For the year's that this site has been in existence I've kept it about Fargo area sports as close to 100% of the time as I could. Did I mix other things some times and make parallel's that extend beyond the field, court & track? Absolutely but only when the comparisons and inclusions made sense to me. Until now that is.
I'm quite certain that talking Fantasy Football will still be relevant to many of you but I admit that it has little to do with the prime directive.
Every week will have it's own flavor. I aspire to have each post be worth reading but what each will include may vary as much as Antonio Brown's mood. To me, that's exciting while also being unnerving!
I've talked Fantasy ball for almost half my life but being able to talk about something does not as naturally translate to the keyboard as you may think. In an effort to try and shorten the learning curve, I'm going to do a couple preseason posts. This week, as you probably would have guessed because of the title, I'm going to look at guy's ranked outside the top 100 on Fantasy Pros that could get you paid in a few months, so here goes!
Only had to scroll for a second to find a guy that has a good chance of out performing his current slot - Darrell Henderson. With Gurley's knee's being very much of concern for the long term Henderson has higher value in Dynasty & Keeper league's but even in re-draft he has a chance to be much better than the 38th running back.
A few lines down the list and the next two that could pay heavy dividends for your squad came screaming at me. DeSean Jackson may be long in the tooth and in an offense that is deep with other options but as long as Carson Wentz can remain available, Jackson will have at minimum flex value & could boom any week. I get why he's ranked this far down but mark my words, there will be worse players taken in the 11th round and beyond.
One name below Jackson in the pecking order is a quarterback that still has much to learn but for fantasy, could be a gold mine. As a passer, yeah progress needs to be made by Lamar Jackson but as a sleeper with massive rushing upside, he could be a God send for rosters.
Speaking of highly experienced veterans, my top sleeper tight end comes from an offense that has more questions than answers. As a general rule, those are the kinds to avoid, if you didn't know but if you miss out on Travis Kelce, or even if you didn't, then you may do well to wait for the dust to settle at the position. When it does, Delanie Walker may well still be available. He's been around a long time now and father time has started catching up with him but on the chance that he can have one last impactful season in the league, I'd consider him to out perform the twelfth best tight-end slot.
For those of you who were very committed to waiting to buy or draft a quarterback OR for those of you in two QB league's, the next is one of my favorites. On an offense that includes two of the 10 or 15 best receivers with a sneaky capable TE and a couple running back's that can catch, Kirk Cousins will surely out produce for your team if he is the 21st taken. Idk if I'll beat this drum every week but it deserves it through two weeks of Fantasy blogging.
I'm coming to the point where there are nearly as many defense's & kicker's as there are other type's of players but depending on your league's rules, the last individual that I'm going to tip you off to could be the most gold. Kareem Hunt. No question that he deserves to miss all the time that he's set to, and more if I'm being honest. If you're in a league that has ways to stash players for weeks at a time so they don't count as hard against your roster limit then you should 100% be interested in acquiring him. The downside to the wait & see is that Nick Chubb ain't a bad runner and could do well enough to remain in the equation after the suspension is up, but come on now, Hunt is just different. I'm not going to go so far as to say special until I see him in a game that matters for the Browns but in terms of talent, Chubb is no Hunt.
Unsolicited Advice
I've heard more times than I can even remember how little the two sections at the bottom of your submitted roster actually count. For Kickers, I can kind of get it but I've never been on board with the notion that it doesn't matter which defense you have. On the contrary, much like it is with the tight-end position, if you get an elite kicker or defense you have an every week advantage over your opponents. To be specific, if you have Justin Tucker that is an advantage no matter what. If you had the Bears defense last year, I hope you enjoyed your championship. A lot of people like to sell like those two spots on your roster don't matter BUT THEY DO! I'm not saying that you should be the first in your league to go after either position but once one is taken, all bets are off so do yourself a favor and be one of the aggressors not one of the victims!!
But that's all for now, happy drafting!!