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Fantasy eye on the NFL Draft (J. Paulsen, 04/29/2008)
A good fantasy season starts in the offseason, and a savvy owner should pay attention to the draft. John identifies a few rookies who have the talent and opportunity to shine this season while also discussing which positions to target rookies and which to avoid on draft day.
The effect of free agency (J. Paulsen, 04/08/2008)
Think that just because it's April you can forget about fantasy football? Think again. John Paulsen discusses four big free agent signings that will affect your draft, including Michael Turner and Javon Walker, along with a few minor moves that could make or break your fantasy season.
Decisions, Decisions: The top 50 keeper league players
(J. Paulsen, 01/01/2008)
With the 2007 fantasy football season behind us, keeper leaguers should
be looking ahead to 2008. While John Paulsen says LaDainian Tomlinson
is still the best bet in football, plenty of fresh faces litter his
list of the top 50 keeper league players, including Adrian Peterson and
Braylon Edwards.
Top 10 reasons why it’s okay that the fantasy football season is over. (J. Paulsen, 12/28/2007)
It's a day you've been dreading for months: the end of fantasy football season. But
John Paulsen says there are plenty of reasons why it's actually good news. For
starters, you can stop hating Shaun Alexander and Marvin Harrison for ruining your
season. Plus, March Madness is right around the corner.
Seven players to watch down the stretch (J. Paulsen, 11/30/2007)
Sure, Kurt Warner and Jamal Lewis haven't exaclty set the world on fire this year but John urges fantasy owners to look a little closer. With a cupcake schedule ahead of them, Warner and Lewis are just two players who should exceed their current rate of production down the stretch.
The hindsight draft (J. Paulsen, 11/16/2007)
With the fantasy football season hitting its stretch run, John decided to look back this week at what could have been by conducting his own Hindsight Draft. How did his hypothetical team turn out? Would you like Tony Romo, Clinton Portis, Randy Moss and Braylon Edwards on your team right now?
The All Waiver-Wire Team (J. Paulsen, 10/26/2007)
Draft day is the most important day of the fantasy football season, but ask owners who snagged Tony Romo last season how important it is to scan the waiver wire each week. John's All Waiver-Wire Team honors players who have risen from draft-day trash to free-agent treasure.
The Hype Machine II: Electric Boogaloo (J. Paulsen, 10/19/2007)
Before the season started, John highlighted 10 players who were getting an awful lot of love in fantasy football drafts. Six weeks into the season, John notes that, while Tony Romo has exceeded expectations, most of those hyped players have fallen flat, like Laurence Maroney.
10 hazy thoughts about week 3 and beyond (J. Paulsen, 09/28/2007)
Thanks to a bout of food poisoning, John Paulsen's week 3 recollections are a bit hazy. But he was able to glean a few useful tidbits for fantasy owners, including Ronnie Brown's return to a feature role, Marion Barber's arrival in Studsville and Tom Brady's heist of Peyton's QB crown.
Is it time to bench (or trade) these disappointing players?
(J. Paulsen, 09/21/2007)
If you drafted Steven Jackson or Lee Evans this year, you're probably cursing their names after two weeks. Of course, the question now is, will they rebound or will they continue to falter? John lists fantasy's 25 most disappointing players and discusses whether owners should hold or cut bait.
Sunday Ticket, RBBCs and a few random thoughts
(J. Paulsen, 09/14/2007)
After one week of action, some running back situations have cleared up and some have gotten murkier. John says it looks like a healthy Clinton Portis and rookie Marshawn
Lynch could be bargains for fantasy owners this season.
The Hype Machine: Ten players to watch (J. Paulsen, 09/05/2007)
"Hype," a noun meaning promotional publicity of an extravagant or contrived kind. Sound familiar? John says fantasy football owners have to deal with hyped players every draft season. His Hype Machine lists 10 players to watch and, more important, what to do about them on draft day.
Seven draft day trends (J. Paulsen, 08/29/2007)
Are you targeting T.J. Houshmandzadeh in the third round of your fantasy draft? John says you might be out of luck. With questions surrounding receivers like Roy Williams and Larry Fitzgerald, Housh's rising draft position is just one of John's seven draft day trends to note.
Top 10 keeper league targets (J. Paulsen, 08/22/2007)
What players should keeper leaguers try to nab this year with an eye toward 2008? John Paulsen's list of 10 keeper targets includes Calvin Johnson, Vernon Davis and LT's backup.
Power Players (Jamey Codding, 08/10/2007)
Check out Jamey Codding's list of Power Players, a dozen names that will help determine how the balance of power will swing in most leagues this year.
Charm the Snake '07 (J. Paulsen, 08/10/2007)
Devise and implement a successful draft strategy and you'll be well on your way to contending all season. John Paulsen details a few tried-and-true methods for snake drafts.
How to win your fantasy football league '07 (J. Paulsen, 08/10/2007)
Ask anybody who's played the game for a while: winning your league title is no easy task. From draft prep to draft day to free agency and trades, you've got to be on your game all season to have a shot at the championship. John Paulsen offers some pointers for first timers or veterans looking to improve their game.
The Value Draft (J. Paulsen, 08/15/2007)
There are many keys to a successful fantasy football draft, but you're unlikely to be a true title contender if you don't uncover some value picks throughout the draft. John's Value Draft pinpoints a likely value selection in rounds 1-11 and yields a lineup that includes Steve Smith and Thomas Jones.
From the Archives
Fantasy football draft prep? Don't bother.
(12/21/06 - By Mike Farley)
It's week 16 of the NFL season, and most fantasy football leagues are heading into their Super Bowl. If you drafted like Mike Farley, though, you're not even sniffing a title. After taking preseason darlings like Lamont Jordan and Jake Delhomme, Mike's convinced that draft prep is overrated.
2007 Fantasy Football Preview
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Defense/ST Rankings
Fantasy Football Blog
Courtesy of The Scores Report
Fantasy eye on the NFL Draft: After free agency, the draft is the next big event in the NFL calendar. A good fantasy season starts in the offseason, and a savvy fantasy footballer should pay attention to the draft. Specifically, we need to identify those skill position players that will have an opportunity to shine come ... [Continued at The Scores Report. Comments?]
Barstool Debate: Who should the Rams pick at #2?: Every Friday, Anthony Stalter and I are going to pose the week’s most pressing question and each pick a side. With the NFL Draft coming up tomorrow, we were going to argue about who the Miami Dolphins should take with the first overall pick, but since they’ve already made their ... [Continued at The Scores Report. Comments?]
Bengals turn down Redskins’ big offer for CJ: ESPN is reporting that the Redskins offered their first-round pick in ‘08 and a third-round pick in ‘09 (that could escalate to a first-round pick if certain performance requirements are met) for disgruntled WR Chad Johnson. The Bengals have apparently turned them down.
Bengals coach Marvin Lewis — who disputed the ... [Continued at The Scores Report. Comments?]
Chad Johnson wants out of Cincy: After a few months of insinuations, Chad Johnson has officially asked to be traded.
Bengals wide receiver Chad Johnson left no room for doubt Wednesday: He wants out of Cincinnati as fast as possible and he doesn’t plan on reporting for any future Bengal function — mandatory or voluntary.
“Nothing has changed ... [Continued at The Scores Report. Comments?]
Favre speculates about playing again: The LA Times is reporting that Brett Favre would consider returning to the Packers if the circumstances were right.
In his latest public comments, the star quarterback said he’s retired for now but also that he “very well could be enticed” to return to Green Bay under the right circumstances.
“I guess ... [Continued at The Scores Report. Comments?]
The effect of free agency: A strong fantasy football team starts in the offseason. Savvy owners pay attention to free agency movement (and the draft) to identify those players who have seen an increase or a decrease in their stock with a change in zip code. Here are four big signings that will surely affect ... [Continued at The Scores Report. Comments?]
Fantasy Football Web Guide
ESPN
ESPN offers pay leagues and free leagues, the main difference between the two being pay leagues offer real-time scoring and the free leagues don't. If you don't mind waiting until after the games are over before seeing your boxscore, then ESPN's free and fully customizable leagues are excellent. Plus, as you probably expect, ESPN's columnists are top-notch. Beware of ESPN's sometimes balky live-draft system, though.
Sportsline
Sportsline also offers free and pay leagues, but while their free leagues do include real-time scoring (unlike ESPN's), they aren't customizable. If you start a free league in CBS, you're locked into a 12-team league with Sportsline's own scoring structure. If you want to fork over the cash for a pay league (around $130 per league), you can customize to your heart's content. As a bonus, Sportsline's live-draft system may be the most user-friendly system you'll find, allowing the commish to pause between picks and even back-up in the draft if a computer problem screwed up someone's pick. You know just how cool that is if your computer's ever locked up on you while you're on the clock.
FoxSports
This may be the best bargain out there, at least of all the big-name sites. Fox doesn't have any pay leagues whatsoever, but their free leagues are fully customizable and include all the bells and whistles the other sites have, including real-time scoring and original content. We haven't done a live draft with Fox, though, so we can't say how reliable their system is but, hey, it's free, so it's worth a shot.
Rotoworld
You'll be hard-pressed to find a better fantasy news site on the web. Forget for a moment that Rotoworld is on top of every big story when it breaks, offering the fantasy implications and links to any relevant articles, and that the site has several solid columnists offering their own insights. The best part is, Rotoworld is 100% free, whereas other news sites have membership structures in place for their so-called "premium content." Granted, you've got to pay extra for Rotoworld's draft kit, but on a day-to-day basis, there's no better fantasy news site on the planet. And kudos to Rotoworld for their recently launched redesign.
Fanball
Fanball is one of those news sites that limits some of its content to paid members only. We've never signed up so we can't tell you if it's worth it or not, but most of Fanball's "Owner's Edge" content seems to be draft-prep related, including sleepers, busts and the like. Still, the "Newsbreakers" section is totally free and nearly rivals Rotoworld's player updates.
Rotowire
You'll see Rotowire's player updates all over the web (ESPN uses Rotowire for its updates), but if you want to use the site, you've got to pay up. Sure, they offer a free samples section, but in terms of pure value Rotowire just doesn't stack up to Rotoworld and Fanball. If you're interested in joining, though, they've got all the typical stuff, including a draft kit, rankings, columns, depth charts and updates, with a full-season membership going for $39.99.
ProFootballWeekly.com
Bottom line: If you want football news, you'll find it here. Camp battles, interviews, team updates, rumors and much, much more. Plus, there's plenty of fodder for fantasy geeks here, including Q&A's with the Fantasy Doctor, PFW Mock Drafts, draft boards and stats. Any NFL fan should read the "The Way We Hear It" section religiously.
AntSports
Trumpeting itself as "the #1 Fantasy Football Mock Draft site on the internet," Ant Sports offers some very unique tools for owners. There may be no better way to prepare for your own draft than by participating in a mock draft beforehand, and this is the place to do it. Also, check out Ant Sports' Average Draft Position (ADP) rankings to see where guys are typically getting drafted, or sign up for one of their available league options.