CeeDee Lamb - Oklahoma - 6’2” 191 lbs. - 4/8/99 (20 years old)
If Jeudy is the Toolbox, Lamb is the Natural. He doesn't have elite top end speed or acceleration. He's not an OBJ open field threat or a Michael Thomas route runner, but he does all of it well.
- Lamb is a smooth operator, from the way he glides down field to the way he sets up defenders down field while the ball is in the air. In fact, if Lamb has a carrying trait, it lies in his abilities while the ball is in the air.
- Here's a clear out for Lamb where they isolate him on the corner. The safety is covering the middle and won't be able to get over to help. Lamb moves the defender up the field, turns and locates the ball, and gives himself the space to make the grab.
The last year has been a calm, peaceful sojourn for Antonio Brown. In March 2019, Brown was traded from the Steelers to the Raiders in exchange for a 3rd and a 5th round pick. The change of scenery was exactly what the doctor ordered *insert fart joke.* Here's the timeline of AB's stress-free last 12 months:
A few weeks ago, I sat down with the great Peter Howard's (@pahowdy) college market share database and created a set of filters for college production that had a better hit rate than selecting just 1st round NFL WRs. This time I intend to do the same but with running backs. I have seen a lot of chatter on the Twitter site about characteristics shared by fantasy RB1s. For instance I saw that most of them run under a 4.6 forty. However, looking at just the successful players doesn't make that a helpful nugget. You see, if ALL NFL RBs mostly run under a 4.6, then the fact that the best ones do still doesn't help us when selecting from a giant pool of players.
I live in the Chicago area. Home of the Da Bears, Al Capone and deep dish pizza. When visiting the Windy City, most tourists these days are directed to dine at Lou Malnati's Pizzeria for their deep dish experience. I'd be crazy to publicly bash Lou's pizza; it'd be like calling Juju Smith-Schuster the #50 overall dynasty player. And that Lou Malanti's butter crust is delicious, I won't deny it.
What's better than a dynasty football slow draft in February when there isn't any football to watch anymore? I refuse to acknowledge the XFL, by the way. Okay, maybe a fantasy baseball draft would be a little more exciting than a football draft because the season is a lot closer. Some of us prefer football over baseball and there's some of us that can do both. A fantasy sports Eiffel Tower, if you will.
I was lucky enough to catch an industry friend's tweet about a start up dynasty that was going to draft in February and I gave it about 0.2 seconds of thought before I came to the conclusion that I was all for it. I messaged Matt Williams and he gladly accepted me assuming that I don't have a reputation of ghosting my teams (I don't). It is a 12-team PPR superflex league with a TE premium. My opponents include: Scott Fish Bowl 8 champion Stompy, Matt Williams, John Hogue, Kane Fossell, Nick Faber, @DFSMich_5, Caleb Pierson, Steven Toroni, Jon Helmkamp, John Hesterman, @GOATDistrict and @EverydayFFB. Those are 12 names, but two of them co-own a team.
I'll mostly just be writing about my roster, but I will also point out some tidbits on how the draft board was shaking out. Most of the meat of the analysis will be in the first 10 or so rounds. First drafts of the season are rusty, and there will be plenty of trading in this league, but I'm hoping that a good portion of these picks shape out. I drafted from the 11 spot.
Remember in The Hangover when Alan started out as a one-man wolf pack? Then his sister brought Doug home and his wolf pack grew to two. Later Doug introduced Alan to Phil and Stu. And Alan found himself in a four-man wolf pack; four wolves running around the desert together, in Las Vegas, looking for strippers and cocaine.
Zach Ertz reminds me of lone-wolf Alan. In 2016 Ertz's sister—Doug Pederson—brought home Carson Wentz and introduced the young QB to Ertz. And Ertz's wolf pack grew from one to two. Then along came Dallas Goedert in 2018, and it became a three man wolf pack; three wolves running around Philadelphia together, looking for Cheesesteaks, strippers and cocaine.
But younger wolves in a pack never have quite the same connection as the original wolves. They have to work hard to prove themselves to the pack and gain their trust; even if they're much more gifted at finding strippers and cocaine than some of the older wolves. And such is the life of Dallas Goedert.
Jerry Jeudy - Alabama - 6'1" 192 lbs. - 4/24/99 (20 years old)
Jeudy is an amazing talent at the receiver position with a hefty tool bag. He's more Amari or OBJ than Julio as skill sets go among top level wideouts.
Football season is ov...never ends! Next up is the combine (2/24-3/2) where grown men watch other grown men work out. Then, we get free agency (3/18) where billion dollar entities tell us they don't have any money to spend. Finally, we'll get to the draft (4/23-4/25) where talented 20+ year olds who were earning millions for a university will finally make some money for themselves.
Have you ever ingested hallucinogenic chemicals and then tried to jump through a closed window because you thought a pack of wolves was closing in on you? Rhetorical question, I'm sure we've all experienced this same scenario. When it happened to me, I ended up in the ER with a large gash on my arm and very disappointed parents. On the plus side, those rabid wolves didn't get me!
Point is, we don't always make the best decisions when we're young and stupid. Preston Williams—#89 in my Top 200 Dynasty Rankings for 2020 Fantasy Football—would likely attest to this. Let me back up a little and regale you with the story of Preston Williams.
This is a little different than the D.K. Metcalf and Tyler Lockett post. Neither Metcalf or Lockett produced the yardage that Godwin or Evans did. Metcalf and Lockett are also not in quarterback limbo going into the new decade. Jameis Winston led the league in passing yards in 2019, but he also threw 30 interceptions and capped off the season with an overtime pick six. That's not exactly the way garner a lot of confidence from your coach and front office in a contract year.
Bruce Arians' January comments didn't scream that the Bucs want to give Winston the big long term deal that he desires. But honestly, what better choice do the Buccaneers have in free agency? Philip Rivers is pretty much the same quarterback as Winston without the upside. Tom Brady is as old as dirt. Teddy Bridgewater also doesn't have the ceiling that Winston has. The Buccaneers might as well franchise tag Winston and see what he can do in the 2nd year in Arians' system. Chances are, that's what the decision will be, but hey, I've seen way dumber decisions be made by franchises.
Back when I was just a young donkey I was fascinated by fire. Whenever the stove top burner was ignited, it drew my attention. One time, when Momma-Donk wasn’t paying attention, I crept over to the stove and poked my hoof right into that beautiful flame. I did this about ten more times before I realized playing with fire hurt. I’ve always said, I’ll try anything 12 times.
And that’s how I ended up addicted to meth with DeVante Parker on my fantasy teams this past season. And this time the Parker flame burned my opponents as he torched his career highs in targets (128), receptions (72), receiving yards (1,202) and touchdowns (9). Heading into his age 27 season, he’s now coming off a massive career year in which he played the full 16 game slate for the first time. I ranked him #75 overall in my recent Top 200 Dynasty Rankings for 2020 Fantasy Football, but am I undervaluing this post-hype breakout down in Vice City?
It's tough to be specific about keeper leagues when writing about them. There are so many unique keeper leagues out there. It seems like every keeper question that I answer in the comment section has a different format than another one. I think that the best way to write about keeper prospects is to make it round specific and leave it up to you to analyze it's usefulness to you. I don't see myself covering the obvious players. For one, I don't want to look stupid or basic and also it's more useful to cover fringe keepers.
I know that I was in the middle of positional reviews, but I got to thinking about the interesting 2019 season that the Seahawks had at the receiver position. D.K. Metcalf and Tyler Lockett both had over 100 targets a piece in 2019. This is sort of surprising coming from a team that has an efficient passing attack, but one that lacks in volume. One receiver started his season red hot and petered out towards the end of the year and the other was more statistically balanced. The addition of D.K. Metcalf seemed to directly help lead to Russell Wilson's first 4,000 yard passing season in three years. It wouldn't be at all surprising if this becomes a trend for Wilson in the coming seasons with the emerging talent that the Seahawks have at the receiver position.
