2016 Rankings: Tight End Sleepers, Breakouts and Busts

July 18, 2016 | 2016 Buy/Sell, 2016 Fantasy Football | 5 Comments

Welcome to the third installment of the “Sleepers, Breakouts and Busts” series!

I’m kind of going out of order for this series, as I am going to be talking a bit about the Tight End position rather than Receivers, as that article is taking a bit longer than I had originally expected (but that’s a good thing), and I wanted to get this out while Jay’s TE Rankings (PPR can be found here) were still fresh in everyone’s mind.

So let’s dive in. What’s up with this position in 2016? Well, for the past 5 years or so, it continues again: Gronk or a later pick. And it should stay the same again. Even with Jordan Reed bursting onto the scene last year, there’s still a pretty big drop-off. So if we want Gronk, where should we take him?

Current ADP data has Gronk going 10th overall, in both 10-team and 12-team leagues. Aside from that, TE’s not named Rob Gronkowski can be found anywhere between the 4th round and 12th in 12-team leagues. So if we are going without him (not the worst of ideas), where should we look?

Well, because the position is thin, I won’t be doing the normal 3-3-3 for our players, as there aren’t too many players that we can look at as true “Busts”, and the same thing aplies with the other categories. Look at it this way – there is a range of TE’s that can’t really be defined in any of these categories, and they are:

Jordan Reed (ADP: 37th)
Greg Olsen (ADP: 45th)
Travis Kelce (ADP: 62th)
Delanie Walker (ADP: 66th)
Gary Barnidge (ADP: 78th)

Are these guys sleepers? Nope. They’re all good. Breakouts, yeah, a few years ago, and I personally don’t believe any of these guys are busts for 2016. Except for one of them.

So let’s get to it…

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Learn more about our 2024 Fantasy Football Subscriptions!

The best blend of accurate and bold weekly projections for QB/RB/WR/TE + PK + Defensive Teams and IDP as well as a kick-ass DFS lineup optimizer and projections for DraftKings, FanDuel, and Yahoo!

2016 Rankings: Top 50 Rookies

July 15, 2016 | 2016 Fantasy Football, 2016 Rankings | 6 Comments

by: Jay

Dynasty Rankings: Top-150 | QB | RB | WR | TE | Top-50 Rookies

Year	Accuracy	Rank	High	Low	Percentile
2015	57.5%	22 out of 123	59.9%	51.6%	Top 20%
2014	58.1%	31 out of 125	60.7%	50.6%	Top 25%

Before we release the Top-200 Overall Rankings next week (marking the end of this wonderful rankings journey), I first wanted to host a soirée for the rookies. Because soirée’s sound like so much fun. And it’s French, so there’s bound to be croissants at some point. Right? I actually have no idea what a soirée is or what it does. Regardless, this will be a second time for me, despite having a certain Chargers player pretty high up on the rankings last season, who then proceeded to punch me in my bathing suit areas. All of them, if you were wondering. Okay, okay, so it wasn’t all bad. (The rest of the rankings were fine, just not the Chargers part of it… which seems to be a recurring theme.) But coming off a year in which we probably saw one of the more all around average-to-slightly-above-average (a rich man’s “meh”?) producing rookie class (led and anchored by half a season of Todd Gurley), there’s a lot of hype this year to see which players emerge as fantasy stalwarts immediately. I’m looking at you Ezekiel Elliot. Thus, we must create numerical orders for such things and then fight about it! Get your proverbial (or literal too, I guess) knives ready!

Please, blog, may I have some more?

2016 Rankings: Tight Ends (PPR)

July 13, 2016 | 2016 Fantasy Football, 2016 Rankings | 13 Comments

by: Jay

Dynasty Rankings: Top-150 | QB | RB | WR | TE | Top-50 Rookies

Year	Accuracy	Rank	High	Low	Percentile
2015	57.5%	22 out of 123	59.9%	51.6%	Top 20%
2014	58.1%	31 out of 125	60.7%	50.6%	Top 25%

As stated in the 2016 Tight Ends Rankings for leagues that use standard scoring, or “O.G. scoring”, as we Tupac fans like to call it, I established that we were entering into the “sexual innuendo zone”. I mean, it wasn’t exactly a “zone”, but you get my drift. (Not the one from Tokyo for those wondering.) I mean, c’mon, tight ends… the possibilities are… endless? Ahtankyouvermuch. So yeah, here are the tight end rankings for PPR leagues. And while everything I addressed for standard leagues still generally applies here, you’ll definitely see some movement of players, based on their value from receptions or the lack thereof…

Please, blog, may I have some more?

The Razzball 2016 Fantasy Football Mock Draft

July 12, 2016 | 2016 Draft Strategy, 2016 Fantasy Football |

by: Jay

This year, we’re doing it in a way that resonates with modern culture, using synergistic synergies and corporate entanglement symbiosis or whatever the kids are calling it nowadays. Oh, what’s that? They call it Twitter? Yeah, okay, so we are doing a Fantasy Football mock draft on Twitter. Why you might ask? Well, it’s so we can do it live, and we can do it in a “sort-of” public forum where you, the spectator, can be a part of this mystical yet tantalizing event if you so choose. I believe I also just described how I make love. So, be sure to follow along here, and to further paint the picture (we are in full metaphor strength today folks), here’s everyone who’s drafting, and all the other info for the mock… (along with our first round results thus far!)

Please, blog, may I have some more?

2016 Rankings: Tight Ends

July 11, 2016 | 2016 Fantasy Football, 2016 Rankings | 3 Comments

by: Jay

Dynasty Rankings: Top-150 | QB | RB | WR | TE | Top-50 Rookies

Year	Accuracy	Rank	High	Low	Percentile
2015	57.5%	22 out of 123	59.9%	51.6%	Top 20%
2014	58.1%	31 out of 125	60.7%	50.6%	Top 25%

While I could make this lede into the sexual innuendo piece it deserves to be, I’d rather pontificate on the, ah, who are we kidding? Who doesn’t like a tight end? Oh, that’s right, the Seattle Seahawks don’t. And if we are to believe certain admissions, well then, neither does Nickelodeon Sports Kid’s Choice Award nominee Russell Wilson. So the lesson here is… don’t drink recovery water? Maybe? I’m not sure there is a lesson here actually, unless you are Jimmy Graham that is. And that lesson? Touchdowns would be easier to get on the basketball court at this point. I mean, has Graham even played basketball anyways? Is there a way we can confirm what is probably a hard-to-find fact? Besides this micro conversation of once one of the standard bearers of the position, the macro conversation isn’t much different. There’s Gronk, and then there’s, well, uh, Jordan Reed? Yeah, this can’t be right. Where did all the good tight ends go? That’s also the story of my life, folks. Drops mic, leaves stage…

Please, blog, may I have some more?

2016 Rankings: Running Back Sleepers, Breakouts and Busts

July 5, 2016 | 2016 Buy/Sell, 2016 Fantasy Football | 21 Comments

by: Zach

Welcome to the second installment of the “Sleepers, Breakouts and Busts” series!

For almost the past two weeks, I have been “off the grid” on a cruise to Alaska, and then into the mainland, in areas like Ketchikan, Denali and Juneau, so I apologize that I couldn’t get these out sooner, but I will have the other positions as out as soon as I can. Oh, and Alaska is neat. Hard to go to sleep at 10pm when it still looks like 2pm though.

Running Backs are a position like no other. Position strategy changes from year to year, from wanting as many running backs as we can get our hands on, to not drafting any in the first few rounds (the Zero RB theory). More than any other position, there are a ton of busts year to year, so we’re constantly finding new ways to approach the position and to eliminate all possibilities of drafting last year’s Eddie Lacy.

We want to be extra cautious when selecting them. Not that Quarterbacks are not important per se, but we can be a little braver when drafting them over HB’s. Game flow, schedules, and talent all go into the perfect back. More so in game flow; we want the most touches possible, and those who do find themselves with a very healthy workload are consistently finding themselves at the top come January.

We get very frustrated when they under-perform. Guys like Eddie Lacy, C.J. Anderson, Melvin Gordon, and DeMarco Murray, all caused ourselves to throw something at another thing (good joke Zach). More often than not, the wrong HB will cause our teams to crash and burn, much more so than any of the other positions. However one of the many reasons why many are switching to avoiding backs totally in the first few rounds is due to some diamonds in the rough on the waiver wires come October-December. But it is a high risk to bank on.

Jay’s rankings for the HB position for both Standard leagues and PPR have been released, in case you missed it.

Running Backs are my favorite, and constantly, they’re the position that defines my team, and a lot of the championship winning teams. Most owners who brought home hardware most likely had one of the three: David Johnson, Todd Gurley or Devonta Freeman.

And what do they have in common? In August many owners weren’t drafting them. And here are some you shouldn’t sleep on in 2016…

Please, blog, may I have some more?

2016 Rankings: Wide Receivers (PPR)

June 28, 2016 | 2016 Fantasy Football, 2016 Rankings | 14 Comments

by: Jay

Dynasty Rankings: Top-150 | QB | RB | WR | TE | Top-50 Rookies

Year	Accuracy	Rank	High	Low	Percentile
2015	57.5%	22 out of 123	59.9%	51.6%	Top 20%
2014	58.1%	31 out of 125	60.7%	50.6%	Top 25%

Welcome to the second part of receiver rankings, where we here at Razzball put the PP in PPR. Wait, what? As stated in the standard receiver rankings, I find this position the hardest, though your mom never complains. ICE BURN. Just the sheer volume of names combined with the fact that your standard roster size requires at least three to four of them, well, you now know what’s going on in my general vicinity. And if you’re that close, WATCH OUT, for you will ~~like~~ love the cut of this jib. Because I guess it’s 40’s throwback vernacular Tuesday.Puts on fedora, winks, begins to swing dance. So let’s go ahead and begin the great quest to put our PP in PPR (there’s gotta be a better way to say that) and get to the rankings… (wearing pants is optional, but frowned upon in this establishment.)

Please, blog, may I have some more?

2016 Rankings: Wide Receivers

June 23, 2016 | 2016 Fantasy Football, 2016 Rankings | 10 Comments

by: Jay

Dynasty Rankings: Top-150 | QB | RB | WR | TE | Top-50 Rookies

Year	Accuracy	Rank	High	Low	Percentile
2015	57.5%	22 out of 123	59.9%	51.6%	Top 20%
2014	58.1%	31 out of 125	60.7%	50.6%	Top 25%

It’s wide receiver ranking time folks, and perhaps more than running backs, I find this position the hardest to work with. Not because it has a boner (though I have no idea how to verify this, but I’m willing to experiment!), but because of the sheer amount of players. There is no dearthness here my friends. And the process involves a lot of research and time, I mean, did you know there’s something called a Funchess in the NFL? I thought it was a character from Pokémon. Also, I was quite surprised that Buffalo did, in fact, have wide receivers on their depth chart. I had just assumed they were going to line-up 10 blockers and have Tyrod Taylor throw to himself. (Now that I think of it, this actually might give the boost that the Bills need to take the next level. The next level being not third or fourth place in the division.) But that’s not all I learned. Yes, you might be surprised by this… completely astounded I tell ya, but I also have some fantasy knowledge to drop. CRAZY, I know. So let’s get fantasy relevant… (That’s what she said. Uh, wait, that doesn’t really work here. I mean, it does, but it’s not really the strongest joke I could have put out there. Not sure why this is still a thing…)

Please, blog, may I have some more?

2016 Rankings Updated

June 21, 2016 | 2016 Fantasy Football, Fantasy Football Daily Notes |

by: Jay

2016 Rankings: Top-200 | Top-200 (Half PPR) | Top-200 (PPR) | QB | RB | RB (PPR) | WR | WR (PPR) | TE | TE (PPR) | K | DST | Top-50 Rookies

Year	Accuracy	Rank	High	Low	Percentile
2015	57.5%	22 out of 123	59.9%	51.6%	Top 20%
2014	58.1%	31 out of 125	60.7%	50.6%	Top 25%

So, with a few delays in our rankings process (we are releasing them a bit earlier this year so we can start talking about other, more interesting things closer to the season) and a newly updated FantaysPros rankings system, I’ve went ahead and cleaned up all the rankings we’ve released so far. I mean, as many of you noticed, there are some discrepancies between what’s published and what was actually ranked (Ezekiel Elliot being suspect numero uno) and to be honest (or honesto, if we are keeping the Spanish theme going), updating all the rankings was an easy way to learn all the back-end changes to the ranking system provided to us. It’ll also allow me to further review the back-end changes to your mother. Regardless, we’ve also added the rankings to the menu bar for quick reference, and have added easy to follow links to all the rankings on the top of each specific page (as seen above). Enjoy it. Savor it. For soon we will finish up the Receiver and Tight End rankings these next two weeks, with the top-200 following right after…

Please, blog, may I have some more?

2016 Rankings: Running Backs (PPR)

June 14, 2016 | 2016 Fantasy Football, 2016 Rankings | 24 Comments

by: Jay

Dynasty Rankings: Top-150 | QB | RB | WR | TE | Top-50 Rookies

Year	Accuracy	Rank	High	Low	Percentile
2015	57.5%	22 out of 123	59.9%	51.6%	Top 20%
2014	58.1%	31 out of 125	60.7%	50.6%	Top 25%

One could argue that no other position is affected most by PPR than the running back position. My response would be, why are we arguing bro? I agree with you! While wide receiver and tight end rankings are obviously affected by receptions, running backs are still the cream of the crop when it comes to the fantasy draft. (Though, as I’ve alluded to in the past, this has been changing…) And the PPR curveball (a baseball metaphor in a football post? Dangerous AND exciting folks… much like my love-making) certainly sends massive tidal waves that would surely kill some dinosaurs. But only if said tidal wave was caused by an asteroid hitting Earth. And if the tidal wave was actually a tsunami. And if it was 230 million years ago. But that’s besides the point, but not really, because President Reagan cut taxes like a velociraptor, so we know they existed recently. Science! But yeah. What were we talking about again? Ah yes, Running Back rankings for PPR leagues…

Please, blog, may I have some more?

2016 Rankings: Quarterback Sleepers, Breakouts and Busts

June 9, 2016 | 2016 Buy/Sell, 2016 Fantasy Football | 5 Comments

by: Zach

I love this time of the year; it’s my favorite. Summer is officially here!

This is the time of Rookie Minicamps, OTA’s and in just a little over a month, Training Camp.

Everything is fresh. New players whose 2015 campaigns came to an abrupt end are returning. Busts last year have a fresh new start. New regimes have been put in place, teams have (tried to) relocated to new areas, and players have come and gone. Organized football is here for the first time since February.

Jay has been putting together is notorious rankings for 2016 over these past few weeks, much to our delight. Last year, however, Razzball finished with an accuracy rate of 57.5%, landing at 22nd out of 123 experts in 2015. So, no pressure!

Jay’s first set of rankings, Quarterbacks, is a position that should frighten us, and it does. Many have won or lost seasons because of their picks in drafts, so we have to be extra cautious when determining when/where, and who. Even this year, there were many surprises with names like Blake Bortles (4th in 2015), Ryan Fitzpatrick (11th), and even the #1 guy last year, Cam Newton, all putting up stellar fantasy seasons that very little thought was possible to do. Meanwhile, very little could have guessed that Andrew Luck, Colin Kaepernick, and Peyton Manning would have such awful seasons. Quarterbacks are a highly volatile position, which brings a different and totally unique drafting style compared to the other positions on your team (but you already knew that).

A quick note: You may wonder what I have to say about the top guys, like Luck, Rodgers, Palmer, or even Cam Newton. I think Jay said it best: “The top-5 is generally a place you could put the names in whichever order you please and no one will complain too much.” Everyone may have an opinion on the order of the top guys, but let’s dig a bit further to unearth some better plays, shall we? And if you were wondering, current ADP given is for a 12-team Standard League. I’ll list the overall pick, and to make it easier to understand, the round they’ll go in. ADP doesn’t say everything, and players might go higher or lower depending on the people you play with, but it should give you a little bit of an idea of what players are going when.

In this series, I will analyze and talk a little bit about Quarterbacks this year. Hopefully by the end of this article (might take a few revisions or additions as the preseason begins), I will have labeled the sleepers, breakouts and busts for 2016.

Let’s do this!

Please, blog, may I have some more?

2016 Rankings: Running Backs

June 7, 2016 | 2016 Fantasy Football, 2016 Rankings | 11 Comments

by: Jay

Dynasty Rankings: Top-150 | QB | RB | WR | TE | Top-50 Rookies

Year	Accuracy	Rank	High	Low	Percentile
2015	57.5%	22 out of 123	59.9%	51.6%	Top 20%
2014	58.1%	31 out of 125	60.7%	50.6%	Top 25%

So we’ve finally arrived at what many consider the Cadillac of rankings– the running back position. Though, I don’t really get the car association, seeing as how there are several other makes I’d rather own. I’d even consider some Kia’s, but that might be my half-Koreaness (is that a thing?) coming into play. Which might make it racist. Or carcist. Which sounds like something a dermatologist should be handling. Who knows for sure? I mean, besides a dermatologist. What I do know is that Kia stands for Keeping it awesome, and that’s all that matters in life. Because you should, in fact, keep it awesome. How the car company has gone so long without using this in their P.R. campaign boggles the mind. Regardless, here we are, ranking the running backs, and the first thing that I think of is a new and innovative marketing strategy for a car manufacturer. Why this is the first thing that came to mind is the more interesting subject, but I have no idea how to tackle it. So this whole thing will have to stand on it’s own merits. So yeah! (I have no clue either.) Rankings forward!

Please, blog, may I have some more?