Posts tagged Fantasy Football Auction Leagues

Reality Sports Online Writers’ League Update

0 Comments read Matt Waldman
There are a fair share of Jimmy Graham-sized When Jimmy Graham and Peyton Manning are in your lineup, you don't need much more - ask Jim Day. Photo by Football Schedule.
When Jimmy Graham and Peyton Manning are in your lineup, you don’t need much more – ask Jim Day. Photo by Football Schedule.

Reality Sports Online Writers’ League Update:

November is almost over and it’s time to provide an RSO update on the 14-team league I started with some of the best fantasy writers I know and enjoy competing against. With the playoffs three weeks away, all but one team is still technically alive. Here’s a quick rundown of the state of the league:

Playoff Bound (For Now)

Jim Day is atop the Grinders Division with an 8-3 record and the third in total points scored. Peyton Manning and Jimmy Graham have carried his offense with workmanlike help from Frank Gore and a mid-season boost from Zac Stacy. With the likes of Darren Sproles, Joique Bell, and Mike James on his bench, Day has one of the deepest core of backs in the league. His wide receivers aren’t bad – Eric Decker, Kendall Wright, and Marques Colston, but you’d have to think he’d be trying to deal one of his runners for a wideout – especially when Russell Wilson and E.J. Manuel comprise his QB depth chart. I guess if it ain’t broke, he’s not gonna fix it. Although he could miss the playoffs if he loses two in a row, it’s far more likely he’ll be one of the top three seeds.

Mike Clay and Sigmund Bloom are the Bangers Division co-leaders at 7-5 with Clay currently 12 points ahead of Bloom on the total points tiebreaker (4th and 5th in points scored overall). Clay has Drew Brees leading his starting lineup with Matt Forte, Danny Woodhead, and Andre Ellington (who he has been trying to sell for weeks) as the rotation of three prominent backs in a league that only starts 2 RBs. If Roddy White could return to form for Clay to pair with Victor Cruz, Clay could be even tougher to beat. Bloom’s team has been hot in recent weeks thanks to the return of Rob Gronkowski, Shane Vereen, and Jonathan Stewart. Garrett Graham getting love from Case Keenum hasn’t hurt, either. With LeSean McCoy, Jordy Nelson, and Alshon Jeffery as other strong core players, Bloom will be a difficult team to face in the playoffs as long as he wins out.

If Bob Harris was in the Bangers Division, he’d be tied for first, but he’s a game back of Jim Day with a 7-4 record. The fact that he’s doing it with Matt Ryan, Joe Flacco, and Ryan Fitzpatrick tells you that there’s more ways to win then a stud quarterback. Jamaal Charles, Deangelo Williams, and Andre Brown are helping and Mark Ingram might provide him a boost next season. But I have to say that Harris’ team is a lineup challenge every week with the likes of Steve Smith, Eddie Royal, Danny Amendola, Aaron Dobson, and Stevie Johnson as his top receivers. It goes to show that Harris, who is 8th in points scored, is doing a nice job getting the most of his start/sit decisions.

Jeff Tefertiller is 6-4-1 thanks to no decimal scoring in this league. Despite great overall experience with the site and league type, this is one thing I would recommend RSO to change (or to show me where I turned off this option) with its leagues. Tefertiller is seventh in points scored and doing it with good lineup decisions and strength at receiver (Brandon Marshall, Pierre Garcon, James Jones, DeAndre Hopkins, Terrance Williams, and Jarrett Boykin) while he’s hoping Ray Rice can get on track down the stretch. Robert Griffin is still giving him quality points, but not like he’s hoped. Jeff is one of several teams who could move further up the playoff seeding or be bounced out in just two weeks time.

Jackson, let's hope you're seriously back to "Action" down the stretch. Photo by Karen Blaha.
Jackson, let’s hope you’re seriously back to “Action” down the stretch. Photo by Karen Blaha.

Yours truly is 6-5, but because I’m the top point scorer overall I hold the tiebreaker over Bryan Fontaine for the final playoff spot heading into the weekend. Jay Cutler’s injury hurt, so did Terrelle Pryor’s. However, I still have Carson Palmer and picked up Josh McCown weeks ago as a hedge. Both quarterbacks have served me well, especially Palmer’s 400-yard game last week with Indianpolis ahead. My true strength is wide receiver – Calvin Johnson, DeSean Jackson, Keenan Allen, and Cecil Shorts are usually my starting four. Vernon Davis has been holding it down at tight end and Seattle’s defense has been providing me more points per game than my running backs combined. Speaking of RBs, Ben Tate and Steven Jackson are getting healthier at the right time. If my team continues to score at the same pace, I should be one of the more dangerous lower seed match-ups in the playoffs.

On the Bubble

Riley Cooper is one of many players who make Jason Wood's team a dangerous squad if he gets over the bubble. Photo by Matthew Straubmuller.
Riley Cooper is one of many players who make Jason Wood’s team a dangerous squad if he gets over the bubble. Photo by Matthew Straubmuller.

Fontaine (5-6) is sixth in points scored and has one of the more solid lineups around with a lot of players capable of big weeks: Matt Stafford, DeMarco Murray, Larry Fitzgerald, Dez Bryant, Antonio Gates, and Jordan Cameron. The emergence of Chris Ivory hurt Fontaine mid-season (he has Bilal Powell), but Pierre Thomas is fine depth. Tied with me record-wise in the Grinders Division I wouldn’t be surprised if Fontaine overtakes a couple of teams that are currently projected “in” – I hope mine isn’t one of them.

Rivers McCown is 5-6 in the Bangers division and 13th in points scored. Cam Newton, Adnre Johnson, and Rueben Randle are the corps players on his squad and the rest is a start-sit challenged: Daniel Thomas, Willis McGahee, Lance Moore, Tyler Eifert, Sean McGrath, and Jarius Wright. Without a strong starter at RB and Jermichael Finley, McCown has had tough luck down the stretch.

Jason Wood (5-6) has a dangerous team. Despite his record, he’s second overall in total points and has the likes of Philip Rivers, Adrian Peterson, Reggie Bush, Demaryius Thomas, Eddie Lacy, Riley Cooper, and the Chiefs defense earning big totals for him. The problem for Wood has been up and down weeks against some of the more consistent teams at the wrong times. With the likes of Aaron Rodgers and Rashad Jennings on his bench, Wood has the firepower and depth to be a playoff Cinderella, but getting there is the first priority.

Tim Stafford (4-6-1) has Marshawn Lynch, Wes Welker, and Tony Romo as his solid starters and the rest is a M*A*S*H unit: Randall Cobb, Santonio Holmes, C.J. Spiller, Mike Goodson, Owen Daniels, and Leonard Hankerson to name a few. He still has a shot, but he’ll need huge weeks from his core trio and Spiller and Holmes to get healthy to make some true noise.

To learn more about the league and Reality Sports Online’s excellent concept, check out this page. In case you haven’t thought about it, I am getting paid to give them my endorsement. However, I don’t do this often – and I am contacted monthly with some kind of offer. RSO is something I truly value and I agreed to start a league and keep a monthly diary because I would have paid to start a league with this format if I knew about it before they reached out to me.

I’ll be keeping this monthly diary next year as well, because I still really believe in the concept – so stay tuned for opportunities to earn a discount for starting a league next year. In fact, to risk doing the wrong thing – Start your own league and get a discount when you use this coupon code: RSP20%OFF.

DLF Writer Tim Stafford’s RSO Team

0 Comments read Matt Waldman
Marshawn Lynch. Photo by Matt McGhee.
When you get Marshawn Lynch as one of two RBs that can be your RB1 on a keeper league, you did pretty well. Tim Stafford gets credit for doing so. Photo by Matt McGhee.

Tim Stafford (@dynastytim) is a writer at Dynasty League Football. He directs the forums at DLF and co-hosts the site’s podcast with Jarrett Behar. DLF is a quality site because of people like Stafford, Behar, and Ryan McDowell. Stafford and McDowell participated in the Reality Sports Online Auction Draft last weekend. I’m giving you my take of his team along with his own assessment.

First, here’s what Stafford had to say about his RSO experience:

I was very impressed by the RSO platform.  I know some people had some issues with the player list [Matt’s note: there were some bugs to work out when trying to nominate a player if you didn’t preset the nomination], but running it on Windows 7 with Chrome was flawless.  My favorite form of fantasy football is salary cap and this takes it to the next level.  Bidding simultaneously on the contract amount and length is very slick.  There was some strategy to when you burned your three and four-year contracts.  I’d easily recommend RSO to anyone who is considering starting a salary cap league.

I think Tim is dead-on. If there’s time, I’m going to set up an IDP league with this format. I probably won’t cover it here, but I enjoyed this format too much to just be in one league with it. If you go to www.realitysportsonline.com and use the promotion code RSP20%OFF, you’ll earn a 20 percent discount. You can join a league for $9.99 as an individual or form a league with your friends.

Stafford’s Squad 

Quarterback Yrs $ Running Back Yrs $ Wide Receiver Yrs $
Tony Romo 3 28.5 Marshawn Lynch 2 40.5 Randall Cobb 4 73.5
Matt Schaub 1 2.5 C.J. Spiller 3 75.0 Wes Welker 2 21.0
Tim Tebow 1 0.5 Mike Goodson 1 0.5 Sidney Rice 2 7.5
      Evan Royster 1 0.1 Greg Little 1 2.5
      Taiwan Jones 1 0.5 Santonio Holmes 1 4.0
      Montee Ball 3 R Ryan Broyles 1 3.5
      Mike Gillislee 3 R Leonard Hankerson 1 4.0
      Denard Robinson 3 R Dexter McCluster 1 0.5
      Kenjon Barner 3 R Andrew Hawkins 1 0.5
            Lestar Jean 1 0.5
            Damian Williams 1 0.5
            Quinton Patton 3 R

I think Stafford used his multi-year deals well. Lynch and Spiller and 2 and 3-year deals are sensible windows of time to tie up a running back. Anything more than three years could be too ambitious for the NFL. Both players are capable of top-five production and I think it’s realistic to expect both runners to have RB1 seasons in 2013. Combine this running back duo with a solid QB1 like Tony Romo – another good choice to give a three-year deal – and a four-year deal to Randall Cobb, and I think these four acquisitions were money well-spent. These four players – if healthy – give Stafford a competitive team.

The two-year, $21 million deal to Welker is a probably a good deal. There is the element of a gamble in the sense of a new situation and how much production will the veteran really have with Demaryius Thomas and Eric Decker also in the Broncos lineup, but we’ve seen Peyton Manning deliver 1000-yard seasons to three receivers multiple times in the quarterback’s career. I’d be shocked if Welker doesn’t deliver two years of at least 65-70 receptions – and probably one of them will be a season of 80-90 catches.

A two-year deal for Sidney Rice could also be criticized as “iffy,” but at $7.5 million total I would categorize any flak that Stafford gets as nitpicking. Because we get to franchise one player each year, it’s the one-year deals that teams chose to make that are most fascinating to me.

Ryan Broyles is a good example on Stafford’s team. I love what Broyles brings to the table as a route runner with big-play ability. However, his 2013 season won’t begin until November. I can see Stafford franchising Broyles if the Detroit receiver flashes what he did briefly from his first return from an ACL injury in November of 2012. Still, the amount of money to invest in a franchise tag on a receiver with a handful of games could be a tough call.

Still, I like upside picks on one-year deals and I think Stafford did well to take players like Leonard Hankerson, Greg Little, Mike Goodson, Dexter McCluster, and Santonio Holmes, who all have the talent to outperform current expectations and be considerations for that one franchise offer in 2014.

Paired with Lynch, Spiller gives Stafford a sound 1-2 punch for his starting lineup. Photo by Matt Britt
Paired with Lynch, Spiller gives Stafford a sound 1-2 punch for his starting lineup. Photo by Matt Britt

Here’s what Stafford had to say about some of these players:

I was happy to start off by winning Spiller and Lynch – especially Lynch – $40.5 million over two years.  Compare that to Charles who went off right before Lynch at $60.5 million over two years.  I view Lynch as a solid RB1 for the next several years.  Paired with Spiller, I think I have a solid one two punch. 

Since I also have Ball from the rookie draft, I felt I was fairly set at RB in a league where you start two.  I’m also hopeful about my rookie RBs – Ball and Gillislee.  If Gillislee somehow beats out Lamar Miller I’ll be able to trade one of them for a nice WR upgrade.< /p>

This allowed me to focus my attention and money elsewhere.  I got a little nervous after I took Romo as my third player – this league requires a lot of starting WRs.  I forced it a bit on Cobb and then went in to WR by committee mode taking a total of 12.  I think grabbing Welker was a decent move in an SC league.  He’s someone I’d avoid in traditional dynasty but short-term rentals are fine in this format. 

I ended up overpaying for a couple of WRs later in the auction. I had money left and the pool was thinning.  Broyles at $3.5 for one year isn’t worth it, nor is Hankerson at $4 million.  But as I mentioned above I needed bodies. 

I think Gillislee is a nice runner who plays with the type of intensity one seeks from an NFL starter. I think the drafting of Gillislee is (not intentionally as I’m stating it) a message to Lamar Miller to keep working and notice to Daniel Thomas that he hopefully was working hard to prepare for a fight for his spot on the depth chart in 2013.

Miller makes the Broncos a good pick as a team defense. Photo by Jeffery Beall.
Miller makes the Broncos a good pick as a team defense. Photo by Jeffery Beall.
Tight End Yrs $ Kicker Yrs $ Defense Yrs $
Owen Daniels 1 4.0 Jay Feely 1 0.5 Denver 1 0.5
Brandon Pettigrew 1 0.5       Dallas 1 0.5
James Casey 1 1.0            

I think Stafford went the safe route on tight ends. Daniels has top-five upside, but just barely. However, he’s as close to a lock as a top-10 tight end in fantasy leagues as one can get. Pettigrew is a disappointing fantasy player based on his potential. I’m not saying he should be a an elite tight end, but I think his physical skills and this Detroit offense should translate to production that is similar to Daniels’ upside rather than sitting outside the top-10 in healthy years.

If you’ve read my blog for any length of time then you know I’m a fan of James Casey’s potential. The beginning of the Chip Kelly era in Philly is a development I’m eager to see. The reason Kelly has Casey, Brent Celek, Clay Harbor, and Zach Ertz is that this up-tempo offense uses multiple tight ends to foil his opponents’ attempts at gap control.

This doesn’t always translate into great receiving production at the position, but there may be enough opportunities for one player in this group to emerge as a fantasy option. I’m not counting on Casey to be the one, but if injury strikes to the depth chart then Casey has upside. I’m not sure I would have picked him in a league like this because unless it’s clear he’ll be the man to own before the first week of the season, he’ll most likely present diminishing returns.

Denver’s defense is a nice option for the minimum price. The league awards points for sacks, turnovers, and points score and Denver’s unit should be in a good position to play aggressor most weeks – especially in an AFC West that is now a weak division on paper.

Stafford didn’t have any comments about this part of his roster, but he did talk about other deals that teams made in the auction that I think are worth mentioning. Amounts mentioned are in increments of millions

Good Deals

  • Ryan McDowell – Josh Gordon ($19 over 3):  Gordon could become a high end WR2.  If that happens this was a steal.
  • Mike MacGregor -Tom  Brady ($40 over 3): This was a steal and happened because seven or eight teams already had QBs at this point and let it happen.  We probably should have price enforced a bit here.  But that’s a risky proposition.
  • Sigmund Bloom – Martellus Bennett ($0.5 over 1):  Great player to get early in the auction at league minimum.  Not sure how he pulled this one on us.
  • Jeff Tefertiller – Brandon Marshall ($60 over 4): Terrific value.  Marshall at about 10% of his cap, yes sir.

Deals Stafford Didn’t Like

  • Lance Zierlein – Colin Kaepernick ($41 over 2):  This seemed rather pricey to me.  Compare this to Drew Brees at ($30 over 2).
  • Ryan McDowell – Andrew Luck ($103 over 4): Same thing. This is way too rich for my blood.  This is a bet that Luck will be a top-5 QB in 2013 and beyond.  Maybe/maybe not.
  • Rivers McCown – Josh Freeman ($3.5 over 1):  Not really much money of course, but Freeman isn’t my cup of tea.  If I’m going to draft a back-up QB I’d like to get one with either some upside (i.e. Locker/Tannehill) or one that is the surefire starter (i.e. Schaub).

Personally, I don’t see much wrong with Freeman. I doubt Mike Glennon is a threat to Freeman this year. I agree that Kaepernick and Luck earned higher contracts than I would have paid, but I’m a Luck fan so if I were to go bold with a passer I’d pay that premium on the Colts quarterback. McDowells also stole Gordon. I nominated Gordon as the first player off the board in the auction. I wish I hadn’t.

McDowell’s team was Stafford’s favorite:

His projected starting lineup is Luck, CJ2K/Mendy, Nicks/Gordon/James Jones/Blackmon, Housler.  He’ll have to shuck and jive until Blackmon returns and he needs Housler to break out, but this is potentially a very nice team for the long haul.  He also has Gio Bernard in the wings.  And he has good options to replace Blackmon short-term.

More analysis of this draft coming in the next 4-6 weeks. Remember, if you go to www.realitysportsonline.com and use the promotion code RSP20%OFF, you’ll earn a 20 percent discount. You can join a league for $9.99 as an individual or form a league with your friends.