Fantasy Football Party Mock Draft #4

by Anthony Maggio | Aug 31, 2016 | 2016 Season, Fantasy Football

In our fourth and penultimate mock draft event, I failed to insert draft round into the fields when entering players—realizing only in the 7^th or 8^th round and at that point figuring it wasn’t much use changing course. So, this will be a shorter review than usual since I can’t really analyze round value. I think you’ll live.

Overall I really liked the team that Andy put together—solid in all areas, balanced, and if I remember correctly he didn’t really reach for anyone. John Brown came at a value thanks to his lingering concussion symptoms, which have me scared enough to drop him a half dozen spots or so in my rankings.

Brandon’s team is probably my second favorite. The more mock/actual drafts I’m in, the more I like how things play out from the No. 1 spot. Letting value fall and getting to take advantage with back-to-back picks works out nicely if you know what you’re doing, and seems to be more beneficial on this specific turn than at the end of the snake based on what I’ve seen in my travels. I think there are better flyers than Cameron Artis-Payne at running back, but overall this team was well constructed.

Logan did a nice job of balancing risk with reward on his squad in the WR, QB and TE departments, though taking on three guys who won’t play the first month of the season (Brady, Eifert, Gordon) could come back to bite him—especially since he eschewed RB depth to make up for it. Devonta Freeman has a timeshare in his future, Thomas Rawls might as well and has injury concerns to boot, and DeAngelo Williams is old and only guaranteed a productive role for three weeks. I know its tempting to grab those injured/suspended guys (included Le’Veon Bell) when you see their value as they fall in drafts, but you can only really take one, maybe two, without incredibly deep benches. Remember, all these guys have bye weeks to consider, too.

Brian lacked conviction with many of his picks, but ultimately put together a decent starting lineup. WR could be a bit thin, but otherwise really no complaints here.

I like Lalyn’s WR and TE position quite a bit, and I won’t really knock any QB considering in a 10-teamer you can comfortably stream the position, but he took a couple of guys at RB that I worry about in Langford and Hyde. In both cases it’s more about the team circumstance than the player, though I don’t think either player is particularly special. Langford is especially ordinary, if that’s a thing. Bilal Powell could be a late-round steal, and Justin Forsett is shaping up that way too with Kenneth Dixon’s injury, so he’s got some outs here.

Harley did a nice job getting value on Aaron Rodgers in the 6^th-ish round, but will need to work on his RBs most likely. Counting on Arian Foster for anything more than Le’Veon Bell coverage is playing with fire, and Charles Sims isn’t the greatest asset in standard leagues.

Phil Jennings tried to get a QB run started with a 3^rd-round pick of Cam Newton, but it failed to take so ultimately may have been a bit of a reach. The Landry/Benjamin/Matthews WR trio in a standard league isn’t dynamite, but DeSean Jackson as a late pick was helpful there. Same goes for the late Matt Forte/TJ Yeldon picks. Ultimately this is a team Phil can sneak up on anyone with using various lineup formations to disguise his otherwise singular intentions of overthrowing his opponent from within.

Sorry, I blacked out there. What happened?

As for Bo, Tuvey and I, overall I don’t have any complaints except for my continued concern with drafting Allen Hurns and Tyler Lockett at their current ADPs. Lockett wasn’t a huge issue for Bo, though, considering he’s a WR4. But Hurns is a WR3 for Tuvey. I see a future of coin-flipping between Hurns and Snead on a weekly basis. My squad would look much better in a PPR format. Maybe I shouldn’t have used my ½ PPR cheat sheet. Alas, I still think it’s a strong top-to-bottom lineup with both upside and depth to sustain injuries and be a contender.

We’ve got one more mock draft left! Join us at Bent Brewstillery in Roseville Wednesday night if you’d like to play!

Fantasy Football Party Mock Draft #3

by Anthony Maggio | Aug 22, 2016 | 2016 Season, Fantasy Football

Another awesome mock draft event in the books! Thanks so much to Tin Whiskers and to all our participants for coming out to support the show. We had mock drafters AND folks there just to hang out and watch, ask questions, and enjoy the fabulous Tin Whiskers brews. Now, to the mock review…

This was a two-horse race for my favorite team, one of them being mine, and the other being Bobby’s. I’m supposed to be OK at this so I’ll simply note the values I got at QB and TE (seriously, wait on those positions on draft day) and move on. Bobby got great value all over the place as well. This is a standard league draft, but David Johnson dropping that far is surprising. There’s some risk here that Chris Johnson and Andre Ellington sap some of David Johnson’s volume, but that offense is explosive enough—as is David Johnson—that it shouldn’t matter much. Following up with Brandon Marshall and CJ Anderson was wonderful too. And that Tom Brady pick followed by Eli for the first four weeks, bravo!

Dave LaVaque went against the grain with Aaron Rodgers second overall, though being a 10-team league his team didn’t wind up suffering much from it as a result. Not handcuffing Christine Michael to Thomas Rawls is a mistake, and there are other sleeper TEs I prefer to Kyle Rudolph, but all-in-all not bad for a guy who admittedly hasn’t played fantasy football in six years.

Mike D did well to snag Gronk at the turn after going Antonio Brown #1 overall, and I also like Brees in the sixth round. I’m just not feeling Carlos Hyde this year, but that pick is fixable with LeGarrette Blount and Ryan Mathews backing them up. Also a lot of risk here with three rookie wideouts, which historically don’t produce well enough for Mike’s team to be a championship contender. But with Brown/Brees/Gronk, he’s got as much week-to-week upside as anybody.

Jake picked a great team (of players others had already selected in previous rounds). He was understandably distracted having just come from a full-day fantasy football draft event, but still did well for himself with Cam/Gurley/Evans/Watkins as a formidable top four. I also like the Fitzy pick in the seventh round, but Bortles in the 8^th after already snagging Cam was ill advised.

Adrian Peterson continues to fall to mid-first round in these, which I think is a mistake—one that Doogie capitalized on. AJ Green also inexplicably fell, giving Doogs arguably the best 1-2 punch in this league. From there I didn’t love the combined risk of Jordy (injury), Demaryius (quarterback) and Langford (injury, average talent), but a return to form from Andrew Luck and two of those three question marks turning out and Doogs has a squad that week-to-week would be among the toughest to face.

Rob went four straight wide receivers—all four can start—which I commend for the ballsiness but overall I feel like is unnecessary. There’s enough RB value out there to go three straight WRs if you want, but in a standard league I wouldn’t go four even though you can start all four of them. As John Tuvey noted at our draft, Matt Forte has never finished outside of the top 12 at his position. And Frank Gore should be a workhorse in a great offense. But both guys are long in the tooth. Danny Woodhead should help some and Bilal Powell provides at least Forte insurance—if not just being the better fantasy player at some point this season. But in non-PPR, those two don’t offer as much value. I probably would’ve passed on taking two more bench receivers after starting the draft with four straight just to give me a couple more bites at the apple to make sure the RB position works out.

Mitchell (not Bo—he went straight MC on us for the event) would dominate in a Raiders-only league. He’s obviously bought into the retooled offensive line there and is expecting the Silver and Black to rise again. Overall I wouldn’t recommend that many pieces of any offense, regardless of how good it is. It simply limits your upside too much. A big Latavius game means the Carr/Cooper combo is less likely to go boom. Same for the inverse. I liked that he locked up Tennessee’s backfield and handcuffed in Atlanta (a situation I think warrants it in all formats), but overall I think the Raiders-heavy approach dooms this squad to nothing more than a .500 finish.

Tuvey, meanwhile, went RB early—which is an approach I love near the first turn in both 10- and 12-team leagues. It used to be RBs would fly off the board and this is where you’d zig towards WRs. Now the opposite is true. And Tuvey, in a standard league, landed two of the probably six or seven guys in the running for RB1 overall this season. I loved the TY Hilton follow-up too, and don’t mind Baldwin. I’m not in love with Hurns, though, an area where Tuvey and I are gonna agree to disagree. I just see too much regression coming from that passing game, and think it’s going to ultimately ding Hurns the most, after Bortles.

Thanks again to everyone who showed up to Tin Whiskers. Our next event is this Sunday, August 28^th, at Northgate Brewing. We’ve still got mock draft spots available! Just reach out on twitter or email FFparty@zoneblitz.com if you want in. And special for this one event: If you bring your league draft to Northgate, we’ll add a $50 Zubaz gift card to the pot for the league champ. Just let us know you’re coming and bring along at least 8 league members and the gift card will be entrusted to your commissioner.

We look forward to seeing you!

Free Zubaz Gift Card to Your League Champ!

by Anthony Maggio | Aug 21, 2016 | 2016 Season, Fantasy Football

This just in: any league (8 or more individuals in attendance) that holds its draft at Northgate Brewing during The Fantasy Football Party mock draft event on Sunday, August 28^th, will get a $50 Zubaz gift card courtesy of Zubaz and the show to be given to the league winner at the end of the season. That’s right—we’re adding $50 of Zubaz to the pot for your league champ just for hosting your draft at Northgate, starting between 1 and 4 pm. But to be eligible, you MUST let us know beforehand so we have the appropriate number of gift cards.

Simply email FFparty@zoneblitz.com and let us know you’ll be there drafting on Sunday, August 28^th. Then check in with us when you’ve started and the gift card will be entrusted to your league commissioner. And, of course, Bo, John and magsh will be there to provide expert draft advice in real time. Pretty fancy, right?

So, call your friends, get your draft set for Northgate Brewing on Sunday, August 28^th, starting between 1 and 4 pm, and your league will have expert draft help plus $50 in Zubaz for the 2016 champ. We’ll see you there!

https://www.facebook.com/events/1058963974170598/

Buy or Sell: Julius Thomas and Martellus Bennett

by Tony & Andy | Aug 21, 2016 | 2016 Season, Fantasy Football

Julius Thomas:
ADP: 115.5
TE: 12

Bennett:
ADP: 119.3
TE 14

The tight end position has more depth this year than in the past. Many big names up at the top are as would be expected: Rob Gronkowski, Greg Olsen, Delanie Walker and the currently injured Tyler Eifert are coming off big seasons that warrant early-to-mid-round selections.

As you get later in the draft, however, several guys with a lot of potential stand out, including both Julius Thomas and Martellus Bennett.

Thomas, one season removed from repeat 12 TD campaigns, is now playing in a high-flying, young offense with Blake Bortles and Allen Robinson as its centerpieces. The big-bodied former basketball star could put up big numbers as almost an afterthought – though he is not durable and he is coming off of a humdrum season.

Bennett left Chicago and Jay Cutler for the friendly confines of New England, where tight ends not named Gronk frequently find the end zone. But does the team’s TE2 warrant fantasy consideration in the latter rounds of drafts?

Tony: Buy on both. (more…)