of most NFL teams.
• Check out FantasyFootballStarters' Advice on Kurt Warner: Handcuff Matt Leinart to him for rare QB handcuff advice. Only advised if you really have room to carry 3 QBs on your roster.
• Rotoworld is going through a series of minicamp reviews and this week's focus is on the AFC West (catch up on others: AFC East and AFC South).
• FFToolbox has a nice RBBC (running back by committee) Update on the roughly ten teams that will be utilizing a committee approach in their backfield this season. Get reacquainted with each RBBC scenario before you draft.
• More from FFToolbox on Top 10 Returners - if your fantasy football league gives you points for return yardage or TDs, this is worth a read.
• The Football Outsiders continue their Wisdom of the Crowds series with average expert predictions for RBs; interesting stuff. Average projections as well as min and max projections are posted.

NY Greetings

I'm gearing up for a full day of apartment hunting in NYC, so this will be a quick post with just a couple of links - hopefully I'll be able to do the same tomorrow (when the apartment searching continues...)!

• The CBS Sports guys do a good job of presenting both sides of some big fantasy questions in Faceoffs: The best place for Plax is...? Also addressed here: Brandon Marshall, Brett Favre, and Randy Moss vs Calvin Johnson.
• Bruno Boys' 2009 Fantasy Tight Ends - Best of the Rest. If you're not one to spring for Witten or Gates come draft day, then take a look at some of the other guys that might bring you fantasy success this year on the TE front.
• Some high-risk/high-reward receivers for the year are noted in Rotoworld's Ten Boom-or-Bust wide receivers.
• Looking for some recent mock draft results? The FFXtreme staff just posted the results of their latest non-PPR 6-round mock - interesting stuff.
• If you play in a PPR league, I recommend taking a look at KFFL's Point-per-reception perception article about the paradigm shift in the value of drafting receivers.

All for now - wish me luck in the future home search!

Keeper advice and more o-line rankings!

Tomorrow we head east for a good friend's wedding in NJ and then we'll try to get a kickstart on our new life in New York City by finding an apartment. Wish me luck; should be a kind of intense next week or so though I promise to do my best at getting posts up. BUT if I'm rather quiet I highly recommend you check out some of the sites you see on the right under Football Links - quality stuff over there like KFFL, Bruno Boys, Rotoworld and FFToday.

To today's links...

• Another great site, FFToolbox (I should add that to my links section now that I think about it...) has their annual offensive line ranking up - hooray!
• FantasySharks.com's The Receiver Riddle of 2009 goes over the "draft 2 WRs in the first 2 rounds" technique but also supplies a few WRs outside of the top 15 that might be worth your time.
• I'm glad to see Rotoworld doesn't think losing BMarsh would be a total disaster for the Broncos - I guess it's just hard for me to imagine our offense will have much success if both Cutler and Marshall are gone, and my boy Scheffler doesn't really fit into the scheme. I'll try to be a bit more optimistic...
• NFL.com tackles some big questions: Will Romo be an elite QB? Will Tomlinson be an elite RB (no love for Frank Gore in this article; ouch)?
• No-Offseason.com bring us their Buy, Hold, Sell advice for the week with thoughts on Robert Meachem and Mark Clayton - dynasty owners take note.
• More dynasty-related info, take a look at FFToolbox's IDP Keepers if you're wondering which individual defensive players you should hang on to this year; this top 50 ranking should steer you in the right direction. Also on the IDP front, I've found that Evan Silva from Rotoworld has some dangerously good IDP instincts so I would also recommend you keep an eye on his intel, which I'm sure to link to this summer.

All for now - I probably won't get a chance to post tomorrow since I'll be traveling so enjoy the weekend!