By Matt on Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Get fantasy football info on your cell phone or mobile device

As the mobile Web continues to mature, the fantasy football world is slowly finding ways to migrate from your PC to your pocket. Most of the major fantasy football providers now offer mobile access in some (usually limited, but improving) fashion. If you like the idea of on-the-go access to your fantasy teams as well as important player updates and other news, here are some resources to help you stay connected to fantasy football wherever you are.

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By Brandon on Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Power rankings updated: Look at all the pretty colors

The FFGeekBlog power rankings have again been adjusted to reflect the current state of the NFL; however, I have to apologize that I didn't have the new tier color-coding set up earlier in the preseason. Hopefully they can still be helpful for a few of your drafts (I know at least one person to whom it will be helpful to!) If you head over to our power rankings page and check them out, you can see that all of the lists have been broken down into logical tiers that players can be grouped into, showing where drop offs in value are at each position.

Some of the players on the move in the latest round of updates include Jon Kitna, Michael Turner, Jonathan Stewart, Rashard Mendenhall, Chad Johnson, Robert Meachem, Dustin Keller and the New York Giants defense.

By Brandon on Monday, August 25, 2008

Best of the Rest: Leinart back in the doghouse

Continuing my previous article "Rising and Falling: The Barbarian Unleashed!", here is a list of some of the players who saw the field over the weekend and how their play may or may not have affected their draft status...

Falling Down

Matt Leinart (QB-ARI): 4 of 12 for 24 yards, 3 INT -  ESPN is reporting that Kurt Warner will be named the starter for Arizona on opening day after Leinart had another poor outing in preseason. Completing 25% of your passes and nearly having as many interceptions as completions is not the way to earn the coach's trust. On the plus side, maybe Leinart can spend more time partying with all his celebrity friends now, while Warner studies game tape. At this point, Leinart should be no where near one of your cheat sheets going into draft day.

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By Matt on Sunday, August 24, 2008

How I build my cheat sheets

For most fantasy football players, a cheat sheet isn't something you build, it's something you find in a fantasy football magazine or on the Web somewhere and bring with you to the draft. While this approach certainly saves a lot of time, it puts you at a serious disadvantage to anyone in your league who took the time to put together their own sheets. A custom-built cheat sheet can take into account the specific rules of your league, such as QB touchdown scoring (4 points each or 6?) and whether your league awards a point for each reception (in which case you'd increase the value of the WR position and target running backs who catch the ball often). Most importantly, as you put your sheet together, you'll be constantly learning about the players you're ranking, and you'll show up on draft day with a true understanding of the decisions you're making. Really, how much satisfaction do you get at the end of a draft when you look at your team and realize that every player you own is there because someone else told you to pick them?

This is the process I use for building my cheat sheets. It doesn't have to take an extraordinary amount of time - you can really invest as little or as much energy as you want into it. This is simply a framework to help you get started; where you go with it from here is up to you.

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By Brandon on Saturday, August 23, 2008

Rising and Falling: The Barbarian unleashed!

Week three of the preseason has recently become the week where coaches get a longer look at the players they expect to form their starting roster come opening day. With this in mind, it's important to look at the players who are stepping it up this week, as it could be a key indicator of how they will play when the season starts. Below you'll find a list of the players who's fantasy status is "Rising", "Falling", or "Stayin' Put" based on Saturday's preseason action...

Rising Up

Marion Barber (RB-DAL): 13 rushes for 75 yards and 1 TD, plus 2 receptions for 9 yards - Marion the Barbarian seems to be answering the question of whether or not he can handle the bulk of the carries this season, after splitting them with Julius Jones last year. Rookie backup Felix Jones (see "Falling" below) did not look especially sharp in this one, and with Barber's knack for finding the endzone, I see no reason why the team would not lean heavily on him throughout the season.

Aaron Rodgers (QB-GB): 18 of 22 for 193 yards and 1 TD - After his poor performance last week, this was a great performance from Rodgers against a Denver pass defense that is supposed to be pretty good.

DeSean Jackson (WR-PHI): 4 receptions for 67 yards, plus a punt return TD - This kid is starting to look like the real deal. Having him as your WR4, or maybe even WR3, going into the season, would not be frowned upon.

Donovan McNabb (QB-PHI): 13 of 17 for 180 yards and 1 TD - He keeps losing receivers, but keeps getting it done. Rookie DeSean Jackson (below) seems to be one of his new favorite targets though...and I'm sure they can find some other receiver to line up opposite him.

Greg Jennings (WR-GB): 4 receptions for 42 yards - The key here is that Rodgers is developing chemistry with Jennings, as he completed the four passes to him in just over one quarter of play...imagine if it was an entire game?

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By Matt on Friday, August 22, 2008

Alex Smith out, J.T. O'Sullivan starting week 1

As had been recently anticipated given O'Sullivan's (hereinafter "Sully") unexpectedly decent preseason, head coach Mike Nolan's lack of trust in Smith, and Sully's understanding of the Martz system, the 49ers have done what was near-unthinkable a month ago and promoted a 29-year-old journeyman QB over the 2005 #1 overall draft pick. Smith had been thought of by some as a sleeper pick this season, but unless the Sully experiment tanks quickly, you can forget about him having any fantasy impact this season. As for Sully himself, I'm skeptical and frankly wouldn't draft him, period. Too many unknowns, too many known negatives - most notably San Fran's subpar receivers - and too many other, better options for late-round backup QBs.

By Brandon on Thursday, August 21, 2008

Power rankings updated: Ricky Williams on the rise

Over the course of the past two nights, I've updated our power rankings for quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers and tight ends, so head over and take a look at who you should be targeting in your draft. Among those making waves on their respective lists: Ricky Williams and Ronnie Brown (in opposite directions), Michael Turner, DeSean Jackson and Kevin Curtis (also in opposite directions), Jake Delhomme, and Zach Miller. Check back soon for updates to the team defense and kicker lists...

By Brandon on Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Kevin Curtis out for a while with a sports hernia

As if Donovan McNabb didn't have enough trouble finding a reliable wide receiver to throw to, today it was announced that Kevin Curtis will be out for an extended amount of time getting surgery for a sports hernia. There is no absolute time table on how long it will take Curtis to return, but my non-PHD guess would be that it will take a couple months for him to be back to top form. Obviously this hurts Curtis' draft rank, but it also has a negative affect on McNabb's, as well as a positive affect on the rookie, DeSean Jackson. The other starter in the offense, Reggie Brown, is already out with a hamstring injury for a short while (possibly back to start the season), so Jackson immediately jumps up to the #1 receiver in the offense for the remaining preseason games. Check back in a bit to see where this news affects our power rankings...

If you've already drafted Curtis in your league, we feel your pain. Especially when in one of my leagues I also have Brandon Marshall...looks like weeks one and two will be a bit weak at the WR position!

By Brandon on Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Missing in Action: Where are Steven Jackson and others?

As we approach week three of the preseason, many of you may have been wondering where the star player you plan to draft has been the first two weeks, so I wrote this article to try to put some of your worries to rest. Below are some of the key players that haven't played a snap so far in the preseason and an explanation of why they haven't, which will hopefully allow you to sleep a little bit better (or worse I guess, depending on what you expected to hear):

  • Steven Jackson (RB-STL): Where has Steven Jackson been this preseason so far? If you happen to be a Jackson owner in a league where the draft has already taken place, I'm sure that you are well aware that he's currently holding out, expecting the team to propose a contract extension that will keep him financially sound well into the future. There were rumors over the weekend that these talks had progressed somewhat, but that does not appear to be the case. Coach Linehan stated "It is getting critical to where time now becomes more of an issue for just the physical part of getting ready for the opener...Every day we miss now...does start to factor in as to what the workload will be from the start." It appears that the team is beginning to plan for a start of the season without Steven Jackson (or at least with a non-100% ready Jackson), which is not a good thing for fantasy owners. If they can work out a new contract and get him into at least the last preseason game for some reps, you should be alright though. You're still drafting Jackson as a top five running back, but because of these contract questions, and the fact that the offense has looked bad in general this preseason, I'm taking him at #5, behind LT, AP, Addai and Westbrook. (Update 8/20/08: Steven Jackson has ended his holdout! Feel free to take him with the 3rd to 5th pick of the draft.)
  • Ryan Grant (RB-GB): After earning a big contract extension last season, Grant has been nursing a strained hamstring this preseason and the team is most likely protecting their investment at this point. He says that he'd be out on the field if it was the regular season, but he's just taking it careful. There appears to be no risk at this point of him missing any time to start the year, so draft him as normal, towards the end of the first round or beginning of the second.

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By Brandon on Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Giants pound the Browns, 37-34

Alright, so maybe the score doesn't show that the Giants pounded the Browns, but if you watched the first quarter and a half, it was definitely a lopsided match. With all the "starters" in (I use the term loosely because the Giants were missing Plaxico Burress, Amani Toomer and Steve Smith, while Cleveland was without Braylon Edwards), Eli Manning showed that maybe the Superbowl victory was no fluke as he bombed two touchdown passes to receiver Domenik Hixon in the first quarter. Hixon, a third year receiver out of Akron who had only one reception for a measly five yards all of last season, looked like a Pro Bowl player in this one (4 catches for 63 yards and 2 TD), dragging his feet in the endzone on both touchdown grabs and also torching the Browns special teams for a kick off return touchdown. Even with the great game, at this point it doesn't appear that Hixon will be a relevant fantasy player this year...but if injury strikes one of the top three receives on the team, keep his name in mind as a possible late season sleeper.

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