Running Back Handcuffs to Avoid in 2016

The only thing less exciting than drafting a running back to handcuff the top tailback on your fantasy football team is drafting a third-string running back who is not handcuffing anybody. My last two articles revolved around the handcuff running backs that fantasy owners should eye down during their draft days.  This article deals with […]

The Next Best Four Running Back Handcuffs

My last article was about the top four handcuff running backs in fantasy football.  This article is about the next four. Not all handcuff running backs are built equally. Some are obvious backups that will only get more than five touches per game if the man ahead of them on the depth chart pulls a hamstring […]

Top Handcuff Running Backs for 2016

While the NFL has now transformed into a pass-first league that relies on quarterbacks and wide receivers more than it does running backs, the same cannot be said for fantasy football. Running backs are even more important now in fantasy football than they used to be 5-10 years.  That is because there are fewer workhorses that […]

2016 Fantasy Football Sleeper- Tight End Jace Amaro

The New York Jets have not had a tight end with any fantasy relevance since Dustin Keller had a couple halfway decent seasons back in 2010 and 2011.  However, 2016 could change the way fantasy football owners think of Jets tight ends. Jace Amaro will fly under the noses of many fantasy owners who have […]

Three Bounce Back Candidates for 2016

You always want to buy low in fantasy football, and one of the best ways to buy low with a high ceiling in a range of outcomes is to target star players coming off of disappointing seasons. Fantasy football owners tend to rank players coming off below-average or subpar seasons lower on their cheat sheets than they […]

Risky Fantasy Football Propositions for 2016 - Matthew Stafford, Matt Jones and Jonathan Stewart

Fantasy football is littered with risky propositions. There are injury-prone players, players who have rookies ready to steal their jobs or coaches ready to demote them on the depth chart, or players who lost valuable teammates in the offseason.  These guys might have great track records or might seem to have everything going for them […]

Week 23 NHL DFS Buys and Don’t Buys: Boedker, Staal, Larkin and Stempniak

Now that the dust from the NHL trade deadline has settled, daily fantasy hockey owners can now adjust the values of the players that changed teams. We have had a game or two to see what roles traded players have on their new squads. Third-line centers have become second-line centers. Starting goalies have become backup […]

Week 22 NHL DFS Buys and Don’t Buys: Ladd, Scheifele, Purcell and Reimer

Teams did not wait for the NHL trading deadline to pull off their blockbusters. And players did not wait until the deadline to suffer season-ending injuries, either. Injuries and trade deadline deals have had drastic effects on fantasy’s finest hockey players. A change in uniform or a change in role when a teammate suffers an […]

Week 21 DFS Hockey Buys and Don’t Buys: Brodie, Burakovsky, Stamkos and Kane

The fantasy hockey world will be turned upside down over the next week. The NHL’s trade deadline is set for February 29th, so there are going to be plenty of superstars and fantasy hockey stalwarts changing uniforms between now and next Monday. That will result in tumult as a change of scenery usually translates into […]

Week 20 DFS Hockey Buys and Don’t Buys: Phaneuf, Pavelec, Luongo and Hall

Whether you are in a season-long league or a DFS league, buying low on players still helps you win in fantasy hockey! We are now taking this column in a slightly different direction! Instead of focusing on buy-low, sell-high players in season-long fantasy hockey leagues, now the focus will be on good buys and high-priced […]

Week 19 Fantasy Hockey Buys and Sells: Eberle, Scrivens, Palmieri and Sharp

There is no more football to distract fantasy hockey owners. There are two months for fantasy owners to either turn their seasons around or take their contending teams and put them over the top. Both things can be done via one or two trades. If your fantasy team has some deficiencies at certain positions, there […]

Week 18 Fantasy Hockey Buys and Sells: Getzlaf, Johnson, Niskanen and Hellebuyck

Have you recharged your batteries, fantasy hockey owners? Now that the All-Star break is in our rearview mirrors, fantasy hockey owners have to be more cognizant about what trades they can make to bolster the talent on their roster so they can make a run towards a title down the stretch. The All-Star break gave […]

Week 17 Fantasy Hockey Buys and Sells: Tavares, Perron, Reimer and Klingberg

The NHL season is past the midway point.  We are more than halfway home, fantasy owners! With the All-Star weekend around the corner, this is as good of a time as any for fantasy owners to assess their roster, figure out their needs and their strengths, and trade some of their depth to upgrade the […]

Week 16 Fantasy Hockey Buys and Sells: Hagelin, Elliott, Zetterberg, and Saad

Nothing affects a player’s fantasy value more than trades or injuries.  Trades give players new teammates and new roles that normally benefit them, while injuries usually open doors to additional ice time and chances to rack up goals, saves, assists and wins that they wouldn’t have had.  This week both trades and injuries are the […]

Week 15 Fantasy Hockey Buys and Sells: Stafford, Leddy, Draisaitl and Stempniak

Just like you need to buy low and sell high to win in the stock market, the same strategy can pay off in fantasy hockey! So welcome to my weekly column that will highlight the players you should acquire while their prices are cheap and the players you should trade while their values are at […]

Maxx Williams a Desperation TE Play

BALLER MOVE: Add in Deeper Leagues OWNED IN: 10% Owned in Fleaflicker ANALYSIS: Most fantasy owners and pundits probably assumed that Baltimore’s pass offense would go down the drain faster than your mother-in-law’s cold onion soup once Joe Flacco suffered his season-ending injury.  But journeymen backups Jimmy Clausen and Ryan Mallett have amazingly not allowed […]

Ol' Vance McDonald Helps Teams Not Buy the Farm

BALLER MOVE: Add in Deeper Leagues OWNED IN: 5% Owned in Fleaflicker ANALYSIS: McDonald has taken over as San Francisco’s starting tight end since Garrett Celek sprained an ankle and has quietly been solid.  In three of his last five games he has racked up 60-plus yards along with a touchdown, including this past Sunday […]

Zach Ertz the Target Monster

BALLER MOVE: Add in All Leagues OWNED IN: 40% Owned in Fleaflicker ANALYSIS: Ertz’s 2015 campaign was rockier than Rick Perry’s presidential campaign.  He went without a touchdown catch for the first 10 games and missed a week due to a concussion.  But at least Ertz’s 2015 is ending on a much higher note than […]

Week 17 Tight End Waiver Wire Pickups and Adds: Zach Ertz, Vance McDonald and Maxx Williams

Although Week 17 can be as unpredictable as global-warmed weather due to teams shutting players down either for the playoffs or to spare them from needless injury in meaningless games, there are still some fantasy leagues out there that use the last week of the NFL season as their fantasy Super Bowl. If a fantasy owner […]

Week 16 Tight End Waiver Wire Pickups and Adds: Will Tye, Jared Cook and Jordan Cameron

It all comes down to this…for some of you! If you are lucky enough to be alive in the playoffs in your fantasy football league, you are either in your semifinals or you are in the Super Bowl because your league skips the last week of the season.  So every point you get from your […]

Jordan Cameron a Desperation TE Play in Week 16

BALLER MOVE: Stream in Deep Leagues OWNED IN: 54% Owned in Fleaflicker ANALYSIS: Coming into the year, what fantasy owners worried most about Cameron was that he had suffered a couple concussions and might be one more away from missing an entire season or even retiring.  But that hasn’t been his problem at all because […]

Jared Cook Can Get Your Team Cookin' Week 16

BALLER MOVE: Play in Deeper Leagues OWNED IN: 13% Owned in Fleaflicker ANALYSIS: The St. Louis pass offense is downright offensive between its lack of talent, lack of execution and lack of creativity. But if the Rams have been doing anything right the past month-plus it has been attempting to force passes to Cook, something […]

Will Tye is Your Guy

BALLER MOVE: Add as TE Streamer OWNED IN: 8% Owned in Fleaflicker ANALYSIS: It is time to jump on the fantasy bandwagon of the man with the short but sweet name.  If you thought he was a fluke then you must have thought Devonta Freeman, Allen Robinson and Jordan Reed were flashes in the pan, […]

Tyler Kroft Next Man Up in Cinci

BALLER MOVE: Add in Deep Leagues OWNED IN: 1% Owned in Fleaflicker ANALYSIS: Can you believe Pittsburgh’s Mike Mitchell concussed another player?  Can you believe Cincinnati has two tight ends named Tyler on their roster?  And can you believe that Tyler Kroft could actually help someone win their fantasy league? Kroft should be the next […]

Zach Miller From the Streets of Chicago

BALLER MOVE: Add in All Leagues OWNED IN: 15% Owned in Fleaflicker ANALYSIS: There were obviously several fantasy owners who ignored my advice to pick Miller up a couple weeks ago because Martellus Bennett was still active, on the field and catching Jay Cutler’s passes.  But now that Bennett has been banished to injured reserve, […]

Add Austin Sefarian-Jenkins for Strong Finish

BALLER MOVE: Add in All Leagues OWNED IN: 55% Owned in Fleaflicker ANALYSIS: Hey, hey! Seferian-Jenkins stayed healthy for two games in a row! So this means he should be safe to steal off the waiver wire if he is still available in your league. It is amazing how well rookie quarterback Jameis Winston has […]

Week 15 Tight End Waiver Wire Pickups and Adds: Austin Seferian-Jenkins, Zach Miller and Tyler Kroft

Unless you are in a fantasy football league that does not believe in a postseason and goes by cumulative point totals (which is silly), your league is in the thick of the playoffs and hopefully your squad qualified for them. This is not the time to make a boneheaded Leon Lett-like decision if you are […]

Clive Walford Jiving with Derek Carr

BALLER MOVE: Add in Deep Leagues OWNED IN: 7% Owned in Fleaflicker ANALYSIS: Walford has slowly blipped on fantasy radars for a while now after scoring three touchdown sover a four-game span last month, but he hadn’t caught more than a pair of passes in any game until this past week.  Against the Kansas City […]

Will Tye for Those in Do or Die Mode

BALLER MOVE: Add in Deeper Leagues OWNED IN: 2% Owned in Fleaflicker ANALYSIS: Larry Donnell’s neck injury has made the fantasy value of Tye very healthy.  While Donnell sits on the sidelines, Tye has made the most of his opportunity as New York’s starting tight end during the last month. Tye has not found the […]

Luke Willson Doing Some Good Will for Fantasy Teams

BALLER MOVE: Add in Deeper Leagues OWNED IN: 4% Owned in Fleaflicker ANALYSIS: Willson is no Jimmy Graham.  Hell, he’s not even the best Willson/Wilson on his own offense.  But what he is right now is the starting tight end on a team whose quarterback and offense are clicking on all cylinders at the perfect […]