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Seeing through the fantasy jungle

As you regular readers know, my family just moved to Knoxville, Tennessee, for my husband's new job teaching at the university here. When we came for a house hunting trip, we were in town for about 3 days and made some fast decisions, including making an offer on our great, old, character-laden, 1899-built, beautiful, OLD house. Did I mention it's old? And when we moved in, the neighbors next door told us they thought it had fallen into foreclosure since the previous owner had clearly just let the place go on the outside. The backyard is literally a jungle. Apparently kudzu and Virginia creeper have combined forces and attacked what used to be a normal yard. There's even a gazebo out there that's so covered in vines and leaves that you can barely make it out. Sometimes that's how it is with the fantasy football landscape, too - there are just so many players and so much advice that it's impossible to make out the best plan for attacking your draft. Hence my average rankings spreadsheet that tries to narrow things down a bit - and of course this website in general that tries to steer you to some of the best fantasy sites out there. So onto today's linkage:
  • Here's a little something that you'll want to breeze through now but bookmark for later in the season: CBSSports.com's Interactive Defensive Matchup Tracker. It will be updated as the season progresses, which should help when you're in a tight lineup decision spot. If this all holds true (which it's sure not to...) Bradford sure is looking at a sweet second half of the season.
  • FFToolbox.com has pulled together a chart with a look at each team's offensive line - it notes average age, experience, and a look back at 2010 stats with a nice color-coded scheme for the best and worst teams. Bears fans I'm sure you really needed this 56-sack reminder, eh?
  • If you'd like to look at a few recent drafts, take a look at one of these:
    • AthlonSports.com has another mock draft up - this time a Standard League Mock Draft.
    • Razzball.com has a Tale of Two Drafts up which amusingly notes that they drafted with some savvy folks plus a few idiots...kind of helpful for those of us in a similar boat, eh?
  • ProFootballWeekly.com has the Fantasy Buzz for you, with the news for each team divided up by division.
  • If you want more from ProFootballWeekly.com, you're in luck. Pat Fitzmaurice's preseason draft board has rankings by position up - and he did quite well with FantasyPros.com weekly accuracy contest last season.
  • Speaking of FantasyPros.com, they've asked a few experts (Chet from Razzball.com, Kevin from NFL Soup and James from FantasySharks.com) for input on Preseason Risers & Fallers.
  • Or for more rankings, head to ProFootballFocus.com's 2011 Top 150 rankings.
  • You guys know I love tiers so I'm happy to report that CBSSports.com has their Running back tiers and strategies up.
  • The Hazean delves into ADP and offers up Fantasy Football Busts, Steals based on Average Draft Position.
Finally, I don't normally link to items that aren't free, but I was intrigued by this so I thought I'd share...looks like RotoWire, MyFantasyLeague.com and LeagueSafe are bringing you a Virtual Fantasy Football Convention. It's this Thursday night and while I would like to see a lot more info about the sessions, it is most definitely an interesting idea. 

Comments

Anonymous said…
Hi!
Congratulations on the new home! I hope you create many happy memories there.
Down to business...So I am drafting #2 in 12 team PPR league... Who should I take? If we put AP, Foster,JCharles, and CJ as the top 4 picks, and I have a feeling that #1 will be taking either AP or Foster, should I immediately take the other one? Even though I am in a PPR league I would have no qualms with getting AP at #2. Charles and CJ seem to have more upside(especially with PPR), but I would rather take consistency and reliability over risky reward.

Also, whats your opinion on drafting QB's early. In the last 2 seasons I've drafted Peyton and Rodgers in either the late 1st or early 2nd rounds. I would like to wait on a QB this year and stock up on the WR's/RB's and hopefully get someone like E.Manning in the 7th or 8th rounds.
What is your general QB philosophy?
Thanks!
Hope hubby and kiddie are doing well.
~~~ Brooklyn
Thanks anon. I see potential issues with all 4 top picks to be honest, but since you're more of a consistency vs. upside person, I'd feel perfectly comfortable going with AP at the #2 spot. Both Charles and Ray Rice are pretty tempting there though, too.

My thoughts on where to draft QBs is amorphous, varies depending on what other owners in a draft are doing. Sometimes you'll find yourself in a draft where 6+ QBs are gone by late in the 2nd round. Insanity. There are a lot of great values to be had a little bit later, but Eli is about as low of a QB1 as I'd personally want to go...the good news there though is that you could couple him with a great back-up option if you're willing to grab another QB just a few rounds later. I'm targeting the guys like Romo, Ryan and Schaub myself...but that's always subject to change.

Good luck!
Anonymous said…
FREE FANTASY FOOTBALL LEAGUE
http://football.fantasysports.yahoo.com/f1/132349
dkjonsson said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
dkjonsson said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
dkjonsson said…
Sorry for the restart - hate errors..ok only gal in guy league. Last year - first year - first place for 10 weeks. Drafted Romo 3rd round, had Mendenhall and Gore. Romo goes down and so does my season - then Gore. High hopes this year. Which QB - when do I choose him? (and do I worry about a second QB or wait till season starts? Also, best 'wild card' pick - want an unpredictable but savvy pick. Thanks!

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