Fantasy Football Librarian

An early happy father's day to all you dads. I for one would be a muttering, frazzled fool without the love and help of my husband - and of course where would I be without my own amazing dad? Look at how he lights up my son's face. I'm indebted to my dad for years of compassion, generosity, and goofiness that I now see reflected in my own son. What a blessing. So kudos to all you dads, grandpas, stepdads, and every kind of dad in between. Job well done. Moving on to our more standard material: fantasy football awesomeness. Let's take a look at some end of the week linkage below: If you're all about the mock results (or heck, real draft results), here are a few more to keep you entertained: WalterFootball.com runs through a recent mock with some forum readers and talks about some of the best and worst picks by round.   The Fantasy Sports Trade Association met earlier this week and one of the highlights of the conference is the annual FSTA experts draft. ...

Happy spring, my football friends. It has already hit 85 degrees several times here in east Tennessee, the Masters is over, and NFL Draft Day talk is really ramping up. Ahh, April, I do love you. I've got a handful of links for you today and hope to be back around on a more regular basis starting in the next few weeks. As the 2012 season speculation begins, Razzball.com's Who to Follow for Fantasy Football Advice on Twitter is a solid, helpful piece. You'll see some Rotoworld names but also some less mainstream dudes/chicks as well. Definitely found a few people here that I didn't know about, which is always a good thing. Speaking of Rotoworld, Unfilled Voids scopes out the top 10 positions across the league that haven't yet been addressed yet (or have the Luck/RG3 speculation) and how exactly Rotoworld sees them fulfilling these needs.  Last week Mike Clay from ProFootballFocus.com introduced a new stat: Average Depth of Target . Per Clay's article, it tru...

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 aver...

Promises of the 2011 season are becoming increasingly frequent and hopeful (or is that just desperation?) and I hope that between news of the lockout talks, anticipation of the Women's World Cup final, and the British Open, you'll be able to squeeze in some time to read the latest fantasy football links. We've got lots of articles focusing on receivers today: First up on the receiver front, GoAheadScore.com has a FF PPR Gems 2011 article listing about 15 guys, some are no-brainers, others are buried a bit deeper, including a handful of rookies to watch.  Two of my top sites take a look at potential breakout WRs: Matt Waldman's Gut Check series for Footballguys.com is extensive and chock full of interesting tidbits - as always - so you'll definitely want to scope it out when you've got several minutes to invest in a top-notch article - Profiling WR Breakout Candidates . KFFL.com also supplies a lengthy list of receiver names that you'll want to pay at...

I hope you all enjoyed the long weekend and I'm guessing many of you are deep into the early summer heat wave we've got going on here over much of the eastern half of the country. And while summer is most certainly here in the weather department, the summer fantasy football content is not. The Washington Post has an interesting summary of how the FF industry is affected by the lockout - Fantasy football: Another lockout casualty? Onto the rest of today's reads, I've got a smattering of articles that were posted over the weekend: As I'm sure I point out far too often, now is the time to enjoy articles from awesome sites like Footballguys.com whose paywall goes up later in the summer. So scope out their 2011 Staff Mock Draft , which includes extensive analysis on each of the picks through the 4th round (out of 22 rounds). Another mock to monitor comes from Rotoworld - this one is an in-progress dynasty league draft . Looking for a quick top 10 QB list? Turn to Fa...

There's a season for mock drafts, my friends, and this is it. I'm seeing a definite decrease in mock coverage, which is no doubt related to our wacky start to the year (see, I'm staying positive: there will  be a 2011 season!), but some of my favorite sites are still getting mocky: FFToolbox.com is part of a mock that's sporting a solid field of franchises - Experts Mock Draft Results . Always love mocks that include a line or two of analysis for each pick. Right now they're in the 2nd round but I know this article will be updated as they move along in the draft. Another mock destination is Fantasy Football Experts Mock Draft - again, most picks include a little analysis. You can also see Smitty's Take on FantasyFootballXtreme.com. Note that both of these mocks I'm linking to today are for PPR leagues. I'm guessing it's going to be increasingly difficult to find a non-PPR mock this year. The offseason is a prime time to get your hands dirty wit...

I was on the train on my way home from some time spent in Boston to see my sister's new home, and was pleasantly surprised to find a close friend on the train a few rows ahead of me. What a small world. I love random happenstance like that...and there's always a taste of this sort of happy circumstance with fantasy drafts. You can go into drafts as prepared as can be, but there's likely to be some moment where one of your favorite sleepers has landed in your lap at exactly the right value point. And on the flip side, you should be prepared for your fantasy nemesis to snag all your picks right before you...repeatedly. So I highly recommend you mock, mock, mock as your draft day approaches to see upside in players you might not have originally considered. A few mock sites to check out include: Fantasy Football Calculator , Mock Draft Central , or Yahoo . Any other favorites out there? Some other sites to check out today: I say this every season, I think, but some of my fav...

Tomorrow morning I hop on the train and head down to my hometown just outside of DC for a long weekend with the family. It should be full of festivities - a friend from high school is getting married and a baby shower is being thrown for me. Good times and likely the last time I'll travel for awhile. So good thing I'm doing it right by bringing a UHaul full of baby stuff back up next week. And by "doing it right" I'm hopefully implying a great deal of sarcasm since a UHaul is hardly a fun way to travel when unknocked up, much less 7 weeks away from giving birth to a tiny person. But hey, that truck will be full of generous gifts and family hand-me-downs so honestly, no complaints. Should be an entertaining experience. But it also means I'll probably be a bit quiet for the next several days while I'm on the road...so enjoy today's links! Some player news to update you on - Jonathan Stewart is placed on the active PUP list. The Fifth Down ...

Welcome to Friday afternoon. What's better than knowing that the start of the weekend is just a few hours away? How about knowing that we're now just a smidgen closer to training camp kickoff? July is absolutely flying by so let's get right to today's fantasy football links: First up let's get to some rankings (just updated earlier this week) from FantasyPros911 - they've got you covered with both standard rankings and PPR rankings .  I'm drawn to basically any article related to the Broncos, so of course I was particularly interested in reading NFL.com's RB Moreno has a ton of breakout potential . A quick read with plenty of reasons (such as a breezy RB schedule) for even non-Bronco fans to be psyched about Moreno. If you're in the market for a draft kit, take a look at Ultimate Fantasy Football Strategy's draft kit (home of the awesome offensive line rankings). I haven't had a chance to scope it out yet but one thing I really like is t...

Wow, the summer is absolutely flying by and somehow I've found myself immersed in things like day care center tours, consults with pediatricians, and debates on just how uncomfortable it will be to drive a UHaul of baby-related furniture from DC to NYC when 8 months pregnant. If you haven't been reading along during the offseason or haven't caught on yet, we're expecting a baby in two months and I feel like I'm barely scratching the surface of how my life is about to change. I'm hoping to keep things fairly steady and business-as-usual here on the blog, but between our upcoming move this weekend and all other baby matters going on right now, I might not be on my normal posting schedule. But I'll do my best! So before I bore you all with musings on the safety or lack thereof of using my dad's old bassinet that has been chillin' in the family attic for 31 years since I outgrew it, or what waiting 40 minutes to merely meet the man who might...

I have no clue how the long weekend passed by so quickly but somehow it's Tuesday and all of my best intentions for posting over the weekend disappeared in a puff of post-fireworks smoke. On July 4th we caught some of the NYC fireworks that were visible from the Brooklyn Heights promenade (had to peek between buildings and such) and spent the rest of the weekend packing for our impending move, and staying cool with these crazy temps. The good news here is that I have a ton of links for you today: Ultimate Fantasy Football Strategy is rocking my world these days - not only is their complete Offensive Line Rankings and Analysis up and posted, but they've also taken a look at 2010 Breakout Running Backs . They divide the potential breakouts by years played in the NFL and have a pretty good system for determining which players have the most breakoutability.  Those in dynasty leagues might want to swing by Football Jabber for his Updated Fantasy Football Dynasty Rankings - from ...

Happy insufferably hot Thursday. If you've managed to find a place that is not part of the oppressive heat covering much of the country, then kudos; wish I could magically transport myself to the Arctic right now. But perhaps thinking about fantasy football is just what we all need...so onto today's links! Check out The Hazean's musings on what would happen if Vincent Jackson leaves San Diego . A couple of mocks for you: First, FFXtreme was part of a recent Rotoworld Experts Mock Draft and he's posted the mock results . I'll be honest, I heart Finley, too, but note that Smitty's drafting of him as the first TE overall is really more of a statement selection, not likely to be the spot that he'll be drafted in the vast majority of leagues. If you've been waiting for a mock draft for auction leagues, well then you're in luck - Fantasyfanplay.com has just what you're looking for in Making a Mockery 3.0: A Bidding War . Razzball has taken their r...

Tomorrow afternoon my husband and I are hopping on a plane for a long weekend spent with family. I'll be in eastern Ohio in a rather remote and unfriendly cell phone spot, which might actually be really good for relaxing. But not so good for FFLibrarian blogging. I'll be back on Monday with the usual links. And in the meantime, keep the feedback on your favorite host site for fantasy football coming my way , as well as any suggestions you have for making this blog more helpful for you this year. Let's scope out today's links: I've got another mock draft for you but before we get to it, take a look at Rapid Draft's look at how/why one can use mock drafting to hone their drafting craft - Mock-draft season has its value . And onto the mock, this one from FFToolbox who does an expert mock each month of the summer. I dig the sentence or two of commentary on each pick. Makes this mock particularly helpful in my book.  If you're thinking mocks and wondering w...

It's possible that I just walked into a scene from that show The Apprentice ; is that show even on anymore? I was running an errand in midtown NYC and encountered a significant mob surrounding a dude with free pizza selling pedicab rides being filmed by a rather extensive tv crew. I've never actually seen the show but the buzz on the street corner was that this was The Apprentice or something akin to it. Look for a pregnant lady with an annoyed-by-the-tourist-mob expression when it airs: that's me. So NY of me, right? So I disappeared for a week and thought in return I'd hit you with back-to-back posts as a taste of what's to come once the season really gets cranking. Without further ado, today's links: If you'd like someone to debate all the pros and cons of the elite WRs on the scene, then head on over to FantasySharks.com and see which guys they cover in Top 6 WR Pros & Cons .  Wondering which guys are going to bounce back from tough ...

While most of my sports world news today is filled with talk about the need for replay challenges in baseball, there is of course other news...on the fantasy front, The Big Lead has found a buyer in Fantasy Sports Ventures for 7 figures. Yes, 7 figures. Gives hope to all those one-(wo)man shows and small sites that one day they might at least be worth a little more than they imagined...but do note Jason McIntyre's quote here about the sacrifices he made. In other acquisition news, MyFantasyLeague.com (the host of the monster FFLibrarian League) has acquired HomeGrownSports.com . But let's be honest, you're probably not here for the latest fantasy biz news (though if that's your bag, swing by FantasySportsBusiness.com or FantasyEthos for more), you're really here for analysis, rankings, insight. So let's get to it! We've got a couple of resources looking at sleeper or late pick receivers: FFToolbox.com's Super Sleeper Receivers - you...

I've been a bit quiet here on the blog (as well as the blog I'm working on for the FSTA Summer Conference ) for the past several days - I've had a friend from college in town and had a weekend of hostessing duties, including trips to the Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island, the Top of the Rock, and of course the main branch of the NY Public Library. Good stuff and as always, it was wonderful to be with an old friend. So thanks for bearing with my silence here - the good news is that for the first time in a very long time I have next to nothing on my agenda...until I leave for the FSTA conference in Chicago on June 8th...so that means plenty of time for blogging! Yahoo's mock PPR draft on Roto Arcade rolls on -we've got Rounds 3 , 4 , and 5-7 . FantasyFootballXtreme.com presents their consensus dynasty rankings both here and via their radio show on 5/22 - pick your FFX rankings poison from this link . I feel I owe it to Matt Forte to offer up some positive thoughts on ...

My friends, mock draft season has arrived. Several of my favorite fantasy football sites are rolling out their first real mock drafts of the season and I'm loving it. Guessing you will, too, or why the heck else would you be perusing a fantasy football blog in May?? Very quickly before we jump into today's links I just wanted to let you all know that I have a FSTA Summer Conference Blog . I'll probably update it a few times a week before the conference gets here (June 9-10), but you all might be most interested in my coverage of the expert fantasy football draft at the conference - as well as some of the sessions that pertain to trends in fantasy football. I'll get a reminder up here when it's conference time of course, but just something to keep on your radar. Okay now back to mock drafts and other fun FF links: When Yahoo's Roto Arcade blog starts talking football again, I know the season is getting close. Exciting times. They're unveiling ...

Well my morning is already off to a great start after this amusing article from Yahoo's Shutdown Corner noting that the Browns just signed a guy they found off a YouTube video . Oh yeeeeah. And? He has a handlebar mustache. That seems like an amazing feat in and of itself. My husband had a handlebar mustache for roughly 6 hours once a few years ago (he was shaving down a beard and delightfully stopped at the handlebar stage) before I believe I begged him to finish the job and just remove the damn thing. If you'd like a glimpse at this o-lineman's video montage (including a shot of the 'stache), then I recommend scoping out the link above. And yes, the fact that I'm including that link should be a sign that it's a rather slow day in fantasy football world. I have a few more articles for you but savor them each slowly... While Fantasyfootball.com has 5 Players to Avoid Like the Plague for the 2010 season, Hatty Waiver Wire Guru has Rookies to Target in 2010 .....

Well it has been a great (albeit chilly) weekend here in Brooklyn - lots of time relaxing, the highlight being a brunch date with friends including our buddy Bart, a NY Post journalist who broke the Santonio Holmes news last weekend. Gotta love having friends in the biz. And this weekend's relaxation was particularly nice since I'll either be traveling or have visitors in town for 7 of the next 9 weekends...starting with a library conference in Boston during next weekend's NFL Draft. I know, I know, what am I doing focusing on anything other than football next weekend?! I'll be watching the Thursday prime time activity but will likely have to catch up on everything else via the ol' iPhone. Since this is how most sane people take in the draft (or do they just wait until the week after for a brief update?), I think it will be a refreshing approach to the weekend...yes, I'm desperately seeking the silver lining here. To take my mind off the fact that I'll be...

This morning as I emerged from the subway (and cursed beautiful Central Park for driving my allergies absolutely bananas) my phone absolutely blew up over the big Brandon Marshall news : my husband texted me the details and I had 3 e-mails waiting for me with the juicy news that my Broncos have (unofficially) traded away Marshall to the Dolphins for a second round pick this year and likely a second rounder in 2011 as well. As a Broncos fan I have mixed feelings on all of the wheeling and dealing since McDaniels arrived, but in the end I think what it comes down to is that we had incredible talent in guys like BMarsh and Cutler, but we certainly weren't going very far with it. So kudos to the boy genius (or so I hope) for grabbing some great picks and here's hoping we up the ante in Denver. In case you're looking for some of the fantasy fallout from all of this, have no fear, that analysis will soon be up all over the place. Read on for Marshall thoughts and m...