In-depth film analysis of NFL Draft Prospects With a Fantasy Football Lens - by Matt Waldman ©2025
Nick Whalen unveiled a team that wants to beat you up on both side of the ball. I love it. As with all the teams we’ve see thus far, there are discernible holes that could derailthis freight train offense and big, bad defense. However, I love the approach Whalen takes – giving the middle finger to the trendy approach of spread offenses. Continue reading
Wish there was a corner like Mike Haynes for the RSP Writers Project
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Thanks
Another Friday, another round of thanks to my readers – as well as all the writers – frequenting the RSP blog and participating in the RSP Writers Project. This exercise of building an NFL franchise is addictive, isn’t it? It’s also a great platform to share knowledge. Continue reading
Nick Whalen’s RSP Writers Team
Nick Whalen is a regular at the Footballguys.com message board and a guy I’ve corresponded with frequently over the years. He’s a writer at Dynasty Rogues. Whalen has a variety of experiences in football and he’s person I’ve enjoyed trading info.
A former high school quarterback, Whalen also has experience on coaching staffs as an assistant student coach with Drake University, Carthage College, and Montana State. He also spent two years as an assistant student coach with Western Kentucky. He has been a quarterback, wide receiver, and defensive back coach for three different high school teams.
His RSP Writer’s Team has one of the more Continue reading
Cian Fahey covers the NFL for The Guardian. He also writes for Irish Central and at one time contributed for The Bleacher Report. Fahey is a Steelers fan and also contributes for Steelers Depot. If you’ve never read his work or followed him on Twitter, he’s not afraid to give his unfiltered opinion. You can follow him on Twitter @Cianaf.
What I enjoyed about collaborating with Fahey on this project is that he took some risks and as a fellow risk-taker, I appreciate the things we all can learn from doing so. His interview and the discussion that ensues about his team is below. Continue reading
Cian Fahey covers the NFL for The Guardian and he also writes for Irish Central and at one time contributed for The Bleacher Report. Fahey is a Steelers fan and also contributes toSteelers Depot. If you’ve never read his work or followed him on Twitter, he’s not afraid to give his unfiltered opinion. You’ll see that as he reveals his roster below.
I like a lot of Fahey’s choices on defense. I opted for Darrelle Revis yesterday when I finally began my revised version of my team. The idea of shutting down an entire side of the field or plastering 95 percent of the league’s receivers into utter uselessness is appealing. Where we differ is that Fahey is opting for a 3-4 scheme and I’m a 4-3 guy. On offense, Fahey and I both took a chance on tackle Charles Brown, who was a second-round pick of the Saints two years ago but injuries derailed his developmental opportunity to flourish as a starter. His production for eight games in 2011 makes hm a player I agree is a bargain.
As for his take on Dwight Lowery? Well, I suspect there’s a lot of love at Bleacher Report for the Jaguars safety. It’s one of the follow up questions Continue reading
Fantasy Football
At Footballguys.com, I kicked off my Gut Check column with what I’m calling the Insanity Series: Players that will drive you mad in 2012. You can find column at Footbalguys and I’ll also link to them on this page. The first two published pieces in the series are on Adrian Peterson and Brandon Lloyd.
2013 Rookies Continue reading
Ben Muth is a former first-team All Pac-10 offensive lineman at Stanford. Muth authors an offensive line-centric column at Football Outsiders titled Word of Muth. Check out Muth’s blog and follow him on Twitter at #FO_wordofmuth. You can find his RSP Writers squad is posted here.
It was personally encouraging to see that I had similar ideas about how to use Andy Levitre as Muth and a pleasant surprise that Muth thought highly of undrafted Ravens free agent Bobby Rainey as a budget-tier runner. Here’s Muth’s presentation of his team in Q&A form.
Describe your offensive system.
In an upset, I’m going with the Stanford offense. I’m bringing in David Shaw and Greg Roman to handle the passing game and running game respectively. You’ll see lots of I variations and multiple tight end sets. We are going to run the hell out of Power and Inside Zone. That’s about it as far as the running game goes. You’ll see them use every formation and shift you can imagine, but you won’t see much else in terms of play choice. The only other two run plays we’ll have is a toss crack concept and a lead/lead draw. I love the Outside Zone play, but Continue reading
Ben Muth is a former offensive lineman. He played at Stanford for five years, lettered for four years, started for two, and he was first-team All Pac-10 as a senior. But Muth is quick to point out – as any team-oriented player in a team-first sport that Stanford lost too many football games during his tenure. The Cardinals had three head coaches and four offensive coordinators.
After his college career, Muth was picked up by the San Diego Chargers. He was eventually released because according to Muth, “I was injured, and then not picked up again because I didn’t block that many people when I was healthy.” It’s this kind of humility that inspires fans to appreciate the game and those who played it.
Because he played in a lot of systems and recognizes a lot of difference schemes, it was an experience that Muth believes helps him with his Football Outsiders column Word of Muth. I’m fortunate that Muth was willing to lend his expertise to the RSP Writers Project both as a contributor and a consultant on offensive line player values.
Still want to know more? Continue reading
The RSP Writers Project is underway with an updated spreadsheet and I already have a team submitted by a reader that I thought was worth a read. Jeff, otherwise known as “5-ish,” among those of us at the Footballguys.com Shark Pool message boards, is a knowledgeable football fan with a clear passion for the game. He was kind enough to share his roster and answer the interview questions just after changing the player values of the spreadsheet, but before I lowered the cap from $160 million to $150 million.
While he got an extra $10 million compared to the participating writers, I think you’ll enjoy reading about his team.
The RSP Writers Project has been a blast this week and there was a lot of fantastic feedback from writers and readers this week. After taking a quick time out this week to tweak the project, it is now back in full force with a lower cap, revised player values, and thanks to reader and Footballguys subscriber Donnie Smith, a spreadsheet that wasn’t created by someone who stopped learning how to use Excel in the early part of this decade.
Here’s where you can download the new spreadsheet, instructions, and questions.
5-ish’s RSP Writers Project Team
One of the Footballguys.com staff’s favorite subscribers that frequent the Shark Pool message board is “5-ish.” He’s like many of our great subscribers, knowledgeable about the game, a good sense of humor, and always willing to engage in friendly debate.
5-ish submitted his RSP readers team Continue reading