Fantasy Football Librarian

I heart the almanac

noreply@blogger.com (Fantasy Football Librarian) — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 16:30:00 +0000

Happy Friday! I'm looking forward to a weekend full of some of my favorite Boulder trails - and a little bit of packing of our condo mixed in. But before the weekend begins, here are a few football links to keep us all informed and entertained.

One of the FootballOutsiders.com masterminds brings his 2009 forecasting to the Fifth Down in 2009 Predictions: Look Out For Rams and Chargers. For more insight from the FO guys, don't forget about the FO Almanac available now. I haven't bought it yet but I think today might be the day to pull the trigger. It's just too good of a resource not to buy it - in fact, I even listed their Pro Football Prospectus (predecessor to the Almanac) as one of my favorite books on Facebook. Yes, seriously.
Ultimate Fantasy Football Strategy keeps the o-line analysis coming with the Bengals and Browns.
Evan Silva from Rotoworld was touting Yeremiah Bell's awesomeness last season and was dead-on about that - no surprise to see he's moved Bell up a bit in the latest DB rankings.
CBS Sports takes a look at some of the best No. 2 QBs (not to be confused with QB2s on the fantasy football front) in Backup protection: Ten best No. 2 quarterbacks.
FantasySharks thinks you should rethink your draft-a-defense-before-the-15th-round strategy. I'm not entirely sure that I follow this mentality - I don't think it's worth reaching for a D/ST but waiting too late can be detrimental, too. But playing the waiver wire with defenses is an interesting idea worth thinking about.

All for now - enjoy your weekends!

Churning out FF content

noreply@blogger.com (Fantasy Football Librarian) — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 16:40:00 +0000

I have 13 days left in my office until we take off and make the big move from Boulder to New York City. This isn't the first job that I've left but perhaps the first job that really means something to me - the first where I feel personally invested in the work I've done, the changes I've implemented, the projects I've initiated, which is making it really tough to wrap things up. Plus anyone who has been to Boulder knows what an amazing town it is - it won't be easy to say goodbye.

I feel myself trending toward some sappy essay on the awesomeness of my job and friends so I'll just cut myself off - let's get to football instead!

Lots of dynasty (and redraft) rankings to come on Football Jabber - this link will take you to the RBs, and this one to the QBs, but remember to check back for more.
Several of you have asked me about my thoughts or experience with different league hosting sites - I've played with CBS, Yahoo, MyFantasyLeague, and Fleaflicker, but there are many, many more out there as Lester's Legends shows here. The Hazean did a write-up on some of his faves as I linked to last month.
News has been minimal lately on Brandon Marshall's attempts to leave Denver - I agree wholeheartedly with Clark Judge; Marshall isn't going anywhere. On another Denver note, I was playing around with WolframAlpha to see how much football stats they pull in, and I found this page on the Broncos interesting - pretty basic stuff but you can literally see the defense falling apart as they went from 258 points against in 2005 to 448 points against in 2008. Sigh. If you go into more detail and click on the defense details, you can see their number of rushing yards allowed has increased by 1000 in that same time frame while their passing yards allowed actually tightened up ever so slightly. No surprise but still very interesting stuff to look at.
Will Joe Flacco be the big QB story in 2009? He's already shown significant improvement over the course of the 2008 season...perhaps there's more to come.
I'm in the market for a team D/ST for my mock draft and since I always enjoy Accuscore's articles, I thought I'd share this ranking team D/STs with you - the top 7 teams are freely available but to read the rest you need to be a subscriber. And that, my friends, is very tempting.

Ready for a comeback kid

noreply@blogger.com (Fantasy Football Librarian) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 16:32:00 +0000

The other night (at approximately 3 am) our A/C made new, loud, unfortunate dripping noises that a youthful air conditioner really shouldn't make...and then refused to turn back on. Yesterday, however, it made a comeback. Not exactly sure what kind of crazy black magic my husband performed to get it working again but it's happily cooling away sans noises. Considering the weather forecast for the foreseeable future has us in the mid-90s here in Boulder, I'm quite pleased about this turn of events.

I kind of see our A/C like a running back who maybe had a minor injury and thus took a serious decline in the fantasy rankings for the 2009 season...and yet, there's a good chance that RB will be good as new like our ol' trusty A/C. Along these lines I can't help but wonder about Denver's Peyton Hillis. I realize there's a mountain of dudes in the backfield in Denver right now, but the guy was running pretty well and could certainly catch (7 receptions for 116 yards against Miami? Niiiice!) - there's a reason the Denver Post called him Mr. Versatility. He's someone that I will be watching very carefully as the season evolves.

Seeing as I'm in the middle to late rounds of a mock draft right now, I was drawn to Hatty Waiver Wire Guru's video that focuses on guys you might want to grab in later rounds of a draft. For those who are interested, my squad so far is: Michael Turner, Steve Smith (Car), Wes Welker, Ryan Grant, Tony Romo, Felix Jones, Hines Ward, John Carlson, Rashard Mendenhall, Ted Ginn Jr.
Fantasy rankings (non-PPR, redraft) from The Hazean with a one-liner bit of commentary.
And then a little something else from The Hazean, too: By the numbers: 10 most undervalued wide receivers heading into 2009.
On a similar note, SI's NFL Fantasy Forecast: Offensive overachievers (written by Sports Grumblings' John Georgopoulos) lists some players that have been been upping their performance lately. Garrard, I've got my QB2 eye on you.
FantasySharks' Five QBs with new homes looks at QBs who have shifted around in the league and how they're fantasy value has changed.
If you're looking to spice things up and try a new draft strategy (note: trying it out in a mock draft first is recommended), take a look at what Matt Waldman calls the Shortcut Technique on his FootballGuys.com Weekly Gut Check Column.

Rankings, draft kits, contests: it's all here, baby!

noreply@blogger.com (Fantasy Football Librarian) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 17:55:00 +0000

Greetings! A quick update on the FFL league: all of spots have been taken in the monster FFLibrarian League and I'll be e-mailing out the last couple of invites in the next hour or so. Many of you who are playing have asked about rules and the draft set up - I'll be e-mailing all of the franchises with more details in the next few days so just stay tuned.

So let's get to today's links...

Get your paws on Bruno Boys' 2009 Draft Webazine and check out their new and improved site. One thing there that might catch your eye? A contest to win a $200 Southwest gift card for a trip to Vegas. Who doesn't love a good contest?
Football Outsiders continues with their Wisdom of the Crowds: Projecting RBs, Part III - their final feature on RBs. This one includes Derrick Ward, Ryan Grant, and Joseph Addai among others.
Dr. U Fantasy Football Guru keeps churning out player profiles - see some of the latest liek Matt Ryan and Michael Crabtree.
Rotoworld has updated their draft mag and the QB rankings barely moved - to see what changed, check out Pancake Blocks.
Reasons to love Greg Jennings in ProFootballWeekly.com's Jennings worth his weight in fantasy gold.
Take a look at Ask the Commish's rankings - by position or the top 150 overall - they'll be updated throughout the season (last update on 7/5 as of this posting).
I kind of love liking a guy that's a risky 1st round pick - FootballDocs' Effect of Running Back Carries on Future Production reviews what we all know about RBs with high carries. And yet I still believe in Turner the Burner. The FootballDocs site has been revamped, by the way, and it looks great.
Oooh, IDP analysis! For top 10 rankings on inside linebackers (or outside linebackers, tackles, or defensive ends) look no further than CBSSports.com. Love it.

Training Camp is coming!

noreply@blogger.com (Fantasy Football Librarian) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 14:50:00 +0000

You all continue to impress me with your appetite for fantasy football - there are now 80 of us in the FFLibrarian League and the e-mail requests to join the monster league keep coming. I have to cap it at 96 teams so if you'd like to play, I recommend e-mailing me sooner rather than later.

I was reading Athlon/Grogan Sports' 8 Training Camps You Must Visit Before You Die article and was desperately wishing that some team out there might be camping it up in the middle of Nebraska, as my husband and I will be spending some quality time in Nebraska in a few weeks, hopefully flying across I-80 as we head to NYC. I have yet to visit Nebraska - it's one of the handful of states I haven't been to yet though the reports from my fellow I-80 travelers aren't exactly glowing. If it's anything like driving through Kansas (sorry, Kansas folks), then it will be a rather boring leg of the trip, but perhaps better than battling through Chicagoland traffic. Any I-80 experts who have tips on great rest stops (oxymoron?), please do share.

Brace yourselves - there's week 1 start/sit advice already. FFXtreme is well, extreme, and has what I believe to be the earliest start/sit advice out there. Rad.
No-Offseason.com has updated their rookie draft board for those of you who are mostly updating keeper leagues with rookies - or those who are just set on finding the next big rookie sensation.
Check out KFFL's uber-helpful Fantasy football: running back handcuff chart in case you're trying to determine who to target in those later rounds.
I snagged Felix Jones as my RB3 with the 6.09 pick of my expert mock draft because I really believe in the Cowboys o-line. I found the Fifth Down's article If Only the Cowboys Had Better Blocking interesting - lines up pretty well with my belief that Jones is worth taking a chance on here, particularly if the Boys can tweak their run blocking just a bit.
I like Rotoworld's write-up on Steve McNair - A Strange Fourth.

Happy 4th!

noreply@blogger.com (Fantasy Football Librarian) — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 15:48:00 +0000

Greetings on the 4th of July. Always a fun time of year. This is "get ready to move to NYC" time of the year for us right now and yesterday that meant a trip to the vet to get our cats microchipped. All 17 of them. Kidding, kidding, we only have 2 cats (but admit it, for a second you believed I might be that crazy library lady with 17 cats didn't you?). According to the vet, our cats were some of the most mellow, well-behaved cats she'd ever microchipped before (yes, that pleases me) but I was the not-so-mellow one. This is a precursor to our car trip east when I'll be spending the whole time wondering just how traumatized our pets are. Should be fun, right? My husband is a saint.

Anyway, I hope you all have fun plans in the works for the 4th. Here are a few links to add some football to your holiday.

FantasySharks have a whole bunch of good material right now - first, if you're interested in which old guy to try and capitalize on this season, read Meet the Warners of 2009 - Holt, Ward and Driver.
More Sharks action: Sleeper Wide Receiver for 2009. I agree on most fronts here but I do think Steve Smith will be the Giants WR to own, not Domenik Hixon...time will tell!
I'm digging the simplicity and helpfulness of Pigskin Addiction's 2009 Bye Week Grid. I appreciate the detail beyond just team names so that you can see which major fantasy players are included. Takes some of the extra thinking out of an already intense draft day, no?
Finally, there are a lot of draft kits coming out these days...read on for some of the best:

Football Outsiders Almanac - they're doing something a little different this year. Typically they've printed the Pro Football Prospectus every preseason but this year they've got the almanac and it's available in different formats and price points. For a four-page preview of their RB analysis, take a look here.
Mac. Bros Fantasy Football Draft Guide - coming out on July 19 - is freely available and includes rankings and individual player analysis.
RotoExperts' Fantasy Football Draft Kit - not out yet, I don't think, but it's free for registered users and you can scope out what they offered in 2008 to see if it's up your alley.

Enjoy the weekend!

And the League is Getting Larger!

noreply@blogger.com (Fantasy Football Librarian) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 19:59:00 +0000

You guys are impressive - in the 24 hours since I posted the info about this season's FFLibrarian league I've signed up 45 of you. Amazing - thank you for the interest! Right now I have the league set at 48 but we can get much bigger. For those of you who are wondering how this will work, it will be divided into multiple conferences which will each have their own draft and weekly head-to-head competitions. Should be great fun so if you're interested and haven't signed up yet, e-mail me and I'll send an invitation your way.

Those who have been reading this blog for awhile know that I get a great kick out of Matthe Berry's sense of humor...so I'm quite pleased to see his Love/Hate: 2009 edition column up - and check out the love for Michael Turner!
For you die hard Browns fans Fifth Down has the following offering: 2009 Forecast: Browns should be much better.
I just submitted my 4th round pick in a PPR league - see the results so far here. At this point I've got a squad of Michael Turner, Steve Smith, Wes Welker and Ryan Grant. Thoughts?
Hatty Waiver Wire Guru has hit on one of my favorite football topics: offensive line analysis. Check out his ranking of the top 15 o-lines and which players might be impacted.
A heads up for those of you in auction-style leagues that FFToolbox continuously updates their FF average auction values table.
FantasySharks.com offers up their list of Keeper League Wide Receivers - a helpful ranking if you got one of the non-sure keeper guys.

The FFLibrarian League is on!

noreply@blogger.com (Fantasy Football Librarian) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 16:30:00 +0000

Oh yeah, you read that post title correctly: the FFLibrarian League has arrived. I have already sent out an invitation with the league details to a handful of people that e-mailed me about joining in on the league fun, but there's still plenty of room. So if you are interested, e-mail me and I'll send you an invitation. I set it up for a live draft but am wondering if you guys have thoughts on this - would you all prefer a live draft (at the end of August) or an e-mail draft (could take a few weeks so we would need to start in early August)? Whatever the majority prefers will be our draft method.

In the meantime, my mock draft slowly rolls on and I really appreciate all the comments I've heard from you guys so far on the mock. I've got some great options lined up for my next pick - which way do you think I'll go: RB or WR?

Nearly an identical group of experts mock drafted in May - take a look at those results here if you're really interested in this mock draft thing.
More offensive line analysis is being cranked out by Ultimate Fantasy Football Strategy - take a look at the Pats, Jets and Bears.
FFToolbox has mobile cheatsheets for those who are making draft decisions on the go. I scoped it out on my iPhone and am digging it - looks good, easy to read, and as somebody who has had to make draft decisions far from my home laptop, I think this is a great idea.
FFToolbox also has an interesting Who Not to Keep list - while I do agree that a lot of these guys will underperform compared to previous years or teams, I would certainly keep a good chunk of them on my dynasty team.
I heart DeAngelo Williams - I think he's awesome, but CBS Sports reminds me to temper my expectations for him in 2009. Sigh, I'll do what I can but I think the guy is going to have another great season.
Sports Grumblings' Fire Sale: The King is Back includes a non-lovefest for Michael Jackson before getting into the meat of the article - players whose value is going up or down in 09. There's some unique analysis here, names you don't see quite as much mentioned, which I really appreciate.
Which 5 WRs will have 100+ receptions this season? Read SportingNews.com's Five WRs who could be in 100 club in 09.

Mocking my way through the day

noreply@blogger.com (Fantasy Football Librarian) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 18:35:00 +0000

This morning marks the start of a fantasy football industry mock draft that I'm involved in - I just grabbed Michael Turner with the 4th overall pick but feel free to follow along with the mock draft on FFToolbox's site, Experts Mock Draft Results. I'll be interested to hear your commentary on my team once it's complete (could take a little while) and what you think some of the best and worst draft picks are.

The mock draft is being run by MyFantasyLeague.com which is also the same great site that is going to host a FFLibrarian league this fall. There will be room for up to 96 teams, divided into multiple conferences. If you're not up for adding another league to your FF dossier, no problem - I'll be doing weekly contests, too, with 365FantasySports.com. More on both contests to come...

The Hazean has a few thoughts on QBs that might be flying under the radar this year - I'm kind of digging the QB options this year. Lots of guys who have potential but have risks, too. I think it'll be easier to get a good QB at a decent value this season.
ProFootballWeekly takes a look at how Joey Galloway is progressing up in New England and other news tidbits in AFC Whispers.
More Wisdom of the Crowds The 2009 RBs, Part II from Football Outsiders - I've linked to this series they're doing a few times but if you haven't seen it yet, they're basically polling FF experts for projections and culling together an average for some key FF players.
I don't normally just link to a whole entire site, usually I prefer to give you a little direction on which article or feature to check out...but in this case, I say take a look at all that Kilroyz Krystal Ball has to offer with the IDP Team Previews, IDP Sleepers, and general IDP Updates. I've been saying for awhile that the FF world desperately needs more IDP resources so I'm really pleased to find a new (to me!) IDP site.
ProFootball101 has some AFC fantasy QB rankings by division: AFC East QBs, AFC North QBs, AFC South QBs, and AFC West QBs. Hmm, this feels like a very AFC-friendly post. Sorry NFCers.
Check out Fifth Down's update on overtime in the NFL and how some fans are getting creative in A Better Way to Decide Overtime in the NFL.

Monday mashup

noreply@blogger.com (Fantasy Football Librarian) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 17:49:00 +0000

I was at the gym yesterday watching the first half of the U.S. vs Brazil final with a cohort of big soccer fans. Strangers until yesterday we all rejoiced with the U.S.'s first half goals as if we were lifelong buds. I love how sports brings people together, bridging across the treadmills and ellipticals. Must say I am kind of glad I ducked out of there at halftime or else I'd have observed my new best friends' dismay at Brazil's second half dominance.

Moving on to the other football:

Hatty Waiver Wire Guru has some thoughts up on the Top Underrated by Position. Scope it out as the top piece for now in the articles section (sorry, no direct link to the article available).
I love a good article on a totally random position that does actually have fantasy value in one way or another...enter FFToolbox's Top 10 Punters. Niiiice.
I'm seeing some trends in wisdom of the crowds stuff again this season - I think a lot of us are aware of ADP (average draft position) that sites like myfantasyleague.com pull together from their many, many drafts during the preseason, but there are also sites like The Most Credible and a new one to me now - Fantasy Fanatics - that rely on the general public to inform their rankings; or as Fantasy Fanatics puts it, "crowd-sourced fantasy rankings" to whet your rankings appetite. So if you want your opinion to be heard, sign in to one of those social networking-esque rankings sites and voice your thoughts.
Peter King is off on his summer vacay so who has MMQB covered this week you ask? Trent Green. Oh yeah, you heard me correctly. Enjoy.
In the Rotoworld draft mag (in bookstores now, go snag yours!), in the Bold Predictions section I suggested that Braylon Edwards is the most likely player to be traded. A FanHouse interview with Edwards has me rethinking that...plus I just like learning about the major community contributions that Edwards has made both to Cleveland and Detroit - warms my heart to hear such things.
You can count on Ultimate Fantasy Football Strategy to well, bring out some strategy talk, as one might expect from the site's name. So delve into their Strategies for Drafting Depth and see what they suggest for the first 9 rounds of an average 12-team league.
Personally I'm pleased to see NFLGridIronGab's report that the Bears Don't Have Enough to Land Unhappy Broncos WR Marshall; I mean seriously, taking both Cutler and Marshall? Not cool.

End of an 80s Era

noreply@blogger.com (Fantasy Football Librarian) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 16:01:00 +0000

I should be wearing a white glove today in honor of the King of Pop. I fall in the category of Michael Jackson fans who just love the guy's music despite how increasingly bizarre he got with time. There's nothing like a little Billie Jean, Bad, Man in the Mirror or Thriller (this list could go on for some time...) to make every day a little better; seriously, if a coworker was having a rough day I would lead them to a little Thriller on youtube and I swear it was a magical short-term cure for the work blues.

Another cure for the work blues? Fantasy football links. And I won't let you down today my friends - it's Friday, no one really wants to be at work on a summertime Friday, so let me help you escape for a few moments...

A couple of solid articles from FFXtreme - if you're wondering whether or not you should consider drafting Ronnie Brown, take a look at their Ronnie Brown a Must-Own in 2009? Do you agree that Brown will finish as a top 8 back this season? And don't forget about FFXtreme's Player Spotlights section, which has in-depth analysis of both key and up and coming fantasy players.
I'm amused by the Johnson and White talk coming out of Tennessee - catch up on Chris Johnson's plans to become "every coach's dream" on NFL.com and see why the NFL.com analysts aren't too high on Johnson this year. Gotta say I really like Johnson so I'm happy to swoop in and grab him if others are feeling a bit hesitant.
Those of you who are Cedric Benson fans (no really, I do think a few of you might exist!), you'll be pleased to see the Fifth Down sees good things in Benson's 2009 season. Read on in Lining Up a win-Win for the Bengals and Benson.
Could this finally be Jerious' Year? from Rotoworld takes a look at the Atlanta backfield. I'm not buying into the 370 Curse for Michael Turner this season, but I am a fan of Norwood so I feel a bit conflicted here. As a side note here, the Rotoworld Fantasy Football Draft Guide is now available.
Fantasyhulks.com provides a nice list of players that are going into a contract year and might have a little something extra to prove this coming season. It's hardly a ticket to fantasy success to have a contract player on your roster, but it certainly is something to be aware of as you prep for your draft.

Enjoy the weekend!

Living like the Cosby family

noreply@blogger.com (Fantasy Football Librarian) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 15:32:00 +0000

First and foremost, happy birthday to my brother-in-law today! I was contemplating getting him a Fantasy Football Librarian t-shirt for his birthday but that seemed a bit self-serving to give him a shirt that would just advertise my blog...sorry, Brian. If you really want one (or a mug - I mean who doesn't need a frosted beer mug emblazoned with the FFLibrarian URL?), let me know and I'll make that birthday wish a reality.

I'm back in Colorado after a whirlwind tour of New York City and am very excited to say I now have a home to call my own in NYC come August 1st. Well in Brooklyn Heights to be specific. And frankly the apartment is awesome. I didn't think that was going to be possible; perhaps that's the beauty of Brooklyn?

Now to the beauty of fantasy football:

FantasySharks.com have a nice rookie RB overview in Rookie Running Backs of 09: Who's #1, Sleepers, Dynasty Ranks, Rookie of the Year. This Denver fan is hoping the hype on Moreno is accurate...speaking of which, NYCers, where is the best Broncos bar?? This is very important information! I might need to dedicate myself to a Broncos bar search this fall...
If you haven't noticed, Ultimate Fantasy Football Strategy is slowly releasing their 2009 offensive line rankings as they do an analysis for each team. Here's a link to their 2009 rankings - so far! And in case you're wondering how they did with their 2008 o-line rankings, take a look here.
Can't help but include this one - FFToolbox's Preseason College Football Rankings...where are my Northwestern Wildcats in this top 10 list?? Ha. But really those of you who play fantasy college football might want to start reading up on top teams for the season. If you all are interested in more fantasy college material, let me know in the comments or e-mail me and I'll be sure to keep them coming.
Also from FFToolbox, a list of IDP Sleepers for the 2009 season.
If it's sleepers you dig, then you'll find yourself quite happy with KFFL's Staff predictions: Top five fantasy football sleepers. Each staff member has taken a shot at their top sleepers of the season. I'm seeing lots of Julius Jones, Laurence Maroney and Donnie Avery...check it out for more detail.
Rotoworld provides an overview (one of the first I've seen this preseason!) of the top 10 team defenses and special teams: look no further than the NFC East for your defense this year.

And finally, congrats to the US on a big win over Spain - kudos on a job well done!

Big Apple, Big Links

noreply@blogger.com (Fantasy Football Librarian) — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 23:03:00 +0000

My feet feel like they might fall off; I've now pounded the pavement out there for the past 3 days or so, drinking in all that NYC has to offer (not literally, though I am excited to seek out some tasty New York brews - any suggestions?) and searching for the best apartment out there. I don't want to get my hopes up but I think we might have found a gem. In fact, it feels like merely typing that sentence might jinx our chances so I'll leave it at that...onto football links.

Want to catch training camp with your favorite team this summer? Scope out FantasyPros911 for the training camp schedule of most NFL teams.
Check out FantasyFootballStarters' Advice on Kurt Warner: Handcuff Matt Leinart to him for rare QB handcuff advice. Only advised if you really have room to carry 3 QBs on your roster.
Rotoworld is going through a series of minicamp reviews and this week's focus is on the AFC West (catch up on others: AFC East and AFC South).
FFToolbox has a nice RBBC (running back by committee) Update on the roughly ten teams that will be utilizing a committee approach in their backfield this season. Get reacquainted with each RBBC scenario before you draft.
More from FFToolbox on Top 10 Returners - if your fantasy football league gives you points for return yardage or TDs, this is worth a read.
The Football Outsiders continue their Wisdom of the Crowds series with average expert predictions for RBs; interesting stuff. Average projections as well as min and max projections are posted.

NY Greetings

noreply@blogger.com (Fantasy Football Librarian) — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 13:13:00 +0000

I'm gearing up for a full day of apartment hunting in NYC, so this will be a quick post with just a couple of links - hopefully I'll be able to do the same tomorrow (when the apartment searching continues...)!

The CBS Sports guys do a good job of presenting both sides of some big fantasy questions in Faceoffs: The best place for Plax is...? Also addressed here: Brandon Marshall, Brett Favre, and Randy Moss vs Calvin Johnson.
Bruno Boys' 2009 Fantasy Tight Ends - Best of the Rest. If you're not one to spring for Witten or Gates come draft day, then take a look at some of the other guys that might bring you fantasy success this year on the TE front.
Some high-risk/high-reward receivers for the year are noted in Rotoworld's Ten Boom-or-Bust wide receivers.
Looking for some recent mock draft results? The FFXtreme staff just posted the results of their latest non-PPR 6-round mock - interesting stuff.
If you play in a PPR league, I recommend taking a look at KFFL's Point-per-reception perception article about the paradigm shift in the value of drafting receivers.

All for now - wish me luck in the future home search!

Keeper advice and more o-line rankings!

noreply@blogger.com (Fantasy Football Librarian) — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 15:27:00 +0000

Tomorrow we head east for a good friend's wedding in NJ and then we'll try to get a kickstart on our new life in New York City by finding an apartment. Wish me luck; should be a kind of intense next week or so though I promise to do my best at getting posts up. BUT if I'm rather quiet I highly recommend you check out some of the sites you see on the right under Football Links - quality stuff over there like KFFL, Bruno Boys, Rotoworld and FFToday.

To today's links...

Another great site, FFToolbox (I should add that to my links section now that I think about it...) has their annual offensive line ranking up - hooray!
FantasySharks.com's The Receiver Riddle of 2009 goes over the "draft 2 WRs in the first 2 rounds" technique but also supplies a few WRs outside of the top 15 that might be worth your time.
I'm glad to see Rotoworld doesn't think losing BMarsh would be a total disaster for the Broncos - I guess it's just hard for me to imagine our offense will have much success if both Cutler and Marshall are gone, and my boy Scheffler doesn't really fit into the scheme. I'll try to be a bit more optimistic...
NFL.com tackles some big questions: Will Romo be an elite QB? Will Tomlinson be an elite RB (no love for Frank Gore in this article; ouch)?
No-Offseason.com bring us their Buy, Hold, Sell advice for the week with thoughts on Robert Meachem and Mark Clayton - dynasty owners take note.
More dynasty-related info, take a look at FFToolbox's IDP Keepers if you're wondering which individual defensive players you should hang on to this year; this top 50 ranking should steer you in the right direction. Also on the IDP front, I've found that Evan Silva from Rotoworld has some dangerously good IDP instincts so I would also recommend you keep an eye on his intel, which I'm sure to link to this summer.

All for now - I probably won't get a chance to post tomorrow since I'll be traveling so enjoy the weekend!

iPhone devotion and FF linkage

noreply@blogger.com (Fantasy Football Librarian) — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 18:36:00 +0000

Last weekend while I was home in Virginia, I was all girly-ed up, ready to attend a baby shower when I apparently lost focus of how to walk down stairs, you know, the simple task of putting one foot in front of the other...and I fell down our cement front steps. I think I did a few pirouettes, hit my head on the hand railing, and finally landed in the bushes with my feet pointed towards the sidewalk. I have no clue how this happened but distinctly remember having the time to tell myself, "this can't possibly be happening right now; but is the iPhone okay?" as I was careening towards the ground. I pulled myself up and hobbled to the front door covered in leaves - my mom reverted into supermom mode as she opened the door to find me holding my head with one hand and keeping my skirt away from my two bloodied legs with the other hand. It wasn't pretty. But what I found most impressive of all is that my mind had time to worry about my iPhone before my own limbs. I think this just goes to show how addicted I've become to this tiny machine. For better or for worse. And I am fine now, by the way, just a bit of a limp and an impressive set of scars developing...

So this morning while I was riding the bus and catching up on football news on my beloved iPhone, I noticed that Gregg Rosenthal is everywhere. In case you can't get enough Gregg from NBC Sports and Rotoworld, they've now merged with ProFootballTalk - check out his latest article on why Reggie Bush is now "Running Back 1A".

With Torry Hold out of the picture, is Donnie Avery primed for a big season? Read Welcome to Fantasy Relevance Donnie Avery for some thoughts from BleacherReport.
Ultimate Fantasy Football Strategies delves into the Myths and Realities of Aging and Wearing Running Backs. Interesting stuff. Could LT and Westbrook be statistically safe bets this season after all despite their 30ness?
Rotoworld says Favre is "all but a Viking now" and looks at how his presence might affect Adrian Peterson.
Trying to find next year's Steve Slaton? CBS Sports.com has a nice write-up on some of the non-first-round rookies that could have an offensive impact early in their careers - Diamonds in the rough: Star talent not always found in the first round. I like the list - some names I already know, but definitely a bunch of guys I don't know very much about yet.
KFFL's Draft Guide is here with lots of great material - all sorts of rankings, a running back handcuff chart, lists of sleepers and busts, and for those who are new to fantasy football: Fantasy Football University. Good stuff, definitely scope it out. Best part? It's all high quality info for free!
Finally, I've added a new design to the FFLibrarian store - I wish I was the clever mind behind this one, but Jeremy K., an FFLibrarian reader, suggested it. Detroit Lions fans, this one is for you.

Greetings from hail-licious Colorado

noreply@blogger.com (Fantasy Football Librarian) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 15:47:00 +0000

Tonight I think I'm headed to my second Rockies game of the season - off to see them take on the TB Rays with some friends who are in town. This is assuming that Denver avoids basically an 8th day in a row of extreme weather (tornado, hail, the works). This coming weekend I'm heading to NYC for a good friend's wedding and then to apartment shop since we're moving to New York in August. Anyone in NYC know of a soon-to-be-available 1 bedroom apartment? We could be neighbors who talk about fantasy football 24/7. It would be rad.

So onto today's football links...

If you are thinking of paying money for fantasy football advice, let me steer you towards one of my favorite sites: The Huddle. They are awesome. I particularly love John Tuvey's advice but really they're all an incredibly talented bunch and their recently released draft kit is quite frankly, worth the money. BUT for those less inclined to shell out some dough, no problemo. Lots of free draft kits to come this summer...
I know some of you are interested in finding a new FF league host site - or are just wondering about other host sites out there. So take a look at The Hazean's review of Five places to play fantasy football in 2009.
More o-line material (wah, ha, ha!) from the Fifth Down, this time about the '08 Eagles and changes they're making for this upcoming season: An O-Line That Was Maligned: A Closer Look at the Eagles.
More Wisdom of the Crowds: Projecting the 2009 Quarterbacks, Part II from FootballOutsiders.com. For those who are interested in what your average FF drafter is contributing to the wisdom of the crowds theory, don't forget about ADP (average draft position). You can keep yourself updated on ADP values with sites like myfantasyleague.com, fantasyfootballcalculator.com or mockdraftcentral.com.
Speaking of MyFantasyLeague.com, you auction leaguers might want to visit their average auction values page as you prep for your drafts.
With training camp just around the corner, take a look at SportingNews.com's Ten rookies to watch during training camp. We'll know a lot more about this crew before long...

Coming at you from the ARL

noreply@blogger.com (Fantasy Football Librarian) — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 15:32:00 +0000

I had a great time in Arlington, VA, with family and friends this weekend as expected...though I've had a ridiculous number of people send me this Arlington rap (same guy did a fantasy football rap, too, among many, many other things). Not exactly the Arlington that I grew up in, but certainly what it has become...

Anyway, back to the issue at hand - fantasy football.

Hopefully you all aren't getting sick of offensive line analysis since I've got lots more to link to today and in the weeks to come. If you haven't seen the Rotoworld Draft Magazine yet, go look for it at your local bookstore - I've got an article on o-lines and some Bold Predictions for the 2009 season in the magazine. But in the meantime, here are some more o-line briefs from Ultimate Fantasy Football Strategy: the Houston Texans and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Also on the o-line front, Fifth Down has done a comparison of the Giants and Jets in Who Has the Best O-Line? Giants or Jets? For a future New Yorker like me, I'll take any NY (ahem, NJ) team comparisons.
The news from my Denver Broncos just keeps getting worse and worse...what's going on Brandon Marshall? At least they have named Orton as their starting QB...progress.
Scott Engel brings us his Early Eye on Bargains - check out his list of 10 value players at this point in the season.
A lot of you have pointed out the awesomeness of the FootballGuys.com's Rate my Team tool...Football Jabber links to that great site as well as several other gems you might want to check out if you're looking for some free fantasy football tools.
This site is a new one for me - Fantasy Brothers. Take a look at their June RB Rankings for the top 68 RBs in the league.
Finally, the Bruno Boys have a nice overview of some RBBC situations in the NFC West.

I'm off to go enjoy my remaining time in Arlington. I spent the morning at Olympics Day handing out popsicles to kids at the elementary school where my mom works so it's time for a serious shower before hitting the airport. Back tomorrow with more!

From mock drafts to injury analysis...get it all here!

noreply@blogger.com (Fantasy Football Librarian) — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 15:38:00 +0000

I'm heading home to the east coast tonight to spend some quality time with family and friends and to attend my oldest and dearest friend's baby shower. Between this quick trip back to Virginia and a longer trip next week to New York, I've got a lot of travel on my plate. So the posts here might be a little more sporadic than usual but I think I'll still be able to get you to some quality links.

Ultimate Fantasy Football Strategy has two more offensive line reports up and ready for your review: the New Orleans Saints and the Carolina Panthers.
FoxSports.com has their NFL's top 99 player rankings for '09 up - keep in mind that this isn't a fantasy-focused list but I really like the inclusion of players from all sides of the ball.
The Fifth Down links to Cold, Hard Football Facts.com's case for the value of passing yards per attempt.
FantasyPros911 took at look ADP (average draft position) data from mockdraftcentral.com as of June 10 to pull together this analysis on WRs that you may or may not want to target.
FFToday continues their series on how some key off-season injuries are developing and what the fantasy impact might be in Anatomy of an Injury: Running Backs. Take a look here for the first part of the series on QBs.
CBSSports.com's Jamey Eisenberg evaluates their recent 14-team mock draft and talks about the best and worst picks of each round. If you want to skip the analysis and just want to see the results of the draft, click here.

Thanks for all who checked out the FFLibrarian store on Zazzle - I'm getting ready to add another design or two in the next week or so, so check back!

FFLibrarian gear and of course links

noreply@blogger.com (Fantasy Football Librarian) — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 16:53:00 +0000

Happy day - it's my anniversary (thanks to my wonderful husband for 3 spectacular years) and I got out of jury duty for that murder trial. Everything is coming up Sara! I also have finally made some progress on making FFLibrarian schwag. I know, I was talking about this months ago but the FFNerd's site pointed me in the direction of Zazzle, which I think will be a great online seller. I've got a few products up but if any of you creative types out there have something awesome for an FFLibrarian t-shirt, let me know and you will receive massive amounts of appreciation and credit. I'll be adding a direct link to the FFLibrarian gear over on the right side in a few days...

The FFLibrarian t-shirt timing is actually perfectly aligned with an e-mail I got from Art of the Fan about the FF gear they make. If you're looking to reward your 2009 season champ with a shirt or would perhaps like to express what a FF genius you are, then take a look at their stuff.

Moving past clothing to football:

Ray Rice is running with the big boys. Goodbye McGahee, hello Rice...but what about LeRon McClain?
The Favre drama is just ridiculous - we've got news that his family is booking rooms for the Vikings at Packers game, and then news that the Vikings are backing off their pursuit of Favre. It's all just a waste of time to follow the Favre news if you ask me, but I thought I'd keep you updated in case you like all the Favre nitty-gritty.
Grabbing Chad Ochocinco at the 6th round could really pay off - read Rotoworld's Arrow is Pointing Up for Ochocinco to find out why.
The FFGoat is back! He tried to swear off FF blogging, but trust me, it's hard to do. So expect some Goat linkage every once in awhile (I hope!) starting with his Are These the 2009 Fantasy Football Sleeper and Value Picks?
Not quite fantasy news but interesting nonetheless, Adam Schefter has officially moved from the NFL Network to ESPN. Expect more Schefter to come.
O-line analysis on the Atlanta Falcons from Ultimate Fantasy Football Strategy - bring on the o-line reviews! Love 'em.

Daily dose of FF links

noreply@blogger.com (Fantasy Football Librarian) — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 15:31:00 +0000

Despite the odds, I survived my root canal yesterday fairly unscathed (the flat screen above my head turned to ESPN's NFL Live made things a lot more bearable). Before the endodontist started the process he asked if I wanted to see all of the tools and know exactly what he was going to do and I told him yes, too much information was far better than too little. Kind of my theory on this blog, really. I might throw a bunch of links at you but I say it's better to have too many links, too many details to keep track of than to be in the dark on the latest fantasy musings.

So let's get right to today's links:

Michael Turner has been a hot commodity in every mock draft I've seen or participated in - so read up on why the FantasyHulks think he's overvalued. Love seeing analysis that varies from the masses.
Speaking of the masses, Football Outsiders has been playing around with the Wisdom of Crowds theory by gathering and tweeting collective intelligence from their readers and other FF experts on 2009 player predictions. I like this - a lot. Those of you who have been reading my blog for awhile know that I create a collective ranking from experts every August - and then analyze the success of each expert during the offseason. Part of this includes looking at how well ADP (average draft position) and sites like the FFNerd, which is all about collective intelligence, rank up against individual experts. Interesting stuff.
Lester's Legends has a quick Fantasy Football Top 25 Wide Receiver Rankings list up.
The FFManiaxs and FantasyPros911 have merged and one of the first Maniaxs articles up on FantasyPros911's site looks at Lorenzo Neal and why he might just spice up the otherwise anemic Oakland Raiders.
You've heard the advice before to look at bye weeks and try not to draft too many players with overlapping bye weeks, right? Well The Hazean advises against this kind of targeted drafting, suggesting that you really want the best player available - take a look at Fantasy Spin: 2009 NFL bye weeks where he expands on this idea but also provides a bye week list with most of the top fantasy players listed by bye week and team.

Okay, I'm off to jury duty phase 2 - back with more tomorrow!

The Nerd is Back

noreply@blogger.com (Fantasy Football Librarian) — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 15:45:00 +0000

Bear with me, I have a few comments to make on the unfortunateness of being 30 and then will get right to football. Remember last week when I talked about how much I loved going to the dentist? Well no more. This afternoon I am off to get a root canal; fortunately I am in no pain whatsoever but apparently there's nothing like ringing in a new decade with a root canal. Sweet. And that jury duty I had last week? Oh yeah, it's not over yet. It's for a murder trial here in Boulder and I head back for the voir dire process tomorrow. I'm hoping to slide out of that one since it will otherwise entail 3-5 weeks of sitting on a jury, and time is just not a luxury I have these days. Frankly it feels like being an adult is way overrated right now. But I had an awesome birthday and that's certainly worth a lot!

Onto football...the season is getting closer, sites are revving back up, I'm starting to get 2009 roster questions (which are taking me awhile to respond to - sorry!)...it's all very exciting.

Fantasy Football Nerd is back and better than ever. Many of you might remember when I dedicated one of my fantasy leagues entirely to the Nerd's advice last year - if you haven't scoped the site out yet, I highly recommend you do. Read up on some of the changes that the Nerd is making for 2009 here and get yourself signed up (it's free!).
The Colts are full of surgery news: Joseph Addai had knee surgery, Adam Vinatieri had hip surgery and while not surgery, it's still not good news that Anthony Gonzalez is suffering from an injured right leg.
And speaking of surgery, in case you somehow missed it, this video from ESPN has the latest on Brett Favre's surgery.
Fantasy Sharks has an article on players you might not want to draft this year in Avoid this Year's Fantasy Land Mines. I don't agree with all of this list but there are some good points made here.
On the flip side if it's comeback players you're after, see what No-Offseason.com has to say in 2009 Fantasy Comeback Players of the Year, which even includes a handful of IDPs.
The Bruno Boys take a look at tight ends that those of us in keeper leagues might want to consider adding, including rookies.

All for today. Off to go get some work done pre-dental work!

30 great years

noreply@blogger.com (Fantasy Football Librarian) — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 15:43:00 +0000

Today is my 30th birthday and I had grand visions of providing you all with 30 links to celebrate. Right now that seems a bit ambitious since the sun is shining and a trail near our house is calling my name...

Earlier this week CBS Sports put up an article about players you might want to grab in late rounds if you've go the roster room - Don't waste those final-round picks in '09. Seems to me that some of these guys might be better dynasty bets as it might take time for them to evolve - but the whole idea behind late-round picks is that you take a gamble, go with your gut, and there are some interesting options on this list.
More thoughts on Westbrook's falling fantasy value from Rotoworld.
The season for draft magazines is starting - Football Jabber has selected the FootballGuys.com's free mag as his top choice. Though I'll put a plug in for Rotoworld's magazine, too, since I had a chance to contribute to it!
Pigskin Addiction has a top 100 list up (PPR style) for dynasty owners.
A slightly different kind of ranking now from SportingNews.com - coordinator rankings. Love it. Creative and interesting...so check out the offensive and defensive coordinator rankings - or take a look at their head coach rankings.

All for now - I'm off to go enjoy the day and celebrate! Have a good weekend.

Westy's surgery and more

noreply@blogger.com (Fantasy Football Librarian) — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 15:40:00 +0000

Okay I'm rolling out to jury duty in just a few minutes so my apologies for a lack of commentary on the links below - but some links are better than no links, eh?!

Brian Westbrook needs surgery on his right ankle. Not good, not good at all. For a little more analysis than just the straight up news, take a look at FootballDiehards.com's It's Official: Surgery for Westbrook. Or the ever clever Matt Schauf's Don't take Westbrook out of draft plans.
Ooh, this kind of article makes me salivate: The Ultimate Guide to NFL Defense from Footballguys.com - great stuff with a lot of helpful IDP info.
Fantasy Sharks' thoughts on being a homer when it comes to fantasy football drafting - When (and when not) To Be a Homer.
Customizable cheat sheets from FFToolbox.
Also from FFToolbox, 2009 fantasy football auction values for those who play in auction leagues.
For Fantasy Football Cafe's opinions on which young receivers you might want to target this year, read Drafting First-Year and Second-Year WRs.

Draft kits are coming!

noreply@blogger.com (Fantasy Football Librarian) — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 15:40:00 +0000

Greetings fantasy fans. It's a cold, wet, windy day here in Boulder, which made getting out of bed and into work a particularly challenging feat. So let's get the day started off right with some fantasy football links.

Despite owning Aaron Rodgers on two of my fantasy football teams last year, I somehow managed to overlook the fact that he apparently was the #2 QB in '08. A fact that has not eluded the fantasy superstars at KFFL or now Bruno Boys. I must've been wrapped up in my growing Matt Ryan lovefest. So take a look at A Sneak Peak at Bruno Boys Cavigs 2009 Top 10 QBs for further thoughts on QBs.
Or if it's sleeper QBs that you're really interested in, see Fantasy Football Starters for their article on 2009 fantasy football sleepers: Quarterbacks.
To help get your mind focused on some of the best dynasty grabs of 2009 and beyond, try reading FFToday's An Eye on the Future. Definitely some names worth keeping track of as the summer unfolds.
Where will Steve Breaston be drafted this year? Obviously there are still some question marks with Anquan Boldin's status with the Cardinals and in the meantime Breaston is getting a lot of clutch practice time. Throw into the mix Fitz's recent awkward catch (Fitz is fine!) and the Madden cover curse and some might be wondering just how high to snag Breaston.
So it's not up quite yet but the NFL.com 2009 draft kit should be released today - check back to see if it's up and available.