For a fourth straight season, Razzball will be interviewing local NFL beat writers for some actual in-depth football knowledge to shed some additional light on our fantasy football knowledge. Keep your eye out for an interview for every NFL team through the summer. This installment comes courteous of Christopher Gates from leading Minnesota blog the Daily Norseman:
When Dustin Keller entered the free agent market this off-season, he’d just come off a terrible season with the New York Jest which is a statement that could be said about any NYJ from 2012. With that, he decided to hit the FA market with the intent of improving his stock via a 1 year deal. To prove he was worth the money and after a great start to the preseason, there was much promise. And then versus the Texans that knee of his went…well, it went the wrong way. Like every which way that was the wrong way. I’m not linking to that image cuz it’s nasty and exactly why he not only has a torn ACL, PCL and MCL but has a dislocated knee to boot. It was ugly, people, but thankfully I only have to talk about the fantasy implications of it. Keller looked like he was well suited for the Dolphins passing attack throughout the preseason and was looking more and more to be a great target for up and comer Ryan Tannehill. Though it won’t affect my Rankings outside of Keller dropping out, I do get a little worried about who that third target for Ryan is going to be. Young QB with a security blanket to throw to is always nice, especially when it’s a decent option like Keller. Overall, it might increase targets for guys like Gibson but I wouldn’t call that a plus. Oh and no, don’t even ask if Charles Clay is a pickup since he’s, ya know, Charles Clay. You’re better then that and you know it. In other preseason news for 2013 Fantasy Football…we interrupt this ellipses to bring you an important announcement: we still need you – and yes I mean YOU. Not that other guy/girl you say to yourself will do it – to create/join some Razzball Commenter Leagues. See that hyperlink? It whisks you away to a special place where it tells you not only how to set up the league but what the Grand Prize is for the winner. Yes, there’s a prize so go pretend that link is a box of Lucky Charms and you’re trying to get the decoder ring out of it…or something. Just click on it! Alright, enough pandering, let’s get back to the show…
Please, blog, may I have some more?RCL Season is approaching! Â We’re stoked this year for another big RCL season, and we’re still looking for more leagues and more commishes, so as Sky would say “clickity-click this linkity-link” and start up a new RCL league! Â As I mentioned on yesterday’s Podcast post, I’m going to give the top scorer every week a shout out and the team they toppled a slurry of French-ish epithets screamed as if atop a castle.
Last Tuesday, we had our first RCL draft in my JB’s Random Commenter League, and I gotta say, Razzball readers are pretty effing smart.  It was like drafting with 11 other mes.  12 JB’s would be 79 feet of fantasy gigantism.  Horrifying.  But I did come away really happy with my team.  As we talked about in our chat, I don’t really have any draft strategies this season, because there’s just so much sleeper/overrated value at different times that I’m going to come away with wildly different teams based on my draft spot.  None of the guys on my team were particular targets, except my love for Cam Newton this year, who I think has a monster season.  But I’m getting ahead of myself…
Please, blog, may I have some more?For a fourth straight season, Razzball will be interviewing local NFL beat writers for some actual in-depth football knowledge to shed some additional light on our fantasy football knowledge. Keep your eye out for an interview for every NFL team through the summer. This installment comes courteous of Stephanie Stradley from leading Houston Texans blog The Houston Chronicle’s Ultimate Texans blog:
With the recent explosion of tight end production, fantasy football enthusiasts including dynasty owners are now concentrating on a position that would normally be disregarded in the past. On top of their emergence as legitimate fantasy targets, many leagues are transitioning to a tight end friendly scoring format assigning up to a half a point more per reception for tight ends than other positions. Predicting the future success of NFL tight ends has proven to be extremely difficult such as top tight end Jimmy Graham who was drafted in the third round of the NFL draft and Kellen Winslow II who was drafted as the sixth overall player in the 2004 draft and both players, although separated by nearly two rounds, couldn’t have had different careers with Graham emerging as the elite pro bowler and Winslow basically dropping off the face of the earth and literally becoming fantasy irrelevant. So how do you decide who to pick? Experience doesn’t seem to matter as much as athleticism and raw ability and in this draft there are plenty of elite athletes at the tight end position, in fact this year’s NFL draft, although it lacks the elite quarterback or running back, really produced some great long-term options at tight end. Lets take a look at my dynasty tight end rankings and their short-term and long-term outlook for 2013 fantasy football and beyond.
Please, blog, may I have some more?Razzball Nation!  The Razzball Football Podcast is back, and we’re back to our weekly schedule with the first of four preview episodes on Wednesdays as we charge into the 2013 NFL season, then weekly podcasts will go up Monday afternoons once the season is underway.  First off, before you listen start up a new RCL League to feed your fantasy appetite, and as an extra bonus, I’ll be giving a weekly shout out to the top scoring team across the RCLs each week on the pod – and general mockery to the team you toppled.  Plus, there’s that huge overall winning prize getting you custom Razzball Gear, plus the bragging rights and infamy in Razzball Nation lore so start a new league today!
This week, Nick and I relive the old days with a whole 41:00 of just us, and the struggle Nick had hiring a hot tub pool man and recalibrating the bubblers to get his David Wilson hot tub ready for the 2013 season.  Well, we actually previewed QBs and TEs and went off Sky’s 2013 Rankings and debated how much we agreed or disagreed.  As I mentioned in the open, I got the privilege of just criticizing Sky’s rankings without doing my own, so Sky, if you’re out there, I still love you!  We found out Nick is just all kinds of gaga for the Giants, loves Eli Manning and hopes there’s enough room in the David Wilson hot tub for the whole gang.  I am going all in on Cam Newton and think he should be drafted as the #2 QB this year.  Next week we’ll have JayWrong on for the whole episode going over his RB rankings and thoughts, and his ideas for our upcoming foodtruck idea of Kimchi Big Biscuits.
Please, blog, may I have some more?As they say, change is inevitable. Whether it’s the tuck rule, the crown of the helmet rule or the ‘how many days can I wear my drawers before they’re considered stanky’ rule, we as a species are always creating new ways to experience this little world of ours and fantasy football is no different. I’m not gonna bore you with the stats but we have all noticed the QB position become the most dominant offensive spot in our lineup over the last few years and the depth at the position has become hard to ignore. So with that in mind, I’m gonna two-tone this post by not only trying to give you draft strategy but also strongly suggesting your leagues become two QB leagues but not the standard version. For all that talk of QBs being great offensively, there’s no reason anyone should ever feel they have to draft Christian Ponder and a 2QB setting would do that. I strongly encourage if you do go the two QB route that you go with a QB and a QB flex (QB/RB/TE/WR) position to back it up. It adds a unique wrinkle to your draft strategy and puts less weight on drafting those afterthought schlubs. So now that I’ve derailed, I’m gonna rerail and get us back on course. So lets discuss some two QB draft strategies for 2013 Fantasy Football…seriously, who’s working on this railroad? We interrupt your route to fantasy football glory to give you another way to said glory via our Razzball Commenter Leagues. I had a dream the other night where some weird guy whispered into my ear ‘if you build it, they will come’ and woke up and created this year’s RCLs. Only you’re not coming…well, not coming to Commish or join leagues. Do you not like us? Do we smell funny? Not cool…neverthewho, I guess I’ll still talk draft strategy with you but note I’m doing it under protest…
Please, blog, may I have some more?Greetings one and all, since we’ll be doing our Razzball Commenter Leagues via yahoo this year – and if you haven’t up, clicky-click on that linky-link to do so now – I thought it would be fair to highlight some round by round value plays for a 12 team league much like it so you get a feel for how I’d draft in this little shin-dig. Because as we all know, I’m so important that you should care how I’d draft. Now I’m gonna go round by round so clearly the first few aren’t going to be difficult to call ‘values’, per se. But of course, I’ll aim to do a follow up to this piece called the Anti-Christ ADP so you get a feel for guys I’ll avoid via their round value. Just in case someone out there isn’t familiar with our RCL set up, it’s 12 team PPR with W/R/T flex and 6 bench spots with the rest being, as they say, ‘the youzzzch’…or however you special the kid’s abbreviation of ‘usual’. Now keep in mind, I know some draft picks will be unreasonable. That’s not the point of this exercise. I’m simply pointing out round by round whom I think is a steal or undervalued so if someone’s bye week if my QBs have the same bye week, you can tell me but I promise you I won’t care. But now that we’ve laid the groundwork, let me do the footwork as I take you throw my All-ADP Team for 2013 Fantasy Football…well I can’t very well talk to you about the RCLs without strongly encouraging you to sign up for said RCLs now could I? Here’s the link. Get over there, create a league, then go back and look at yourself in the mirror and see how happy you’ve made yourself. Now if you’ll excuse me, I still have a post to finish…
For a fourth straight season, Razzball will be interviewing local NFL beat writers for some actual in-depth football knowledge to shed some additional light on our fantasy football knowledge. Keep your eye out for an interview for every NFL team through the summer. This installment comes courteous of Dennis Esser from leading New York Giants blog Big Blue View:
Please, blog, may I have some more?The original plan was to be visiting family with remote internet access the week prior to preseason action. So of course, a wine and food fair event just HAD to bump that back a week. The best part? We didn’t go to the wine and food fair. Too tired from all the traveling and didn’t want to spend time with the annoying relatives. That’s truth with a capital hashtag in front, peeps, and why never to book hotel rooms in advance. I know you don’t care about any of this blather, really, but want you to know that I’m a bit behind on all the goings on over the last week. I heard DX died. Ok, he didn’t die really but in our fantasy football world, being out for the remainder of the year is pretty similar. BTW, it’s bad enough to tear it once but he’s now torn his ACL 5 times. Screw Tommy John surgery, we need Danario Alexander surgery that replaces completely worthless ACLs. But enough about that, I’m gonna do my best to post what I know – very little -and what I gleaned – a bit more – from all this preseason football. I’m going to then gently apply it to this here 2013 Fantasy Football season for you all cuz that’s what I do. I’m a giver. But before I give you that, I’m here to give you this. That ‘this’ is a link to the Razzball Commenter Leagues. We don’t have many leagues. It’s embarrassing. I call my mother and cry on the phone about it and the only person who can change that is you. Maybe not you on your own, but you and another 11 you’s to join your quest for sweet Razzball swag. You can call them mini-you’s if you prefer. But enough about your Dr. Evil impersonations, it’s time to cover a bit of the magic that is preseason football for the 2013 fantasy football season…
Please, blog, may I have some more?As we come to the conclusion of the Razzball IDP Sleepers and Busts series, we get to the toughest position to project. For that reason, it is imperative that you avoid picking a bust, especially early. There is just too much depth every year at DB to reach for a guy like Morgan Burnett or […]
Please, blog, may I have some more?We saw flashes of greatness from first year wide receivers last year in many players such as Josh Gordon, TY Hilton and Kendall Wright. Although there were only these flashes and these players lack consistency, patience is important with young receivers as development takes slightly longer for them than the running backs in our last post. In fantasy the wide receiver is often overlooked as a less important asset than positions like running back and quarterback and while that may be the case in re-draft it couldn’t further from the truth in dynasty. As compared to the high running back turnover in the top 10, and short shelf-life of running backs, wide receivers hold the best potential for long-term value. For running backs the age of 30, I know so old, is usually the breaking point for most players where as receivers are known to play at a competitive level far past this alleged breaking point, as seen with Reggie Wayne. I mean even Terrel Owens is begging for another chance in the NFL at the ripe old age of 39, we all know that it’s not going to happen but interesting to that a player at his age still believes he can compete, I don’t see 39 year old running backs lining up to get another chance. Regardless of TO and his off-season antics the point is that if you land a great wide receiver in your rookie draft, you might not be immediately rewarded in the 2013 season but the payoff later on down the road could be huge an that receiver could out perform any running back in this year’s current class. Lets take a look at my personal rankings and the short-term and long-term out look of some of these rookie standouts.
Please, blog, may I have some more?