Over the years, I've tried to blog. I would start out white hot, blogging a few times each week. After about 2 months, I would either become tired of blogging, or I was just too lazy to continue. The latter is probably more accurate. At any rate, I'm here to try it again. This time around, I'm going to devote this blog to fantasy football. We'll see how this goes....
Football season is fast approaching, and like many of you out there, I'm an avid fantasy football user. I usually end up in 5 or 6 leagues, and I've been lucky enough to win a couple of them. I've played in standard free leagues, leagues with co-workers, and even a keeper/dynasty league with some buddies. Every league is different, because the people are always different, which always changes the dynamic of a draft.
Some folks draft based on their favorite team. We calls those guys "homers", as they will draft an all Redskins team, for example. Others draft using an elaborate spreadsheet, claiming they've figured out the analytics of fantasy football. Others, like me, just get drunk on draft night and hope for the best.
In my opinion, there are a few questions to consider when drafting your fantasy football team. First, you've got to look at a player's history. What did they do last year? The year before that? Did they play the full season? How many games did they miss (injury-prone)? Next, you've got to look at the rest of the team. Who else is on Player X's roster at that position? Will that help/hurt his weekly performance? This really doesn't apply to the QB position, as much as it does to RB and WR, just because there are more RB and WR on a roster, and more of them play each game than at QB. Or at least, you HOPE that more RB and WR play in a game than at QB....
Some of these questions actually apply to kickers and DEF! I know, I know....But Jeff, who cares about kickers and DEF in fantasy football? Honestly? Nobody. But, you have to start a kicker and a DEF each week, so they might as well earn you some points!
When drafting your kicker, here are some things to consider:
Who is the starting QB? Does he have any weapons to throw to? What about RB? Can he pick up first downs and move the chains? The obvious question is: WHY DOES ANY OF THIS MATTER WHEN DRAFTING A KICKER?!?!?! Well, it matters for a couple of reasons.
Let's pick on Denver's kicker Matt Prater for a minute. Denver's offense last year was just insane. Peyton Manning torched the record books, throwing 55 TDs last year! That's more than some entire offenses put up! If you add those 55 TDs to the 15-20 rushing TDs, that's 70-75 XP for Prater to kick, which of course he did. That's before you factor in his FGA/FGM. So, Prater had every opportunity last season to help your team, averaging close to 10 points per game in standard Yahoo! leagues. Not too shabby!
The other side of that would be Jacksonville's Josh Scobee. Between the Jaguar's inconsistent QB play, and MJD's inability to run the ball, Scobee really never had a shot at getting into FG range last year. He also didn't have the opportunity to kick many XP, which limited his fantasy value. Scobee averaged about 6 points per game in standard Yahoo! leagues last year, which isn't terrible, but it could've been much better.
The same goes for your DEF. Things to consider: How banged up are they? Are they pressuring the QB, forcing turnovers? Seattle's DEF was on a whole other level of dominant last season, while the Texans struggled to keep opposing offenses out of the endzone.
In the end, it doesn't make sense to draft a kicker or DEF in the first round. I mean, let's be serious about this for a second. But, it DOES matter who is on the team, and who will help, or hurt, their fantasy stock.
Next time (if I don't get too lazy with blogging), we'll take a deeper look at TEs, and who could be in line for a solid fantasy season!
Thanks for taking the time to read this. I welcome any and all criticism and feedback!
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