Nov 17, 2008 at 3:18 PM
Whether you call him AD, AP, or Adrian Peterson, what most people are now calling the Vikings Pro Bowl running back is the best player in fantasy football. That is, unless you play in a point-per-reception or touchdown-only league, in which case Peterson remains merely "one of the best." However, most leagues are not built around PPR rules and the basic TD-only league is fading quickly in popularity, meaning that in most cases the NFL's current leading rusher is numero uno.
Of course, for some of us who have been hailing Peterson as the best player in fantasy football since last season, this comes as no surprise. I know there are still some people who don't buy into him as the No. 1 overall player (and I am also sure some of them will comment on this post) but my mind is made up as to who will sit atop my fantasy football rankings again next year.
The question for me is: who is AP? As in: who comes after Peterson in the rankings heading into next season? For some of you in keeper leagues and dynasty leagues and others who are hopelessly behind in re-draft leagues, it is not too early to start looking ahead in this way. We had this discussion of who comes after Peterson during our Fantasy Football Weekly radio program this past Saturday and we did not come up with a clear-cut answer. Michael Turner, LaDainian Tomlinson, and Matt Forte were suggested. A compelling argument could be made for Brandon Jacobs as well. What about Clinton Portis? Joseph Addai?
Compelling arguments could be made against the aforementioned Tomlinson and Brian Westbrook. They were universally ranked with Peterson in the top three on most people's lists heading into the 2008 season; however, both have had injury issues this season and both turn 30 years old (the dreaded age for running backs) this upcoming offseason.
I would suggest with a great deal of certainty that the player who comes after Peterson on my list next summer will not be a quarterback or wide receiver. There is no clear-cut-far-and-away No. 1 player at either of those two positions and therefore no reason to reach for one at the top of the first round.
So, what say you, FFChamps users? Fast forward to the summer of 2009 and tell me who you think will be the consensus top two, or three, or four, or five players in fantasy drafts. I'd love to hear some opinions from our astute readers.
Nov 10, 2008 at 12:10 PM
A listener to the
Fantasy Football Weekly radio show that I co-host called in this past Saturday and asked about a seemingly unbalanced trade that went down in his league. He wondered whether we thought it should be vetoed.
Whenever the topic of vetoing trades comes up, it gets me going. I admit that I get just as frustrated as any owner when a lopsided deal goes down in a league in which I am playing (and I am not the lucky owner on the good end of the deal). That said, I am adamantly opposed to trade vetoes unless and only unless some kind of under-handed intentions (e.g. collusion) can be proven. If two owners are in cahoots to try and build one championship team and split the money, there is not only grounds for veto, but also for kicking the offenders out of the league. In nearly every other case I can think of, vetoing is ill-advised.
The reason is that it opens up an ugly can of worms. Once you set the precedent that trade can be vetoed, every other trade will be called into scrutiny. In light of the fact that almost no trades are completely fair and balanced, this will lead to chaos. Owners will want to veto trades that help their rivals, are the least bit unbalanced, or merely out of spite because one of their trades was shot down.
The bottom line is that you can't legislate against stupidity. Ill-informed, short-sighted, or lazy owners will make stupid trades every year; there is nothing you can do about it. Besides, how many times has that "horrible" trade that made every owner in your league groan and complain turn out to favor the team that supposedly made the terrible deal? From my lengthy experience, I would say at least half the time.
Veto the trade veto.
Oct 27, 2008 at 11:42 AM
Glancing ahead at the NFL schedule you may notice that the Thursday night games begin in Week 10 with a contest between the Broncos and Browns on November 6. The Thursday night tilts continue through Week 16, including three games on Thanksgiving.
I know this comes as bad news to those of you who don't get the NFL Network. That sucks, I know. Beyond that, what this also means the time is now to double-check the rules in your fantasy league regarding lineup deadlines. Specifically, this is a good time to make sure you understand the rules and lobby for a midseason change, if need be, before it is too late.
The thing to look for is whether your league rules allow you to make lineup adjustments until the first game of the week or until any given player's game. If the rules dictate that lineups must be set before kickoff of the first game of the week, it's time to get on the phone or start emailing your league members to get the rule changed. There is simply no excuse in this age of Internet league managers to force teams to set their lineups in stone on Thursday for those players who don't play until Sunday or Monday. That's an archaic rule left over from when we all used to score our leagues by hand prior to this Inter-web invention. Yet there are still some leagues out there that do things this way.
Normally, I am against midseason rule changes; however, this rule is one that affects all owners equally and can and should be changed to the benefit of all. But you need time to get the ball rolling, which is why you should check things out now instead of waiting until the last minute.
And while you are digging around in the league rule book, check to make sure there are tie-breaker guidelines in place for playoff seeding as well as playoff games. It never ceases to amaze me how many times this gets overlooked. Not having tiebreaker rules established will inevitably lead to total chaos in fantasy leagues at the most important time of the season.
Oct 10, 2008 at 12:50 PM
Buying low and selling high is a rule of thumb that has wide application. Jon and Ian can tell you about how it pertains to the stock market... just don't ask them about it right now. It's not a good time if you know what I mean.
Buying low and selling high is also one of the basic tenets of fantasy football. For obvious reasons, it is even one of our FFChamps
10 Commandments. However, it is easy to lose sight of this during the season and make rash decisions based more on emotion than common sense. I answer close to 100 Team Analyzer questions from FFChamps users a week during the season and many of them are about potential trades that someone is contemplating. It never ceases to amaze me how often owners fail to heed the basic buy low, sell high principal. For instance, I had more than one user ask me this week about trading away Larry Johnson. Really!? Trading LJ after he rushed for two yards on seven carries? Absolutely not! You won't get fair market value in return. The key is to get more than market value in return. Trading Johnson a week earlier after he went for 198 yards and two touchdowns would have made more sense.
We'll continue to deliver a "Trade Bait and Prey" analysis each week here at FFChamps in an effort to aid in this decision making process. However, many situations are fairly obvious if you just look at the expected numbers vs. actual numbers for a given player. Just remember to continue using common sense rather than trading a guy out of spite. Buying low and selling high is the only way you will come out ahead on trades. Oh and keep in mind the other old credo: sometimes the best trades are the ones you don't make.
Sep 29, 2008 at 10:42 AM
I want to formally and publically welcome the two newest contributors here at FantasyFootballChamps.com: Adam Jorgenson and Bernie Kelcher. They may be new to the site, but I have worked with both of them in the industry for quite a long time so they are hardly new to me. I know they will both deliver quality fantasy football insight.
Bernie authored today's "Champs and Chumps" article and Adam wrote the "Fantasy Football Stock Watch". Subscribers can check them out now.
Welcome aboard, guys!
Stay classy.
