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When the off-season began for the Eagles, it was clear that times would be changing. How much things would change was merely the question. Would they overhaul the roster? Would they resign Vick? Would their defensive ineptitude come close to improving? Well, to answer those questions, no, yes, and no. When I originally saw the signing of Chip Kelly, I was surprised by how many people assumed that Vick would be the starter in Philly. Too many people assume that Chip's offense is solely built for a running quarterback when the truth was nowhere near that. Chip's offense relies on his QB to be quick. Quick on his reads, that is. So when people heard that there was actually a camp battle for starting QB, many assumed it was just the media hyping things to make drama. Normally, I'd side with the hype-train side of the argument but there was definitely a case for Nick Foles to become the starter in Philly. For all intents and purposes, I saw Foles as the future for the Eagles barring any major trades or draft picks heading into 2014 so to see him step up against a strong defense in the Bucs and dismantle them - going 22/31 for 296 and 3 passing touchdowns to go with one on the ground - you could say I wasn't overly surprised. Ok, I was surprised he scored THAT much but still the fact remains that Foles is quality QB and Chip knows how to handle one of those. It's gonna be hard to tell how this whole scenario plays out given that Vick was named the starter heading into the year but has been very erratic in terms of how he's run the offense so far. Don't be surprised if Vick's hamstring 'isn't quite ready' next week so the Eagles can see what they have in this young Philly. In other news from week 6 of the 2013 Fantasy Football season...
You start the year trying to predict what a team will look like not just to start the year but over the course of it. You go off of hunches, intuition, previous year's stats...you comb through a lot of data to try and assess just what a particular team will be able to do heading into the year. It's never an exact science, of course, and so many factors can shape or hide a poor player or offense into something palatable. Entering into 2013, a major source of concern for the Chargers was an offensive line that was deemed one of - if not the - worst line for pass blocking and heading into 2013, there wasn't much optimism surrounding it getting any better. Enter, stage left, Philip Rivers. A slow, pure pocket passer who had a hard time throwing the ball last year in no small part because he had a hard time staying on his feet long enough to do so. But the Chargers have made some adjustments to Rivers and his game this year and it's allowing for some success. After his second 400 yard passing game of the year - he finished 35/42 for 402, 3 touchdowns and 1 interception - it's clear that some of the passing game has changed for the better in San Diego. They're using quick routes a lot more as well as dumping off to their backs in space more as well. He's allowing his skill players to be the play makers and not relying on the deep outs as much. The VJax and DX deep route is nice but it's not sustainable if you don't have time to throw. After today's game, Rivers is on pace for 4,796 passing yards and a 44:8 touchdown to interception ratio and the second most passing attempts (568) of his career. Given how erratic Mathews has played to date, I don't see this passing trend going away. You always wonder 'who's going to be that near QB1 that goes undrafted or goes late a la Josh Freeman or Andy Dalton from 2012' and you just might be seeing it. Given the schedule through week 9 (@Oak, Indy, @Jax, Bye, @Was), there's no reason to think these Rivers can keep rolling. In other 2013 Fantasy Football news...
I'm not gonna lie to you, this is being typed drunk. How drunk you ask? Well my man Chip Kelly has finally gone from Pinocchio to real boy and most of the next game I had to write up while trying to read the keys through nacho vomit, if that gives you any indication. TMI? Prolly, but that doesn't take away from the fact that my alma mater's former coach put on a bit of a 'yes we can' response to the 'you can't do that in the NFL' response to the naysayers tonight and I celebrated...maybe a bit too much. How many fingers am I holding up? Yes, yes imaginary reader I'll admit it looks a bit blurred but no more then the Eagles offense did tonight. What I do see is one finger. Namely the middle. Because that's what I expect to see from all of you after I tell you to be cautious of your Eagles components, in particular Michael Vick. I'm not a person who always aims for the negative but let me be the developer to your photographer here and point out that - as glorious as Vick's night was - he spent more time limping then holding his arm up in victory. Vick took a lot of shots tonight and that needs to NOT go unnoticed. Chip's never been kind to his QBs in terms of abuse received and for all that is great about Vick, his stats tonight (15/25 for 203 yards passing with 2 touchdowns, 9 for 54 yards and a TD on the ground) might be a swan song. I saw a lot of limping and a lot f big hits tonight. Now I'm not here to tell you to sell right off the bat but just be weary that the guy you drafted as a potential QB1 - and Vick really is that - just might be injured too soon to pan out. Next week is San Diego at home and though I do expect a different play out from the Eagles sideline, it's good to note that Vick is awesome when healthy but unsellable when dead. In other news from Monday Night Football for 2013 Fantasy Football...
Much like my high school and college grades, yea I went there, Yahoo draft software graders hit me with a big fat C+, here you go, nice try, but your team is the epitome of mediocre. What the?! I spent the last three months on mock drafting for a C+? But seriously as stated by both Sky and Jaywrong these grades are about as meaningful as the weekly projected points these sites put up to assist you during the fantasy season, so not to make excuses but I'm not putting much stock in my grade. Although I did make a few critical mistakes, I think my draft went well considering the circumstances. Let me explain...
Hey, guess who the only person was that received a lower draft grade (D) than myself (D+)? (And if you know me on the baseball side, I’m all about the +’s.) If you guessed Sky, well then… you sir have the remarkable ability to grasp the notion of duh. Please, blog, may I have some more?
To quote Woody Allen, ‘my daughter is hot’. Woah, wrong quote! No, the quote I was gonna go with here was ’80 percent of life is just showing up’. That’s where all the opportunities lie, really, and this one was no different. Please, blog, may I have some more?
Is it getting hot in here or is it just me? That wasn't me trying to be cool, it's June and I haven't gone outside for about two weeks and my AC is on the fritz so I'll say 'yes, it's just me'. We're knee deep in summer and that means we're getting up to our nose in rankings season for fantasy football around here. I've already brought you my
Top 10 for 2013 Fantasy Football as well as my
Top 20. Oh and along the way I've given you a top 20 for Quarterback, Running Back, Wide Receiver, and Tight End. But I'm not gonna give you the links to those, I'm gonna give you the keys to the car and tell you where to go. As a wise man once said, 'give someone a fish, you feed them for a day. Teach someone to fish, you feed them for a lifetime. Unless they are those guys who think fishing is a sport...they're kinda weird and they don't actually eat the fish'. So I'm modernizing the story a bit, ok? Bass Masters my ass...anywho, if you wanna know where to go to find all this info, you'll notice on the menu bar it says 'Rankings'. What you need more direction than that? What are we, in kindergarten? I get dibs on the fresh bottle of Elmers! For real, if you can't figure out where to go from 'Rankings', though, I can't help you. I mean I could but then I'd be writing a 500 word tutorial as an opening paragraph to something that's not 'Internet For Dummies'. Instead, I say let's get this show on the road and explore the Top 50 for 2013 Fantasy Football...
Not gonna lie, as of this typing, there are a lot of Running Backs I'd like to own in 2013. Like A LOT of them if you didn't get the cut of my jib the first time. The position feels oddly, dare I say it, deep this year. Of course, injuries haven't happened yet and neither has suckitude so saying it's deep might be premature. That's what she said! What? Anyways, we just keep trucking along on our 2013 Fantasy Football Rankings and we're glad to have you along. So with that, let's dive in to the top 20 running backs and how they're ranked for the 2013 fantasy football season...
It’s easy to get caught up in the hype of the players that go in the early rounds and forgetting about those that fall but one thing to remember: the round taken rarely correlates to a player’s success. For every Russell Wilson (75th pick by the Seahawks) there is a Jamarcus Russell (1st pick overall by the Oakland Raiders) and for every Marques Colston (Selected 252nd overall by the New Orleans Saints) there is a Troy Williamson (Selected 7th overall by the Vikings in 2005). Please, blog, may I have some more?
Now that we have completed the majority of our major events of the Rookie scouting period with the combine and pro days behind us we start to get a better picture of the best prospects in this draft (and if you need catch up, click on this magical
2013 NFL Draft link for coverage). Ranking the top rookie Running Backs for 2013 Fantasy Football has been extremely challenging mostly due to the fact that it is as much about what team a player lands on as it is about their football potential and ability. Could Doug Martin, Alfred Morris or Trent Richardson been impact players if they landed with the Vikings behind Adrian Peterson or in Arizona with what is considered the leagues worst offensive line? The answer is most likely no. With that in mind these rankings are strictly based on my personal assessment of each player and are certainly subject to change. Lets take a look at some of the names that could become valuable assets to your 2013 Fantasy Football teams next year and the teams I would like to see them play for...
It seems like the more we see of
Greg Jennings in the media, the less news there actually is about him concerning football. Last year his owners got to see his believe in your smellf campaign more than they got to see him on the football field as he only played in 8 games in 2012. It was like the exact oppostite of Bader-Meinhoff Syndrome (real thing) as his owners started a Go F@#$ Your Smellf campaign (not a real thing) in protest of his absence. Then at the start of free agency and even leading up to it, Greg Jennings talking on ESPN was more commonplace than Greg Jennings actually signing as it took until most of the rumored suitors had moved on with another player before he 'picked' the Vikings for a 5 year deal. Honestly, this was a desperation play on both sides that could benefit the fantasy community quite handsomely. You see, for all the issues with how bad Ponder was last year - and yes make no mistake he was bad and not in a Michael Jackson sort of way - he still produced a top ten caliber wide out before
Percy Harvin got hurt and then moved on to the double entendre 'Evergreen State' this off-season. There's no reason to think Jennings can't still hold value without Aaron Rodgers at the helm. Of course, there IS a question of whether or not he can stay healthy enough to produce as he's only played 21 games in the last two seasons. In a way too early way to evaluate things, Jennings is looking like a 6th round pick right now and the 27th wide receiver off the board and this is before many mocks have happened with the new locale for him. Something tells me Greg is going to keep slipping which should create a reasonable value when considering volume being a factor. Before losing Harvin to injury, 36% of Ponder's completions went to Percy. To put that in perspective, of Stafford's 435 completions, 25% went to Calvin Johnson. Being a big fish in a little pond is a huge boon to fantasy value even if the pond is covered in algae and has the local sewage run-off going into it. If Jennings can stay healthy, he's going to reward his owners with a WR2 season for a fraction of the cost. Sleeper potential is high here.
With the season over for a majority of people, we decided to look back and construct another team based on how the year went.
This team is made up of studs with ADP of 100 or greater. Without further delay, let's meet the team.
