In-depth film analysis of NFL Draft Prospects With a Fantasy Football Lens - by Matt Waldman ©2025
Lance Zierlein was kind enough to invite Sigmund Bloom and I to a hangout to talk overrated and underrated fantasy prospects. Here’s the 24-minute conversation that starts at the 0:27 mark.
[youtube=http://youtu.be/8gHLsT49NyQ]
Brandon Lloyd…Choo-Choo!!!
Bramel RSP Q&A
You gotta love reading the work of a writer who understands how to complement simplicity with complexity and present it in an easy to understand manner. I think Jene Bramel does this as well as anyone in the football hemisphere today. Whether its injuries, X’s and O’s, or fantasy football strategy, Bramel is a must-read.
I especially enjoyed comparing my team with his, because Bramel was a huge part of putting this project together. We installed Continue reading
Many of you may remember that I did a series on David Wilson’s game at Virginia Tech and how it translates to the NFL. One of Wilson’s issues was the tendency to bounce runs outside to attempt the big play. I euphemistically call this “the corner store,” because it is fun to visit but few things are good for you there.
I just saw a promising David Wilson quote from Ralph Vacchiano’s Twitter feed that I think is worth reading.
Is rookie RB David Wilson ready for a bigger role? Yes, because he’s already learned a few lessons about the NFL…
“In my position in this league you can’t go out there and try to make the big play all the time,” he said. “At least I’m not comfortable to go out there and do it now. You can turn a bad play into a worse play by always trying to have the greatest play. I won’t say (I’ve) so much changed (my approach), but I know the playbook more, so I know what to expect a little bit. When I first got here I barely knew the playbook and the plays, and I just knew enough that the coaches would say ‘messing up’ and start screaming at me. When you get more into detail in the playbook and know what you are doing, you can become more of yourself.” #NYG
Whether he can do this on the field is a different story, but the fact he can verbalize it is half the battle.
“A lot of times you learn from your mistakes. You know, you gotta make the mistakes to learn from them,” he said. “And you never know how tight a window is until you throw it, and it was too tight. You try to force a ball into certain areas and then you learn from it, you say, ‘I can’t do that.’ You install new plays and you try to run them over and over and you try to identify all the problems where they come up and then really make good decisions.
“We’re out here running a ton of plays every day, 75, 80 plays a day,” he continued. “Believe me, they’re not all perfect, there’s a lot of learning every day in a lot of the situational stuff that we do. All of it is a good learning experience, whether Ryan or Brian are in there taking the snap, I’m paying attention to see what I would do if I was in there and vice versa. And that’s the only way to play football, you can’t sit here and only concentrate when you’re in. You gotta learn from every day on the field, every rep in practice, mentally and then physically when you get a chance to go out and do it, you gotta try to execute it as best you can.”
–Tom Brady talking about the value of taking risks and making mistakes in practice.
This quote from Field Yates’ piece posted yesterday on ESPN’s New England Patriots Report is a perfect example of why readers have to be careful about what beat reporters and analysts observe at practice. Continue reading
The most prevalent question with the most divergent opinions during preseason football is, of course, How much should pay attention to the games? If you play fantasy football in a dynasty league the answer is quite a bit. The production that these end of the roster players earn shouldn’t be weighted heavily, but watching how they get their yardage and touchdowns is worth a look. Here’s a list of players I’m watching this year. They’re battling for roster spots, much less any significant playing time. However, this is where players like Victor Cruz Continue reading
Zach Bahner is an analyst at NFL Draft Hub. Bahner is a Miami Dolphins, Indianapolis Colts, and Notre Dame Fighting Irish fan, which is an odd combination when one considers that most Miami Dolphins fans are Miami Hurricanes fans. Bahner’s team has some personnel fresh to this project and I’m intrigued with what he intends to do with them. What I like about Banher’s team right away is that his players tend to be second- and third-year veterans on the verge of their prime.
For more information about the RSP Writers Projects and how to build your own team, check out this link.
Zach Bahner is an analyst at NFL Draft Hub. Bahner is a Miami Dolphins, Indianapolis Colts, and Notre Dame Fighting Irish fan, which is an odd combination when one considers that most Miami Dolphins fans are Miami Hurricanes fans. Bahner’s team has some personnel fresh to this project and I’m intrigued with what he intends to do with them. What I like about Banher’s team right away is that his players tend to be second- and third-year veterans on the verge of their prime. Stay tuned for the Q&A.
For more information about the RSP Writers Projects and how to build your own team, check out this link. Continue reading
Dave Richard works for CBS. His RSP Writers Team can be found here. His Q&A is below. He writes in short sentences. You’ll notice this tendency. Richard is economical. Get used to it.
Okay, not really. Richard is a busy guy and we appreciate the effort he made to contribute a team and add to the rich diversity of offerings to this project. I did asked follow up questions, but with fantasy football season nearing its peak I presume Richard is underwater with “who do I draft,” emails from the masses or readers in CBS leagues.
Seriously, Richard’s answers will probably be a refreshing to those of you that appreciate brevity but rarely get it here. Continue reading
With the help of numerous Footballguys.com writers, Bob Henry creates a weekly aggregation of camp news titled (simply enough) Training Camp Update. I can’t recommend it highly enough. The first issue is free to the public.
I’m going to quote some of the notes and provide my own take.
Carolina Panthers FB Mike Tolbert: Why I want to see All-22 analysis of Carolina this year. Continue reading
Dave Richard is a diehard football fan and lives the dream as one of the few full-time fantasy writers in the business. Richard handles sports news and analysis for Fantasy Football at CBSSports.com and is one of many members of Pro Football Writers of America who I imagine will take cookies and pizza as bribes. The Florida native’s team takes some departures from the trends I’ve seen with most of the RSP Writers’ Teams I’ve seen thus far.
Richard invested in an upper echelon left tackle, took an unusual combination of tight ends, and invested in many rookies that I think will develop into underrated role players within the next few years. Two that come to mind immediately are Continue reading