In this article, as stated in the title, I will be discussing my 3 of my top MFL10 targets and why I think they are good values at their ADP.
For those unfamiliar, MFL10s are a draft-only format offered by myfantasyleague.com. In these leagues, you draft a team and throughout the season your top scorers with a lineup of 1 QB/2 RB/3 WR/1 TE/1 Flex/1 Defense will be your lineup each week. The top score at the end of the season gets $100 and 2nd place gets an mfl10 entry for the following season.
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2016 Fantasy Football Draft Targets
Quarterback: Marcus Mariota
With an ADP of 141 overall, and QB15 since the beginning of May, Mariota is my favorite quarterback value in current MFL10s. Mariota seems to be the perfect best ball target in 2016. In his rookie season, he definitely had a bit of an up and down season while battling injuries. Despite only playing in 11 full games, Mariota had 8 games of 20 fantasy points or more, and two games of more than 37 fantasy points.
In the best ball format his other 3 healthy games where he only averaged 12 points per game, and the weeks he was injured do not hurt as much. This is because you have one, and in some cases two, other quarterback on your roster to score points that week. One thing keeping Mariota’s 2016 ADP lower has been the indication by Titans coaches that they will be playing “exotic smashmouth” football. This meaning that they will be running the ball at a large volume with Demarco Murray and Rookie Derrick Henry. In theory, it sounds like a solid strategy.
They're pairing two solid running backs with Mariota at quarterback, but what many aren’t accounting for is that the Titans still aren’t a very good football team. The Titans have a projected Vegas wins total of 5.5, which indicates that they will be trailing more often than not and will have to be pass heavy at times. I project a breakout from Dorial Green-Beckham with solid contributions from Delanie Walker, Kendall Wright, Rishard Matthews and Tajae Sharpe. This is all a scenario where if you like an offense's group of weapons and you aren’t exactly sure how things will shake out with targets, just draft the quarterback and get points from that team through that avenue.
Running Back: Devonta Freeman
Usually in “target” pieces like this, writers will use mid-late round players that are their favorite targets. However, Devonta Freeman is a screaming value and his ADP continues to drop. In the first three months of MFL10 drafting this offseason, Freeman was going off the board at 13 overall. Now, since the beginning of June, he is going off the board 18th overall, 5 spots may not seem the largest drop ever, but it is a significant one early in the draft.
The best ball format puts a premium on high usage running backs with clear #1 roles in their offenses. This is due to the fact that there are no waivers to pick up a “this year's Dion Lewis” during the season. Freeman finished as the RB1 in PPR fantasy football last season with 21.64 fantasy points per game, nearly 5 more than the RB2 overall in Adrian Peterson who averaged 16.89 fantasy points per game. Despite his spectacular sophomore season, he isn’t even in the conversation to be drafted as the RB1 in fantasy football this year, and now he is even falling to RB7 overall in the middle of the 2nd round.
Freeman may not be as efficient as he was in 2015, but he should still see plenty of volume and he will likely still be Matt Ryan’s #2 target in the passing game after Julio Jones. Another plus for drafting Freeman, he has a cheap handcuff in Tevin Coleman. I’m usually not a huge fan, especially in the best ball format, but Coleman is being drafted at RB43 and 123 overall and may have standalone value as a backup RB who will have the occasional long touchdown run that would result in startable week.
Wide Receiver: Travis Benjamin
If I had written this article a week ago, this would’ve been Breshad Perriman due to the fact that the #1 wide receiver in a Trestman offense being drafted in the 9th/10th round is worth salivating over. With Perriman suffering another injury with an undetermined ACL timeline, Perriman has become a fade. Another player in that range that I have been targeting is new Chargers wide receiver Travis Benjamin. Benjamin is being drafted at WR47 and 101 overall in MFL10s since the beginning of May.
Like I talked about with Freeman, players with a clear role have more value in MFL10s due to the fact that there are no in-season waivers. Benjamin has a clear role as the #2 wide receiver in the Chargers offense. The projected Vegas team total of 7 wins doesn’t mean that they will always be trailing and passing, but a below average team with lack of a proven running option means that the Chargers may continue to be pass heavy with Danny Woodhead on the field more than Melvin Gordon.
Benjamin was not a stranger to a heavy passing game in Cleveland, with his line of 68 catches for 966 receiving yards and 5 touchdowns in his breakout 2015 season. Though he isn’t the #1 passing option like he was in Cleveland, a large improvement at the quarterback position from McCown/Johnny Manziel to Philip Rivers should help make up for the decrease in targets.
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