Ian Allan's Mailbag
Posted Jul. 28 at 02:34 AM
Publisher Ian Allan fields your questions on strategy, how to run your league, player ratings -- and whatever else you think of. Updated every Friday during the season; Tuesdays and Fridays during the last two months of the preseason. You must be registered and signed-in to submit a mailbag question. After you sign in at the top of the page, the link to submit a mailbag question will become visible.
Question 1:
Has there been any update on the potential result of an appeal from Marshawn Lynch? Brandon Marshall has a similar appeal last year and had his suspension reduced. Do you think Fred Jackson is a real threat to Lynch's job while he's out?
JODY SMITH [LEAGUE CITY, TX]
A:
I don’t think the league will dramatically reduce Lynch’s three-game suspension. Maybe Roger Goodell will reduce it to two games, but I think Goodell probably regrets not suspending Lynch last summer, after Lynch was involved in a hit-and-run accident (hitting a pedestrian) prior to training camp. Lynch doesn’t seem to have learned his lesson. How else to explain him being pulled over in February, with police saying his car smelled like marijuana and finding a loaded handgun. Lynch managed to avoid felony charges and didn’t shoot himself in the leg, but I see very little difference between his case and that of Plaxico Burress. Burress has already served a four-team suspension and is looking at more, so why would Goodell go easy on Lynch (who has a far more extensive history of off-field problems)? In regards to Fred Jackson, the Bills say he’s going to play more this year; I think his percentage of the workload will increase. But I do not see Jackson as a threat to steal Lynch’s job.
Question 2:
Let's assume I draft Larry Fitzgerald or Andre Johnson late in the first round of my 10-team draft. Early in the second round, I select a running back such as Brandon Jacobs. What backs available late in the third round do you think will be pleasant surprises and capable fantasy starters this season?
Paul Owers [RIVIERA BEACH, FL]
A:
I’m sure there will be good backs available 30 players into drafts. Marion Barber, Joseph Addai, Ryan Grant, Derrick Ward, Cedric Benson, Knowshon Moreno, LenDale White, Pierre Thomas, Kevin Smith and Ray Rice come to mind (though the names change based on the scoring system). And I’m not saying it would be necessary to select any of those guys in the third. I’ll bet a good chunk of those guys will be available in round 4 in your league, and a few will make to the fifth round. For that scenario to unfold, by the way, you’d have to veer significantly off my draft board. Only in a PPR league do I have Andre Johnson as a possibility late in the first round, but I would never advocate selecting Brandon Jacobs with an early second-round pick in that kind of a format.
Question 3:
This is my 20th year in a row buying your magazine. I didn't even play the first year -- my father asked me to go out and get a magazine for some new game they were playing in his office. The rest is history! I was curious if this is your only career? Were you able to leave your other job? Was also curious if you still watch all the games on tape as you said you did years ago? Anyway, I'm glad you're still at it. Here's to a team in my league who drafted Donald Igwebuike after he was indicted on cocaine charges!
Patrick Fergus [Brooklyn, NY]
A:
Thanks for the kind words. I am a full-time fantasy football analyst. Have been for 20 years – that’s all I do. Painful as it is, I still suffer through a big chunk of each of the preseason games. Some of those games are ugly to watch, but that’s what I get paid to do. As for draft day blunders, my favorite would be the year a rookie owner in our league used two early picks on Terry Allen and Vaughn Dunbar, who were both already out for the year with torn ACLs.
Question 4:
I have the 5th pick of my upcoming draft. We are in a PPR League and a league that the distance of the TD determines the point value of the TD. I’m debating between Fitzgerald and S.Jackson. Any thoughts?
Wesley Newton [Bellevue, WA]
A:
Fitzgerald is higher on my board. Safe bet, I think, to catch something like 100 passes and 10 TDs, and those kind of players are golden in the PPR format. In addition, you get the added benefit of durability. Wide receivers rarely get injured; the attrition rate for running backs carrying big workloads, on the other hand, is very high. Sign me up for Fitzgerald.
Question 5:
I need to keep 3 players. I know I am going to keep Adrian Peterson. Any advice you can get me would be good. Steve Breaston, John Carlson, Brent Celek, Kerry Collins, Marques Colston, Ryan Grant Lance Moore, Mewelde Moore, Matt Ryan, Steve Slaton.
Scott Neece [Lebanon, MO]
A:
You definitely keep Slaton. As well as Matt Ryan played last year, he could be your third guy – he could be a keeper on your team for years. In his final 11 games last year, Ryan average 234 passing yards, with a 12-8 ratio of TDs to interceptions. He looks ready to be a good quarterback. The other possibility, I think, is Colston. If Colston looks healthy in the preseason, I could see him re-emerging as a top-5 receiver, and receivers tend to be worth more than quarterbacks in most fantasy formats. I’m a little nervous that Colston is coming off microfracture surgery; he’s undergone knee surgery two years in a row.
Question 6:
Without going into the specific rules of me league, which running back has better upside; Jamaal Charles or Michael Bush? I can keep one of these backs from last year's team. Or should I not keep either one?
craig bartow [ELLSWORTH, WI]
A:
I’ll go with Bush over Charles. I think Bush is more likely to be used in a goal-line role. And if both of those backs were elevated in the starting lineups for their teams, I think Bush would be more effective. But for your team, it probably doesn’t make sense to protect either one of them.
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Question 1: Has there been any update...
Posted by Robert Driscoll | Aug. 06 at 05:42 AM
On your customized scoring system that would allow me to add the scoring for all three leagues I'm currently in (PPR, Yardage, TD-yardage mixture) rather than have to go back each time and keep redoing for each leagues scoring?
Question 3: This is my 20th year...
Posted by Patrick Fergus | Jul. 29 at 11:06 AM
Response to Matt Tinker You're right! That is the funniest draft day story I ever heard! Patrick Fergus