Best Ball League - Monday Update (Week 2)

Article written by Gordo

Another weekend has passed in the world of football and my god has it been a bumpy ride.  Between the continuation of the Ray Rice ordeal with Radio hosts arguing whether or not the cover up is worse than the crime (it rarely is), now AP is going down for his reprehensible behavior, and even LeSean McCoy has put in some effort to soil his name with the fans in Philly by being an apathetic tipper.  This has also paved way for adding injury to insult with the slew of ankle and knee sprains.  Thank god the concussion bug wasn't going around this week...yet.

Well luckily for our league we can lose players and still make the best of it without any effort; almost Darwinian in nature.  I can already see a pretty solid shift in standings for this week versus last week which I've shared below.

Best Ball - Week 1 Recap

Well it's Tuesday now and all the scores are in so let's see how everyone did and how close my predictions were.

<looking at scores>

They weren't close...Well except for Dan's Team who basically sat pretty waiting for the week to end.  Read on to see how much difference a day makes.

Best Ball League - Monday Update

Article written by Gordo

Happy Monday you lazy fantasy football addicts.

For those of you who have not been checking, I've listed the current stats/standings for the league below with the addition of any players remaining for tonight's Monday Night Football doubleheader. I've also listed the minimum points they need to beat in order to increase each team's total score for the week.  Some of us obviously fair better than others. 

Just take Brees

Article written by Ziggy, Gordo, Lefty

Hi. I'm Drew Brees.

Ok, guys, I have a few questions. I'm looking for some draft advice. I'll write everything out here, and maybe you can post this, Lefty, along with your responses (so it'll be kind of Stream of Consciousness, rather than a planned piece).

First, some details to get out of the way: this is for my work league, which is 10 man, non-PPR, with 6 point passing TDs. I don't like ANY of those rules, but it's a work league, so I'm stuck with it. We might change to 12 man this season, but the other rules won't change.

I have the fourth pick this year. It IS a keeper league, but we limit how many years we're allowed to keep players. Last year, I had Antonio Brown and Josh Gordon as my keepers, since they cost me very late draft picks (12th+ round for each). Unfortunately, I've reached my limit for how long I can keep Brown and if Gordon is suspended for a full year, he's not worth keeping. I do have a bright spot in that I can keep Le'Veon Bell as my 9th round pick this year. That's solid value.

Draft Order is in!

Article written by Lefty

It is an exciting time in the Ultimate Ironbound Showdown, as our fantasy football league is called. On Saturday we pulled the names from a hat and established our draft order. This year also marks the first year of our keeper league. From this point forward, we will be able to hold on to draft picks (under specific rules) from year to year. And now, without further ado, here is the order we will be drafting in (after the break!):

Analysis of Ziggy's Team

Article Written by Gordo

When it comes to drafting you have to come prepared.  The internet is full of great content that can help you get into gear for a successful draft and a winning season.  Take notes, create cheat sheets, adjust your player rankings, and practice practice practice!  Yes I said practice.  Every source that hosts fantasy football will have some form of a mock draft resource; they’re even on phone apps now.  Try drafting from different positions and with different strategies in mind.  This will give you a better perception of this year’s player pool, a better assessment of your risk tolerance, and just good old fashioned experience so you can choose the draft strategy you want to use.  To give you some insight into how all this works I’ve taken my friend Ziggy’s last mock draft and critiqued the results below.

1) RB Forte

2) RB Foster

3) WR Garcon

4) WR Hilton

5) RB Mathews

6) RB Ridley

7) WR Colston

8) TE Olsen

9) RB Freeman

10) QB Rivers

11) WR Stills

12) WR James Jones

13) RB Dunbar

14) TE Miller

15) RB Bryce Brown

Analysis of Gordo’s Team

Article Written by Ziggy

Here are the mock draft results we’ll be discussing (drafting last in a 12 man league):

1. A.J. Green (Cin - WR)
2. Dez Bryant (Dal - WR)
3. Reggie Bush (Det - RB)
4. Ryan Mathews (SD - RB)
5. Jordan Cameron (Cle - TE)
6. Torrey Smith (Bal - WR)
7. Ray Rice (Bal - RB)
8. Emmanuel Sanders (Den - WR)
9. Fred Jackson (Buf - RB)
10. Philip Rivers (SD - QB)
11. Kenny Stills (NO - WR)
12. Dan Bailey (Dal - K)
13. Heath Miller (Pit - TE)
14. Devonta Freeman (Atl - RB)
15. Baltimore (Bal - DEF)

Before we begin the evaluation, it’s clear Gordo and I drafted on different sites (and hence have different player evaluations) based on where he took some of these guys. Devonta Freeman went in the 14^th round? That’d never happen on the site I use- usually he’s gone by the 8^th/9th. Another thing, it is clear Gordo and I share a lot in common in draft style. I mean, we both grabbed Devonta Freeman as a bench stash, and we both took Rivers as a late round quarterback. Obviously we’ve been sharing too much in our daily emails on the topic, and we’re just going to end up sniping each other’s picks and end up with shitty teams and lose it all… OH WAIT! Gordo or I always win the league!

Oh, a third thing: since my favorite two leagues are 0.5 PPR, I’ll be using that as my guideline for my evaluations.