Heading into the middle of November,

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 Heading into the middle of November, the weather at least should start getting cooler. This is directly contrasted by some really good, promising looking games this weekend that will serve to muddle up the playoff picture even further. With a massive logjam of middling teams making up the league this year, let’s take two ‘starts’ and two ‘sits’ for this weekend.

Start-

Dolphins D/ST- The Dolphins have a fairly middling defense. In fantasy, they’ve been largely feast or famine with inspiring performances against New England and Pittsburgh being tossed in with clunkers against the Jets and Bears. This week’s game pits the team against a very one-sided Cleveland offense whose personnel plays into Miami’s hand. Many of the Dolphins’ issues on defense have come through the air, as they’ve allowed 26 touchdown passes this season. However, they’ve been less vulnerable on the ground where the Browns’ Nick Chubb will be heavily involved. Cleveland’s Jacoby Brissett isn’t scaring anyone, and this is a comfortable home game Miami should win easily. This defense is a nice streaming option this weekend.

Christian Kirk, JAC WR- Kirk has had a solid season in his first year with Jacksonville, with 574 yards on 43 receptions and five touchdowns roughly halfway through. The Jaguars are going to fall behind, by a lot and quickly this Sunday. With the Chiefs presumably set to play Prevent a lot in the game’s later stages, garbage time production could well be in order here. Kirk is therefore an interesting pickup against a very average Chiefs defense that hasn’t been stellar against either pass or run this season. As such, he looks like a quality Flex or WR2 pick up.

Sit-

Andy Dalton, NO QB- Dalton has quietly provided quality veteran play under center this season, as he has been more efficient than Winston while passing for slightly more yards per game. Even still, this weekend’s matchup comes with a familiar foe for the former Cincinnati Bengal- the Pittsburgh Steelers. This one’s probably going to be a defensive struggle of sorts. The Saints simply lack the personnel on offense to properly support him. The Steelers are an all around top ten defensive unit. You can probably do better than Dalton on free agency.

Matthew Stafford, LAR QB- Stafford’s rough season got worse with a dismal performance in Tampa Bay. This season, Stafford has thrown for more than one touchdown in a game just once, thrown for over 300 yards just as many times, and has an ugly 1:1 TD:INT ratio. Stafford has coped with countless injury issues over the course of his long career, and he has been playing for quite a long time. It’s possible that he’s finally hit a wall of sorts. Either way, this shouldn’t be your problem moving forward. Not just this weekend, but you should wait until Stafford strings together multiple good games before starting him. This weekend’s matchup against Arizona isn’t that bad, but Stafford still isn’t an ideal starter for this weekend. See what’s on the waiver wire first.

 With the season just under halfway through already, it’s usually the time of year where teams begin to clearly establish themselves- the 1-6s and 0-7s of the league are clearly done, the 6-1s and 7-0s might be just waiting to finish claiming the division, but then the 3-4s and 4-3s hang in the balance, their statuses changing on a week to week basis. This year, though, the majority of the league lies around the latter- a lot of middling, decent teams in a logjam with mediocre standings. So, let’s see what players to look forward to for this week, and who you should look the other way on.

Start-

Aaron Rodgers, GB QB

It feels a little weird having to advise people to start a man like Aaron Rodgers, but that’s just because the matchup this week is rough on paper, and Rodgers hasn’t performed to the sterling standard he’s established throughout his career this season. That said, a player of nearly legendary talent such as Rodgers isn’t going to stay down forever, and he’s due for a big game on prime time. Don’t just look for Rodgers to dial it up this game, don’t be surprised if the Packers shock America with a win in Buffalo.

Kenneth Walker III, SEA RB

Walker is coming off an incredible performance in Los Angeles, posting over 160 yards on the ground to go with a couple scores. With the 6-1 Giants coming to town, look to deploy Walker here for sure, as New York is in possession of the league’s 31st ranked run defense. In terms of game script, this one will probably be fairly close and might be relatively low scoring, which bodes well for the enticing matchup. In truth, this is probably the safest play at running back this week out of all the non-automatic starters.

Bengals D/ST, CIN D/ST

The Bengals get a favorable matchup in this Monday’s Battle of Ohio, as the Browns offense is hopelessly stuck in a funk this year. With deficient play calling and decision making, the Bengals defense will find that they don’t even have to do all of the work. Jacoby Brissett has been somewhat turnover prone over the last few weeks, terrible play calling has mitigated Nick Chubb’s effectiveness and, as a result, this is a solid streaming opportunity for this middling unit.

Sit-

Justin Fields, CHI QB

Fields sure did have a fun time in Foxborough Monday night, leading the Bears to a stunning blowout victory over the Patriots. That said, his stats for this season are still brutal. Juxtaposed to Lamar Jackson, whose legs make him a fantasy superstar- Fields’ legs are the only thing keeping him from not being the worst fantasy QB in the league. Off the heels of inflating his stats Monday, Fields is averaging 67.3 rushing yards per game, which is really good for a Quarterback. Sadly, averaging less than 20 attempts and less than 200 yards suggests Monday’s results were a fluke. Stay far away.

Jimmy Garropolo, SF QB

An annual usual, Jimmy G finds himself missing some pieces to use on offense. Specifically, Deebo Samuel will miss this weekend’s pivotal matchup against the Rams, a rigid defense inching towards the top in NFL pass defense. Even though he’s got Christian McCaffrey, CMC’s limited reps during last week’s game means chemistry probably isn’t there just yet. It’s best to wait on a better situation to deploy Jimmy Garropolo.

Literally anyone on the Carolina Panthers roster, CAR

The Panthers are a mess, even after upsetting Tampa Bay. Their offensive line is horrible, they just traded away their best player at running back, and that was not long after trading arguably their best receiver. Even their stout defense isn’t valuable because they’re frequently being overworked and gassed by the late game because the putrid offense isn’t able to generate any serious momentum consistently. This is a bad time to want to get creative and play PJ Walker- or anyone on this roster. Stay away from Charlotte at all costs.

 Standardized leagues see their championship week coming up next. As such, this will be the last ‘three performances’ piece of the season. Best of luck!

1. Washington Football Team D/ST, @ Cowboys

Washington was on the receiving end of one of the biggest blowouts this season, on primetime television against a major division rival to boot. The defense had major issues both on and off the field, a scuffle breaking out early on their sidelines between Jonathan Allen and Daron Payne may have been the most fight the defense showed all game long.

The Football Team’s defense was supposed to be the team’s biggest asset heading into the season. It has unfortunately failed in that regard, being league average or worse across the board. A series of enormous games, home against Philadelphia then headed to New Meadowlands to face the Giants, await. While those teams are fair matchups for a defense, this particular defense has mostly failed to show significant upside this season. Whether vying for a fantasy championship or bragging rights in the consolation ladder, try to refrain from going for either using this unit.

2. Russell Wilson, vs Bears

Wilson has had a tumultuous season to say the least. A loss at home to the lowly Bears officially eliminating Seattle from the postseason hopefully convinces Pete Carroll and co to give Wilson the rest of the season to rest, as he clearly hasn’t been at 100% pretty much all year ever since an early October finger injury put him out of commission. Whether or not that actually happens, the only thing Wilson has done well this year is avoid turning the ball over- only five interceptions in twelve starts is pretty good, but barely averaging 200 yards a game with just sixteen touchdowns on the season is not. Considering the lack of offensive talent the Seahawks possess combined with a middling at best offensive line, it’s probably in your best of interest to simply ditch Wilson for something better. Even his counterpart in Week 16, Nick Foles, is probably a better option at this point.

3. Davis Mills, vs Chargers

Mills has been receiving regular starts since the benching of Tyrod Taylor. Up until Week 16, that was producing fairly straightforward results- ugly losses, mediocre stat lines, anything you’d expect to see from a team that the average football fan might have a tough time naming even a single player on. Well, Mills hurled a gem as he led the Texans to a big upset win over the visiting Chargers, outdueling Justin Herbert in the process. Mills held an efficient, tidy statline of 21/27, 254 yards and two touchdowns. You probably aren’t hearing MVP chants over numbers like those, but that line is definitely fantasy worthy. This may seem ridiculous to suggest of a Texans offensive player, but as Mills is no doubt available on your league’s waiver wire, he may yet be worth a look if you’re in a tight spot. His last three games have seen him post a 5:1 TD:INT ratio, averaging a shade over 250 yards and leading his team to a 2-1 record over that span. In 2 QB leagues, Mills could be worth a look if you’re a gambler- the Texans visit the 49ers and host the Titans to close their season, and neither of those teams boast particularly intimidating defenses. 

In some leagues, this was the first week of the playoffs. In others, this was a crucial week in which seedlings were finalized and the postseason begins next week. Either way, there were quite a few notable performances this week, so let’s analyze a few of them here.

1. Trevor Lawrence, @ Titans

Lawrence’s, as well as Jacksonville’s, disastrous season continued to spiral out of control in Tennessee. The Jaguars failed to put any points on the board while Lawrence threw four interceptions. His stellar running game which supported his efforts through the air managed to produce a whopping eight yards as well. The main headline coming into the game, as well as during the post game press conference, was the festering ineptitude that has been Urban Meyer in action as the team’s head coach. Well, much like how Meyer sees his assistant coaches, if you’ve been relying on Lawrence in fantasy to any significant extent, you’re most likely a loser who is well out of playoff consideration at this point. And things are going to stay that way, probably until Meyer inevitably skips town during the off-season this year. No matter the matchup, it might be a better idea to simply not even play a quarterback than it would to deploy Lawrence. He isn’t viable in even the deepest of deep leagues.

2. Taylor Heinicke, vs Cowboys

Until very late, Heinicke and the Washington offense were stymied- not just by the Cowboys defense, but by themselves. Collectively, Washington fumbled three times (Heinicke was one of them) and Heinicke himself threw an interception to go with an uninspiring stat line where he had an awful 4.9 QBR. With bye weeks in real life being done, there really isn’t any reason to use Heinicke apart from very deep 2 QB leagues where one of your starters got injured. He isn’t absolutely horrible and does have a decent enough schedule to look forward to, but his numbers- 19:12 TD:INT and roughly 230 yards per game passing - don’t inspire much confidence.

3. Jimmy Garropolo, @ Bengals

Garropolo and the 49ers picked up a huge overtime win in Cincinnati. While he had some blunders in real life that prevented the team from winning in regulation, Garropolo’s stat line was fairly solid- he went 27/41 with 296 yards, two touchdowns and no turnovers. While Garropolo hasn’t been lighting up the board in any sense this year, he’s only thrown eight interceptions in thirteen games and has averaged roughly 250 passing yards a game. He has been remarkably consistent and could prove valuable for fantasy owners heading into a crucial part of the season. Feel free to utilize him confidently in 2 QB leagues. 

With the fall leaves crumbling and giving away to colder, snowier weather, fantasy teams need to turn up the heat as many will experience playoff action very soon. That said, let’s take a look at three notable performers from this week of NFL action and assess how it is important for the fantasy world.

1. Odell Beckham Jr, vs Jaguars

Cooper Krupp had an incredible performance receiving wise, but he wasn’t alone. Actually, he sort of was. In fact, Odell Beckham Jr put together a stat line that has been mostly symbolic of his fantasy value for the last three years in the team’s win over Jacksonville. He hauled in two receptions for 28 yards and a score- a flashy 27 yard touchdown reception giving his stat line actual tangible value. Since taking passes from Matthew Stafford, OBJ has amassed 9 receptions for 127 yards and two scores across three games. That simply isn’t good enough to warrant deploying him as even a WR2 or a flex play.

2. Bengals D/ST, vs Chargers

Apart from harass Austin Ekeler a bit, the Bengals defense failed to slow down Justin Herbert and the Chargers in the slightest way during the team’s eventual fourth quarter collapse that led to a 41-22 loss. They’ve now given up 30 or more points in six consecutive games and have failed to hold the opposition to less than 20 points in all but one of their games all year. The Bengals have some imposing foes coming up for their patchwork unit to hold up against, but their matchup spread doesn’t really matter. There are better alternatives on free agency by a long shot, and you shouldn’t give this unit so much as a passing glance.

3. Tua Tagovailoa, vs Giants

Tagovailoa was able to shrug off some pre-game trash talk from Logan Ryan and the imposing Giants defense to put together a solid stat line to lead Miami to victory. Tagovailoa went 30/41 with 244 yards a couple touchdowns thrown, while receiving minimal support from the lifeless Miami running game. Those numbers are pretty par for the course for him, especially over the last month of play where he has a 6:1 TD:INT ratio and has averaged a shade less than 250 passing yards. Without a particularly daunting matchup ahead, the young Miami game manager makes for a worthwhile QB2 and could be useful for needy teams heading into crunch time, either to slip into the playoffs or succeed once there. He won’t win you any games, but his floor is relatively high, so he definitely won’t lose you any games. 

Three performances to make note of from Week 11 NFL action

Week 11 certainly ruffled some feathers just in time for Thanksgiving, with two major upsets and a couple of very notable injuries taking place. As the real world season rages on, teams furiously vie for very limited playoff spots much like in the fantasy realm. Let’s talk about a few very notable performances which took place.

1. Joe Flacco, vs Dolphins

Despite the loss to a mediocre opponent, Flacco turned back the clock a bit in this one and put together a pretty solid performance. He passed for just a shade under 300 yards, threw two touchdowns without turning the ball over.

It should probably be pretty easy to figure out that this was Flacco’s ceiling, as the veteran QB hasn’t been productive in years, his status as the team’s starter when Zach Wilson gets healthy is very questionable, and even if he secures playing time for the rest of the season, he plays on probably the least talented offensive unit in the league. Flacco isn’t a worthy QB2, and he should only even receive a passing glance if somehow both your starter and backup are on bye, or perhaps one is on bye while the other is injured. Even then, there will probably be safer options on free agency.

2. Russell Wilson, vs Cardinals

One week after his 150th career start, in which Russell Wilson’s Seahawks were shutout for the first time in his career, things didn’t get much better for the team at home as they lost to division rival Arizona. For his part, Wilson had an uninspiring stat line, with just 150 yards passing on barely 50% completion and no touchdowns thrown.

Wilson probably isn’t 100% following a rushed return from a hand injury. Even still, Seattle as a whole has experienced major regression on both sides of the ball- the Defense has been roughly league average across the board, and offense has sputtered. Losing starting RB Chris Carson for the year doesn’t figure to help that. It might be for the best to reconsider starting Wilson if you have a capable backup or an option on free agency- his numbers haven’t been close to QB2 status this year- banking on Wilson for his name and past achievements doesn’t make sense.

3. Cam Newton, vs Washington

While his real-life decision making, taking a back breaking sack on the final drive of the game, wasn’t the best, Newton had a decent fantasy day. He threw for two touchdowns, ran for one and didn’t turn the ball over. He also rushed for 46 yards, which is amazing from a fantasy perspective for a Quarterback.

Cam Newton hasn’t been on the fantasy radar in any real sense since very early last season as a member of the New England Patriots. If he continues to start for Carolina, and he should, there’s potential for him to be a viable streaming QB2 candidate, if only because he can still produce decently on the ground. Keep your eyes on him moving forward, and don’t be afraid to slot him in as a bye week replacement. 

Lately, the NFL has seen some wild amounts of inconsistency; teams have won a blowout one week, then lost in similar fashion the next. Top seeded teams are losing to teams who may not even make the playoffs. In general, the real world league is wide open and everything is on the table. The same can be said for fantasy, so let’s break down three impactful performances made during the tenth regular season week.

1. Lamar Jackson, @ Dolphins

Jackson and the Ravens had their collectively ugliest performance of the season in a very winnable Thursday night game in Miami, coming out flat and dropping a 22-10 affair. Jackson had a tough time getting going in this one, throwing for under 300 yards with a touchdown and an interception each. Incidentally, he lead the team in rushing with 39 yards on nine tries.

This may seem like Jackson might not be the sure fire fantasy starter he has been moving forward anymore, but that sentiment couldn’t be further from the truth. This game is an accurate representation of what the ‘floor’ looks like for Jackson. Even at his worst, this performance certainly was not dazzling, but for fantasy purposes, if you started Jackson you could’ve done a lot worse. Simply put, the fact that Jackson is such a consistent performer on the ground and has greatly elevated his passing performance this year suggests that he’s easily a top level option at the Quarterback position. The Ravens have some appealing matchups down the road, including two meetings against the generous Cleveland defense along with a meeting with Cincy and a matchup against the Bears. However, it doesn’t matter who they’re facing as far as Lamar Jackson owners should be concerned- he’s an obvious start in every sense, as long as he’s 100% healthy.

2. Matt Ryan, @ Cowboys

Atlanta had the lid blown off in Dallas, getting obliterated in every single aspect of the game in their awful 43-3 loss. This game came just one week after an impressive road win in New Orleans for the Falcons, juxtaposed to a deflating blowout loss at home to Denver by the Cowboys- a good indicator of how rapidly the pendulum has swung for teams across the league this year.

For his part, Matt Ryan played an uninspiring game, going just 9/21 with 117 yards and two interceptions. In standardized scoring leagues, Matt Ryan actually lost you points today.

Unfortunately, this game did a good job at exposing how abysmal the Falcons are, talent wise. The team sorely misses wide receiver Calvin Ridley, but even the simple return of their #1 wide receiver would be far from enough on its own. Kyle Pitts has been very hot/cold this year, Mike Davis hasn’t become the bellow running back Atlanta was hoping for when they got him in free agency, and Matt Ryan isn’t getting any younger.

Looking ahead, the Falcons schedule is unsurprisingly very topsy  turvy. On one hand, they get a couple of exploitable games against the likes of Jacksonville and Detroit. On the other, they get a meeting with the stingy Patriots defense in Week 11, they’ll go to Buffalo later this season and they’ve still got one meeting left with Tampa Bay. If you can get a less volatile option under center, by all means, go for it.

3. Jonathan Taylor, vs Jaguars

Taylor has quietly put together an incredible season thus far, as he had his seventh consecutive game with 100+ yards and one touchdown in Indianapolis’ victory over Jacksonville. The last player to do that? The legendary LaDainian Tomlinson, who did it with the then-San Diego Chargers. That’s a good name to be spoken in the same sentence with.

With the Indianapolis passing attack proving potent albeit inconsistent, with the team as a whole being a legitimate playoff contender, there will continue to be opportunities for Taylor to succeed- as we’ve seen, he’s proven very consistent at a position and league year desperately craving such reliability.

The road ahead for the Colts is quite varied. On one hand, a rematch with Jacksonville, another game with Houston and a home tilt against the Raiders provide easy starting opportunities for Taylor, where he should be a no brainer. On the other hand, Indianapolis has a meeting with New England, Arizona and Tampa Bay as well. Will Taylor be able to extend his streak of consecutive games with 100+ yards and one touchdown? You should be at the forefront of finding out, as he should be penciled in as an RB1 until he slows down considerably. 

 We are now officially halfway through the season, as most teams across the league played in their ninth of seventeen games this year. Still plenty of time left for a couple bubble teams to make a run, and that applies to fantasy as well. Let’s take a look at three names who made noteworthy performances during Week 9 action.

1. Vikings D/ST, @ Ravens

Another week, another down to the wire loss for the Vikings, who sit at 3-5 having lost all five of their games by one possession, two in overtime and one by a single point. At the forefront of the heartbreak has been ineptitude on defense. Here, Minnesota gave up two touchdowns late en route to blowing a fourteen point lead in Baltimore. While they did pick off Lamar Jackson twice and take a kickoff 98 yards to the house, the Vikings’ defense has proven porous halfway through the season, and this outburst was definitely an anomaly. Mike Zimmer has consistently been a well rounded defensive coach, but that rugged Minnesota defense that manifested when he took over has long since faded. Minnesota does get two meetings with the Bears and a matchup in San Francisco, but they’re otherwise too volatile to be trusted for fantasy purposes. Call this unit a matchup/streaming play until enormous strides are made.

2. Josh Allen, @ Jaguars

It wasn’t Josh Allen the quarterback, but Josh Allen the defensive end who made headlines in the Bills vs Jaguars game, as the latter managed a sack, a pick, and plenty of bragging rights as Jacksonville stunned Buffalo in this low scoring affair. The quarterback Josh Allen had his worst start since 2019, failing to throw a touchdown and being intercepted twice to go with a lowly 264 yards. Simply put, placing too much stock into this off game would be quite silly. Prior to this game, Allen had thrown only three interceptions on the year, and his excellent play has had the Bills in the discussion for the team to beat in the AFC. While things may not be quite that optimistic anymore, Josh Allen is still absolutely a plug in and play signal caller, at least unless he throws a couple more clunkers like this. Deploy him and don’t think twice about the matchup.

3. Derek Carr, @ Giants

Carr had an uglier game than the stat line in Week 9 would suggest, as he went 30/46 with 296 yards, tossing one touchdown and two interceptions. Unfortunately for Carr, it was once again a dramatic week as he lost one of his best targets in Henry Ruggs III to a terrible DUI incident during the week. For the most part, Carr has had a pretty solid season, as he is just a touch short of a 2:1 TD:INT ratio and a little less than three hundred yards passing per game. The Raiders struggled in their first game following the Jon Gruden dilemma that resulted in his departure, and they struggled once again against mediocre competition coming off of more negativity during the week. They can’t seem to deal with adversity well, but if the team can manage to stay out of the news for something bad, Carr is still a pretty good bet to produce in fantasy. He’s a pretty firm QB2 with a solid floor moving forward. 

 We are now officially halfway through the season, as most teams across the league played in their ninth of seventeen games this year. Still plenty of time left for a couple bubble teams to make a run, and that applies to fantasy as well. Let’s take a look at three names who made noteworthy performances during Week 9 action.

1. Vikings D/ST, @ Ravens

Another week, another down to the wire loss for the Vikings, who sit at 3-5 having lost all five of their games by one possession, two in overtime and one by a single point. At the forefront of the heartbreak has been ineptitude on defense. Here, Minnesota gave up two touchdowns late en route to blowing a fourteen point lead in Baltimore. While they did pick off Lamar Jackson twice and take a kickoff 98 yards to the house, the Vikings’ defense has proven porous halfway through the season, and this outburst was definitely an anomaly. Mike Zimmer has consistently been a well rounded defensive coach, but that rugged Minnesota defense that manifested when he took over has long since faded. Minnesota does get two meetings with the Bears and a matchup in San Francisco, but they’re otherwise too volatile to be trusted for fantasy purposes. Call this unit a matchup/streaming play until enormous strides are made.

2. Josh Allen, @ Jaguars

It wasn’t Josh Allen the quarterback, but Josh Allen the defensive end who made headlines in the Bills vs Jaguars game, as the latter managed a sack, a pick, and plenty of bragging rights as Jacksonville stunned Buffalo in this low scoring affair. The quarterback Josh Allen had his worst start since 2019, failing to throw a touchdown and being intercepted twice to go with a lowly 264 yards. Simply put, placing too much stock into this off game would be quite silly. Prior to this game, Allen had thrown only three interceptions on the year, and his excellent play has had the Bills in the discussion for the team to beat in the AFC. While things may not be quite that optimistic anymore, Josh Allen is still absolutely a plug in and play signal caller, at least unless he throws a couple more clunkers like this. Deploy him and don’t think twice about the matchup.

3. Derek Carr, @ Giants

Carr had an uglier game than the stat line in Week 9 would suggest, as he went 30/46 with 296 yards, tossing one touchdown and two interceptions. Unfortunately for Carr, it was once again a dramatic week as he lost one of his best targets in Henry Ruggs III to a terrible DUI incident during the week. For the most part, Carr has had a pretty solid season, as he is just a touch short of a 2:1 TD:INT ratio and a little less than three hundred yards passing per game. The Raiders struggled in their first game following the Jon Gruden dilemma that resulted in his departure, and they struggled once again against mediocre competition coming off of more negativity during the week. They can’t seem to deal with adversity well, but if the team can manage to stay out of the news for something bad, Carr is still a pretty good bet to produce in fantasy. He’s a pretty firm QB2 with a solid floor moving forward. 

Halloween brought forth a number of entertaining games, and as the season rages on, the playoff picture begins to come into the spotlight. Let’s have a look at a few performances which ended up as highlights of the day.

1. Mike White, vs Bengals

Opportunity came knocking, and boy did Mike White answer. White did throw two interceptions, but he also poured on 405 yards and three touchdowns, including one to cap off the Jets’ late game come from behind win over Cincinnati. Of course, a lightning in a bottle type performance like this should clearly be approached cautiously; expecting him to come anywhere near these numbers on a regular basis, especially as teams start to get more tape on him, would be incredibly optimistic. Still, with Zach Wilson being on the mend for awhile, Mike White may surprisingly end up as a dark horse QB2 if he can even come close to what he did on Sunday. In a nutshell, that may be the brightest outlook a Jets QB has seen fantasy wise since Mark Sanchez over a decade ago. That’s saying something. For now, White should remain a matchup play at absolute best, and unless he strings together good performances, he realistically still shouldn’t be starting except for the most desperate of fantasy owners.

2. Jared Goff, vs Eagles

Even as the Lions fell down further and further in an eventual embarrassing blowout loss, Goff didn’t produce particularly much even in garbage time. On the day, he had a fairly boring stat line of 25/34 with 222 yards, no interceptions but also no touchdowns. The silver lining to Goff was that falling behind was going to be quite common for a lacking Detroit team. From a fantasy perspective, whether points are generated in garbage time or not is completely meaningless. After a game like this, any sort of conversation about Goff even having a consistent ceiling as a QB2 should officially fade away entirely. He simply doesn’t have anything around him to help him succeed. To be fair, Goff hasn’t been a terribly productive quarterback for fantasy in about four years anyway, so it’s understandable if you’ve given up on him long ago anyway.

3. Deebo Samuel, @ Bears

In a hard fought game that the 49ers really needed to have, Samuel came through big time. With 171 total receiving yards, he largely helped move the chains and fueled San Francisco late as they finally put the game away in the fourth quarter. Even with Jimmy Garropolo underperforming this season, Samuel hasn’t missed a beat. He narrowly trails Cooper Kupp for NFL’s leader in receiving yards, and he set a 49ers record for most yards through seven games. Continue to count on him, even with his fairly middling use of just under seven receptions per game. 

With Halloween on the horizon, hopefully your fantasy team hasn’t been spooked out of contention just yet! A number of fairly surprising games took place this week. With that said, let’s have a look at some impact performers from the day’s action:

1. D’Ernest Johnson, vs Broncos

What a way to make the most of an opportunity! The Cleveland understudy took over for the banged up Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt seamlessly on Thursday, pouring on nearly 150 yards and a rushing touchdown off 22 carries, while grabbing 22 receiving yards on a couple of receptions. Of course, don’t jump the gun on him just yet- he is the team’s third string at the position after all, so a healthy Nick Chubb or Kareem Hunt will prevent him from repeating his efforts on Thursday. However, Nick Chubb has an extensive injury history and Kareem Hunt will be out for quite awhile, so Johnson is definitely a good pick for a handcuff or bench pick for sure.

2. Patrick Maholmes, @ Titans

Up until this week, Maholmes’ efforts were enough to keep the Chiefs competitive for the most part, as their defense has been extremely porous thus far. That was not the case in Tennessee on Sunday, as Maholmes threw for just 206 yards, no touchdowns and an interception in the 27-3 drubbing in Nashville. The ‘prisoner of the moment’ approach would be to use Maholmes as a matchup play, deploying him against weaker defenses and seeking alternative options when stingier opponents are on tap. However, Tennessee’s defense is very middling and, up until Sunday, really didn’t have a standout performance this season to suggest they should belong anywhere near the upper echelon of units in the league. With Maholmes’ astounding track record, it would take several performances like this to remove him from being an automatic start. Don’t be a prisoner of the moment; continue to deploy Maholmes in any situation without a second thought.

3. Mac Jones, vs Jets

On the flip side, the Patriots have a young, unproven signal caller who played a fine game on Sunday. In a massive blowout in which his team scored 54 total points, Mac Jones had an efficient stat line of 24/36, 306 yards and two touchdowns to no turnovers. Mac Jones has been getting progressively better as the season has gone on. He was aided by a strong performance from both the defense and his ground game, with Damien Harris rushing for over a hundred yards and hitting paydirt twice. Expecting consistent performances like this from Mac Jones just yet is a tad optimistic, as the Jets aren’t exactly a particularly imposing opponent on either offense or defense, and Jones’ numbers to this point had been pretty average. Still, Jones has avoided having a particularly poor game and has been getting better as the season progressed. It wouldn’t be absolutely ludicrous to pencil him in as a QB2 with a relatively low ceiling, making him a capable option for teams who need a fill in for a bye week. 

On to October, and we start to get a general idea of who’s going to make a run in the NFL and who’s getting left in the dust. We have some question marks in between the 5-0 Cardinals and various one and zero win teams, but as a whole, the first week of October has started to separate the contenders from the pretenders.

That said, let’s focus on Week 5’s action and cover a few notable names.

1. Sam Darnold, vs Eagles

Darnold had easily his worst start of the season against Philadelphia, tossing three interceptions in the eventual come-from-behind loss. That said, it’s worth wondering if his solid start to the season, with a near 2:1 TD/INT ratio, was an aberration. Following Sunday’s performance, Darnold has thrown six interceptions in five games and is averaging just a bit over 250 passing yards per game. Worth noting is that, in Weeks 3 and 4, he ran for four touchdowns combined on fourteen rushes. Against the Eagles, however, he ran just twice for ten yards. Getting back into a rhythm on the ground would bode very well for Darnold, but because he still can’t yet be trusted, treat him as a matchup reliant QB2.

2. Geno Smith, vs Rams

Looks like Smith’s going to be gathering some starts under center for at least the rest of October. Following a tendon rupture and fractured dislocation in his middle finger, longtime starter Russell Wilson will be out at least four weeks, and could be out for as many as eight. Pressed in to action on the spot, Smith produced a respectable 10/17 with 131 yards, a touchdown and an interception as he threatened to bring the Seahawks back late against the stout Rams defense. Smith’s track record as a full time starter with the Jets is exceedingly poor, so it’s understandable to wonder why anyone would ever want to start, or even roster, him. In truth, you probably shouldn’t. But, Smith has a couple solid receivers and a respectable running game to work with which, in a nutshell, is more than New York ever gave him. Keep an eye on Smith, especially if you find yourself in a bye week bind.

3. Kyle Pitts, vs Jets

Pitts finally strung together a strong performance in Atlanta’s overseas victory, grabbing nine receptions for 119 yards and a touchdown. As the tight end position is ludicrously difficult to comfortably fill even in shallow leagues, this performance was definitely enough to warrant a roster spot for Pitts in all leagues, shallow or deep. Don’t expect games like this to be regular for him, but in a solid enough Atlanta offense, Pitts has the potential to produce. 

On to October, and we start to get a general idea of who’s going to make a run in the NFL and who’s getting left in the dust. We have some question marks in between the 5-0 Cardinals and various one and zero win teams, but as a whole, the first week of October has started to separate the contenders from the pretenders.

That said, let’s focus on Week 5’s action and cover a few notable names.

1. Sam Darnold, vs Eagles

Darnold had easily his worst start of the season against Philadelphia, tossing three interceptions in the eventual come-from-behind loss. That said, it’s worth wondering if his solid start to the season, with a near 2:1 TD/INT ratio, was an aberration. Following Sunday’s performance, Darnold has thrown six interceptions in five games and is averaging just a bit over 250 passing yards per game. Worth noting is that, in Weeks 3 and 4, he ran for four touchdowns combined on fourteen rushes. Against the Eagles, however, he ran just twice for ten yards. Getting back into a rhythm on the ground would bode very well for Darnold, but because he still can’t yet be trusted, treat him as a matchup reliant QB2.

2. Geno Smith, vs Rams

Looks like Smith’s going to be gathering some starts under center for at least the rest of October. Following a tendon rupture and fractured dislocation in his middle finger, longtime starter Russell Wilson will be out at least four weeks, and could be out for as many as eight. Pressed in to action on the spot, Smith produced a respectable 10/17 with 131 yards, a touchdown and an interception as he threatened to bring the Seahawks back late against the stout Rams defense. Smith’s track record as a full time starter with the Jets is exceedingly poor, so it’s understandable to wonder why anyone would ever want to start, or even roster, him. In truth, you probably shouldn’t. But, Smith has a couple solid receivers and a respectable running game to work with which, in a nutshell, is more than New York ever gave him. Keep an eye on Smith, especially if you find yourself in a bye week bind.

3. Kyle Pitts, vs Jets

Pitts finally strung together a strong performance in Atlanta’s overseas victory, grabbing nine receptions for 119 yards and a touchdown. As the tight end position is ludicrously difficult to comfortably fill even in shallow leagues, this performance was definitely enough to warrant a roster spot for Pitts in all leagues, shallow or deep. Don’t expect games like this to be regular for him, but in a solid enough Atlanta offense, Pitts has the potential to produce. 

And just like that, one month has come and gone in the NFL season. With that, let’s take a look at some standout performances from this week’s action.

1. Saquon Barkley, @ Saints

Barkley ended up with the highlight of the day, pulling off the buzzer beating TD rush that gave the Giants a surprising road victory against New Orleans. That said, that heart stopper will probably help to mask the rougher edges of Barkley’s day and his season. He finished the game with just 52 yards rushing despite the fact that the game basically went for five whole quarters. He also coughed it up once; though the Giants did get it back, standardized scoring leagues punished Barkley owners for the fumble all the same. This brings his total through one month to a lacking 186 rushing yards, just a touch over 46 yards per game. Most concerning would be his general lack of volume, as he is only averaging roughly a dozen touches per game. It is unfortunately becoming clear that Barkley is not the RB1 he seemed to be during his rookie year. There is still the chance that he achieves ‘mid season form’ and begins performing much better, but numbers unfortunately do not lie. Consider Barkley a matchup play moving forward, and even then, temper your expectations.

2. Taylor Heinicke, @ Atlanta

The Falcons may not be a world beating team by any means, but pump the brakes on anointing the Cowboys as NFC East winners for just a little while- Heinicke put Washington on his back and dragged them through an impressive victory in Atlanta, snatching victory from the jaws of defeat in an impressive fourth quarter come from behind on the road. Heinicke tossed three touchdowns and nearly 300 yards without turning the ball over, and was an excellent fantasy performer as well. With some matchups coming up against vulnerable secondaries in his horizon, Heinicke could potentially manifest into an intriguing QB2 considering what he has to work with on offense. Head coach Ron Rivera has never been known for being conservative, and will likely continue to give Heinicke opportunities to succeed as long as he continues to impress as he did here.

3. Chase Edmonds/James Connor, @ LA Rams

This was always going to be an interesting development, to see how Arizona would handle these two talented backs. And things sure got even more dicey on Sunday for fantasy owners. Edmonds ended up out gaining Connor considerably, outdoing him in rushing yards 120-50. However, Connor ended up with six more carries and a total of two rushing touchdowns, juxtaposed to Edmonds who did not hit paydirt. Both running backs performed well enough to give their owners a good return. Arizona’s offense has also been hitting on all cylinders in the first month of the season. That said, scoring 30+ points with over four hundred yards of offense won’t happen every single game, and when the Cardinals do eventually get slowed down, which running back comes out on top? There is no definitive answer just yet, so the best thing to do is simply monitor the situation until the backs in question have had a few more weeks to distinguish themselves. 

 Week 3 of NFL action was incredibly important for many teams. A few teams are already well behind the eight ball, while some have shown off potential playoff prowess already. With Week 3 mostly in the books, let’s take a few units from the past week and talk about ‘em-

1. Justin Tucker, @ Detroit

Tucker has definitely cemented himself as a Hall of Fame kicker and potentially one of the best to ever do it following his record winning photo finisher of a 66 yard field goal to capture victory in Detroit. He hit four field goals and his lone PAT of the day. The Ravens boast an explosive offense that affords him regular opportunities- he may be the only kicker in fantasy who could even be worth a quality skill player in trade.

2. Browns D/ST, vs Chicago

If you’re watching TV one relaxing Sunday, 1 PM hits, and you realize the remote to turn the channel to football is just out of reach, you might ask someone living with you to toss it to you, so you can remain seated. If they oblige, then they’ll potentially have more net passing yards doing so then the Bears offense did in the entire game against the Browns. Chicago’s offense managed just 47 total yards as a whole against Cleveland, and it wasn’t until the fourth quarter when their yards per play reached a dismal 1. The Browns defense has quietly been off to a great start thus far. They have a few weeks coming up with some tough tests, namely Minnesota, the Chargers and Arizona. If they perform solidly then, it may be worthwhile to invest in this unit for the long haul.

3. Ben Roethlisberger, vs Cincinnati

It may be a good idea to kick off some kind of farewell tour of sorts for Big Ben, because he is absolutely cooked. Padding stats in garbage time could fool those who don’t watch the games, but he has been absolutely miserable thus far following a blowout loss at home to the lowly Bengals. After said loss, it became abundantly clear that the Steelers’ triumphant week 1 victory in Buffalo was a complete fluke. However, because he has done a sufficient job thus far of stat padding with the game out of hand, Roethlisberger could actually figure as a QB2 for those who like to take a gamble. After all, the Steelers may find themselves playing from behind quite a lot this year. 

The regular season is back, both in real life and in fantasy. It was an explosive one, as well, with a slew of rookie QBs making their NFL debuts along with some tightly contested ballgames that oozed fantasy value on both sides. That said, let’s have a look at a few different individual performances that should be noted moving forward.

1. Tom Brady vs Dallas Cowboys

Brady had a productive night in a photo finish, throwing for 379 yards and four scores. He did get picked off twice, but he noticeably outperformed his ESPN projected total regardless. Unfortunately, Brady produces very little on the ground; apart from the occasional one yard QB sneak he’s known for, Brady will pretty much only move the chains with his arm. In this contest, he didn’t get much support from the dedicated running game, as the Buccaneers only ran for 52 yards as a team. The volume of work alone makes Brady an easy decision to start regardless of the particular matchup, but his one dimensional profile doesn’t help as much in fantasy as it does in real life.

2. Andy Dalton and Justin Fields, @ Los Angeles Rams

Dalton didn’t get benched, but Fields saw action regardless, with two completed passes and a three yard rushing touchdown. The way the Bears handled Fields in his NFL debut was quite unorthodox for a rookie, and it wasn’t unlike what we’ve seen the Saints do with Taysom Hill over the years. Fields doesn’t profile as a Swiss Army knife type player like Hill, and as such, isn’t worth starting until he starts over Dalton in real life. But if the Bears lose a few games and find themselves falling out of contention, Fields showed some flashes of being a multi faceted threat against the Rams and could be worth a flier or a bye week slot in.

3. The Saints defense and special teams, vs Packers

What a performance! They completely shutdown star quarterback Aaron Rodgers (133 yards, 2 INTs) and the recently extended Aaron Jones. They even did it a neutral site, as they could not play an actual home game due to Hurricane Ida. While one game shouldn’t cause this unit to fly to the top of the rankings just yet, this was a beyond amazing start that should definitely have owners reaching for this unit on the waiver wire if they happen to be there. 

We have finally got to the end of the most stressful 3 weeks before the start of the season. You sit and watch every game and hope the players you want to draft, or the ones on your dynasty team, don't get hurt. This year they started with a new format with only three preseason games. You sit and wonder what teams are doing putting out their starters versus a team that is only playing their second team defense in week 1. "Wait, it's week 2. Why are the starters running till the half. I thought they would do that next week?" "Wait, is my player hurt? Why isn't he out with the 1s? Is he resting?" It was a very confusing and stressful pre-season. Now that the confusion is over and the start of the season only days away, let's look at some of the things that came to light after this off-season. 

Injuries

Unfortunately this is part of the game. You can never predict it but it happens and sometimes it's something you don't expect. It looks like J.K Dobbins is out for the year with a torn ACL and a possible torn LCL. Just hope you were part of the leagues that drafted after this injury. If not, you were even more devastated by the news. Now it's "who do I pivot to, since I forgot to grab Gus Edwards as my handcuff". That age old question everyone asks after something like this. Hopefully you were able to grab Ty'Son Williams off of waivers. Looks like he will be the guy behind Gus Edwards. 

Evan Engram walked off with a calf injury after the last week of the Pre-season, after having a stellar camp. It looks like he will not be available week 1.  Something to keep your eye on if you like drafting your Tight Ends late. Another late round Tight End that suffered an injury is Adam Trautman. So far there has been no news other than it's minor and he went to a specialist. The thing is, you only go to a specialist if it's more than minor, so another thing to keep an eye on. The latest news is it will be 1-3 weeks from the time of the injury. Another big injury that happened in week 2 of the preseason was Travis Etienne is out for the season with a Lisfranc injury. This put a damper on people's dynasty teams and teams that drafted a tad early since he was going in the 6th-7th round. Carlos Hyde will now be the handcuff to James Robinson. 

Quarterback Battles

Every season there seems to be a battle for a starting QB spot somewhere in the league. There were quite a few this year compared to other years. It looks like Teddy Bridgewater took the reins in Denver. This is good news for Courtland Sutton, Jerry Juedy and Noah Fant. It looks like the Texans are going to be healthy, scratching DeShaun Watson for the rest of the season and giving the nod to Tyrod Taylor. I'm rooting for you Tryod, good luck. Trevor Lawrence cemented his spot at starting QB now that Gardner Minshew is shipped off to Philadelphia. The biggest QB battle, in my opinion, was Jameis Winston vs Taysom Hill. I have been Team Hill from the beginning and it looks like I will lose this one. Winston has won his seat at the head of the table and taken the starting QB spot. This opens things up for Alvin Kamara and the passing options on the team. The last QB battle is still ongoing and might go into the season. Trey Lance vs Jimmy Grappollo. It looks like the battle is over and both came out winners. It looks like Kyle Shanahan might go with a 2 QB type system. They will swap out QBs throughout the game. This has only happened two other times in history with the Cowboys with Roger Staubach and the Rams in 1951. The team seemed to showcase it in the first half of the last preseason game and it seemed to work well. Both Jimmy and Trey scored rushing TDs. Jimmy's was more of an "I want to keep my job" head first into the end zone run. This will be interesting to watch this season. Lance hurt his finger and hasn't been throwing. Looks like Jimmy will get the nod to start the season. Might be a sneaky week 1 sleeper pick going against Detroit in week one. Jimmy will want to show the coaches he wants to be the only QB to think about and start strong against Detroit. 

Cam Newton has been cut by the New England Patriots. This means Mac Jones will be starting week 1. I have been beating the drum for Mac Jones to be the starter all pre-season. Glad the kid gets a chance to start. He showed a quick release in Josh McDaniels offense which is needed. This brings up all Patriots including Jonnu Smith and Hunter Henry. I have been down on them all preseason unless Jones won the job. Now they will be moving on up. Jacobi Meyers is also an interesting late round sleeper as well. 

Other Random Takes

Ja'Marr Chase - Let's get some context here. Ja'Marr Chase hasn't played football in over a year. He opted out last season and was then drafted with the 5th overall pick by the Cincinnati Bengals to be teamed up with his former college QB Joe Burrow. So being drafted that high, there are high expectations. This preseason he has played in all 3 games. His stat line is 5 targets with 1 catch for 16 yards. You could argue Burrow didn't throw all but one of those passes so they probably weren't the best balls. The one Burrow did throw to him was literally in his hands, on the money, couldn't have been a better throw and it was dropped. Shaking the rust off is possible but 3 games and 1 catch is hard to see when he is being drafted before guys like Higgins and Boyd in the 4th-5th round. I would curve your expectations for Chase in redraft at this point. 

Kyle Pitts- I have wasted my breath on telling people to stop drafting Kyle Pitts as TE4. But no one wants to listen. He continues to be drafted as the TE4. Now as I stated before, the preseason was odd, but Pitts had 1 catch for 27 yards in 3 preseason games. Now I don't see any evidence he played in the first two games but if he did, he didn't see one pass. Other rookies have been seeing more playing time and targets. Tight end is one of the hardest positions to learn in the pros in their first year. Another coveted rookie, you should curve your expectations. 

Myles Gaskin- Looks like Myles Gaskin is going to be the lead guy. Once again why this preseason makes things more complicated. In week 1 of the preseason, Gaskin was used minimally and second behind Malcom Brown. Salvon Ahmed even had a good game that made you start questioning if Gaskin was worth it. Then in week 2 he was used a tad more than normal. The final week he wasn’t used at all and held out. Within the last few days Brian Flores has come out and said Gaskin is “the guy” and trusts him to be the 3 down back. Breathe a sigh of relief Gaskin fans. 

Next Man Up

This is a popular saying among football teams and should be in the vocabularies of fantasy football managers as well. Should you be looking to draft handcuffs? This is my opinion but in some situations of course. You draft Aaron Jones you should be targeting A.J Dillon. You draft Christian McCaffrey, you should be grabbing Chubba Hubbard. But I would not reach for my handcuff. I would only grab him if the price is right. Otherwise, I will grab someone else's handcuff too late. Injuries are inevitable in football and you should prepare to encounter them or you will be treading water all season. 

Defenses and Kickers

Ok, I know people don’t all use these ancient positions anymore but for some, these are important. Here are some important tips and tricks for these positions. For defenses, it's good to think ahead about the matchups. I am also one that likes to make sure, if necessary, to pick my defenses to not interfere with my starting offensive players if I am streaming defenses. If you are starting a defense and have one of your starters against them, each TD the player gets, would only get half the points. Now if your offense does not score, it does not affect your points as much. This is based on experience the more I’ve seen this work. As for Kickers, the best thing to look for, which is obvious, but it's drafting a kicker that is playing indoors over one in the elements. That’s what makes Younghoe Koo more valuable over Justin Tucker or Harrison Butker. He plays 10 of his 17 games indoors and 9 of the games during the Fantasy season. Even kickers like Ricardo Blankenship, who plays 11 of his 17 games indoors. These are guys that should be targeted in your drafts or when they hit waivers. 

Good Luck to everyone in your drafts. Don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any start/sit or waiver questions. 

Each day we get closer and closer to the start of fantasy drafts and the football season. We are at the point where training camps are starting, the rumor mills and coach speak are swirling around. Beat writers are starting to hype up players and give their inside edge as well as their predictions of how players might do. Now it’s time for me to give you my takes on my bold predictions for this season at each position. 

Quarterback

Kirk Cousins will be a Top 10 Fantasy Quarterback this season- Right now Kirk Cousins Average Draft Position (ADP) is 13th round and QB17. So why do I think Kirk Cousins will be a top 10 Fantasy Quarterback? In Cousins' last 4 seasons, Kirk has finished as a top 15 QB 3 of 4 times. Last season he finished as the QB11, right behind Lamar Jackson. Cousins also averaged 20 points weekly during the 2020 season on a run-heavy offense.  He was 9th in completion percentage of all QBs that attempted at least 150 passes. He finished as the top 4 in passing yards, and second in passing TDs. Cousins also finished as the QB6 in 2017 and had close to the same stats as last season. Yes he is on a predominantly rushing team, but he was still even able to throw 516 times. The team showed they were able to balance things out. Cousins just needs to pass more than 550 times and over 4500 yards and put up at least 35 TDs, which is in the realm of possibilities for him. Since Cousins does not have the rushing floor of other QBs, he will need to work hard to sneak into the top 10. 

Running Back

Jamaal Williams will finish the season with more fantasy points than D’Andre Swift- Lets take a quick look at what has happened in Detroit this off-season. The Lions have hired Offensive Coordinator, former head coach of the LA Chargers and former Buffalo Bills running backs coach, Anthony Lynn. Anthony Lynn likes running the ball. The Lions also hired head coach Dan Campbell who is an old school, run the ball down your throat, type of coach. They also hired Duce Staley as their running backs coach. They extended their stud center, Frank Ragnow, by picking up his fifth year option. They also drafted Penei Sewell 7th overall in the NFL Draft. Jamaal Williams has been playing the second fiddle for most of his career. He has not amassed over 556 rushing yards in his career, and no more than 262 yards receiving yards in a season. His best season was his rookie season in 2017, but he has had 11 RB1 finishes in his career. The coaching staff has been saying they will be playing the “hot hand” during the season. Williams has been proving he is a top back by averaging 4 yards per carry in his career. He has been playing more than 14 games in a season and has the opportunity to take the lead role in Detroit this season. 

Wide Receiver

Tee Higgins will be the leading Wide Receiver in fantasy points on the Bengals- Last season the Bengals started to build their offense around their first overall draft pick Joe Burrow. They drafted Tee Higgins in the second round and as a rookie, he finished the season as the WR28 leading all Bengals Receivers in fantasy points. The Bengals then went out and drafted Joe Burrow’s former teammate at LSU, Ja’Marr Chase, and the fantasy community decided to forget who Tee Higgins was last season. Both Higgins and Tyler Boyd finished back to back as WR28 and WR29. With Burrow coming off a horrific injury from last season, all 3 of the top receivers finished the year with 104, 107, and 108 targets. Since A.J Green is now gone, and with the addition of Chase to this offense and the 104 vacated targets left from Green, those 104 targets can be distributed mostly to Higgins. If Burrow can stay healthy and upright, I think Higgins can be the main guy in this offense and take that sophomore break out jump, even with Ja’Marr Chase in the offense. I think Chase will help with coverages and switching the focus of defenses to open up things for Higgins. 

Tight End

Jared Cook will be a top 7 Tight end in fantasy points this season- I bet you all were thinking this would be me hyping up Adam Trautman. I wanted to, but honestly Jared Cook has left New Orleans and has gone to a great situation. Justin Herbert has shown he is the real deal and finished QB9, as a rookie, throwing for 4336 yards and throwing the 4th most passes in the league. Hunter Henry is now in New England and has vacated 93 targets. The Chargers have shown they will be a high-powered offense. Cook looks to be the 3rd or 4th option behind Keenan Allen, Austin Ekler, and Mike Williams, but will be a big target for Herbert in the Red Zone. Cook finished last season as TE18 with only 60 targets with 504 yards and 7 TDs but is now teaming up with a very accurate Justin Herbert and in line for 90 or more targets in this offense. 

The Commissioner is the backbone of the Fantasy world. It takes a great temperament as well as the patience of a saint. You need to coordinate with 7 to 13 unique personalities (or more depending on the size of the league), schedules and private lives to get everyone together for just a few hours. Then you need to be the judge and jury of the activities that go on throughout the season and off-season. Being a commissioner is a thankless job that always seems to be underappreciated, regardless of the hard work that goes into it. I do have a few tips and tricks to make your experience as a commissioner just a bit more tolerable. 

Shareable Documents

As a commissioner, communication is key. Having everyone on the same page and making it so there are little to no questions for you is the goal. First set up a group chat with your leaguemates so you can communicate easier. You can use text messaging or any group based platform like Slack or Facebook Messenger. Next, having shareable documents within your league can make things much easier in this day and age. COVID-19 has shown us many ways to make the Draft and other things more accessible to everyone wherever they are. So why not make everything that way? I am in a Salary Capped Dynasty League and a 2 player keeper league. Both leagues involve trading future draft picks, so the best way to keep track of these things is a shareable document. The platform does this as well, but this way if you like doing live drafts you have everything already set up. There are platforms that are available that cost some money to use but the best free option I have found is Google Sheets and Google Documents. Most people in the world have a Google account because of the phone they have or something that relies on Google in some way. Even if they don’t, you are still able to share the content with them. 

Another thing you can do is set up trackers. This is something that is a bit extra but very helpful for keeper leagues. I created a Keeper Tracker that is just a spreadsheet of the Teams and the players that were drafted, the round they were drafted and the teams final rosters at the end of the season. I also add marks on the page to indicate who was kept in the Draft. I use a color coded system. You can use whatever system works best for you. I also have the rules of the league in a Google Document for all to refer to when needed. The rules are updated each year at the draft. 

Next, I created a Draft Board. This Draft Board can be used on a TV, Computer, and even a phone. This way it can be viewed from anywhere. Even if someone is in a different state and can’t physically be there, all they need is Facetime (or Duo, or a suitable alternative) and you are good to go. I’m going to give you a quick breakdown on how I created my Draft Board. It's simple and extremely less complicated than the ones you find  when you Google “How to make your own draft board.” 

Creating a Draft Board

First, you start with a grid of your league set up. My keeper league is 10 teams, 12 starting roster spots and 6 bench spots which equal 18 rounds. So I made a grid 11x19. This helps with having a row with the rounds and columns for the team names. Make your grid based on your leagues format. 

This is where you can be creative and you can make the board anyway you want. This is just a basic idea. Be as creative as you’d like. You can also pick the colors you want to use for the Team names. Highlight the Teams row and select Format. Then scroll to conditional formatting. Once you have done this, select “Text is exactly,” then whatever name you’d like to use. Then select a color scheme. You will need to do this 7 to 15 more times based on the size of your league. You will also need to select different colors for each team. For Keeper Leagues, once you figure out the keepers, you can do the same thing by highlighting (this is based on what cell you start your board on) B:5 to K:22 and going back to Format and select “Text is Exactly,” then you will need to type in each Players name as it is listed on the List Options. Remember it needs to be the same as the List Options or it will not work. This time, keep one color scheme that is Bold and easy to see. I use red lettering with a dark background so the names pop out. Next, open a new sheet by clicking the plus sign that's circled above.  Once you have done this, rename this sheet as List Options. This will come in handy next.

List Options Sheet

Once you have set up your grid and set the conditional formatting, the next step is setting up your list options. Now this is the most difficult part about this. I have found that it is the easiest to go to FantasyPros and use their rankings to pull the players names you will need. Select 2021 Draft rankings. Then select the export icon next to the print icon. This is so it can be exported as an Excel Sheet. Also make sure you select Overall so it includes all positions (QB,WR,RB,TE). You can get the list from any platform/website you’d like and not just FantasyPros, but make sure you are able to export the names to an excel sheet to make this process easier for you. 

You only need this sheet for the players' names. You copy the full list of players and paste them in your List Options sheet. If you want to add RB, or WR, or TE, etc next to the name this will make things a tad more complicated. This is up to the person putting this together. If you have excel, this will be easier for you to be able to manipulate the FantasyPros sheet better to have the position next to the name in the cell. If you are using Individual Defensive Players (IDP) use the same rules as above but export each position the rankings list, so you have a full list of players. This goes for Kickers and Defense as well. Next you will select the cells on the inner part of the draft board (in my case B:5 to K:22) and then go to Data and select Data Validation. From here it will ask you the Cell Range which should be there already (B:5 to K:22) then Criteria you select “List From a Range.”

You then click the four square icon next to the text box then go to the List Options sheet and highlight from the top of the names to the very bottom of the list. Make sure you select Show Drop Down List and Data Warning as well. Then hit Save. You now have all the names right at your fingertips. You should be able to go into the cells on the draft board and type any player's name and they should come up. Test this out in a few cells and make sure everything is working. Try your keeper names as well to see that they come out the way you want. Now you will need to share this with your leaguemates. This way they can view it anywhere at any time. Make sure when you share this not to have any one as an editor. You as the commissioner should be the only one using this at the draft and afterwards. For keeper leagues that use draft picks in trades, you can also use this to track your trades each season. The reason I color code the names is so I can format the cells on the draft board for the traded draft picks. This way it is easier to see who has what pick. My league also determines the draft order for the next season so everything is random and everyone knows where they are the next season. This is also easier so you don’t take up so much time with setting up the board the day of the draft and you are able to keep track of trades during the season.  

Having these shareable documents makes everything transparent and puts everyone on the same page. These sheets can be viewed anytime and makes a clear picture of everything going on. This way you as a commissioner can enjoy yourself just like everyone else. Once this board is created you are able to just copy the sheet and move it to another sheet keeping the same List Options year to year. You will just need to add rookie names as you go or you can just grab the new list of names from the rankings each year and start from scratch, following the same steps above. I hope this was a helpful trick. Good luck to all the commissioners out there. 

Fantasy Football always seems to be evolving, like Pokemon, changing every year. Every league is unique and every format has something a little different from the rest. Everyone started with the Standard league. Then within a few years, Point Per Reception (PPR) leagues became what is now the standard across the Fantasy world. Then from that came Dynasty leagues, Vampire leagues and so on. The list seems endless. The more you speak to people, the more you see room for improvement in your own leagues and wanting to create new ones. This is what happened with a friend of mine who created a Dynasty Salary Capped League. 

Now I know what you are thinking. It's a Dynasty League. So what? In this type of league the Players have “contracts” and each team has a Salary Cap, like the real NFL teams do. The only difference is our salary cap doesn’t increase each year. Otherwise, it is a Dynasty league. You have a 25 man roster. You can start with a 1 QB-2 RB-2 WR-1 TE-3 Flex (RB/WR/TE). The rest are bench spots. This is the format for my 10 team league, but it can be anything your league wants it to be. We also have 3 IR spots and 3 Taxi Squad spots. There are also spots you can add based on your leagues preference. If a player is in the IR spot, their contract goes toward the team's salary. We also use Full PPR formatting and -2 points for INTs for QB’s but once again, this is a preference and can be decided among your league mates. 

How do I start this type of League?

Well first, you need a commissioner willing to do a little more work than the average commissioner. They will need to do things like input increases in salary at the beginning of each season. Then you need to find the right platform to be able to help keep track of salary increases each year and other small things I will talk about in this article. Yahoo, CBS, NFL, ESPN, and Sleeper platforms do not have the ability to do this type of format at this time. That is why it is less popular than most formats. The platform we use is MFL Fantasy. This is a paid site to be able to do this type of league. It’s only $50 for the season and if everyone chips in, it costs $5 (for a 10 Team league). 

Next you will need to do your draft. Now this has to be an Auction Draft. You can use your favorite platform to draft. You will just need to take the results and plug them into your league. The draft includes all players, rookies and veterans, and should be done like normal drafts in mid-late August. Managers will choose players to bid on and you will have $250 to bid with. Now as I mentioned in the beginning of this article your team’s Salary Cap is $250. You need to build a 25 player roster with this money. Remember the price you won on the bid for the player is the amount of that player’s contract. For example, I choose Patrick Mahomes to start bidding and start the bidding at $10. Everyone throws their bids out if they want him. $12,$15, $20, $35, $40, $41 sold! You now have Patrick Mahomes on your team for $41 dollars and have $209 left for the rest of your team. Then someone else is selected and this process goes on for a while. I would strongly suggest blocking out an evening for this process. We did this online but can be done live as well. Hopefully you have a good system in place to keep track of players and salaries. Now the strategy involved is basically the moneyball concept. Create a team using the least amount of money to have your team go all the way. If you want to spend $41 or more on Mahomes that is completely fine. He is the top QB in football right now and is #1 in most people’s rankings. But let me ask you this question, who would you rather have Patrick Mahomes at $41 dollars or Ryan Tannehill at $10 or less? There is no wrong answer here. Ryan Tannehill has been a top 10 QB the last 2 seasons since taking the starting spot from Marcus Mariota. He has been consistent each year and finished 37 points less than Mahomes at the end of the last season. But then when you factor in age and who else you could get on your team, it makes you think of what type of team you want to have. 

How do you continue this type of league year to year?

Well this goes into the strategy part that I was talking about before. Every year the players' contracts will go up either 10% of the person’s salary or $1, whichever is more. So Mahomes will go from $41 to $45 and Tannehill will go from $10 to $11 the next season. Now remember, this increase is for everyone on your team. So each year, your team will increase at the minimum of $25 ($1 per player). This means General Managers of teams need to make sure their team is below the Salary Cap going into the next season. Teams cannot go above the Salary Cap during the season, the platform won’t allow it. You will have time before the season to cut certain players to go below the salary cap. Now during the year, teams have a Free Agent Acquisition Budget (FAAB) of $100 dollars to blindly bid on free agents. The thing here is, that whatever you bid on these free agents goes against your team’s Salary. For example: If your team has a Salary of $245 and there is a free agent available that you want, you will only be able to bid $5 on that player. You do have options here. Like any other NFL team, if they want to bring in a player at a certain salary they need to cut a player or two to make room for them. The same concept applies here. This is why it is very important to make sure you have enough Cap space to maneuver throughout the year. 

How does the Draft, after the start up draft work?

Your season is over. It’s the off-season. Your team’s salary increases and goes over $250 and is now at $265. You now need to cut bait, to get your team under $250 before the season starts. Then there is the draft. Christmas in August! My favorite time of year. The draft for this type of league is a Rookie draft with a sprinkle of veteren players as well. First, the first 3 rounds are Linear.  After the 3rd round it turns into a snake format. Now any rookie that is drafted has a contract value based on the pick he is drafted. Picks 1.01-1.04 have a $17 value, picks 1.05-1.07 have a $15 value and picks 1.08-1.10 have a $13 value. After that in round 2 all rookie values are $9, then $5 in the third round and $3 in the fourth round and $1 in rounds 5 and on. These values can vary based on the size of the league. These numbers are based on a 10 team league. If a General Manager decides to draft a veteran player instead of a rookie in any spot in the draft, that player is valued at the Average Auction Price of that player for that year. This is handed out before the draft so people are aware of who’s available and how much they are. Remember I mentioned above, that before the draft you need to cut bait to get below $250. Sometimes that means cutting players that you might have bid too high on and are not worth keeping at that price. So let's say you have a player at $50 that you cut and that player’s Average Auction value is $25 dollars. You could draft this player at that price if he is available or you can draft a rookie. This is a risk because once the player is dropped, any team can draft them at the Average Auction Price. As an example, a manager in my league has Ezekiel Elliot for $76 dollars and his team is only $14 dollars below the salary cap. Does he keep him or drop him? Does he have to cut other players to make room for the draft picks he has? These are the questions that plague all teams. 

How do you decide the Draft Order?

Have fun with this. This is different for every league. In my dynasty league, we have a lottery for the bottom 6 teams that did not make the playoffs. We use the PGA major championships to determine the order. Normally it is whatever one is closer to the draft. We select the top 6 odds winners and put them in a hat and draw names at random. The order is determined by how the golfers finish. In my keeper league we run a Computer based Royal Rumble on WWE2K 2020. We draw wrestlers out of a hat and based on their finish is the order of the draft for the next season. These are only a few options. There are many different ways to go about this. Talk with your league-mates and make it fun.  

What are Taxi Squads? 

So as mentioned in the beginning of the article, each team has 3 Taxi Squad spots. These spots do not go toward the team’s salary cap. These are reserved for players in their first and second year in the league. After the third year these players are automatically moved to the active 25 man roster. Now this is not a place to hide your players. Any player in this spot can be stolen by another team. Blind bids for waivers are normally due by the end of the day on Tuesday, in most leagues, which means another team can elect to steal a player on an opposing team's Taxi squad on Tuesday. He has to make the league and the manager of the team aware he is stealing the player. If another team does this, and the team with the player does not add this player to their active roster, the team that is looking to steal will have to give the team they are stealing from, the pick in the round the player was drafted in. If the player is a free agent or was  undrafted they will need to give up a 5th round pick. For example: I drafted Royce Freeman his rookie season in the first round. I didn’t see him starting so before the season started I put him on my taxi squad. The next year he was still there and another manager opted to steal him. I did not need him and was willing to let him go. By doing this, I was given the 1st round pick in exchange for Royce Freeman. Once you steal the person from another team you need to make room on your active roster for that player if you don’t have the room. Once they are a part of your active roster they can not go back to the Taxi Squad. This is also a strategic way to force other teams to add a player to their active roster and bring up to the salary cap and force them to make decisions they might not want to make, but you need to be aware that you could lose a draft pick if the other team decides to let them go. So be careful who you decide to steal.

What makes this type of league format fun?

I have been doing this type of league for just over 4 years now. I feel like I am in control of my very own NFL team. This type of league makes you think about the value of a player. It makes you take chances on players you might not be able to use in redraft and makes you think of the long term value of players. This makes fantasy managers view players in different formats differently as well. This type of league makes you focus on the whole NFL and not just a select few. Think of this type of format for your next league. 

Written by,

Michael Herrick

Sleeper tag-@Mherr23