The Fantasy Football Sherpa

Yahoo! Sports recently hosted a fantasy football draft for the mayors of 11 well-known cities (a league commissioner from Yahoo! is also participating to give the league 12 teams).  Each team is required to start 1 QB, 2 RBs, 3 WRs, 1 TE, 1 K, and 1 D/ST.  The scoring system is fairly standard (4 pts per passing TD, 1 pt for every 25 yds passing, no points for a reception, etc.)

This contest is for a great cause - the winning mayor gets $15K to donate to the charity of his/her choice!  At the risk of receiving hate mail from 11 Chambers of Commerce, I decided it would be fun to predict the results of this contest using my projections from FantasyFootballSherpa.com.

Here are the participants (City, Mayor):

1. Buffalo (Byron Brown)
2. Green Bay (Jim Schmitt)
3. Kansas City (Mark Funkhouser)
4. Minneapolis (R.T. Rybak)
5. Oakland (Ron Dellums)
6. Oklahoma City (Mick Cornett)
7. Orlando (Buddy Dyer)
8. Pittsburgh (Luke Ravenstahl)
9. Sacramento (Kevin Johnson)
10. San Francisco (Gavin Newsom)
11. Tampa Bay (Pam Iorio)
12. Yahoo! (Oz?)

Pittsburgh is the defending Super Bowl champion - does that give Mayor Luke Ravenstahl an edge?  Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson is a former NBA star - would that knowledge of what it takes to be a successful pro athlete give him an edge?  8 of the 11 cities in the contest currently have NFL franchises - would that give their mayors an edge?

Here’s how I see the contest playing out (cities listed alphabetically by tier):

Leaders of the Pack

1. Buffalo
   • Strengths
     • starting RBs (LaDainian Tomlinson & Willie Parker)
     • starting WRs (Randy Moss, Braylon Edwards, Lance Moore)
     • D/ST (Philadelphia)
   • Causes for Concern
     • RB depth (Beanie Wells, LeSean McCoy)
   • Homer picks
     • QB Trent Edwards
2. Kansas City 
   • Strengths
     • starting RBs (Clinton Portis, Brian Westbrook)
     • starting WRs (Roddy White, Wes Welker, Jerricho Cotchery)
   • Causes for Concern
     • RB depth (Earnest Graham, Willis McGahee)
     • WR depth (Jeremy Maclin, Nate Burleson, Amani Toomer)
   • Homer picks
     • QB Matt Cassel
     • WR Amani Toomer (since cut)
     • K Ryan Succup
3. Oklahoma City 
   • Strengths
     • starting QB (Matt Schaub)
     • starting WRs (Andre Johnson, Calvin Johnson, Torry Holt)
     • RB depth (Donald Brown, Felix Jones, Darren Sproles)
   • Causes for Concern
     • starting RBs (Ronnie Brown, Darren McFadden)
   • Homer picks (N/A)
4. Sacramento
   • Strengths
     • starting QB (Matt Ryan)
     • starting RBs (Michael Turner, Adrian Peterson)
   • Causes for Concern
     • starting TE (Zach Miller)
     • WR depth (Deion Branch, Isaac Bruce)
   • Homer picks (N/A)

With a Little Bit of Luck

1. Orlando
   • Strengths
     • starting TE (Antonio Gates)
     • RB depth (Jonathan Stewart, Rashard Mendenhall, Julius Jones)
   • Causes for Concern
     • starting D/ST (Arizona)
   • Homer picks (N/A)
2. Pittsburgh
   • Strengths
     • starting WRs (Marques Colston, Dwayne Bowe, Hines Ward)
     • WR depth (Kevin Walter, Donnie Avery)
   • Causes for Concern
     • starting QB (Donovan McNabb)
   • Homer picks
     • WR Hines Ward

Stuck in the Middle

1. Green Bay 
   • Strengths
     • starting RB (Ryan Grant, Pierre Thomas)
     • starting WR (Steve Smith (Car), Anquan Boldin, Brandon Marshall)
   • Causes for Concern
     • WR depth (Steve Breaston)
   • Homer picks
     • RB Ryan Grant
     • K Mason Crosby
     • Green Bay D/ST
2. Oakland
   • Strengths
     • starting RBs (Brandon Jacobs, DeAngelo Williams)
     • starting TE (Tony Gonzalez)
   • Causes for Concern
     • starting WR (Santonio Holmes, DeSean Jackson, Donald Driver)
     • QB depth (Joe Flacco)
     • RB depth (Justin Fargas, Ricky Williams)
   • Homer picks
     • RB Justin Fargas
     • WR Darrius Heyward-Bey

Help

1. Minneapolis
   • Strengths
     • starting QB (Phillip Rivers)
   • Causes for Concern
     • starting TE (Visanthe Shiancoe) 
     • QB depth (Matt Hasselbeck) 
     • RB depth (Cedric Benson)
   • Homer picks
     • WR Bernard Berrian 
     • TE Visanthe Shiancoe
     • K Ryan Longwell
     • Minnesota D/ST
2. San Francisco 
   • Strengths
     • starting QB (Peyton Manning)
   • Causes for Concern
     • starting RBs (Frank Gore, Knowshon Moreno) 
     • starting WRs (Chad Ochocinco, Santana Moss, Percy Harvin) 
     • WR depth (Domenik Hixon)
   • Homer picks
     • RB Frank Gore
     • TE Vernon Davis
     • K Joe Nedney
3. Tampa Bay 
   • Strengths
     • starting TE (Chris Cooley)
     • starting D/ST (Pittsburgh)
   • Causes for Concern
     • starting QB (Ben Roethlisberger) 
     • starting WRs (Terrell Owens, Greg Jennings, Devin Hester) 
     • WR depth (Michael Clayton, Hakeem Nicks)
   • Homer picks
     • WR Michael Clayton
4. Yahoo!
   • Strengths
     • starting QB (Drew Brees)
     • starting TE (Owen Daniels)
     • WR depth (Anthony Gonzalez, Steve Smith (NYG), Joey Galloway)
   • Causes for Concern
     • starting RBs (Steven Jackson, Kevin Smith)
     • starting WRs (Roy Williams, Ted Ginn, Derrick Mason)
   • Homer picks (N/A)

In case you’re curious, you can view the rosters and current standings.

So, which mayor will be presenting an oversized check to their favorite charity when the champion is crowned?  With the usual caveats about the unpredictable nature of injuries and their ability to wreak havoc on the strongest of fantasy football rosters, my predicted winner is Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett.  Let the games begin!

The Sherpa

Fantasy Football Sherpa

The Fantasy Football Sherpa’s Blog

@fantasy_sherpa on Twitter 

Injuries to Quarterbacks Tony Romo, Matt Hasselbeck, and Carson Palmer will doubtlessly send many fantasy football team owners scrambling to the free agent/waiver wire this week - I’ll give some suggestions below on the best replacements to target if you’re among them.

4 teams have their byes Week 7: Arizona, Atlanta, Jacksonville, and Philadelphia.  Unless you’re in a league that’s so competitive that team owners speculate on players with bye weeks, I’d avoid picking up anyone from any of these teams this week.

Here’s a list of players who are probably on a roster in your league and will need to be replaced because of the bye week if they’re in a starting lineup:

Quarterbacks

Kurt Warner, Matt Ryan, David Garrard, Donovan McNabb

Running Backs

Edgerrin James, Tim Hightower, Michael Turner, Jerious Norwood, Fred Taylor, Maurice Jones-Drew, Correll Buckhalter (I’m assuming you’ve already removed Brian Westbrook from your starting lineup).

Wide Receivers

Larry Fitzgerald (again, I’m assuming you’ve already removed Anquan Boldin from your starting lineup), Roddy White, Matt Jones, DeSean Jackson.

Tight Ends

Marcedes Lewis, L.J. Smith

Kickers

Neil Rackers, Jason Elam, Josh Scobee, David Akers

Defenses

Jacksonville, Philadelphia

Here’s a list of recommended free agent/waiver wire pickups who may be available in your league.  I’ll give an indication of whether I believe these players should be picked up for just the short term (ST), for the long term (LT), or as speculation plays (SPEC).  Short term recommendations are players who should help fantasy owners in the next few weeks (due to injuries, benchings, suspensions, favorable schedules, etc.) but who will probably drop in value again later in the season.  Long term recommendations are players who have the potential to help their owners’ fantasy teams for the remainder of the current season.  Speculation plays are players who are unlikely to help your fantasy team in the short run (barring injuries, benchings, suspensions, etc.) but may have value later this season or in future seasons (for those in Keeper leagues).

Quarterbacks

Trent Edwards (LT), Gus Frerotte (LT), Dan Orlovsky (ST), Chad Pennington (ST),  Brad Johnson (ST), Kerry Collins (ST), Marc Bulger (ST), JaMarcus Russell (SPEC)

Running Backs

Dominic Rhodes (ST),  Kevin Smith (SPEC), Michael Bush (SPEC), Kevin Faulk (SPEC), Jamaal Charles (SPEC)

Wide Receivers

Ike Hilliard (LT), Greg Camarillo (LT), Sean McDonald (LT), Mike Furrey (LT), Justin Gage (LT), Ted Ginn (SPEC), Steve Smith (NY Giants version) (SPEC), Donnie Avery (SPEC), Jordy Nelson (SPEC), Ronald Curry (SPEC)

Tight Ends

John Carlson (LT), Alex Smith (LT), Bo Scaife (LT), Donald Lee (LT), Desmond Clark (ST), David Martin (SPEC),  Dustin Keller (SPEC)

Kickers

Shayne Graham (LT), Stephen Gostkowski (LT), Ryan Longwell (LT), Jeff Reed (LT), Rob Bironas (LT), Taylor Melhaff (LT), Rian Lindell (ST), Olindo Mare (ST), Joe Nedney (ST), Sebastian Janikowski (ST)

Defenses

Texans (vs Det), Patriots (vs Den), Dolphins (vs Bal), Redskins (vs Cle)

Until next time,

The Sherpa

Most team owners’ fantasy football roster changes after Week 1 fall into one of two categories:  (1) moves necessitated by injuries, and (2) reactions to players’ disappointing performances.  If you owned Tom Brady, Nate Burleson, Vince Young, Marques Colston, Maurice Morris, etc., you probably need to make a roster move this week.  However, if you own Marc Bulger, Steven Jackson, Tory Holt, Carson Palmer, Chris Perry, T.J. Houshmandzadeh, Chad Ocho Cinco, Peyton Manning, Braylon Edwards, etc., don’t let their disappointing performances in Week 1 tempt you to do something rash (i.e. - trading them for below-market value) or dumb (i.e. - dropping them).

If Albert Pujols or Alex Rodriguez goes 0-4 with 4 strikeouts on baseball’s Opening Day, their fantasy owners would be disappointed, if not upset, but would realize that it’s just one game out of 162.  However, with football teams having just 10% of the number of games their baseball brethern do, every game’s results are magnified - both for better or for worse.

On the other hand, don’t get too giddy if some of your players exceeded expectations during Week 1.  Does anyone really believe that Eddie Royal and Dante Rosario will be among the league leaders at their respective positions at the end of the season?  Me neither.  Put another way, if someone offers you Adrian Peterson or LaDainian Tomlinson for Michael Turner this week, or Braylon Edwards for Matt Jones, or Peyton Manning for Donovan McNabb, quickly accept the deal before the other owner has a chance to change their mind!

Reversing the roles for a minute, if you are the owner of Matt Ryan, Willie Parker, Edgerrin James, etc., see what other team owners in your league would be willing to give up to obtain these Week 1 wonders.  You may be surprised.

Until next time,

The Sherpa

So, the unthinkable has happened.  You spent an early pick (almost assuredly a first-rounder) on Tom Brady, only to see him go down for the season just 21 minutes into the Patriots’ opener.  Now what?

If you’re a Brady owner, it may be tempting to write off the whole season already, but that would be a mistake.  While his absence from your lineup creates a hole that may seem impossible to climb out from, it’s definitely worth the effort.   At this point you basically have 3 options:

1. Pick up Matt Cassel (almost assuredly available on your league’s waiver wire, unless your league is incredibly deep or has a “team QB” rule).
2. Pick up a QB from another team off the waiver wire.
3. Make a trade with another team in your league for a starting QB.

Let’s briefly examine each of these 3 options.  While Matt Cassel will have a full week to practice with the first team in preparation for the Pats’ road game next Sunday against the Jets, keep in mind that he hasn’t been a starting QB since high school (he backed up Carson Palmer and Matt Leinert at USC)!  You may recall that Brad Johnson was in a similar situation when he first came to the NFL (he’d backed up Charlie Ward at Florida State), and he went on to quarterback the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a Super Bowl victory (notice that I used the word “quarterback” rather than “lead” - the Bucs’ defense was definitely the key to their championship).  Still, it’s unrealistic to expect Cassel to throw for 300+ yards and several TDs on a consistent basis, which is the production you were probably banking on from Brady if you took him with your first pick.   Overall, this is probably not your best option.

Which other QBs available on the waiver wire may be able to help your team, at least in the short run?  Depending on how many teams are in your league, and how many QBs you’re required to start, some of the starting QBs who may be available include Kurt Warner (Ari), Matt Ryan (Atl), Joe Flacco (Bal), Kyle Orton (Chi), Tarvaris Jackson (Min), JaMarcus Russell (Oak), Marc Bulger (StL), J.T. O`Sullivan (SF), and Jeff Garcia (TB).  Warner, Bulger, and Garcia have all had past success, and I would rank them in that order in terms of their likelihood to put up decent fantasy stats this season.  Orton and Jackson both have previous starting experience, but not much apparent upside - I don’t consider either of them a desirable fantasy option for this season.  Russell and Ryan are both intriguing prospects from big-time college programs and have significant upside.  Flacco and O`Sullivan probably have lower ceilings than the previous pair and can be safely ignored unless there are no other options.

Third, there’s the trade route.  Of course, your leaguemates know you’re in dire straits, and it’s unlikely you’ll be able to get fair value under the current conditions.  Your goal is to sell high on a player you think exceeded expectations in Week 1 for an undervalued QB that a leaguemate feels exceeded his expections during Week 1.  If you took Michael Turner, Willie Parker, or Reggie Bush as a 2nd (or even 3rd) Running Back, you are the lucky owner of a great bargaining chip.  QBs you may be able to pry loose from their owners using these RBs as bait include Donovan McNabb and Jake Delhomme, both of whom I believe will exceed most people’s expectations this season (hopefully, including their current owners’!).

A quick note on a related topic.  Under almost any scoring format imagineable, it hardly ever makes sense to take a quarterback with your first pick in a fantasy football draft, even if it is Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, or Tony Romo.  While there are a handful of QBs that appear to be a cut above the rest going into each season, there’s usually a much smaller gap between the top-scoring QBs and the mediocre QBs than there is between the top scorers and middle of the pack contributors at both running back and wide receiver (the idea of position scarcity).  Yes, LaDainian Tomlinson or Randy Moss could also suffer a season-ending injury in Week 1, but each season there are running backs and wide receivers passed over in fantasy drafts who go on to become top fantasy contributors that season (last year’s examples included Justin Fargas, Ryan Grant, Earnest Graham, Roddy White, and Dwayne Bowe).  While it’s possible for this to happen at quarterback (Derek Anderson and Tony Romo are two recent examples), it’s much less likely.

I’ve also seen some instances where fantasy teams will draft just one QB and enter the season without a backup.  Unless you’re playing in a league with 12 or fewer teams where nobody takes a backup, this is just a recipe for disaster.  No matter how great/seemingly indestructable your starting QB appears to be (Brett Favre owners, listen up!), it always makes sense to have a contingency plan in case the unimagineable becomes the reality, as it did yesterday for Tom Brady owners.

Until next time,

The Sherpa