Ian Allan answers your fantasy football questions. In this enormously large edition. How early should one move (if at all) on injured Arian Foster? Who are the best handcuff running backs? Whatever happened to Trent Richardson? And are Thursday games lower scoring?
Question 1
I think I am about to have my heart broken by you, Ian. You had Arian Foster ranked at the #20 RB in standard leagues, and I bought him in an auction draft for a very low price (as my 4th RB). Laughter ensued with the other team owners. Why do I feel like Foster is going to be the "Ian Allan Greg Louganis Dive" pick (the player that takes a major dive right after my draft but before the next Cheat Sheet comes out...even though no NFL games were played between those times)? In looking at the rankings, at Aug 20 (the date of my cheat sheet), you really think he is #20 best RB in the league despite the fact that he is guaranteed to miss time?
David Krug (Overland Park, KS)
A few weeks ago, you (and most everyone else) was in agreement that he was a top-10 back, correct? Now he’s headed into the shop for a surgery on his groin. Worst-case scenario is that they place him on short-term IR, and you don’t see him until Week 10 (the team is off in Week 9). If it goes down that way, than 20th is probably a little high. Maybe he gives your team a nice spark late in the year. But that’s not an official time line. That was just the initial speculation of one of the beat reporters covering the team. Since that time, the more common speculation has been that Foster won’t go on injury reserve at all, and that he might only miss the first month of the season. And if I were guaranteed that Foster would miss only four games, I would rank him higher than 20th. We’ll see. He’s got some upside. He could be a top-10 back for a good chunk of the season. The downside potential is that Alfred Blue or some other back plays well enough that when Foster comes back, they go to more of a time-share situation. But I don’t think that’s likely.
Question 2
What are your list of backup/handcuff RB's that you think are good to have on your team and plug them in when the starters go down?
JW Kim (Pleasanton, CA)
Ideally, we’re looking for a guy will know will be good, if given the chance, and a starter in front of him with some potential to go down with an injury. So Ryan Mathews, I think, is the clear No. 1. But there are plenty of other good ones, including Knile Davis, James Starks, Lorenzo Taliaferro, Jerick McKinnon, DeAngelo Williams and Ronnie Hillman. Giovani Bernard is a little different in that he’s a handcuff and also has some stand-alone value. Damien Williams, I think, is probably the most underrated handcuff.
Question 3
With the new conversion rules in place, if a qb throws a pass on a 2 pt conversion attempt and it is intercepted and returned for 2 pts, will that count as a turnover and a interception in the qb Stat line?
Jay Monahan (Cincinnati, OH)
No. Those aren’t “plays” in the league’s eye. There are no yards, completions, carries, etc. It’s been that way for years and years. If a running back is at 99 yards and runs for a 2-point conversion, he’s still at 99 rushing yards. It’s a non-play.
Question 4
Trent Richardson was such a beast at Alabama and had a solid rookie season. Just for the heck of it I snagged him as my 4th running back at our draft. Do you see any possibility of him turning things around?
Scott DENHAM (Carrollton, GA)
I just went to YouTube and watched Richardson’s highlight package from Alabama. He’s a different guy – way more elusive. I see him freezing guys with stop-start moves and cuts. He wasn’t a player who simply benefited from playing on a great college team; he definitely made a lot of those yards on his own, and I am reminded why everyone thought he was a top-5 draft prospect coming out. He looks like he might be 20 pounds lighter. Maybe that’s where it went wrong. He bulked up and got too big, and he lost a step in the process. Now he doesn’t seem to have the confidence or ability that he can get around anyone. He’s tending to just aimlessly run into the line. He doesn’t look any better in Oakland. I don’t think he’s going to make the team.
Question 5
I am in a monster dynasty startup draft. 40 rounds (+ 4 round rookie draft.) IDP, PPR, huge bonuses...you basically get points for all stat categories. An interesting wrinkle is 1 pt per 10 return yards, and 10 pts for return TDs. I used your stat projections, coupled with the average projected return yardage from a few sites. After it was all said and done, Darren Sproles shot near the top of the RB rankings, Jarvis Landry was a top-5 WR, and the value of players like Benny Cunningham and Devin Hester are vastly inflated. We are getting into the later rounds (round 25 currently), off the top of your head, are there any return specialists or reserves that play special teams that would provide value? With this crazy scoring & deep rosters, even that Aussie trying to make the 49ers (Jarryd Hayne) might be worth a roster spot. Thanks!
Scott Anderson (Lakewood, CO)
Folks might regret going after Sproles and Landry too early. Is Sproles even returning punts this year? I’m not sure that he is. Kenjon Barner has looked awfully good in that role in the preseason. Similarly, now that the Dolphins are using Landry as their leading receiver, are they going to have him return punts and kickoffs? I doubt it. He hasn’t been fielding those in the exhibitions. Marcus Thigpen, I think, will be their return guy. Tyler Lockett is returning both punts and kickoffs for the Seahawks, so he should be on your radar. In this kind of format, I would be interested in any player who returns both kickoffs and punts. It’s early. Teams have played only one meaningful preseason game, and some big-time returners are being saved for the regular season. Sproles could be one of those guys. That was the case last year with Antonio Brown; he didn’t return any punts in August, but then was back in that role for the real games. Whatever. Right now, my unofficial list of players I believe will return both kickoffs and punts is as follows. Marcus Thigpen (Bills), LaMichael James (Dolphins), maybe Asa Jackson (Ravens), Dri Archer (Steelers), Trindon Holliday (Raiders), Jacoby Jones (Chargers), maybe Lucky Whitehead (Cowboys), Ty Montgomery (Packers), Jeremy Ross (Lions), Devin Hester (Falcons), Ted Ginn Jr. (Panthers), maybe J.J. Nelson (Cardinals) and Tyler Lockett (Seahawks). I believe Hayne will return punts for the 49ers. Maybe kickoffs also. He had a good kickoff return at Houston, and he was very impressive on punts against Dallas. On the first one, the ball was kicked way over his head, and he ran backwards, making a Willie Mays catch, then returned it 27 yards. The other two he fielded I think he picked up 23 and 34 yards. That’s three straight returns over 20 yards. In the entire NFL last year, only 11 teams had more than 3 returns of 20-plus yards in the entire regular season last year. He’s big, so he’s giving people a different look back there. On this topic, I am at the disadvantage of trying to watch all of the games. Those who are watching primarily their home team in their home market have the advantage of watching games more slowly and hearing more of the discussion and insights of the broadcasters. In the Steelers broadcast, for example, maybe some said that Brown will or won’t return punts this year and I missed it. With the volume of football I’m trying to digest right now, I’m speed through these games.
Question 6
Ive been here since the beginning in 1986 or was it 1987 ? My question is your thoughts on players in Thursday night games. Is it proven that players numbers are down in these games as opposed to Sunday games ? Does 3 days rest significantly effect the fantasy numbers of AP or Charles ? Interested to hear your thoughts on the fantasy impact of the Thursday nighters.
JOHN MARINO (Binghamton, NY)
I will not trot out the exact numbers right now. The first Thursday night game is a month away. But I looked into this extensively and calculated that there’s little difference in performance in those Thursday night games. Both the offense and defense, after all, are playing on short rest. The more important factor, I discovered, is games inside the division. Looking at scores and production over the last 10 years, I found that teams tend to score fewer points against teams inside their own division. Opposing defenses, I think, figure out how to better defend against offenses after they’ve seen them a few times. More of these inside-the-division games show up on Thursdays, and that creates the perception that it’s Thursdays that are causing low-scoring games, when it’s actually the matchup itself. Look at this chart, which shows the 37 games in the last five years in which the two teams didn’t score more than 20 points (combined). Of the 256 games each year, only 96 are divisional games, so you would expect that 14 of these 37 low-scoring games would feature divisional opponents. But that’s not the case. Instead, 21 of these 37 games have been divisional – 50 percent more than you would expect.
| LOWEST SCORING GAMES SINCE 2010 | |
|---|---|
| 2010 | Lions 7, Packers 3 |
| 2010 | Packers 10, Bears 3 |
| 2010 | Chiefs 10, Broncos 6 |
| 2010 | Dolphins 10, Jets 6 |
| 2010 | Ravens 13, Bengals 7 |
| 2010 | Redskins 13, Cowboys 7 |
| 2010 | Texans 20, Titans 0 |
| 2010 | Packers 9, Jets 0 |
| 2010 | Bears 16, Dolphins 0 |
| 2010 | Ravens 10, Jets 9 |
| 2010 | Bills 13, Browns 6 |
| 2010 | Giants 17, Bears 3 |
| 2011 | Chiefs 7, Broncos 3 |
| 2011 | Steelers 14, Browns 3 |
| 2011 | Jaguars 17, Colts 3 |
| 2011 | Browns 6, Seahawks 3 |
| 2011 | Chiefs 10, Bears 3 |
| 2011 | Jaguars 12, Ravens 7 |
| 2012 | Raiders 15, Chiefs 0 |
| 2012 | 49ers 13, Seahawks 6 |
| 2012 | Rams 17, Cardinals 3 |
| 2012 | Bears 13, Lions 7 |
| 2012 | Jets 7, Cardinals 6 |
| 2012 | Browns 7, Chargers 6 |
| 2012 | Ravens 9, Chiefs 6 |
| 2012 | Texans 13, Bears 6 |
| 2013 | Bills 19, Dolphins 0 |
| 2013 | Jaguars 13, Texans 6 |
| 2013 | Ravens 14, Browns 6 |
| 2013 | Cowboys 17, Eagles 3 |
| 2013 | Panthers 10, 49ers 9 |
| 2013 | Seahawks 12, Panthers 7 |
| 2013 | Bengals 13, Patriots 6 |
| 2014 | Cardinals 12, Rams 6 |
| 2014 | Chargers 13, Raiders 6 |
| 2014 | Lions 17, Vikings 3 |
| 2014 | Cardinals 14, Lions 6 |
Question 7
I've noticed Jarius Wright. The "vanilla" system looks like it features the slot position; add Wright's and Thielen's numbers together. He had a couple of big games last year and got a few big rushes. Technical analysis: 3rd year WR. Bridgewater is not going to live on the deep ball and the Vikes are playing outdoors this year. Am I suffering from pure fantasy and/or does all this go away when Peterson gets back in the mix? Any possibility that he becomes a Sanders/Edelman style player?
MARTIN DONNELLY (Elmhurst, IL)
Wright is one of the league’s better slot receivers. If you rank the No. 3 receivers around the league 1 thru 32, he’s in the top 10. Definitely. He caught 68 percent of the passes thrown his way last year. Of the 85 other wide receivers with at least 50 targets last year, only 13 caught a higher percentage of balls. Nice player. But the Vikings don’t have a high-powered passing game, and they’ve got plenty of other guys eating from that trough – Charles Johnson, Mike Wallace and Kyle Rudolph. It will be tough for Wright to be a top-50 receiver.
Question 8
Long time customer...I'm in a 12 team keeper league .5 PPR auction. We have a one-round rookie draft that we can keep for 3 years at almost nothing.....I'm pick 8 about to be on the 24 hour clock. Who do you like, Dorial Green-Beckham or Phillip Dorsett?
TYLER HAINES (Loveland, CO)
Amari Cooper and Nelson Agholor should be the first two wide receivers drafted, in my opinion. I has very impressed by the Agholor touchdown against Indianapolis. He showed good hops to pull down a ball that was badly overthrown, and then he someone landed, turned and got up field before the defenders around him could get him down. Very few receivers in the league would have caught that ball, and even fewer would have then been able to take it the final 15-20 yards for a touchdown. He’s special, and he’s in a good offense. But I digress. You asked about Green-Beckham and Dorsett. I think they both look pretty good. Pretty comparable, I think. Dorsett is damn fast, and he’s in a better offense. On the downside, he’s definitely not doing much this year, and they’ve got a bunch of other guys. Will Dorsett be better than Donte Moncrief a year from now? I can’t sign off on that right now. If you look at what Green-Beckham did as a sophomore at Missouri, it’s pretty comparable to what Mike Evans and Kelvin Benjamin were doing at the same point in their college careers. (All three of those receivers, of course, are 6-foot-5). Green-Beckham seems to be working hard and coming along. I think he caught 4 passes in the Rams game, and two of them were pretty impressive. On one, he used his height to make a good sideline catch. On another, he caught a ball on the sideline, then tricked the defensive back by spinning inside (rather than out of bounds), picking up a few more yards. He looks like he’ll be starting pretty quickly (definitely on opening day in 2016) and he could be pretty good.
Question 9
We know that Team defenses can change radically from year to year. Schedule often has a bearing. An average-plus defense can be "great" with the right schedule. Name 2 or 3 who you think "could" move from that avg-plus to "great" purely on schedule. In addition, name 2-3 who is an average MINUS DT that has a brutal schedule. We START 2 each week and draft 3 in an 8 team league. I want to know who NOT to draft.
Jim Backstrom (Henderson, NV)
Let me see the 16 games this weekend. Then I will have seen the most meaningful two preseason games for everyone, and I will start putting together win-loss projections for each team, figuring out who’s winning each division and whatnot. We’re close, but let me have one more look at these teams first. And after I have a lean on whether teams should win 6, 7, 9 wins or whatever, I’ll take those numbers and run them through the strength of schedule machine. Right now, you’re trying to rank defenses 1-32. The bottom 25 percent, you say, won’t be drafted, so you can start by eliminating eight of them. That’s a little harder than you might think. The Saints, for example, were a team that I had firmly in that group a week ago, but they were flying around pretty good against the Patriots, opening with three straight three-and-outs. Similarly, the Falcons were lousy last year and have some personnel shortcomings, but they’re got a new coaching staff and a new scheme. I think they’re going to win the NFC South, and it wouldn’t surprise me to see them sneak out of there. I feel more comfortable with the six I have below those groups – Washington, Chicago, Oakland, Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay and Tennessee. Then, factoring in that everyone’s draft boards are different, I think it’s safe to assume you won’t be drafting anyone outside your top 20 either. So let’s draw a line through Dallas, San Francisco, Jacksonville and the Giants. I’ve got Buffalo at the top of my board right now. If I had to pick a defense that will benefit from scheduling more than any other, it would be the Colts. They get to play six games against the Texans, Jaguars and Titans, and another against Jameis Winston. Thinking out loud, if you wanted to piece together a trio of defenses based on schedules, I suppose you could cheaply draft Carolina, Atlanta and New Orleans. That would be an easy group to obtain, I think, considering Carolina is probably the only one that’s in people’s top 15. But they each get to play against Winston twice, and he’s going to force a lot of balls. And those defenses also will play those three lesser teams from the AFC South (Jacksonville, Tennessee, Houston). Similarly, you could select the Bengals, Ravens and Steelers to get six matchups against Josh McCown (or Johnny Manziel), or you could go with the Bills-Dolphins-Patriots to go after Ryan Fitzpatrick and Geno Smith. Fitzpatrick doesn’t take many sacks but throws too many balls into coverage.
Question 10
Ian, love your work! I am in a 12 team keeper auction league (2RB, 2WR, 1 Flex) and have Antonio Brown locked up for my first keeper at $30. I have a choice for my second keeper of Lamar Miller at $14 or Brandin Cooks at $11. I see Cooks continue to climb your ratings to the point of being more valuable than Miller but worry about going double WR as my keepers because it may lock me in to drafting RBs early even if value exists elsewhere. My questions for you: Why the continued climb for Cooks, do you really see him cracking top 10 or even top 5? What is the value of "flexibility"? i.e. Is it worth giving up a few dollars of value in order to be able to draft best available? Thanks and keep up the great work!
Bret K (Cincinnati, OH)
Cooks looks like a breakout guy. He’s had multiple big plays in both preseason games. He looks way better than he did last year. He’s special. At worst, he’s going to be a top-10 receiver, and he might be a top-5 guy. I suppose you can mull whether you can buy him in your regular auction and how much others in your league might value him, but I wouldn’t get too cute. If you lose Cooks, you’ll be kicking yourself all year. You’ve got plenty of money and roster spots to figure out the rest of the team.
Question 11
Dynasty league. Torn on whether to trade DeMarco Murray for Julio Jones. Play 2 rbs and 2 wr and a flex. Also have 1st pick overall and pretty sure taking Todd Gurley. Thanks for the help
jim bo ()
I would take Julio Jones over DeMarco Murray. Jones will have a longer career. With running backs, you use them and wear them out. Murray had close to 500 touches last year for the Cowboys, and he’s got a long history of injuries. Jones, on the other hand, should be one of the very best receivers in the league for years and years.
Question 12
Feeling pretty confident with my 12-team selections. Seems like we are high on all of the same guys except for a few, Jordan Cameron being one of them. Any main reasons you are not a fan of him this year besides him being extremely injury prone?
ANTHONY MARTINO (Philadelphia, PA)
He’s had problems with concussions. That’s definitely a factor. And how much are they going to use him? I think they’ve got four wide receivers they like, they’ll be throwing to running backs, and they even use a lot of two tight ends. Dion Sims will catch a couple of touchdowns, I bet. I do not envision them jamming in a bunch of balls to Jordan. I will concede, however, that he’s one of the faster tight ends around, and he’s definitely a talented guy. In their last preseason game, they got him running down the sideline on what could have been about a 40-yard touchdown. The throw was right on the money, but the coverage was pretty good and Cameron couldn’t quite hang onto it.
Question 13
I'm a big fan of Fantasy Index, so I was pleasantly surprised to see a question I threw your way a while ago in the mailbag that opens the magazine this year - guess I've made the big time now! My question here is about auction strategy in a league that has a superflex (QB/RB/WR). This format essentially compels a good team to start 2 QBs, and I wondered if that format would make you more or less likely to go for one (or both??) of the 'Big 2' or if you'd rather allocate the bulk of your budget to RB & WR and play two 'solid' QBs from the tier(s) below them that would be much cheaper.
L.B. Graham (Maryland Heights, MO)
I don’t have time right now to run the numbers (too many letters this week) but I know what they would say if I did. Luck and Rodgers would be the top 2 players on the board. In that kind of format, you really want to stay have two of the top 12-15 quarterbacks, and it’s really nice if you can also have a third – covering for byes, injuries, slumps and matchups. Not only do quarterbacks score more points than the other players, but they’re also more protected now than ever before, so they’ve got a better chance of last 16 games than the other field players.
Question 14
I pick 10th out of 12 in a standard league, with a format of 1-12, 12-1 and wondering should I go for the two best players available or pick up the best rb that is left. Usually, I like to pick up a QB , then the best wr available. Love the work you guys do and I have finished in the playoffs many times using you guys. Last year I had the most overall points, but missed the playoffs.
MARK SIMARD (Seattle, WA)
I would expect to select a wide receiver and a running back with my first two picks. It’s nice to have some balance heading into the third round. With the quarterbacks, I don’t think there’s a ton of difference between the top guys after Luck and Rodgers, so you might be able to address that position in even the seventh round. Earliest I would even consider a quarterback would be the fifth round.
Question 15
Not sure if this falls into your realm, but every year my league has nothing but problems with draft pick trading. We allow it only at the very beginning of the draft and it becomes troublesome trying to evaluate if the offerings are fair. Wondering if there's some matrix/ draft pick value chart that can just be passed out that makes this self running. I've seen some auto calculating utilities that spit out a result if a trade is fair after you enter in all the criteria. It works, but is cumbersome.
Bill Petilli (Larchmont, NY)
What’s the problem here? What are you trying to solve? If two teams want to trade a few draft picks, you let them. It would be very unusual, I think, to see a lopsided, unfair trade, because both sides are operating in their own best interest. Nobody is going to make a trade unless he feels it makes his team better. So unlikely that somebody will trade away his first-round pick for a 12th-round pick. For me to overturn a trade, I want to see some kind of evidence that the two owners are colluding. That is, Owner A isn’t trying to make his team better. He’s initially transferring assets to Owner B to give that team a better chance of winning.
Question 16
Can you please explain your thoughts on "tiers" of players in a specific groups as far as what splits of points players should be grouped into? Would projected points be valued the same between different groups (ex. RB's vs. WR's)? Do you use a tier type system when you draft? Do you believe they're helpful? Thanks!
Jeff Carter (Franklin, TN)
I don’t do a lot with tiers. Nothing official – not coloring sections of the draft board or anything. Going into drafts (or auctions) I am aware that there are certain clumps of players. With quarterbacks, more commonly, I believe the first two are really good, and that there isn’t a big difference between the next seven. So I guess we could call that a tier. Or sometimes I’m drafting online with an Excel file in front of me (where I can sort the guys either by position or by overall value). So there’s a tier element there in that sometimes I can see there are a half-dozen comparable players at the same position coming up, creating the potential to trade down or address the position in the next round. But it’s not something I think too much about. As far as publishing and making player recommendations, you must keep in mind that I’m trying to address dozens of different scoring methods. Standard, PPR, ESPN, Yahoo. Flex players. Six points for TD passes. Double quarterbacks. Touchdown only. 8-10-12-14 teams. And leagues that I don’t even know about (I don’t actually do “rankings”, I put together player projections that become rankings, with the reader plugging in his own scoring system). The possibilities are endless, and each league would have it’s own unique set of tiers. I don’t have the time to run around and try to manage all of those.
Question 17
I'm in a 12 team PPR with QB scoring 6 points per TD, my question is with the second pick should I take a top end RB like Eddie Lacy or a QB Rodgers, or Luck?
Joel Nault (Tumwater, WA)
I would be looking at Julio Jones or Antonio Brown. In that kind of format, I like receivers with a good chance of catching 110-plus passes. Luck would be No. 3 on my board.
Question 18
The Dallas RB situation is a committee situation but what happens when McFadden goes down with an injury? Will we see Joseph Randle's numbers jump up or will they find someone else to spell him?
ERIC SCOLNICK (Redmond, WA)
I saw both of these guys on Sunday night. They look very ordinary. McFadden has good speed, but he’s just a lanky straight-line runner. Randle looks like a good backup. Even behind that great offensive line, I will be very surprised if either of those guys is a top-15 back.
Question 19
I'm in a 12 team PPR league, where the QB gets 6 points for throwing a TD. A position player gets .5 points per reception. I see many leagues using 4 points now for a passing td. Does this make the Qb in my league much more valuable than a position player? and should I draft a qb in the 1st round?
William Drennan (Berkeley Hts, NJ)
Anytime you increase the value of touchdown passes, it makes quarterbacks more valuable. It moves them up the board. But you’re still dealing with the reality that there are a lot of comparable quarterbacks after those two elite, playmaker guys. So you might be able to handle this position very nicely in the fifth round. To see the exact breakdown, use the customized stats.
Question 20
For a dynasty league, I'm taking Luck with my first pick and have some confusion for the next 2. I could go with Jeremy Hill in the 2nd and someone like Hilton in the third. Or I could go with Julio/Cobb/Green (whoever is there) and take a chance on taking Gurley as my #1 rb. Thoughts?
Garrett Seymour (Fitchburg, WI)
Gurley is a gamble, I think. You have to pick him sight unseen. I’d be more interested in going with Jeremy Hill, and then seeing what receivers are still around in the third round.
Question 21
Ian my PPR Keeper Team has been devastated by injuries.. lost Foster and Jordy - trying to replace them ... options available via trade are Jimmy Graham, Sanders, Evans, Randle, Forsett, Ingram.. we keep 3 and my other 2 are now Lamar Miller and J Matthews...any thoughts ? leaning towards Evans but need some input.
PHIL SCARCELLA (Palm Coast, FL)
Lots of good players there. Comes down to price. How much does it cost to get any of them? Mike Evans is a special dude. Not quite as dynamic in the PPR format, I think, but definitely going to be a quality player for a lot of years.
Question 22
I play in a 10 team keeper league and we lose the previous year's draft slot with whomever you decide to keep. I have the 4th overall pick and am looking to decide on keeping Rodgers and lose a third round pick or Forsett and, since he went undrafted last year, I would lose my last round pick? I am leaning towards Forsett but Rodgers is so good it is causing a dilemma for me.
Pete Kelly (Evergreen Park, IL)
If you look at the “bang” number between those guys, there isn’t much of a different. Rodgers gives you about 15 more points of value in a standard league, relative to the significant other players at the position. So I think the correct play is to protect Forsett, hope that he’s all he’s supposed to be, and then address the quarterback position in the draft. We know that there will be many good quarterback selections available. In the fifth round, I would rather be selecting a quarterback than a running back. You also, of course, could wind up selecting Rodgers.
Question 23
I’m in a keep 4 league and im trying to decide on B Marshall or G. Bernard
Kenneth Clark (Wilmington, NC)
Sign me up for Marshall. I think he’ll catch a lot of balls. Unless Jeremy Hill gets hurt, Bernard is just a backup and part-time player.
Question 24
Over the years I've tended to look for WRs in their 3rd year, as that has historically been the "breakout year" for wideouts. Leaving aside the question of whether WRs are breaking out earlier now, is there a "breakout year" for QBs? My gut feeling is that it takes a bit longer to learn the QB position, and Year 4 might be the magic year, but I'd like to know if the statistics support that idea. Your thoughts?
kevin tschetter (SANDY, UT)
Good question. I’ve got too many letters this week to take the time to dip into this issue with the thoroughness it deserves. Will try to get around to this issue later. Quarterbacks definitely get better with age. Those guys in their 30s, they know what they’re doing.
Question 25
Thanks for the great advice over the years and now I am going to the well one more time. I am picking 8th in a 12 team snake draft,last year I picked 10th and went Dez and Megatron and Edelman with my 3 first picks.Got E.Sanders in the 5th ,Russell Wilson in the 7th and picked up Ingram and J. Bell in the 9th and 10th Our scoring is 4pts QB passes,1/2 ppr, 1point per 20yds rec and rushing and 1 point for 50 yards passing. We start 1Qb ,2RB,2WR/TE,1Flex,1K,1D. With the custom scoring cheat sheet that I get every year I can find running backs deep in the draft while most people in my league are looking at magazines that were printed 3 months ago. I don't think I should pick a QB till the 7th or beyond and I get a little skittish taking a running back in the 1st and 2nd considering that they have a higher % of injury over a WR. And to top that off I have a feeling Rodgers and Luck will be off the board when I pick in round 1. I won the title last year with this strategy but am looking for a little advice again.
PAUL NICKAS (Jacksonville, FL)
I’d be hoping for one of the franchise receivers at the end of the first round, hopefully either Julio Jones or Antonio Brown. But you’ve got to see who’s there. I’m not opposed to selecting another wide receiver in the second round, but my preference would be to keep it balanced by selecting a running back. That should give you a little more flexibility in the later rounds.
Question 26
I'm in a 10 team PPR league.I have the 2nd overal pick. We are allowed 1 keeper. I have Demarco Murray (losing a 10th round pick this year) Other keepers are: L. Bell, O.D.B., J.Hill, J. Forett, F.Gore, J. Matthews. Also the team picking #1 tipped his hand and is going with A.P. My question is should I go W.R. - Julio Jones or Antonio Brown or R.B. ? If I do go W.R. should I also follow up in round 2 with W.R. Then in round 3 get my 2nd R.B . to go with Murray? thanks in advance for the advice.......
BRAULIO SANCHEZ (Norwalk, CT)
I like Julio. He’s my No. 1 player overall in a PPR format.