Fantasy Football: The First Round!

5 07 2009

by Michael DeLuca

With less than two months until the start of the 2009 NFL season, it’s about that time to start looking forward to your fantasy football drafts. The magazine stands are packed with fantasy football mags and I’ve assembled a composite first round for a 12 team league from some of the more reputable sources. These results in no way reflect may personal opinions of where to draft players, I’ll provide my thoughts for each selection.

1. Adrian Peterson – RB, Minnesota Vikings – Peterson is pretty much the consensus #1 and rightfully so. Capable of putting up a 2000 yard season and 20 td’s. If your drafting #1, don’t overthink it, AP’s your man.

2. Maurice Jones Drew – RB, Jacksonville Jaguars – Fantasy owners are salivating over55738965 the chance to own Jones Drew now that Fred Taylor is no longer in town. After the team handed Jones Drew a 5 year $31 million deal, coach Jack Del Rio said, “We want Maurice on the field more often. We believe he’s a feature guy and it’s his time. We’re excited about that. I’m very confident this is the type of young man that will go out and continue to display the things that have made him so popular to begin with. He’s gonna get plenty of work. We’re excited about getting him the ball more often.” It sure sounds like a recipe for success.

3. Michael Turner – RB, Atlanta Falcons – Michael “The Burner” Turner was quite simply a beast last year. 1699 rushing yards and 17 touchdowns are the type of stats that fantasy championships are made of. There’s talk in Atlanta that they’d like to lighten his load and get Jerious Norwood more involved in the offense but we’ve been hearing that for years. Don’t believe the hype, Turner will get his share of carries and td’s and will warrant a high selection on draft day. The offseason acquisition of TE Tony Gonzalez will only increase Turner’s value as teams will be less inclined to stack the box. Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Fantasy, Fantasy Football, Football

Fantasy Baseball: Free Agent Watch

15 06 2009

by Michael DeLuca

Here’s a look at some under the radar players available in the majority of online leagues.

Aaron Cook – Starting Pitcher – Colorado Rockies – Cook, 2008’s runner-up for surprise pitcher of the year (Cliff Lee kind of stole his thunder) is back and has strung together five quality starts in a row after an abysmal start to the 2009 mlb_g_cook_200season. In those outings, he has a 3-2 record and allowed only two runs while striking out 11 and walking two in his last two starts, which spanned 14 innings.

Trevor Cahill – Starting Pitcher – Oakland A’s – Cahill was a hot name prior to the season and is one of Oakland’s top prospects. He’s not going to help you in wins since Oakland just doesn’t score runs and he’s even less help in the K department, but four of Cahill’s last five starts have been quality ones. He’s definitely been pitching better as of late and should only continue to improve. If you’re in a 12 team league, Cahill’s worth a pick up.

Juan L. Rivera – Outfield – Anaheim Angels – Rivera missed the majority of the 2007 season with a broken leg and struggled early on in 08′. He gained some steam after the all-star break and had a ridiculous July, in which he hit .311 with six home runs. He’s just gone on a similar run once again and is a nice guy to have while he’s on these rolls. Over his last 28 games, he’s batting .337 and has hit 7 deep balls.


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Fantasy Baseball: Ultimate ADP

21 03 2009

by Michael DeLuca

When it comes to fantasy baseball, if you’re going to head to a draft with just one thing…it better be an average draft position list. ADP’s will give you a heads up on who other league participants will be drafting so that you can plan out your drafting strategy. I have taken the results of numerous average draft position lists and compiled them so you can have one Ultimate Fantasy Baseball ADP. Enjoy! Read the rest of this entry »


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Fantasy Baseball: The Chipper Jones Challange

19 03 2009

fat-bastard

by Michael DeLuca

Last year I competed in two leagues.  One had ten teams, one had just eight.  I had virtually the same roster in both leagues, which is a bit odd since, in the larger league, you would think that the talent would be more spread out.  What makes this even more strange is that I made the championship in the larger league, while I floundered in the smaller league.  How could this happen…Chipper Jones.

You see, my smaller league required weekly lineups, while my larger league had daily rosters.  Chipper Jones (who I will refer to herinafter as “the bastard”) had a wonderful habit of starting a game on Monday, leaving in the second inning and not returning until he could once again bang me in the poop shoot the following Monday.  In the daily lineups league, the bastard was extremely valuable because his production, when he did play, was stellar.  In the weekly lineup league, the bastard was nothing but a cancer, causing me to lose in runs, stolen bases, home runs, and hits on a weekly basis!

Moral of the story, if you’re in a daily lineup league – jump on the bastard around pick #70 in your draft.  His production will be well worth the nagging injuries.  If you’re in a weekly lineup league, avoid him like the plague!


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Fantasy Baseball: To Punt Or Not To Punt

19 03 2009

by Michael DeLucafantasy-baseball

So it’s time for your fantasy baseball draft.  I’ll be posting some quick tips for fantasy drafts throughout the next week or so and on Saturday will be posting my Ultimate Fantasy ADP, a must have resource for any fantasy draft.

For now, I’m going to focus on a what has been a hot topic for fantasy pundits for many years now, whether or not you should enter the draft with the intention of punting a specific category.  What this means, in a nutshell, is that in a head to head league you draft with a focus on tanking a specific scoring category to gain an advantage in all other categories.  Read the rest of this entry »


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Fantasy Football Conundrums

8 11 2008

By Tom Peters

The GOP Conundrum

The GOP Conundrum

I need some help from my loyal readers out there. Many of you play fantasy football and you are very knowledgeable on my football topics. So here is my situation:

I am in a fantasy football league in which we only get points for touchdowns scored. The longer the TD, the more points you earn. The bye weeks this week are killing me and I’m having a hard time in deciding who to start. Please tell, who should I start in these situations:

QB: Eli Manning (v. Eagles) or Matt Ryan (v. Saints)

TE: Dallas Clark (v. Steelers) or Donald Lee (v. Vikings)

D/ST: Houston (v. Baltimore) or Minnesota (v. Green Bay)

Thank you for your help.


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NFL: Waiver Wire Wonders

16 10 2008

by Michael DeLuca

Fantasy Leagues are won and lost with waiver wire pick ups. Sure the draft is of importance, but picking up a stud rb or superstar wideout that would have been worthy of an early round pick can make all the difference in the world. For example, in 2007, Derek Anderson, Ryan Grant, Earnest Graham, and Roddy White were universally picked up off the waiver wire. In 2006, Marion Barber, Selvin Young, and Marques Colston led many teams to victory. So who are the waiver wire wonders for 2008? Here are your best options for week 7 of the NFL season: Read the rest of this entry »


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Fantasy Football: Waiver Wire Wonders

1 10 2008

by Michael DeLuca

Fantasy Leagues are won and lost with waiver wire pick ups.  Sure the draft is of importance, but picking up a stud rb or superstar wideout that would have been worthy of an early round pick can make all the difference in the world.  For example, in 2007, Derek Anderson, Ryan Grant, Earnest Graham, and Roddy White were universally picked up off the waiver wire.  In 2006, Marion Barber, Selvin Young, and Marques Colston led many teams to victory.  So who are the waiver wire wonders for 2008?  Here are your best options for week 5 of the NFL season:

QB-
Marc Bulger – Most likely an antsy owner dropped Bulger upon his demotion last week. He’s back as the starter and will remain so. Scoop him up and reap the benefits.  He’s got a bye this week, so even if you have a low waiver priority you might be able to sneak him through. Read the rest of this entry »


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Fantasy Football – Round by Round – Gems & Busts

23 08 2008

by Michael DeLuca

Getting ready for the big draft this weekend?  While many people will obsess over who their first round pick may be, I challange anyone to name me a single league which was won as a result of a first round pick.  No, often times it’s those sleepers, the value picks, that get the job done.  For example, last year Tom Brady, Adrian Peterson, and Randy Moss were universally drafted in rounds 3-5 last year, yet I’ll bet their names can be found on a large majority of 2007 fantasy league championship rosters.  What I’ve decided to do is put together a list of round by round gems and busts based on a ten team league, one gem and one bust per round.  I’ll be using the comprehensive ADP list we had published earlier.  Away we go… Read the rest of this entry »


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Ultimate ADP – Fantasy Football

19 08 2008

by Michael DeLuca

Each year I’m baffled that the avergae draft positions can vary so greatly from site to site.  With a sample size of 1000 plus drafts from each of the top sites, you would think there would be more consistency.  This year, I decided to create the Ultimate ADP, a spreadsheet that combines the results from the top 6 fantasy football adp sites; myfantasyleague.com, antsports.com, ESPN, Sportsline, FFCalculator, and FFToolbox.  Here are the results… Read the rest of this entry »


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