When Craig and I hatched this podcast, we envisioned a hobby that we would do in our spare time. Record weekly, do the occasional written piece on the site, and share some of the knowledge we’ve accumulated over 50 years of combined Fantasy Football play. It would be fun! And it is, but then…. the preseason arrived.
Week 3 provided a lot of information, both good and bad. So here is what I learned.
- Doug Marrone might be nuts. Marrone came out today and said he has never seen Blake Bortles play better. The underlying message was that now that the the competition was over, Bortles was comfortable and playing with more confidence. I have a big problem with that. I don’t want a Quarterback that plays better when he is relaxed. I want a QB that turns it up to 11 when the pressure shows up. This is the NFL, not a Sunday rec league and I have to worry about any player who does not respond to pressure with better play. I’m sure its just coach speak but if its meant to ease the worried minds of fans and teammates, its a failure on his end. I do not have any more faith in Bortles than I did a week ago. If he is right, I’ll apologize at the end of the year but my concern level just increased with regards to Bortles.
- Injuries are causing major ADP shifts. Injuries happen in football regularly but rarely have I seen them cause so much shifting in ADP. I heard of a draft this weekend where Brandin Cooks went in the first round. Ones where Kareem Hunt has moved up to the second round. I will urge caution. Don’t overreact to opportunity. Not every backup or next man up is going to be stellar. I think both Cooks and Hunt are great players, but I’m not moving them up my board in reaction to the injury. Hold steady! If someone wants to take Hunt in front of Todd Gurley (heard that has happened as well), that just means Gurley gets one spot closer to my pick. Particularly in the case of Cameron Meredith. I had the Bears offense very low rated to begin with (I’m avoiding Jordan Howard as well), so I’m not moving Kevin White up. I am moving Markus Wheaton from “Not really interested at all” to “late round flyer” status, but I’ll likely not touch him in any league this year. If you were eyeing guys like Hunt or Cooks or White already, then you might want to move them up a notch or two and be prepared for them to go earlier, but I’m not moving them, I’m standing pat (had a joke about standing Patriots here, but my brother warned me about Karma, so we’ll go elsewhere).
- Not every team is rostered equal. The bad teams are really really bad and all it takes is for a couple of changes for it to become apparent. Buffalo started camp with Tyrod Taylor and Sammy Watkins trying to build more chemistry after Watkins missed time last season. Leading receiver Robert Woods was gone, but the basic parts were there in Taylor, Watkins and LeSean McCoy. There was reason for some optimism. Fast forward to now: Taylor is in the concussion protocol, Watkins is in LA, the guys they got to replace Watkins are injured (Jordan Mathews) and retired (Anquan Bolden) and McCoy is starting to look like the only offensive option on the team. They went from risky play in my book to untouchable. Meanwhile, other teams lose their leading receiver (Edelman) and people are not downgrading the Pats at all, to the contrary several have been boosted in value. Team depth matters.
- Surprises happen. If you told me that I’d be talking about how impressed I was by the San Fransisco 49ers at the end of week 3 of the preseason, I’d have you evaluated by a doctor. But that is just what happened. Hoyer looked….. good. Hyde looked….. good. The line held, the receivers caught passes (I think the first 7 attempts were all completed). Its a reminder that teams do progress in camp and the guys you ignored early may be worth a second look later. I’m not moving any of them up my boards, but should Hyde be staring me in the face at a decent value, I’ll pull the trigger.
The season is nearly upon us! We’ll be doing a quickie cast this week just to wrap up our preseason coverage so we can delve into our home draft and DFS prep. Next week around this time (probably on or around the 5th), I’ll be posting my first Thursday DFS article, hard to believe that its time for some football! Cheers -B
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