Updates from August, 2010

  • Offensive line rankings

    Matt 8:58 am on 5/24/2008 | 0 Permalink Reply
    Tags: , o-lines,

    Stumbled across this remarkably in-depth resource today. O-lines obviously have a major impact on fantasy player performance; when it comes to running backs in particular, you aren’t really drafting the player as much as the line he runs behind. A perfect example from the Browns page:

    The Browns offensive line is undoubtedly one of the best in the NFL and their play will continue to improve in 2008 but according to those statistics, the Browns running game could be much better if Jamal Lewis stepped up his play.

    Translation: Jamal Lewis isn’t doing anything special out there, but he’s still a solid RB2 (NOT a RB1) thanks to his o-line. This also means that if Lewis gets hurt, his backup (Harrison or Wright) is likely to be a decent fantasy contributor right away.

    The level of detail here is awesome; I love how they tell you not just how good a line is as pass protection and run blocking, but also whether they’ve improved in those areas since last year. There’s a ton more to be learned here. Enjoy.

     

  • 2008 Quarterback Power Rankings

    Brandon 10:06 pm on 5/22/2008 | 17 Permalink Reply
    Tags: , ,

    Power rankings for other positions

    Here are your quarterback power rankings for the 2008 fantasy football season, with my boy Tom Brady leading the pack… (More …)

     

  • Fantasy football comes to the rescue of horse racing in Minnesota. Wait, what?

    Matt 1:45 pm on 5/13/2008 | 0 Permalink Reply

    From here:

    While some states have used the development of racinos and the introduction of slots at tracks as a method to subsidize and save the horse racing industry, Montana has come up with an intriguing alternative. The state legislature has passed a plan to create a statewide fantasy football league, which would pay funds to horse tracks.

    So let me make sure I have this straight. Horce racing isn’t doing so well in Minnesota, due, according to this article, to “rising costs and diminishing returns.” In order to save it, the state will operate its own fantasy football league, with payouts of “74% for participants.” The leftover cash will be “divided 15 % to the fantasy operator, 24% to the facility, and 61% into a reserve fund.” I assume the “reserve fund” part goes to the horse racing industry. Who knows what the “facility” is.

    In essence, Minnesota will be creating a new state lottery, with fantasy football in the place of scratch-off tickets and Scan-Tron sheets. While I’m happy to see that there are apparently at least a few influential fantasy football fans in the Minnesota state government, this plan seems downright silly to me. Using a government-run version of a popular form of gambling to bail out a struggling one has “epic fail” written all over it. Why not put the same amount of effort and expense into a strategy that might actually revive the sport of horse racing itself, rather than propping up a sinking ship with some bizarre corporate welfare scheme? Improve the marketing. Renovate the facilities. Come up with innovative and fun betting options. Hell, why not create a fantasy horse racing league and generate some actual interest in the sport itself?

     

  • Fantasy football on your XBox 360

    Matt 11:28 am on 5/09/2008 | 4 Permalink Reply
    Tags: technology,

    Now this sounds pretty cool. Check out the promo video after the jump. A few of the spiffier features I learned about from Pasta Padre’s interview with the producers:

    • If you’re doing a live in-the-flesh draft with your buddies, you can use your HDTV as a virtual draft board via your XBox. After some players are drafted, a video will play with commentary about the pick from EA fantasy “experts.” Given the pit-in-your-stomach insecurity some people (OK, like me) get after making a big pick, I bet this will be a very popular feature – as long as it doesn’t cut into the next person’s time allowance.
    • If you’ve got picture-in-picture on your TV, you can have a little screen updating you on your team while you watch the games.
    • It’s a fully-featured web-based fantasy football system. No idea yet how good it is, but I’ve got a 360 so I’ll be trying it out and posting about it in addition to my other regularly-posted reviews of fantasy football services.
    • Your fantasy team can be imported into Madden. Awesome.

    The make-or-break factor here will be the quality of the web-based team interface. If it’s a pain to manage your team, figure out waivers, or sift through free agents, no amount of Xbox spiffiness will make this a system worth using. I should also mention that it will cost a total of 1600 Xbox points for the system and the on-screen updates (which cost 1200 and 400 separately) – which translates to $20. (More …)

     

  • Trading down in fantasy football drafts?

    Matt 2:03 pm on 5/06/2008 | 2 Permalink Reply
    Tags: , , rules, trading down

    I’m intrigued by something I just read in this post on Rotowire’s fantasy football blog. Blogger Peter Schoenke believes there’s pretty solid consensus for the top five picks in ’08 (“Tomlinson, A. Peterson, Westbrook, Addai, S. Jackson”) and weighs who he’d take with the 6th spot (I’d go with Lynch, but that might be the Bills bias talking).

    So given all my negativity, who would I take? My first advice would be to trade down. I’d rather get any of these guys six picks later.

    I’ve never seen someone decide to trade a pick like the 6th for a lower pick. Ever. I get why someone might think it’s a good idea, but I strongly disagree in most cases. A little Googling just dug up some similar advice in this list of rules for “How to Win Your Fantasy Football League”:

    6. Trade down. If you have pick 3-5, trade down. You’ll feel much better about taking two players back to back than you will seeing your favorites fly off the board every other pick.

    Wait, what? There’s only one good reason I can think of to trade down to a bottom-of-the-order pick, and that’s if you’re targeting a specific player you expect to be available near the beginning of the second round – but not the end – and you aren’t willing to spend a first-round pick on him. In that case, by all means, see if you can trade down. But you better feel good about that gamble, because if it doesn’t work out, then you just screwed yourself out of an earlier pick in the third round for no good reason, and that’s pretty significant despite the fact that you’ll get an earlier pick in the fourth. If you go RB RB in the first two, you can kiss any hope of a decent WR1 goodbye if you aren’t picking until the end of the third. (More …)

     

  • Jamal Lewis a first-rounder this season?

    Matt 4:37 pm on 5/02/2008 | 4 Permalink Reply

    I was just perusing the Yahoo Roto Arcade fantasy football mock draft, minding my own business, when I stumbled across this flabberghastination (that’s a word now because of this pick): Jamal Lewis with the 10th pick. Despite Lewis’ very nice season last year, I’d never, ever take him that high, and here’s why.

    Lewis will be 29 when the season begins. He’s got a history of troublesome foot/ankle problems. The Browns have “one-season wonder” written all over them. Derek Anderson’s got about as much chance of repeating his 2007 season as Tom Brady does.

    That’s not to say I don’t think of Jamal Lewis as an extremely solid RB2. I’m just saying I wouldn’t take him over any of the following players who went after him in the Yahoo draft: Marshawn Lynch, Brandon Jacobs, MJD (Fred Taylor’s overdue for something unfortunate to happen to one of his tendons), Reggie Wayne, TO, Willis McGahee, or even his teammate Braylon. I’m thinking end of the second round, he’s a nice pick. Anywhere in the first? Insanity.

     

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