With the news of off-season acquisition Devin Funchess opting out, the fantasy football community erupted into a frenzy regarding who would be Davante Adams’ right hand man. At one time, the second option in the Green Bay passing game was a fantasy asset. From 2013 to 2016, Aaron Rodgers’ WR2 saw an average of 108 targets for a 69-1000-9 line. Since those glory days, however, the second receiver has only mustered 83 targets for 56-588-3 which is not an option for our fake football teams.
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Top 30 Quarterbacks for 2020 Fantasy Football
August 3, 2020 | 2020 Fantasy Football, Fantasy Football Rankings |by: Donkey Teeth
Have you been paying attention to the recent player opt outs from around the NFL? If you have, then you know ole Billy Belichick and his dog are up to something. As of this writing, 39 NFL players have opted out of the 2020 season with 8 of those players being New England Patriots. A lot of fans and analysts are speculating the Patriots are encouraging opt outs as they tank for Trevor Lawrence (the consensus top QB pick in next year’s draft class), but I think it’s something much more sinister. Like maybe there’s an asteroid on a collision course with Earth and Belichick plus those eight Patriots have been selected for a space mission to save humanity. Sorry, I watched Armageddon over the weekend. Maybe Belichick encouraged (or even incentivized) anyone remotely considering an opt out to do it early so he has more time to prepare and fill those holes? Seems more likely than the space mission anyway. Speaking of the Patriots, I amended the top 20 quarterback rankings to include new Patriot quarterback Cam Newton after his signing. Now for the top 30 quarterbacks for 2020 fantasy football:
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Fantasy Football Podcast: Shadow Coverage with Bobby Lamarco
August 3, 2020 | Fantasy Football Podcast | 4 Commentsby: B_Don
B_Don and Donkey Teeth are joined by one of our new Razzball writers, Bobby Lamarco. We ask Bobby about the recent LeSean McCoy signing and what we each expect it to mean for the Tampa RB situation. We also talk about Damien Williams recent opt out for the 2020 season and where we’re willing to draft Clyde Edwards-Helaire now.
We move on to talk about our individual #RazzBowl draft starts. Bobby and B_Don go RB heavy early, while Donkey Teeth is taking a bit of a different approach. Bobby asks DT about his selection of Miles Sanders at 5, and what his projections look like for Sanders.
Finally, we ask Bobby about his initial column series covering, well, shadow coverage. Bobby explains how he plans to use his shadow coverage research for both in-season and during the draft process. We ask him about his in depth research about Stefon Diggs, and we look how shadow coverage may affect the 49ers receiving situation in general.
Please, blog, may I have some more?The innovation machine never stops here at Razzball. Except for that one time when I tried to use it to heat up some leftover pizza. What a disaster that was! In the modern world of pandemics, riots and keto diets, we know it can be hard to find time to listen to 30-60 minute fantasy football shows. Oh, there’s a squirrel! Sorry, what was I talking about? Right, we’ve created a short-form video series for those of us with the attention span of a puppy. On Donkey’s Advocate, I’ll be bringing on many of the top fantasy football industry experts to sell me on one of their favorite 2020 fantasy football draft targets while I play devil’s donkey’s advocate. All of this will take place in a two minute rapid fire segment. In this week’s batch I was joined by Mike Beers, Pat Fitzmaurice and Joe Pisapia to discuss Zach Ertz, Jonathan Taylor and Calvin Ridley:
Two Late Round IDP Flyers (Not from Philadelphia)
August 2, 2020 | 2020 Fantasy Football, IDP Report |by: GasDoc
Can you win your league with your first round pick? Maybe, but it can definitely lose you your league. When you take late round flyers (not the ones from Philadelphia since this isn’t a hockey article), these are the moves that help. There are two players I’ve come across that I believe can be difference makers in the late rounds of your IDP drafts. Defensive lineman Kemoko Turay of the Colts and linebacker Drue Tranquill are highlighted here.
The Colts’ acquired Justin Houston last year, and he led the team in sacks with 11. He averaged 17.2 pts/100 snaps per Fantasy Data which led the league by DL with over 500 snaps. Another Colts player who was limited by injury to just 84 snaps, was second in the league with 21.7pts/100 snaps. Right now he is listed as a backup to Al-Quadin Muhammad per ESPN, but if can produce like he has when healthy, Kemoko Turay may be that breakout candidate that can help your IDP team this year.
A second round pick in 2018, Turay played in just 385 snaps and had 4 sacks and 13 QB hits. Last year in his limited 84 snaps, he had 1.5 sacks and 5 QB hits. Pro Football Focus gave him a 91.3 grade last year which compared to TJ Watt’s 91.3, Joey Bosa’s 89.8, and Carlos Dunlap’s 89.7.
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2020 Shadow Coverage Report: San Francisco 49ers
August 1, 2020 | 2020 Fantasy Football |by: Bobby LaMarco
2020 Shadow Coverage Report – San Francisco 49ers
Team: San Francisco 49ers
Division: NFC West
WR1: Deebo Samuel
Number of Potential Shadow Coverage Match-ups: 11
Historical Production
Deebo Samuel has yet to draw shadow coverage in his career as last season some teams elected to take away Emmanuel Sanders. The luxury of having a great play caller like Kyle Shanahan is he gives Samuel multiple ways to produce. Shanahan does this by using Samuel in the run game which helps raise his floor even in tougher match-ups. Samuel was utilized in the slot as well seeing 25% of his routes on the inside and roughly 35% of his targets from that position. These factors will be notable when evaluating Samuel throughout the season.
2020 Schedule
Samuel’s schedule is nothing short of a gauntlet. Already behind the eight-ball dealing with an off-season foot injury Samuel is returning to the toughest shadow cornerback schedule of any wide receiver in 2020. This season he won’t have another wide receiver like Sanders to draw attention away, so Samuel will be the player that defensive coordinators target for shadow coverage. Heading into 2020 Samuel has 9 tier 1 cornerback match-ups and 11 total for the season. In his own division he will see match-ups vs. top shadow cornerbacks Jalen Ramsey and Patrick Peterson. The NFC West will be facing off vs. AFC and NFC East that hosts some top shadow cornerbacks including Bryon Jones (Dolphins), Stephon Gilmore (Patriots), Tre’Davious White (Bills) and James Bradberry (Giants). If this wasn’t tough enough the other NFC teams they face are the Saints (Marshon Lattimore) and the Packers (Jaire Alexander).
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This year, there is one guy who I will be trying my hardest to roster on every fantasy team that I draft. He is not a guy I need to spend an early pick on, in fact, I have been and think that I will continue to be able to get him way below his value. I have been able to get him in the late rounds in my SFBX draft and both other drafts I have done since. He’s not flashy, he’s not big, he’s not fast, and he’s not a big name. He is a guy who is being drafted after guys like Antonio Brown and Devonta Freeman, who don’t even have jobs in the league! The disrespect is real, and I plan to take full advantage of it – and you should too!
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Fantasy Football News and Notes: CEH or M-E-H?
July 31, 2020 | Fantasy Football Daily Notes |by: MB
As expected, in the midst of a pandemic, NFL players around the league are deciding to opt out of the 2020 season. All eyes will be on the MLB for the next couple of weeks to see how outbreaks within organizations are handled. After all of the positive tests for the Marlins and the two positive tests in the Phillies’ organization, it’s hard to imagine the NFL functioning with travel in the fall. At this point, Goodell is going to try and push through and have teams play in their home stadiums. I don’t understand why the NFL can’t move their operation down to Texas for the season and play in those nice high school facilities that they have down there. I get that NFL players want the cushy locker rooms and state of the art weight lifting facilities, but you have to look at the NBA campus and notice that there hasn’t been a positive test in weeks. Having 53 players per roster following proper guidelines in a high contact sport seems far-fetched enough as it is. As I previously mentioned, the consequences of the less than ideal protocols are opt outs, and it’s already having an effect on fantasy football. But first, the Buccaneers made an interesting roster move on Thursday.
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Joe Mixon Outlook for 2020 Fantasy Football
July 30, 2020 | Fantasy Football Strategy |by: everywhereblair
Let’s get right to the point: you’re here because you don’t know what to make about Joe Mixon, running back for the Cincinnati Bengals. I don’t know what to make of him, either, to be honest. People smarter than me have him ranked as the 6th player off the board in 2020 Fantasy Football. However, he’s a running back with the [checks notes, does double take, spills papers] second worst offensive line in the NFL. Over at the NFFC, Mixon is the first round player that expert drafters just completely disagree on–he’s gone as high as 4th, as low as 20th, and holds an average of the 9th player off the board. So, let’s take a closer look at Joe Mixon, who is probably your first round target if you’re drafting in the bottom half of the first round.
Please, blog, may I have some more? 2020 Shadow Coverage Report: Buffalo Bills
July 30, 2020 | 2020 Fantasy Football |by: Bobby LaMarco
Team: Buffalo Bills
Division: AFC EAST
WR1: Stefon Diggs
Number of Potential Shadow Coverage Match-ups: 8
Historical Production
Stefon Diggs vs Shadow Coverage 2018-2019
| Stefon Diggs vs. Shadow Coverage | ||
|---|---|---|
| Opponent | Games | PPG |
| Vs. Shadow Coverage | 6 | 11 |
| All other opponents | 24 | 13.4 |
*Point per game based on receiving stats only
Diggs has seen some mixed results vs. shadow corners. Top cornerbacks Stephon Gilmore, Patrick Peterson and Darius Slay held him under 50 yards over the past two seasons. However, Diggs did have one dominate performance vs. Chris Harris and the Denver Broncos. In five of six games he was held under the 13.4 points per game average he has in all other match-ups while failing to reach double digit fantasy points in 50% of those games in .5 PPR. Overall Diggs only produced one WR1 week in the games he saw shadow coverage from a tier 1 cornerback.
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When I was a pubescent boy, deciphering the ebbs and flows of the squiggly lines from the scrambled cable channels provided much pleasure. I owe all my creative juices to that endeavor. After my voice cracked and hair appeared in places that never existed before….it was never one hair, then two hairs. One day it was nothing. The next day there was a forest. One of life’s great mysteries. Anyways, figuring out how to get onto all the bases was the next challenge. Then, it was about finding a woman that would actually say yes. Kids. White picket fence. Yadda yadda. Now, it’s about fantasy sports. Wet dreams and tents in the pants are fostered by thinking about men playing with a brown, prolate spehroid-shaped ball. Talk about devolution. It is what it is, though. With all that’s been going on in this Rona-infested world, my one solace has been from the sexual healing of Adam Thielen. Sorry wife and kids. Here’s why:
In 2018, the Vikings rushed 357 times and attempted 606 passes under John DeFilippo, good for 27th and 6th in the league respectively. Mike Zimmer, a defensive-minded coach wasn’t having any of that. As a result, he went with Kevin Stefanski as offensive coordinator the following year and mandated a more run-heavy approach. Mission accomplished, as the Vikings rushed 476 times and attempted only 466 passes, good for 4th and 30th. But Stefanski became the new head coach of the Cleveland Browns in the offseason and Gary Kubiak was promoted.
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It’s 1934, prohibition is finally over, but the country is in the midst of the Great Depression. Of course, you are sitting at the local watering hole drowning your sorrows when a well-dressed man walks into the bar requesting a cold one. The bartender requires the man to pay upfront because of the economic times. He reveals a large wad of cash and the bartender questions, “Where did you get all that money?” The stranger proclaims he’s a professional gambler. Everyone in room disparages him, claiming even the best bets are 50/50.
The gambler does what gamblers do, he wagers with the patrons. “I’ll bet you $50 I can bite my right eye!” When the bet is taken, he pulls out his glass eye, pops it into his mouth, and shoves the fresh Ulysses S. Grant in his pocket. He proceeds, “Perhaps that was unfair, so I’ll bet you $50 I can bite my left eye?” Seeing him walk into the room, knowing he isn’t blind, the bartender obliges. The gambler pulls out his fake teeth, bites his left eye, snatches the cash, and heads to the back of the room to drink up.
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