Adios

Unfortunately, I have decided to officially call it quits on this blog.  I will most certainly publish again in the future, maybe here, maybe somewhere else, with fantasy football my primary topic of choice.  I may also consider publishing a blog with my culinary creations, many of which are original works of deliciousness.  As for now, it is just not feasible for me to set aside time (and sleep) to blog for my already dwindling audience.  I greatly appreciate those who read my work and enjoyed it.  I hope to blog for you again one day.

2012 "USFL Dynasty League" Rookie/Free Agent Draft

I will be posting the picks made from my dynasty league as they occur. The league's format is 12 teams, relatively standard scoring with PPR, no IDP, and our starting requirements allow the possibility of starting a second QB in a flex position. I will post and briefly comment on most picks. The draft officially began May 1st. Since owners from this league visit this site, I will not mention, and attempt not to reference, any players who have not yet been picked. Here is the direct link to the draft forum we made our official picks in: 2012 USFL Draft Big Board

**My Picks
Free Agent Picks

1.01 ~ RB Trent Richardson, CLE

1.02 ~ QB Andrew Luck, IND

1.03 ~ RB Doug Martin, TB

**1.04 ~ QB Robert Griffin III, WAS

1.05 ~ WR Justin Blackmon, JAC

1.06 ~ WR Michael Floyd, ARI

1.07 ~ RB David Wilson, NYG

1.08 ~ WR Alshon Jeffery, CHI

1.09 ~ RB Isaiah Pead, STL

1.10 ~ TE Coby Fleener, IND

1.11 ~ WR Kendall Wright, TEN

1.12 ~ RB Lamar Miller, MIA

2.01 ~ WR Stephen Hill, NYJ

2.02 ~ RB Ronnie Hillman, DEN

2.03 ~ WR Mohamed Sanu, CIN

2.04 ~ WR Brian Quick, STL

2.05 ~ QB Ryan Tannehill, MIA

2.06 ~ WR Ryan Broyles, DET

2.07 ~ QB Brandon Weeden, CLE

2.08 ~ WR Rueben Randle, NYG

2.09 ~ RB LaMichael James, SF

2.10 ~ WR A.J. Jenkins, SF

2.11 ~ WR Nick Toon, NO

2.12 ~ TE Ladarius Green, SD

3.01 ~ RB Bernard Pierce, BAL

3.02 ~ WR Chris Givens, STL

3.03 ~ WR Tommy Sreeter, BAL

3.04 ~ RB Chris Rainey, PIT

3.05 ~ WR Marvin Jones, CIN

3.06 ~ TE Adrien Robinson, NYG

**3.07 ~ RB Chris Polk, PHI

3.08 ~ RB Robert Turbin, SEA

3.09 ~ WR T.Y. Hilton, IND

**3.10 ~ WR Greg Childs, MIN

3.11 ~ TE Martellus Bennett, NYG

3.12 ~ WR Keshawn Martin, HOU

3.13 ~ RB Terrance Ganaway, NYJ

4.01 ~ WR Juron Criner, OAK

4.02 ~ TE Dwayne Allen, IND

4.03 ~ TE Michael Egnew, MIA

4.04 ~ RB Vick Ballard, IND

**4.05 ~ RB Cyrus Gray, KC

4.06 ~ QB Russell Wilson, SEA

4.07 ~ RB Dan Herron, CIN

4.08 ~ WR Marvin McNutt, PHI

4.09 ~ WR DeVier Posey, HOU

4.10 ~ WR Joe Adams, CAR

4.11 ~ RB Edwin Baker, SD

4.12 ~ WR T.J. Graham, BUF

5.01 ~ WR Devon Wylie, KC

5.02 ~ QB Brock Osweiler, DEN

5.03 ~ PASSED

5.04 ~ QB Ryan Lindley, ARI

**5.05 ~ PASSED

5.06 ~ QB Kirk Cousins, WAS

5.07 ~ PASSED

5.08 ~ K Randy Bullock, HOU

5.09 ~ QB Nick Foles, PHI

5.10 ~ WR LaVon Brazill, IND

5.11 ~ TE Evan Rodriguez, CHI

5.12 ~ PASSED

I'M BACK!!!...again...

The time gap between this post and the last (somewhat embarrassing titled) post is quite large. So, am I back with my irregular posting? For now I don't know, but I have gained too many readers and regulars to just simply quit alltogether. As I have explained multiple times throughout previous blog posts, the addition of my third daughter (now 20 months old) and my most recent promotion (little more than a year ago) seriously overwhelmed me and exhausted most of my "free time." To top it off, I was working off of a desktop PC, which was quickly becoming a freezing and crashing relic because of its sub-1 GB of RAM and the apparently outdated AMD Athlon 64 bit processor. That fossilizing PC had to be located in my bedroom due to home and play-area arraingments, along with my value keyboard and mouse, and their loud clicks. My promotion and expanded work hours essentially eliminated any chance of blogging during the day, and having less "down time" alltogether caused me to better value relaxing over blogging after work. Besides, the sleeping wife stirs when the clicking and clacking occurs.

All things considered, I then decided to at least take a hiatus from blogging and considered shutting down the blog entirely. All of last season, I went blog-free to further concentrate on my family and try to recover a little bit of my "free time." I hadn't thought about getting back to blogging until the motherboard on my desktop got fried by an electrical surge, apparently not stopped by the heavy duty surge protector with individual outlet transformers. Being left without any computer caused me to bring my future plans of investing in a high quality laptop to the present. I have invested in an HP Pavilion dv7 with 8 GB of RAM, 750 GB of storage, an Intel 2nd Generation Core i7 processor, a ton of bells, many whistles, and a bathroom sink (kitchen sink is a bit cliche). Effin A right! I am mobile within my home, which means I can tap away as much as I want after the rest of the family is sleeping, and I am in the comfort of not my bedroom. Yeah, yeah, yeah...make fun of me making my first laptop purchase ever (not counting the hand-me-down POS I had from 2001-2005) and being excited about added mobility. Three children has equated to extreme debt and tapered splurging for me and my wife. I have yet to own a smart phone!

My new laptop has given me added opportunities to spend my late nights doing more tapping on a keyboard instead of a remote. Am I promising to blog more frequently? Possibly, but I will certainly try to renew my committment to my likely reduced corp of readers. I have a few ideas to help streamline the blog posts and improve production, such as simplifing the posts into more of a classic blogging style and researching lesser known but still important stat lines. The next post will be the coverage of the recent "USFL Dynasty League" rookie/FA draft, which concluded little more than two weeks ago.

Arian Foster will BUST

~~I will begin by expressing my gratitude for those who have continued to check in to my blog, even though my increasingly busy schedule has kept me away from most of my extracurricular activity, including blogging. I wish I could write a good full-length blog with in-depth analysis in an hour, but it is much more time consuming than that. However, I will be posting much more frequently (and probably in a more abbreviated fashion) during the season, so don't forget about me.~~

This is not one of my fancy-shmancy professional article looking blog entries, because I don't intend it to be. I am simply recording one of my boldest predictions in a while, and I wanted to have it dated before the season begins to live or die by it.

For the entire offseason, I have been calling Arian Foster overrated...

2011 Rookie Rankings

Top 20

1. RB Mark Ingram NO
2. WR A.J. Green CIN
3. WR Julio Jones ATL
4. RB Mikel Leshoure DET
5. RB Ryan Williams ARI
6. RB Daniel Thomas MIA
7. WR Greg Little CLE
8. WR Randall Cobb GB
9. RB Delone Carter IND
10. QB Blaine Gabbert JAC
11. WR Jonathan Baldwin KC
12. WR Torrey Smith BAL
13. QB Cam Newton CAR
14. WR Leonard Hankerson WAS
15. QB Christian Ponder MIN
16. RB DeMarco Murray DAL
17. RB Roy Helu WAS
18. QB Jake Locker TEN
19. WR Vincent Brown SD

COMPLETE "USFL Dynasty League" Official Rookie/Free Agent Draft 2011

I will be posting the picks made from my dynasty league as they occur. The league's format is 12 teams, relatively standard scoring with PPR, no IDP, and our starting requirements allow the possibility of starting a second QB in a flex position. I will post and briefly comment on most picks. The draft officially began May 1st. Since owners from this league visit this site, I will not mention, and attempt not to reference, any players who have not yet been picked. Here is the direct link to the draft forum we made our official picks in and the discussions held (many not involving the picks): http://usfldynastyfootball.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=2011draft

**My Picks
Free Agent Picks

1.01 ~ RB Mark Ingram, NO

Relentless and physical. He may not be the most electric RB prospect to enter the NFL draft, but he was made for the NFL. He possesses elite vision and awareness, sheds tackles, fully utilizes blockers, is strong and physical, and gives every ounce of effort with every run. He is not as fast or quick as you would hope for in a top prospect, but the same things were said about Emmitt Smith, who Ingram compares favorably to. Ingram was never a prototypical workhorse RB at Alabama, but I contend that just means he is more fresh. Pierre Thomas and Reggie Bush (if he is not cut or traded) will not be forgotten about, but they will certainly need to step aside. Expect Ingram to be the starter, but don't expect him to be used as much as the likes of Chris Johnson, Adrian Peterson, Maurice Jones-Drew, or Steven Jackson.

1.02 ~ WR Julio Jones, ATL

Athletic and fearless. I'm not really surprised that he got chosen before A.J. Green. Jones exploded at the combine

School's Out

Every season, mistakes are made, busts are drafted, bad strategies are adopted, bad habits are repeated, and lineup decisions that have been obsessively debated over for an entire week result in wrong decisions. There are certain mistakes that even the cagiest of fantasy veterans make, even though they try to avoid them. Somehow, certain bad habits seem to always haunt you, even though you try your best to avoid them. Every year after those bad habits and choices occur, you should take note...I mean literally write them down somewhere on your drafting and general fantasy football material, so you will have a blatant reminder to avoid those choices during your next draft and/or the following season.

Here is a short list of the more important things we learned or re-learned from this fantasy football season...

~~Never again will I target or consider drafting Steve Smith of the Panthers unless by some major transaction he ends up with Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, or Drew Brees as his QB. I drafted him in one of my leagues (12-team, PPR) at pick 3.07, and even though I wasn't crazy about drafting him, the top tiers of WRs ran dry quickly and he seemed like the best available WR on the board. What kills me most is that even though I targeted (and drafted) Joseph Addai in the fourth round, Hakeem Nicks was on the board when I picked Smith.

~~Although I targeted less than half of these players in my 2010 drafts, I will put Steven Jackson, Randy Moss (obviously), Anquan Boldin, Chad Ochocinco, Ronnie Brown, Eli Manning, Brandon Jacobs, Cedric Benson, Joseph Addai, and Carson Palmer in that conversation of no longer targeting...ever again.

~~Don't take a defense early. Quality undrafted waiver wire pickups this season included the Raiders, Patriots, Seahawks, Lions, Chiefs, Falcons, and Cardinals. Instead of burning a mid-round pick on the Vikings, Cowboys, or Ravens you could have taken a chance on some quality sleeper options like Peyton Hillis, Santonio Holmes, Jay Cutler, or Matt Ryan. Every season, there are always several free agent defenses that quickly play themselves into the top 10 of fantasy defenses.

~~Kickers are solely reserved for your last round. This is more of a reminder than something that

Fantasy Playoffs Preview (Weeks 11-13)

Either you're in, or you temporarily lost your taste for football. It's playoff time! Chances are if you scored the likes of Michael Vick, Peyton Hillis, Brandon Lloyd, or Kyle Orton off of the waiver wire, you are in the playoffs. If you were savvy enough to draft the likes of Arian Foster, Hakeem Nicks, Philip Rivers, Dwayne Bowe, or Terrell Owens, you are probably wearing your dancing shoes. If you happened to be like one owner in my keeper league, who happened to keep Antonio Gates in the sixth round, draft Arian Foster in the second round, draft Peyton Hillis in the fifteenth round, pick up Michael Vick off of waivers after week 1 (and right after Andy Reid declared Kevin Kolb to continue being the starter once he got healthy following the concussion he suffered in the week 1 game versus the Packers), and trade Maurice Jones-Drew for Calvin Johnson and Ladainian Tomlinson before the week 4 games, chances are you a rolling pretty damn high into the playoffs with a 13-0 record and about to destroy many league records held by me.

Whatever the case, if you are in the playoffs, you should be obsessing about your roster, potential free agent pickups, matchups of not only this weekend but also of the entire fantasy playoffs (especially for fantasy defenses), and how the 13-0 team can be upset. This is the time of year where you start your studs, but many players can be benched for other players with great matchups. Just because you have been winning games on strong performances from Brandon Lloyd, Matt Ryan, LeSean McCoy, Steve Johnson, Chris Ivory, and Vernon Davis doesn't mean you should start them automatically. This is the time of the year where matchups are more important than ever. Hopefully, you were savvy enough to stock up your roster with players having great matchups during these next three weeks. The owner who thinks he should roll with all his top players throughout the playoffs, no matter what the matchups are is likely to come away disappointed, unless your starting roster is Michael Vick, Arian Foster, Peyton Hillis, LaDainian Tomlinson, Calvin Johnson, Sidney Rice, Santonio Holmes, Antonio Gates, and the Eagles defense like the owner in my league I mentioned above. I will try to give you some advice on certain players in the playoffs to increase your chances of winning.

Unbenchable Players

Aaron Rodgers
~~Once again we find him at the top of the QB stat sheets. The Packers lost their running game, so Rodgers took it upon himself to single-handedly dismantle his opponents. His domination will continue into the playoffs, especially in weeks 14 and 15 against the Lions and Patriots.

Michael Vick
~~There are many words to describe his season like unbelievable, phenomenal, redemption, and unstoppable. He is the second best QB in fantasy, and he has only played in seven and two half games out of the twelve. He can't be contained. Unbenchable is stating the blatantly obvious.

Philip Rivers
~~Undrafted rookie WR Seyi Ajirotutu. Do I need to elaborate?

One Thought

~~I must apologize. My last blog included some thoughts that were about three weeks old, specifically the two thoughts on the Lions. I was so anxious to publish that blog (finally) that I didn't get a chance to thoroughly proofread it. I will recant my comments on essentially the entire Lions RB situation. Jahvid Best is no longer a viable fantasy starter with multiple turf toe injuries, and his workload is now being drastically reduced to help him heal. Once the Lions are mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, expect Best to be an IR candidate. Also, Kevin Smith was back and is now back on the IR after thumb surgery. Look for Maurice Morris to get the "Lions share" (ha...ha...ha) of the carries for the rest of the season, or until Best is able to run his cuts properly. Morris is actually a solid flex option.

Analyze This ~ Superbowl Prediction (Weeks 8-10)

The NFL season is just past the midway point. Around this time I always like to make Superbowl predictions to see how I stack up against other prognosticators. Over the last several seasons, I have made a habit of predicting "darkhorse teams" to make a Superbowl run, especially since many of the popular powerhouse teams get defeated by lesser ranked teams. In fact, before this last Superbowl (XLIV) between the two no. 1 seeded Saints and Colts, the Superbowl has not hosted two no. 1 seeds since 1993, when the Cowboys defeated the Bills in Superbowl XXVIII. Over the last decade, there always seems to be at least one 4, 5, or 6th seeded team making a lot of noise in the playoffs and threatening a legitimate Superbowl run. I hit one out of the park when I called the Arizona Cardinals to shock the world and play in Superbowl XLIII following the 2008 season on FootballDiehards.com (screen name "jdmakawiz"). At the beginning of this year following the 2009 season, I nailed another call predicting the Saints v Colts Superbowl, even though that prediction came in the first round of the playoffs.

Ultimately, I'm not trying to prove anything to anyone, or say how great I am, or even tell you to take my picks to Vegas. It's fun, whether I am right, wrong, or ridiculed.

This season has had more parity than normal, when compared to the last decade worth of seasons. The fact is, we know nothing right now. As much as that is the case for most mid-season Superbowl predictions, this year has more sub .500 teams that could still be considered playoff contenders. The only things certain about the NFL and teams' standings just about every season over the last several is the NFC West will be awful, the AFC South will be tough, at least one wildcard team will come from the NFC East, the Colts are always in the playoffs as long as Peyton Manning continues to be their on-field coach, and the Bills and Lions will always suck.

The season shakes down to these potential contenders built to make a Superbowl run: AFC ~ Jets, Patriots, Ravens, Steelers, Colts, Titans, Chiefs, and Chargers; NFC ~ Packers, Giants, Eagles, Falcons, and Saints. Just as an added bonus, I will throw in the Bears as a "darkhorse" team that could pull off playoff upsets. Don't forget the Bears went to the Superbowl a few years back with Rex Grossman at the helm, and their defense this year is as good as it has been for a while. As you can tell, the AFC has much tougher competition than the NFC. In my processes to predict a Superbowl contender I usually eliminate the teams who have continual injury difficulties (likely into the playoffs), weak defenses (the 2006 Colts are the only team with a bottom dollar defense I can remember winning the Superbowl), and can be turnover prone or have a poor turnover ratio. Injury problems and average or worse defenses eliminate