Fooled Me Once, Not Again - Sophomore Wide Receivers Set to Bust, Again

2014 was a banner year for rookie receivers. 2015 was a bummer year for rookie receivers. Only Oakland’s Amari Cooper had 1,000 receiving yards, and no other wideout topped the 900-yard mark. So there is no shortage of candidates for the award of "Sophomore Receiver Ready to Bust for the Second Straight Year".  Here are three […]

Fooled Me Once, Not Again - Sophomore Tight Ends Set to Bust Again

Just like 2015 was not a year to applaud rookie receivers, rookie tight ends did not deserve any standing ovations, either. No tight ends were taken in the first round of the 2015 NFL draft, and the first-year brood showed why.  This was far from a bumper crop of fantasy darlings.  The best of the unexceptional […]

Fooled Me Once, Not Again - Sophomore Running Backs Set to Disappoint

Fool me once, shame on you.  Fool me twice, shame on me!  In fact, shame on me so much I should be kicked out of my fantasy league. Just like any human being, fantasy football owners do not like getting fooled twice. If a player burns them, and costs them the chance of winning their league […]

Jace Amaro (TE, NYJ) - 2016 Fantasy Football Sleeper

BALLER MOVE: Target ~200 CURRENT ADP: 254 ANALYSIS: Jace Amaro is a tight end who can go from sleeper to keeper this year. A second-round pick in the 2014 NFL draft. He had one of the best seasons for a tight end in college football history, catching 106 passes for 1,352 yards for Texas Tech […]

Bilal Powell (RB, NYJ) - 2016 Fantasy Football Sleeper

BALLER MOVE: Target ~125 CURRENT ADP: 135.3 ANALYSIS: Bilal Powell is solid at all facets of what it takes to be a decent NFL running back. He gets four yards a carry when he is handed the ball, he makes things happen in the passing game with his gluey hands and he picks up blitzes when […]

T.J. Yeldon (RB, JAC) - 2016 Fantasy Football Sleeper

BALLER MOVE: Target ~85 CURRENT ADP: 95.7 ANALYSIS: T.J. Yeldon’s fantasy value both took a hellacious hit when Jacksonville signed Chris Ivory in the offseason. Yeldon touched the ball at least 15 times in nine games last season, but he is unlikely to replicate that workload. While Yeldon is more of a slasher and Ivory […]

James Starks (RB, GB) - 2016 Fantasy Football Sleeper

BALLER MOVE: Target ~130 CURRENT ADP: 142.3 ANALYSIS: James Starks has found success as both a workhorse and a third-down, complementary back. The 2015 season was the best of Starks’ career, as he set new personal bests in both rushing and receiving yards while adding five touchdowns, another career-high. Eddie Lacy’s weight battle has been […]

Giovani Bernard (SP, CIN) - 2016 Fantasy Football Sleeper

BALLER MOVE: Target ~70 CURRENT ADP: 82.2 ANALYSIS: Giovani Bernard is not your traditional handcuff back. He is more of a complementary back to Jeremy Hill. Both will get their touches over the course of a game and a season. With Marvin Jones and Mohamed Sanu no longer in Cincinnati, Bernard’s pass-catching skills may be […]

Darren Sproles (RB, PHI) - 2016 Fantasy Football Sleeper

BALLER MOVE: Target ~135 CURRENT ADP: 147.7 ANALYSIS: Fantasy owners know all about Ryan Mathews— his injuries, his fumbles and his propensity for breaking fantasy football owners’ hearts. He enters the 2016 season as Philadelphia’s starting tailback, but he is difficult to trust. In 2015, Darren Sproles averaged under four yards per carry for only the […]

Charles Sims (RB, TB) - 2016 Fantasy Football Sleeper

BALLER MOVE: Target ~110 CURRENT ADP: 121.2 ANALYSIS: Doug Martin rushed for 1,402 yards last year, trailing only Adrian Peterson in the rushing race, but he does have a checkered fantasy history.  While he topped the 1,400-yard plateau in 2012 and 2015, his 2013 and 2014 seasons were fiascos due to his injuries and inconsistent […]

DeAngelo Williams (RB, PIT) - 2016 Fantasy Football Sleeper

BALLER MOVE: Target ~75 CURRENT ADP: 85.5 ANALYSIS: Le’Veon Bell is one of the best backs in the NFL, but he cannot keep his talented feet on the field. DeAngelo Williams shined when Bell suffered his season-ending knee injury last season, sprinting for 801 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns in the 10 games he started. […]

Running Back Handcuffs to Avoid in 2016

The only thing less exciting than drafting a running back to handcuff the top tailback on your fantasy football team is drafting a third-string running back who is not handcuffing anybody. My last two articles revolved around the handcuff running backs that fantasy owners should eye down during their draft days.  This article deals with […]

The Next Best Four Running Back Handcuffs

My last article was about the top four handcuff running backs in fantasy football.  This article is about the next four. Not all handcuff running backs are built equally. Some are obvious backups that will only get more than five touches per game if the man ahead of them on the depth chart pulls a hamstring […]

Top Handcuff Running Backs for 2016

While the NFL has now transformed into a pass-first league that relies on quarterbacks and wide receivers more than it does running backs, the same cannot be said for fantasy football. Running backs are even more important now in fantasy football than they used to be 5-10 years.  That is because there are fewer workhorses that […]

2016 Fantasy Football Sleeper- Tight End Jace Amaro

The New York Jets have not had a tight end with any fantasy relevance since Dustin Keller had a couple halfway decent seasons back in 2010 and 2011.  However, 2016 could change the way fantasy football owners think of Jets tight ends. Jace Amaro will fly under the noses of many fantasy owners who have […]

Three Bounce Back Candidates for 2016

You always want to buy low in fantasy football, and one of the best ways to buy low with a high ceiling in a range of outcomes is to target star players coming off of disappointing seasons. Fantasy football owners tend to rank players coming off below-average or subpar seasons lower on their cheat sheets than they […]

Risky Fantasy Football Propositions for 2016 - Matthew Stafford, Matt Jones and Jonathan Stewart

Fantasy football is littered with risky propositions. There are injury-prone players, players who have rookies ready to steal their jobs or coaches ready to demote them on the depth chart, or players who lost valuable teammates in the offseason.  These guys might have great track records or might seem to have everything going for them […]

Week 23 NHL DFS Buys and Don’t Buys: Boedker, Staal, Larkin and Stempniak

Now that the dust from the NHL trade deadline has settled, daily fantasy hockey owners can now adjust the values of the players that changed teams. We have had a game or two to see what roles traded players have on their new squads. Third-line centers have become second-line centers. Starting goalies have become backup […]

Week 22 NHL DFS Buys and Don’t Buys: Ladd, Scheifele, Purcell and Reimer

Teams did not wait for the NHL trading deadline to pull off their blockbusters. And players did not wait until the deadline to suffer season-ending injuries, either. Injuries and trade deadline deals have had drastic effects on fantasy’s finest hockey players. A change in uniform or a change in role when a teammate suffers an […]

Week 21 DFS Hockey Buys and Don’t Buys: Brodie, Burakovsky, Stamkos and Kane

The fantasy hockey world will be turned upside down over the next week. The NHL’s trade deadline is set for February 29th, so there are going to be plenty of superstars and fantasy hockey stalwarts changing uniforms between now and next Monday. That will result in tumult as a change of scenery usually translates into […]

Week 20 DFS Hockey Buys and Don’t Buys: Phaneuf, Pavelec, Luongo and Hall

Whether you are in a season-long league or a DFS league, buying low on players still helps you win in fantasy hockey! We are now taking this column in a slightly different direction! Instead of focusing on buy-low, sell-high players in season-long fantasy hockey leagues, now the focus will be on good buys and high-priced […]

Week 19 Fantasy Hockey Buys and Sells: Eberle, Scrivens, Palmieri and Sharp

There is no more football to distract fantasy hockey owners. There are two months for fantasy owners to either turn their seasons around or take their contending teams and put them over the top. Both things can be done via one or two trades. If your fantasy team has some deficiencies at certain positions, there […]

Week 18 Fantasy Hockey Buys and Sells: Getzlaf, Johnson, Niskanen and Hellebuyck

Have you recharged your batteries, fantasy hockey owners? Now that the All-Star break is in our rearview mirrors, fantasy hockey owners have to be more cognizant about what trades they can make to bolster the talent on their roster so they can make a run towards a title down the stretch. The All-Star break gave […]

Week 17 Fantasy Hockey Buys and Sells: Tavares, Perron, Reimer and Klingberg

The NHL season is past the midway point.  We are more than halfway home, fantasy owners! With the All-Star weekend around the corner, this is as good of a time as any for fantasy owners to assess their roster, figure out their needs and their strengths, and trade some of their depth to upgrade the […]

Week 16 Fantasy Hockey Buys and Sells: Hagelin, Elliott, Zetterberg, and Saad

Nothing affects a player’s fantasy value more than trades or injuries.  Trades give players new teammates and new roles that normally benefit them, while injuries usually open doors to additional ice time and chances to rack up goals, saves, assists and wins that they wouldn’t have had.  This week both trades and injuries are the […]

Week 15 Fantasy Hockey Buys and Sells: Stafford, Leddy, Draisaitl and Stempniak

Just like you need to buy low and sell high to win in the stock market, the same strategy can pay off in fantasy hockey! So welcome to my weekly column that will highlight the players you should acquire while their prices are cheap and the players you should trade while their values are at […]

Maxx Williams a Desperation TE Play

BALLER MOVE: Add in Deeper Leagues OWNED IN: 10% Owned in Fleaflicker ANALYSIS: Most fantasy owners and pundits probably assumed that Baltimore’s pass offense would go down the drain faster than your mother-in-law’s cold onion soup once Joe Flacco suffered his season-ending injury.  But journeymen backups Jimmy Clausen and Ryan Mallett have amazingly not allowed […]

Ol' Vance McDonald Helps Teams Not Buy the Farm

BALLER MOVE: Add in Deeper Leagues OWNED IN: 5% Owned in Fleaflicker ANALYSIS: McDonald has taken over as San Francisco’s starting tight end since Garrett Celek sprained an ankle and has quietly been solid.  In three of his last five games he has racked up 60-plus yards along with a touchdown, including this past Sunday […]

Zach Ertz the Target Monster

BALLER MOVE: Add in All Leagues OWNED IN: 40% Owned in Fleaflicker ANALYSIS: Ertz’s 2015 campaign was rockier than Rick Perry’s presidential campaign.  He went without a touchdown catch for the first 10 games and missed a week due to a concussion.  But at least Ertz’s 2015 is ending on a much higher note than […]

Week 17 Tight End Waiver Wire Pickups and Adds: Zach Ertz, Vance McDonald and Maxx Williams

Although Week 17 can be as unpredictable as global-warmed weather due to teams shutting players down either for the playoffs or to spare them from needless injury in meaningless games, there are still some fantasy leagues out there that use the last week of the NFL season as their fantasy Super Bowl. If a fantasy owner […]