Ian Allan answers your fantasy football questions. In this edition. Last minute starting tips of Week 17. What's the fair price to keep a player in a dynasty league? And etitioning to have a statistic changed.
Question 1
Well once again you proved why you are the experts! I wrote in a couple weeks ago touting Josh Gordon and questioning your redraft ranking on him. Well I stubbornly kept starting him during our playoffs (over Golden Tate, which in our scoring system luckily only cost me 6 points in week 15). So I think I owe you a kudos and let you know I’ll be eating crow this Christmas. Question: What do you know about the process for Elias and stat corrections? My Super Bowl loss hinges on Eddie Lacy’s 99 yards. I think I found a missing yard and have emailed Elias about it. How hard do they scrub each carry? Is there a specific day of the week they make any changes? Anything else that can be done to get their attention? Great year, gents! Keep up the good work!
BRYAN BERTSCH (Minneapolis, MN)
I don’t believe that Eddie Lacy’s stats have been changed. He’s showing at 1,039 rushing yards, and the game logs add up to that total. He’s still at 99 for the Tampa Bay game. Let me know which play you think was incorrectly logged. That would be a good place to start – let’s see if you have a case. I’ve been in touch with Elias a few times over the years. Always by phone, so I don’t know how good they are at getting back to somebody by email. I know they’ve accepted at least one change that I sent in. I remember a Buffalo game where the wrong running back was credited with a rushing attempt near the goal line. But I’m guessing they probably have a deadline where they lock in the stats, good or bad. And they’ve been reluctant to chance some stuff, particularly on lateral balls that could be either passes or runs. Specifically, Peyton Manning clearly through a backwards pass at Oakland in Week 17 last year, and they declined to change that one. (That play was significant because the single-season passing yards mark was at stake.)
Question 2
I'm in a two-team keeper league, where the first two picks in the first round are assigned for your keepers. I think this is way outdated, and I want to propose keeping a player up one round from the round they are drafted in the previous year (Example: a 7th moves to a 6th). I would assume that if someone keeps players from the previous year that were their 1st & 2nd picks, that that's where they would be slotted. If you have a different opinion, please elaborate. My question pertains to free agents. How would you recommend being a fair way to position them? A great example is Odell Beckham Jr., as he wasn't drafted, but will go very high next season. I'm not big on making all free agents a 20th round pick, the last round in our draft. Thanks for another great season!
Jeff Carter (Franklin, TN)
One option would be to add a stipulation that players picked up as free agents during the season aren’t eligible to be keepers. Another option would be to add the stipulation that the minimum cost for any kept player would be a 5th-round pick. That is, if you want to protect a player selected in the 7th, 13th or 18th round, he would cost your 5th-round pick the next year.
Question 3
Suggestion. During the last few weeks of the season, you seem to get a lot of questions about who dynasty league owners should pick up to stash for next year. I'll bet you could make a few bucks, if you put out a dynasty cheat sheet around this time in the store. I'm pretty set for 2015, but there is always trade value, and consideration for offseason suspensions. Trying to decide to pick up and stash either Cruz or Cooks (at Christine Michael, Patterson, or Garcon's expense). Maybe both.
JOHN MACHO (Elko New Mrkt, MN)
I’ve been trying to post a dynasty list on Wednesday for most of the season. Each week I hit a different position. For your franchise, I think you should be looking at Brandin Cooks and Christine Michael. With Michael, you would be hoping to have the eventual successor to Marshawn Lynch. Trouble is, as well as Lynch is playing, I think he’ll be back next year. And Michael hasn’t quite done enough. He hasn’t run as decisively as they’d hoped, and he’s had too many fumbles. So right now, today, I would go with Cooks with that roster spot. He should be New Orleans’ best wide receiver next year.
Question 4
In the finals thanks on part to you guys, looking for some advice. Digging around the TE scrap heap, it appears Gresham is the highest rated TE currently available in my league. My other TE's are Jared Cook and Jordan Cameron. Is Gresham that much of an upgrade? I know your week 17 projections have Gresham scoring a few more points (non ppr league). Looking for the most upside here.
Jace Lane (Green Bay, WI)
I would much rather have Gresham than either Cook or Cameron. I think I’d rather have him, in fact, than both of those guys put together. With the Browns starting Connor Shaw and the Rams playing at Seattle, I don’t think Cook or Cameron have much value. Gresham, on the other hand, caught 9 passes and a touchdown last week. A.J. Green is playing with an arm injury, so he might not be as effective as usual, and Mohamed Sanu, for whatever reason, isn’t playing nearly as well now as he was earlier in the season. You roll with Gresham.
Question 5
In a TD-only league,with an additional 6 points for a 100 yards rushing ,I need to pick two running backs from j.hill, a.williams or j.forsett. what two should I put into my line up?
Thomas Surina (Derby, CT)
Hill and Forsett have the most potential for a 100-yard game. That’s for sure. Hill is playing too well to sit down, with four games over 140 rushing yards. Since the move to the 16-game schedule, only two other rookies have had four of those games, and they’re both in the Hall of Fame (Eric Dickerson, Curtis Martin). The matchup isn’t great (at Pittsburgh) but you must start Hill. Forsett has been really good this year, and he’s at home against a pretty soft Cleveland defense. But realistically, probably none of these guys will run for more than 100 yards. That’s hard to do. So I would focus more on touchdowns. And if you look at that way, Williams is definitely your No. 1 guy. I will confirm later today, but I don’t think Rashad Jennings is playing. Williams will be their starting tailback. He’s struggled as a runner, but New York’s offense is playing well, and Philadelphia gives up plenty of points defensively. Eagles have allowed a rushing touchdown in seven straight games, while Giants have scored rushing touchdowns in six of their last eight. Williams starts. Forsett gets pulled in a lot of goal-line situations, so he gets tossed.