Stop That Hype Train! - Joe Mixon

Joe Mixon was known just as much for his off-the-field problems as he was for his on-the-field awesomeness when he came out of college and made himself available for the NFL draft in April. Mixon’s brilliant but brief two-year college career at Oklahoma was overshadowed by a video of him punching a woman in the […]

Half-PPR Rankings Analysis – Tight Ends

You know the fantasy football season is right around the corner when the first starting quarterback tears an ACL and the first top tailback gets suspended for off-the-field fiascos. Tight ends are not as valuable as quarterbacks, running backs and receivers in fantasy football, but the points they provide, especially in half-PPR leagues, can propel […]

Jacquizz Rodgers (RB, TB) - 2017 Fantasy Football Sleeper

Who would have thought that Jacquizz Rodgers could go from scatback to sleeper in less than a year's time? All fantasy football eyes have been on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during the preseason to see how the Bucs are going to use the tight end tandem of Cameron Brate and O.J. Howard and how newly-acquired […]

Target Decline Candidates - Tight Ends

The NFL might be a pass-first league these days, but that does not mean all tight ends will be seeing the same amount of targets as they did last season. Tight ends are being utilized by offensive coordinators more than ever in the NFL, yet some of them will be have fewer passes thrown in […]

Deshaun Watson (QB, HOU) - 2017 Fantasy Football Sleeper

Chicago’s Mitchell Trubisky and Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes may have been drafted higher in the first round this past April, but Houston’s Deshaun Watson might become the biggest fantasy sleeper and the most productive quarterback out of the rookie trio by the time the 2017 season concludes. The last time most football fans saw Watson […]

Jared Goff (QB, LAR) - 2017 Fantasy Football Sleeper

Jared Goff had about as much fantasy value last season as Tim Tebow had. Maybe less. Goff did not quiet any doubters who thought the Los Angeles Rams were crazy to take him with the first overall pick of the 2016 NFL draft. He did not strap on a helmet until the second half of […]

Carson Wentz (QB, PHI) - 2017 Fantasy Football Sleeper

Carson Wentz has “fantasy sleeper” written all over him. Saying Dallas’ Dak Prescott was the best rookie quarterback in the NFL last season is akin to saying Justin Timberlake was the most talented member of N' Sync. While other rookie QBs like Jared Goff, Paxton Lynch and Christian Hackenberg had no fantasy value or actually had […]

Bull Rush (Part 2) - Players Whose Market Share of Targets is Bound to Increase

Fantasy football math:  more targets equals more receptions, yards and touchdowns for the receivers, tight ends and running backs being thrown to more often. You did not need to be in the Calculus Club in high school to understand this. Pass catchers can only catch passes if plays are drawn up for them by their […]

10 Fantasy Football Predictions That Will Make Your Head Explode!

Fantasy football can be very unpredictable. In that way, it is a great metaphor for life. I found out this past week that a short story collection I wrote 13 years ago was politely mocked on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon this past May. Jovial Jimmy mentioned my book, Ten Tales To Make Your […]

Rookie Roulette - Which First-Year QB Should Go #1 in Dynasty Drafts?

Football fans know which quarterback was taken first in this year’s NFL Draft, but now fantasy football owners want to know which QB should go first in dynasty drafts. The 2017 rookie quarterback crop is not loaded with any sure starters for this season, but there are plenty of potential passers for future seasons. Many […]

Dak Prescott vs. the 2017 Rookie Quarterback Class

Ezekiel Elliott wasn’t the only Dallas Cowboy who dominated during his rookie season. Dak Prescott stunned the fantasy football world last year by throwing 23 touchdown passes while only getting intercepted four times and effectively supplanting Tony Romo at QB. Only New England’s Tom Brady had a better touchdown-to-interception ratio. Aaron Rodgers came close. So […]

Three Questions About the 2017 NFL Season You Wish You Knew Answers to Today

It would be a lot easier to win a fantasy football league if you owned a crystal ball. Crystal balls are hard to come by these days, at least ones that are 100 percent accurate. Fantasy football owners would love to get their greedy hands on a working one. It would make life much simpler […]

Dynasty Stock Watch for 2017 – QB (Part 2)

A quarterback’s fantasy value can change as much during the offseason as it can during the regular season. The offseason has been kinder to some signal callers than others. While many quarterbacks have had their receiving corps and/or coaching staffs upgraded, others have watched their favorite targets depart via free agency or seen their organizations […]

Dynasty Stock Watch for 2017 – RB (Part 2)

The NFL might be a pass-first league, but fantasy football is still ruled by those who have the best running backs. Now that there are more teams that employ the dreaded running-back-by-committee approach, getting your hands on a workhorse in a fantasy league is harder than finding a person who thinks Kathy Griffin is funny. […]

Dynasty Stock Watch for 2017 – TE

Fantasy football owners do not build their teams around tight ends, but as the NFL becomes more and more of a passing league, tight ends have become increasingly important. The offseason can wreak havoc with a player’s fantasy value, especially in dynasty leagues. Listed below are two tight ends to buy and two tight ends to […]

Ezekiel Elliott vs. 2017 Running Back Rookie Class

Dallas Cowboys wunderkind Ezekiel Elliott took the NFL and the fantasy football world by storm during his rookie campaign. The question is if Elliott will be outdone during his sophomore season by one of the new rookie running backs joining the league this year. Elliott was the fantasy phenomenon many experts believed he would be […]

Hunter Henry vs. 2017 Rookie Tight End Class

Los Angeles Chargers tight end Hunter Henry was easily the best rookie tight end in the NFL and in fantasy football last year, but will he be better than all of the league’s new rookies this year? This year's crop of tight ends features some of the best high-end talent the draft has seen for […]

Rookie Tight Ends in the Best Fantasy Situations

2016 was a bad year for tight ends, and even worse for rookie tight ends. Thanks to a lackluster crop that had no tight ends worthy of a first-round pick, nobody at the position had 500 receiving yards on the season, and only San Diego’s Hunter Henry posted anything fantasy-wise as he hauled in eight […]

Two Things Fantasy Football Players Assume Will Happen (But Won’t)

You need more than a crystal ball or an intelligent football brain to accurately predict what will happen in the NFL every year. Heading into the 2016 campaign, fantasy football owners probably thought Dallas’ Dak Prescott had no chance of being the best rookie quarterback in the NFL, that Matt Jones would easily emerge as […]

Fantasy Spin - Tony Romo to the Broadcast Booth

Just when you think you have the NFL and fantasy football figured out, something happens that makes you realize that you can never truly know everything. Tony Romo could have continued to play football and get paid handsomely as a starting NFL quarterback. There was no shortage of teams in need of his services. With […]

Fantasy Spin - Brock Osweiler to the Browns

Brock Osweiler did not help one single fantasy owner win a championship this past season. For an encore, he might even have less fantasy value next season. In today’s pass-happy NFL, even though he played in 15 games last year for the Houston Texans, Osweiler did not pass for 300 yards in any game, nor […]

Fantasy Spin - Pierre Garcon to 49ers

The San Francisco 49ers upgraded their pitiful receiving corps this offseason, but they did not exactly land the next Jerry Rice. Pierre Garcon signed a five-year, $47.5 million deal with the San Francisco 49ers last month, a contract that had many like myself wondering if this was going to be a colossal fiasco like the […]

Fantasy Spin - Eddie Lacy to the Seahawks

The Seattle Seahawks may not have Marshawn Lynch any more, but they will have someone in their backfield who runs almost as hard in 2017. Eddie Lacy signed a one-year contract with Seattle last week. My Green Bay Packers-loving cheesehead wife is mourning the loss of Lacy, and she is probably not alone. Fantasy owners […]

2017 Rankings Analysis - Tight Ends in PPR Leagues

Just because the 2016 season was a downer for tight ends it does not mean that 2017 is destined to be a repeat. There are several wild cards at tight end because there is a bumper crop of young up-and-comers just entering their primes who showed flashes of great promise this past season. This coupled […]

Fantasy Spin - Terrelle Pryor to the Redskins

Terrelle Pryor was a breakout fantasy star in 2016, but that might have just been the appetizer to what he can do this season for a main course. Many experts thought Pryor would drown in multi-millions when he hit the free-agent market after racking up 77 receptions for 1,004 yards in his first full season […]

Fantasy Spin - DeSean Jackson to Bucs

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers had a glaring need for a No. 2 wide receiver, and they spent millions to fill it. DeSean Jackson has taken his fleet feet to Tampa Bay. Now, the Buccaneers look like one of the most explosive and fantasy-friendly passing attacks in the NFL. With Jameis Winston at quarterback, top-5 fantasy […]

2017 Rankings Analysis - Wide Receivers in Standard Leagues

The landscape has changed in fantasy football when it comes to how important wide receivers are. 23 wide receivers broke the 1,000-yard barrier in 2016, so the NFL continues to be a pass-first, run-second league. While receivers were third in the pecking order behind running backs and quarterbacks in fantasy football 3-5 years ago, the […]

2017 Rankings Analysis - Tight Ends in Standard Leagues

Stop me if you've heard this before: 2016 was not a great year for tight ends. Nobody at the position scored double-digit touchdowns and only two had 1,000 receiving yards. Thanks to serious injuries to major players at the position, fantasy owners were scrambling like Tyrod Taylor to find tight end help throughout the season. But […]

Early Sleepers for 2017 - Tight End

Is there are any tight end waiting in the wings ready to become the next Rob Gronkowski?  Probably not. There are some young tight ends with terrific talent and breakout potential, however. It is never too early to write some names down on your fantasy football draft chart or cheat sheet and track these players’ […]

Early Sleepers for 2017 - Wide Receiver

There is now no doubt that the NFL is a pass-first league. Need proof? How many fantasy owners predicted Pierre Garcon, Tyrell Williams, Mike Wallace and Kenny Britt would all break the 1,000-yard barrier this past year?  It is possible that none of the foursome were drafted in many, if not most fantasy leagues in […]