How did the Bye-mageddon go for everybody? Or was it more of a Bye-pocalypse? Did you support the Bye-din Administration? Or did you get a bit Bye-curious and start changing up your roster? Maybe you finally addressed that Bye-polar condition you have. ENYWHEY (I ran out of Bye-related jokes). The average fantasy footballer (Hi Grey’s mom!) is nearing the playoff stretch already. How weird is that? Didn’t we just start the season? Some of those big leagues have playoffs starting in week 12. And as we all know, the most important league in the world — the RazzBowl — has that week 9 cutline. Lemme check if I’m going to pass go and collect $200…hmmm, gonna be close. My risky strategy to draft the 49ers stack (Kittle, Samuel, Aiyuk, and Lance) did not pay off. So my RazzBowl effort may be closing here soon, but I’ve got a bit of good news after the jump! Join me to celebrate!
Fantasy Pros Rankings
So far this year, we’ve been celebrating Rudy Gamble’s excellent performance in the Fantasy Pros ranking system. If you’re a Razzball lifer, you know that the Razzbois have some…opinions about the contest. But let’s center our discussion on the following: the competition is fun, it creates community, and it allows fresh faces to challenge the best in the business. If you’ve been following my articles this season, I’ve asked you not to look at my weekly in-season Fantasy Pros rankings because I was trying a game. Well folx, that game paid off this week:
🚨 WEEK 7 EXPERT ACCURACY RANKINGS 🚨
🥇 @EverywhereBlair
🥈 @FFJeffSmith
🥉 @Roto_Chef
4. @StaggsNFL
5. @DraftBuddy
6. @DerekLofland
7. @allinkid
8. @TheFFGhost
9. @NFLFantasyBR_
10. @PFF_NateJahnkeFULL RANKINGS ⤵️ https://t.co/0JaMStS5GI
— FantasyPros (@FantasyPros) October 27, 2021
I want to send a big thanks to Rudy and Donkey Teeth for guiding me along the way. As much as you may like me and my rankings, I want to remind everybody that the most helpful rankings for your fantasy football team are the Razzball Premium Tools. There’s a reason for this, and that reason is long and boring and it has been explained better by Rudy in this post. But here’s the TL;DR — I was trying to win the Fantasy Pros game, and I wasn’t trying to give good fantasy advice via my rankings. That said, Rudy, Donkey Teeth, and The Joey Wright are all creating rankings that are geared towards helping you, so please keep checking in with their excellent work.
Week 8 Highlights
Quarterbacks
Joe Burrow: After earning the lede on Sunday’s article, Joe Burrow continues his dominance of the Razzball website by taking the lede on the Week 8 primer. Burrow has been in the top 10 QBs in 3 out of the last 4 weeks. This week, he faces off against the Jets, which is…meh for fantasy purposes. Can Burrow crash the Jets? Yes, yes he can. Is there a chance that the Bengals are up by 3 TDs at the half and finish the game running 30+ times like the Patriots did in week 7? Yup. In fact, with Joe Mixon and Samaje Perine, that’s actually more likely to happen than another 400-yard blowout from Burrow. That said, Burrow is available in 20% of leagues and was the QB2 for many teams in this year’s draft, so feel confident starting him in your lineups this week. Confidence Men 2021 — a new podcast from your boi.
Running Backs
D’Andre Swift: How is he still not rostered in every league? How many worst ball leagues are out there? ENYWHEY. Swift has finished as a top 10 RB in 3/7 weeks with another 3/7 top 20 finishes. In simpler terms, D’AS has been really good in 24/28ths of the season. Isn’t math great? Also I was apparently the highest ranker on Swift in the preseason. I knew he was going to be the Lions’ #1 wideout the whole time! It was process!
Special shout-out to below names for riding D'Andre Swift when others were burying him@EverywhereBlair 8️⃣@Mattymar89 11
@bellyupmdffshow 11
@DaltonGuruFF 12@adampelletier 12@DavidZach16 13@DynastyPrice 13@Matthodical1 13@BRotoFFJason 13@GeoffLambert77 13@heathcummingssr— JM (@merklejosh) October 26, 2021
Elijah Mitchell: Nobody can really predict which 49ers RB will take mega-snaps on a week-by-week basis this year. Imagine: there’s an alternate world out there where Wayne Gallman wasn’t cut in the pre-season and leads the NFL in rushing. Instead, Gallman got buried on the Falcons depth chart behind a resurgent Cordarrelle Patterson. Back to Mitchell — the 49ers are running with the hot hand this year, and the current hot hand is Mitchell. Available in 50% of leagues and it’s equally possible he finishes the game with 5 touches and 22 yards, or 16 touches and 85 yards.
Receivers
Emmanuel Sanders / Cole Beasley: Sanders is a top 30 WR on the season so far, and Beasley’s 20% target share is one of the highest rates in his career. They face off against Miami this year, which means plenty of coconut rum to cleanse the germs from their bodies and a fair chance at saving your fantasy football team’s playoff hopes. And if they fail, at least you’re got the rum.
Jerry Jeudy: He’s baaaaaaaaack! Maybe he won’t be a top tier receiver in his first week back from injury, but he’s available in 40% of leagues and has as much upside ROS as any receiver out there.
Kalif Raymond: Available in 95% of leagues and he’s WR 39 on the year so far (3rd WR in deeper leagues, FLEX in all formats). Yeah, the Lions suck but so do the Panthers and that didn’t stop you from drafting CMC 1st overall, did it?
Thursday Night Football
Finally, a Thursday Night Football game worth getting excited about! Arizona takes on Green Bay in a battle of the green and reds, with each side projected to put up about 3 touchdowns each. I guess I’m a sucker for high-scoring games. I’m the prime audience for the Pro Bowl! Let’s just say: start everybody. But, for the DFS players out there, here are a couple of favorites of mine:
Randall Cobb: When he’s on the field, he garners over a 10% target share. Also, Davante Adams is out, so…opportunity? Cobb is a contrarian captain or at least the clothing for your Packers-heavy showdown builds. Imagine: Captain Aaron Jones with A Rog and Randall Cobb…who you got next? Maybe sneak Robert Tonyan in there and you’ve got a lineup that will be low-utilized with high upside.
James Conner: Conner has sneakily been a top 15 RB in 3 weeks so far this season, which is great for a guy that was drafted as a backup. He’s also remarkably inefficient (3.9 yards per carry), doesn’t catch anything (5 catches on the year), and is super-TD dependant. Which means…contrarian build!
Good luck everybody, and let me know how your week is going in the comments!
