FF4W is in the early stages of launching a big, only-one-of-its-kind fantasy competition in 2018 or 2019. We'll need to tweak the fantasyfootballforwinners.com page to make it happen. If you have webpage development skills and can contribute about 5-10 hours of your time, please drop me a line.
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Curtis Samuel was supposed to be a WR4+ with Kelvin Benjamin gone. Instead he's out for the year with an ankle injury. It's hard to overstate how valuable Greg Olsen will be if/when he returns in a few weeks. For weeks I've been urging readers to stash him on benches. With Benjamin was traded, his value spiked even more. Yet he's available in 49% of ESPN leagues. It makes no sense. If he returns, Olsen will be a near lock for top 8 TE value and easily has top 4 upside. Carolina's favorable fantasy playoff schedule only helps his cause.
For the first time in years, Antonio Brown isn't an automatic keeper. This very well could be Ben Roethlisberger's last season. We've seen what AB can do (not much) when Ben isn't throwing to him. The ascension of JuJu Smith-Schuster doesn't help, but Ben's status is the story here. While AB remains an uber-elite talent (second in targets, second in receptions, second in fantasy points), Landry Jones under center in 2018 would limit him to WR2 production at best--and really, that's a best-case scenario. And Pittsburgh's 7-2 season thus far means they probably won't land a difference-making QB on draft day. While free agency is always on option (Ryan Fitzpatrick, anyone?), be mindful that Brown--who will turn 30 next summer--is headed toward the down side of his prime years, and there's no guarantee we'll see top 3 production out of him again.
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As most of you know, I compete in a league, too. Usually only one, because I've never been a 15-league kinda person. This year I tried out the Scott Fish Bowl, which features something like 640 people ranging from fantasy's biggest experts to everyday competitors facing off in something like 40 different leagues. There's no trading (something I stupidly didn't realize when I agreed to join), no kickers or DSTs, and scoring skews heavily toward QBs. People can also flex a QB, so it means you have to have at least two healthy, high-producing QBs to keep up with the best teams.
I picked first overall and went with David Johnson (we know how that story ends). Only one of my three QBs (Kirk Cousins) is in the top 8). My receivers are my pride-and-joy, but aside from Jarvis Landry, none of the others are top-10. And my TEs (Eric Ebron and Coby Fleener) have massively underperformed.
So let's go back to David Johnson. My strategy after learning I had the first pick was to grab the best RB and then focus on other positions, and then stash RB handcuffs on the assumption one or more would become starters throughout the season. My stashes included Kenyan Drake, Marlon Mack, Aaron Jones, Chris Ivory, and Wayne Gallman. In a league where 276 players are rostered (and remember, they're only QBs/RBs/WRs/TEs, so there's usually no one worth grabbing on waiveres), these handcuffs have essentially salvaged my season.
I started 1-3. I've won five of six. Had I drafted smarter at QB or TE (I went Ebron over Austin Hooper, for example, while knowing in the moment it could go either way), I could have been 3-1 before my RB strategy kicked in, and I'd be a lock for the postseason.
So obviously I'm human and often make bad decisions. But the strategy works if you have the bench space. Stash a few handcuffs. Get through those first few weeks. The odds are good that at least one of those handcuffs will rise to RB3+ value before long.
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Curtis Samuel was supposed to be a WR4+ with Kelvin Benjamin gone. Instead he's out for the year with an ankle injury. It's hard to overstate how valuable Greg Olsen will be if/when he returns in a few weeks. For weeks I've been urging readers to stash him on benches. With Benjamin was traded, his value spiked even more. Yet he's available in 49% of ESPN leagues. It makes no sense. If he returns, Olsen will be a near lock for top 8 TE value and easily has top 4 upside. Carolina's favorable fantasy playoff schedule only helps his cause.
For the first time in years, Antonio Brown isn't an automatic keeper. This very well could be Ben Roethlisberger's last season. We've seen what AB can do (not much) when Ben isn't throwing to him. The ascension of JuJu Smith-Schuster doesn't help, but Ben's status is the story here. While AB remains an uber-elite talent (second in targets, second in receptions, second in fantasy points), Landry Jones under center in 2018 would limit him to WR2 production at best--and really, that's a best-case scenario. And Pittsburgh's 7-2 season thus far means they probably won't land a difference-making QB on draft day. While free agency is always on option (Ryan Fitzpatrick, anyone?), be mindful that Brown--who will turn 30 next summer--is headed toward the down side of his prime years, and there's no guarantee we'll see top 3 production out of him again.
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As most of you know, I compete in a league, too. Usually only one, because I've never been a 15-league kinda person. This year I tried out the Scott Fish Bowl, which features something like 640 people ranging from fantasy's biggest experts to everyday competitors facing off in something like 40 different leagues. There's no trading (something I stupidly didn't realize when I agreed to join), no kickers or DSTs, and scoring skews heavily toward QBs. People can also flex a QB, so it means you have to have at least two healthy, high-producing QBs to keep up with the best teams.
I picked first overall and went with David Johnson (we know how that story ends). Only one of my three QBs (Kirk Cousins) is in the top 8). My receivers are my pride-and-joy, but aside from Jarvis Landry, none of the others are top-10. And my TEs (Eric Ebron and Coby Fleener) have massively underperformed.
So let's go back to David Johnson. My strategy after learning I had the first pick was to grab the best RB and then focus on other positions, and then stash RB handcuffs on the assumption one or more would become starters throughout the season. My stashes included Kenyan Drake, Marlon Mack, Aaron Jones, Chris Ivory, and Wayne Gallman. In a league where 276 players are rostered (and remember, they're only QBs/RBs/WRs/TEs, so there's usually no one worth grabbing on waiveres), these handcuffs have essentially salvaged my season.
I started 1-3. I've won five of six. Had I drafted smarter at QB or TE (I went Ebron over Austin Hooper, for example, while knowing in the moment it could go either way), I could have been 3-1 before my RB strategy kicked in, and I'd be a lock for the postseason.
So obviously I'm human and often make bad decisions. But the strategy works if you have the bench space. Stash a few handcuffs. Get through those first few weeks. The odds are good that at least one of those handcuffs will rise to RB3+ value before long.