The season is starting to slowly creep upon us. Can you feel the excitement? The anticipation? Forget Christmas, THIS is the most wonderful time of the year!!!!
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Dynasty League Update
Well, I think things are settling down to where my current roster is complete. Might make another deal or two but for right now, this looks to be my future starting lineup:
QB: Jamarcus Russell (Oak)
RB: LaDainian Tomlinson: (SD)
WR1: Eddie Royal (Den)
WR2: Lee Evans (Buff)
TE: Kellen Winslow (TB)
Flex1: RB Donald Brown (Ind)
Flex2: WR Ted Ginn Jr. (Mia)
Return Specialist: WR Johnny Lee Higgins (Oak)
K: Mason Crosby (GB)
P: Andy Lee (SF)
DT: Sedrick Ellis (NO)
DE: Mario Williams (Hou)
DE: Dwight Freeney (Ind)
LB: Aaron Curry (Sea)
LB: Shawn Merriman (SD)
LB: Bradie James (Dal)
CB: Leodis McKelvin (Buff)
CB: Aqib Talib (TB)
S: Dawan Landry (Bal)
S: LaRon Landry (Sea)
Flex: LB Scott Fajita (NO)
Bench:
QB Joe Flacco (Bal)
RB Glen Coffee (SF)
RB Sammy Morris (NE)
RB Lamont Jordan (Den)
WR Justin Gage (Ten)
WR Robert Meachem (NO)
WR Johnny Lee Higgins (Oak)
TE Donald Lee (GB)
K Dan Carpenter (Mia)
P Brad Maynard (Chi)
DT Shaun Rogers (Clev)
DT Adam Carriker (Stl)
DT Sen'Derrick Marks (Ten)
DE Tyson Jackson (KC)
LB Vernon Gholston (NYJ)
CB Nnadami Asomugha (Oak)
CB Randall Gay (NO)
CB Usama Young (NO)
S James Sanders (NE)
S Gerald Sensabaugh (Dal)
Practice Squad:
QB Troy Smith (Bal)
WR Brain Hartline (Mia)
DE Lawrence Sidbury (Atl)
LB Marcus Freeman (Chic)
I don't expect this team to win much this year to be honest, but anything can happen. I may not have drafted the team, but I made trades to get a few players I liked. Eddie Royal, Donald Brown ... and hopefully Jamarcus Russell should be the backbone of my team in years to come.
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Bret Favre
I'm not surprised Favre changed his mind again. Now the question is, can he hold up for another full season? He has a good offensive line so he should be protected adequately. He has pretty decent weapons at all the skill positions. Bernard Berrian, Percy Harvin, Sidney Rice, Chester Taylor, and Visanthe Shiancoe all go up in fantasy value as far as I'm concerned.
But the BIG winner will be Adrian Peterson. Teams will not be able to load seven or eight in the box to stop him because they have to take Favre into account. I could easily see All Day getting close to 2,000 yards rushing and double digit touchdowns. Peterson has just become THE #1 RB in fantasy, without a doubt. Anyone who DOESN'T take him first overall in standard scoring systems is a fool.
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Preseason Games
Preseason games for me have always been meaningless fantasy wise. Yes it's fun to watch the starters have a good series or two. It's interesting to watch all the players on the bubble fight for a roster spot. But if you watch these games thinking you're going to find a fantasy sleeper just because someone on the second team had a good game, you're only fooling yourself. Unless you have a really deep dynasty league, you can't consider guys playing with the second and third strings as sleepers. Yes, they're playing their hearts out to get the coaches attention but they're also playing against lesser talents. Now if an undrafted rookie WR blows by a Pro Bowl CB and scores a 70 yard touchdown ... okay, I'd be impressed. But how often do you see THAT in the preseason. More than likely that undrafted rookie blew by an undrafted CB and both will still be cut before the regular season begins. While a lot of fantasy owners take stock in preseason games ..... the only thing I keep an eye on is major injuries to potential draft picks ... or guys I already HAVE picked.
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Icon Fantasy Football League
Next Sunday is the draft for the IFFL, the league I've been co-commisioner of for seven years. Last year I took home the championship and will be receiving the traveling trophy and winner's medallion at the draft. I also am scheduled to pick in the 10th spot (out of ten). I look forward to this day every year and can't wait for this week to go by.
One of the things I like about our league is it's unique scoring system. We don't do PPR but we do give length of TD bonuses and bonuses for exceeding 100 yards rushing or receiving and 300 yards passing. We also give bonuses to kickers for longer field goals. The system looks like this:
Length Of TD (Passing, Rushing, Receiving, Return)
1-19 yards = 6 points.
20-49 yards = 9 points.
50+ yards = 12 points.
Yardage Bonuses:
300 Passing Yards = 6 points.
Every 20 yards passing over 300 = 1 point.
100 yards rushing = 6 points.
Every 10 yards rushing over 100 = 1 point.
100 yards receiving = 6 points.
Every 10 yards receiving over 100 = 1 point.
Field Goal Bonuses:
21-39 yard FG = 3 points.
40-49 yard FG = 5 points.
50-59 yard FG = 10 Points.
60+ yard FG = 12 points.
We do have Team D/ST and we give points for TDs (see TD Chart above), Safeties, and Points Scored Against:
0 Points Allowed = 12 points.
1-3 Points Allowed = 9 Points.
4-7 Points Allowed = 6 Points.
8-13 Points Allowed = 3 Points.
And all 2 point conversions are worth .. 2 points .. duh.
Other rules that differ from he norm include Team QBs which I've always liked because I'd rather not have to worry about picking up a handcuff QB. Last year when Brady went down and I had the Patriots QBs, I didn't have to bother going to the waiver wire for Matt Cassel which was nice. (I later dropped the Patriots QBs for Chicago's QBs just before Kyle Orton got hurt and Matt Cassel caught fire.)
We also don't require a TE in our starting lineups and for practical purposes we just count them as WRs. Not my favorite rule, but we've played with it for so long I'm not too bothered by it. What this means is we have three ways we can go in our starting lineups:
1 Team QB - 3 RBS - 2 WRS: Wishbone Lineup
1 Team QB - 2 RBS - 3 WRS: Traditional Lineup
1 Team QB - 1 RB - 4 WRS: Run And Shoot Lineup
The usual result of the no TE rule is that only a handful of TEs get drafted. Last year I believe we actually hit an all time high of seven TEs drafted. Witten, Gonzalez, Gates, and probably Clark will be selected this year, but I'll be surprised if there's many more than that. The reason being is that TEs so rarely get 100 yards receiving or score really long TDs that they aren't worth taking over a WR who is more likely to break loose for a 70-90 yard score.
It's a system that definitely redefines the usual fantasy football rankings. Quarterbacks and Kickers become more valuable in our league as do wide receivers. The system practically scoffs at the idea of always drafting two RBs in the first two rounds. But we like being different in the IFFL and are content to thumb our nose at conventional scoring systems!
I'll be keeping you updated on my team, the DEFENDING CHAMPIONS, the Miami Waves all season long.
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