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Frank Reich adjusted his bifocles, inhaled a deep breath filled with mile-high air, and stared endlessly into the eyes of Nathaniel Hackett. The newly-minted Denver Broncos head coach didn’t flinch. Instead, he extended his right hand, embraced Frank and whispered, “Three-pointers only. Deal.” They shook. They cackled in unison. And the rest was history: another dreadful Thursday Night Football game highlighted by zero touchdowns and a concerning brain injury on the national stage. And I’m making no joke of that last part. Once again, it was a bad look for the NFL, as Nyheim Hines sustained a hit from several Denver defenders and was unable to stand under his own power upon getting up. He was noticeably wobbly as teammates helped him off the field. His status will need to be monitored moving forward, especially since it was clear Indianpolis was going to lean on him in Jonathan Taylor’s absence — feeding him on each of the first three plays from scrimmage. But enough is enough. Here’s what else happened on Thursday night.

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I had the beginnings of a witty lede typed up prior to Thursday night’s matchup between the Dolphins and Bengals in Cincy, but it didn’t seem appropriate to run with after the second quarter head/neck injury sustained by Miami QB Tua Tagovailoa. In what has been a breakout season for the former No. 5 overall pick, Tua was taken off the field via a stretcher after a hit delivered by DT Josh Tupou rendered him unconcious due to a neurological injury. Tua’s status certainly has fantasy ramifications that stretch across the entire Miami team, but the primary concern is for Tagovailoa’s personal well being and overall health as it relates to life outside of football. In the interim, backup QB Teddy Bridgewater instantly becomes an option in two-QB leagues should Tua be in line to miss time. We’ll unpack the rest of Week 4 of Thursday Night Football below, but continue to monitor this situation moving forward.

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If your Week 2 was anything like what fans of Baltimore, Cleveland, and Las Vegas experienced, then you’re waking up on Tuesday in the depths of despair. Fortunately, the season is young and there’s plenty of time to right the ship once the page is turned. Unfortunately, the waiver wire isn’t all that enticing this week, and there’s an armadillo turning my backyard into the next Holes remake. However, if you’re a relentless quarterback streamer or in a two-QB league, there are some intriguing options for you this week — not to mention some serious finds at the wide receiver position should your league mates not have gobbled them up yet. If you’re in a waiver order-based league and not in dire need, this is a week to stand as firm as Snoop Dogg’s buttcheeks in the TSA line. In deeper formats and leagues utilizing FAAB, proceed with caution. I wouldn’t use more than 15-20% on even the top names listed, although you could validate up to 25-30% if you’re so desperate your season-long competitiveness calls for it. Hopefully, you’re not in that position this early. Onward we go!

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Week 1 went well for me, as I went undefeated across my weekly leagues. That’s both a blessing and a curse. The blessing is the 1-0 starts and early dividends being paid. The curse is trying to figure out how well I’m actually positioned for ROS and trying not to overreact after a strong start, while also realizing it’s all downhill from here — just like my life save for the getting fatter part. Indeed, fantasy has become reality. And so it goes (as Kurt Vonnegut would say). Like myself, you’re probably trying to find that happy medium between overreaction and underreaction. Some of our concerns are warranted, but others simply aren’t. At the same time, many of the outstanding Week 1 performances are 100% real and should provide optimism for the remainder of the fantasy season. Here are five of my biggest Hobbservations from Week 1, focusing on the RB and WR positions.

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There are a lot of things I’ve observed over the last two weeks, such as my coworker’s collection of other people’s hair and the hole in my backyard that a family of armadillos has been digging for at least the past week. These are observations I could have done without and which you need not know, but for the sake of a segue, you were forced to. And no, this isn’t Zoey 101, and no one is getting a free Segway. I would call those sobservations, as they made me sob, and such is not the focus of this post. Today, I am instead introducing the bi-weekly fantasy football Hobbservations column, which I will be releasing throughout the upcoming season to break down some of my biggest takeaways from the gridiron. Since Week 1 is still over one week away, this debut installment includes my major Hobbservations from drafts I have participated in, trends I have noticed in those drafts, player values I am targeting, and notes I have from the back-end of NFL training camps that warrant reiteration. So, forget about that hair collection and the holes which fill our lives, and join me in the first Hobbservations article of the 2022 campaign.

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NFL. AFC. NFC. PAT. RPO. ADP. ECR. Fantasy football is filled with acronyms. And never forget RGS, Roger Goodell Smells. Two of the most common in the fantasy realm are ADP and ECR, which have become compnents of the everyday vocabulary for even the most casual players: Average Draft Position and Expert Consensus Ranking. Now, the ‘perts in this field do phenominal work. They’re never been better, but they’re still human (or donkeys). They get things wrong, just like I do. Sometimes when you look at the ECR hodgepodge, the end product is lacking common sense like a multimillionaire NFL player accepting a dare to soil a fire hydrant in public for five bucks. But today, we’ll stick to coins instead of bills, as I’ll provide my two “cents” on 15 players whose current ECR I disagree with. Sticking to the surface, I’ll make my case using relatively basic arguments and pointing out some common sense disagreements I have with the ECR breakdown.

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[brid video=”1068442″ player=”10951″ title=”2022%20Razzball%20Fantasy%20Football%20Draft%20Kit%20RBs” duration=”140″ description=”2022 Razzball Fantasy Football Draft Kit highlighting Running BacksFave: Derrick Henry (:30)Flier: Miles Sanders (1:09)Fade: Dalvin Cook (1:44)” uploaddate=”2022-08-04″ thumbnailurl=”https://cdn.brid.tv/live/partners/9233/snapshot/1068442_th_1659592651.jpg” contentUrl=”//cdn.brid.tv/live/partners/9233/sd/1068442.mp4″ width=”480″ height=”270″]   When you’ve spent the past eight months writing solely baseball content, making the seasonal shift over to the football side can be relatively disarming — like […]

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Ho! Ho! Ho! It’s the holiday season, and it’s time to shake our bellies like bowls full of jelly — or like Booger McFarland trying to get down from his field analyst forklift. Sadly, much of the cheer has passed, and the vast majority of us currently find ourselves broke from the holiday expenditures and measurably fatter than we were one week ago. As you stroll through your local Fantasy Assets ‘R’ Us, you can’t help but notice that the shelves are barren — cleaned out by the festivities of the season. Luckily for you, all you can afford at this point are the misfits, those cast off by the harsh realities of our world. What’s left behind isn’t sexy, but there are some useful scraps scattered about if you look closely enough, which is precisely what you do, being the resourceful scoundrel that you are. 2021 may have been a difficult year, but that doesn’t mean 2022 needs to be. If you play in a dynasty fantasy football league, or are simply looking ahead for 2022 draft intel, it’s never a bad time to begin laying the groundwork for a successful 2022 — which you can kickstart by buying low on rookies who may be discounted heading into their sophomore seasons. What’s done may be done, but as they say, “there’s always tomorrow for dreams to come true.”

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It’s the evening of Thursday, April 28, 2022 — and Mel Kiper Jr. is backstage at Allegiant Stadium looking into the mirror, trying to decide which angle to position his head in an attempt to make his hair look different this year than the 38 NFL Draft shows prior. From the shadows, Mark Davis approaches from behind and proceeds to ask Kiper what he’s doing at his (Davis’) backstage dresser. Kiper turns around, takes in Davis’ visage, and realizes he doesn’t look all that bad after all. The world is relative. And so it goes.

Now, to be fair, Kiper looks like my late grandmother after coming home from a perm followed by a McCafe iced coffee — on a good day. But he’s drastically different from Davis, both in appearance and in his ability to evaluate college football talent. As we all know, a Davis can’t tell a Crabtree from a Heyward-Bey, or a Ruggs from a Lamb, or a Ferrell from an Allen. But Mel can (sort of). And he’ll tell you, the same way I’m going attempt to do so today. The 2021 fantasy football season is winding down, and I already laid out some advice for your postseason push at the onset of December by detailing which players could boom during fantasy playoffs. Since we’re already ahead of the game, let’s make like MKJ and look ahead to the 2022 rookie class in an attempt to assess which players could emerge from college and become fantasy relevant one year from now. I’ll break down “The Cream” and “The Crop” of each fantasy skill position. Hopefully, you already know that the best crops are always grown by wholesome, small-town farmers. Buy local, people.

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‘Tis the holiday season, which means it’s time to spread some love, warmth and cheer. It is also an opportunity for me to share one of my favorite holiday-themed jokes: What do you call 100 bras cut in half? 200 yarmulkes with chin straps! Get’s me every time. Similarly to a bra cut in half, fantasy assets are not always what they seem at first glance. You can’t judge today’s productivity of a particular item based off the usefulness of yesterday. Such is the story of a bra snipped in two, and such is the story of the players I’ll be discussing today. Some have had rather strong fantasy campaigns to date, while others have been quite underwhelming. But as we embark on Week 13, fantasy playoffs are drawing nearer and nearer, and managers need to begin plotting their strategy around which players will provide the most BOOM during that stretch of the season. For some leagues, the trade deadline may be in the rearview, but some owners may still have the ability to add stock in the names below as they eye up a deep playoff run. As I’ve said many times and will reiterate once again, I’m not here to help you build a playoff roster. I’m here to help you construct a championship team and bring home the hardware. Here is a short list of names that could help you do just that.

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! Warning ! Your 2021 fantasy football season is on FINAL NOTICE. Otherwise meaning: your team is swirling down the crapper, spiraling more quickly thank my bank account after a fun-filled day spent at Chuck-E-Cheese, and you’re desperately in need of that one (maybe two?) player to save you from permanent destruction. Now, there’s this scene in New Girl where Nick shows Jess his box of overdue bills, which he hides in the closet — a place where he puts things he doesn’t want to have to deal with. Heading into Week 11, do not let your fantasy roster become a hidden box of overdue bills. Get the box out. Read the writing on the wall (in the letter). Take a stand and do something about it. Target the right players. Don’t waste a waiver claim on the guy who will save you for one week, rather, go big on the one name that could turn your entire season around. In this segment, I’ll detail seven players who hold the potential to flip the switch your 2021 fantasy football season. Many of these names have been discussed in this week’s waiver column, but as I’ll discuss later, not every waiver add has rest-of-season relevance. These players aren’t so much league winners, as they are league savers. 

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When I was a kid, I traded one of my toys to my friend for a Kirby Puckett figurine — which remains the best trade I have pulled off in my life to date. I can’t even remember what I gave up, but I know it was dumb, and I have that Puckett figurine to this very day. So, in a way, you could say I’m a decades-long trade guru, pertaining to life both inside and outside the fantasy football realm. Today, we’ll focus on the latter, and I’ll detail the framework for three-potential season-changing trades you should look into making in your fantasy football league. Notice the word “framework.” While some of the players involved in these deals may be close enough in value to pursue a straight-up deal, it’s fantasy trading 101 to shoot high and then work your way down. Not ever player listed will be a one-for-one match, but evaluate where your potential trade partner has needs, and where you might be able to find common ground. I’ll break down the framework for all of these deals in each blurb, but at the end of the day, we’re looking to steal value at a particular position by moving a player with a higher positional ranking for an asset with a more promising rest-of-season outlook. Alright, let’s go find your Kirby Puckett figurine!

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